Posted on 12/21/2007 7:24:50 AM PST by Watershed
Popular culture is loaded with myths and half-truths. Most are harmless. But when doctors start believing medical myths, perhaps it's time to worry.
In the British Medical Journal this week, researchers looked into several common misconceptions, from the belief that a person should drink eight glasses of water per day to the notion that reading in low light ruins your eyesight.
"We got fired up about this because we knew that physicians accepted these beliefs and were passing this information along to their patients," said Dr. Aaron Carroll, assistant professor of pediatrics at the Indiana University School of Medicine. "And these beliefs are frequently cited in the popular media."
And so here they are, so that you can inform your doctor:
Myth: We use only 10 percent of our brains.
Fact: Physicians and comedians alike, including Jerry Seinfeld, love to cite this one. It's sometimes erroneously credited to Albert Einstein. But MRI scans, PET scans and other imaging studies show no dormant areas of the brain, and even viewing individual neurons or cells reveals no inactive areas, the new paper points out. Metabolic studies of how brain cells process chemicals show no nonfunctioning areas. The myth probably originated with self-improvement hucksters in the early 1900s who wanted to convince people that they had yet not reached their full potential, Carroll figures. It also doesn't jibe with the fact that our other organs run at full tilt.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
I remember being 12 or 13, and opening the curtains in my bedroom so the streetlight would shine through the window and I could read the Lord of the Rings books in that light after my mom made me turn the lights off and go to bed... I still have amazing night vision, so that’s definitely not true.
“I remember being 12 or 13, and opening the curtains in my bedroom so the streetlight would shine through the window and I could read the Lord of the Rings books in that light after my mom made me turn the lights off and go to bed... I still have amazing night vision, so that’s definitely not true.”
God must have blessed you with a superior retinal rod density, compared to someone like me who has substandard night vision.
You will have that anatomical component all of your life, but your nocturnal/scotopic performance will eventually decline, due to other mechanisms, with age.
Hair will grow on your palms if you ...
That's a wish, not a myth.
“They have an apex?”
That would be the points on the top of their heads.
Yes, they do love me. No, they don’t bring me soup.
It still drives me crazy, especially after 3 days of it. (We introverts like to complain about people. It’s how we get through life, LOL! Hell is other people at breakfast, and all that.)
Rush reading them now.
What you saw was the result of careful design and attention to customer requirements. Our environment today contains thousands of devices which emit signals which can potentially interfere with electronic devices. And our environment also contains many electronic devices which would be sensitive to such signals if not for proper design.
Some years ago a team from my company was on a trip to evaluate safety sensors for use in our lab. I included the guidance that they should take their handheld radios and check for sensitivity to these signals.
The report I received back was hilarious. The team asked the vendor if they could key their radios while in the control room to check for sensitivity to radio signals. The vendor rep assured them that there would be no problem and gave them the go-ahead.
Seconds later THEIR lab was in full evacuation mode with multiple alarms going off. Needless to say, we had to make significant modifications before making use of their products.
Wishing you great results....Everyone that I know that uses a cpap machine reports tremendous improvement in sleep.
Visual acuity decreases with age if you do close work or not.
LOL!!! You, too are a fan of the vile "insurance" companies I see.
The radiated power difference between a cellphone (handheld unit maximum is 0.6 watt) and a typical walkie-talkie (3 watts minimum) would have been a HUGE contributor to the RF interference experienced.
EyeGuy: I was referencing a typical MD practice, not your speciality of optometry. Normally I wait no more than 15 minutes once every 2 years at *my* eyeguy’s office, which I think is reasonable. Things can happen.
Myth: This drug is safe ....
(Where do we send the payment for all of your educated advice?)
I think that if you get your eyes fixed, you’ll lose that wonderful nearsightedness that you may be taking for granted.
?
Thank you
I use it tonight, I hope it will help. It would be cool to be out like a 100W incandescent light bulb for 12 hours.
Do you happen to have a good link for more information on this? I've been nearsighted since I was 8 or 10 years old but, at 60, the presbyopia is getting to be a real pain in the neck. Can eye exercises help?
I agree with you 100%! Can’t stand to try to read in bright light.
I only have ten per cent of a brain. sigh.....
My in laws were the worst ones. They just KNEW I needed brighter light to read by. I didn’t. It is irritating to have bright lights when you are reading, the glare is awful. I have 20 20 vision at age 56. My aunt had 20 20 vision at age 90.
“I’m extremely nearsighted. I like it that way! At 55 I can see things close up better than most people!
(Where do we send the payment for all of your educated advice?)”
That is why — in general — I usually advise most nearsighted patients over 40 against Lasik surgery.
Humbly glad to be on some little service to the great FR community.
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