Have an apple

11 Medical myths we keep believing (but really shouldn't)

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Medicine is complicated, and it's easy for folklore, memes, and half-remembered advice to creep their way into our collective subconscious. Some of these myths are harmless, others are misleading, and many are downright dangerous. Let's take a look at 11 medical misconceptions that have endured over time, and that you've probably believed at one time or another.

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..keeps the doctor away, right? Apples are healthy. They are full of fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants. But, as you probably know, they aren't enough to ward off disease on their own. The phrase originated in 19th-century Wales as "Eat an apple on going to bed, and you’ll keep the doctor from earning his bread." The rhyme is charming, but fortunately, doctors still get plenty of bread.

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That satisfying pop comes from collapsing gas bubbles in the fluid of your joints, not from your bones grinding to dust. Decades of peer-reviewed research show no link between knuckle-cracking and arthritis or bone deterioration. It might be irritating for those around you, but not bad for your joints.

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It does feel that way, but it's only an optical illusion: the new growth feels blunt and coarse when compared to a tapered hair tip. However, the follicles themselves are unaffected by shaving. Your hair’s growth rate and thickness are determined by genetics.

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This one is nothing more than a parental scare-tactic propaganda. Gum is indeed indigestible, but it doesn’t remain trapped inside you forever. It passes through your digestive tract quite efficiently, just like corn or sunflower seeds. Certainly in days, not 7 years.

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Although carrots are good for overall eye health, the myth that they have the power to give you night vision stems from a little bit of British World War II propaganda. The British Royal Air Force claimed that their pilots had uncannily good night accuracy because of their carrot-heavy diets. In reality, it was a cover story to conceal their use of radar technology.

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Neither black coffee nor cold showers can accelerate the rate at which your body metabolizes alcohol. Ask any doctor for a recipe to sober up quickly, and they will tell you the sad, sad truth: it's impossible.

Plenty of people claim to have found a trick to solve this problem. However, no matter how many freezing showers you take, they will only make you cold, wet, and awake, but still drunk.

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Well, it depends on who you ask. There’s a long list of home remedies: hold your breath, drink water upside down, have a friend scare you, and so on. While some of these techniques might help by resetting your diaphragm, the truth is that most hiccups fade on their own within minutes. And if they don’t, you’re better off seeing a doctor than cycling through an endless number of folk cures.

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In reality, apple seeds contain amygdalin, which the body can convert into toxic cyanide (not arsenic). However, the amount of amygdalin in apple seeds is tiny: you would need to crush and eat over 150 apple seeds to get anything close to a dangerous dose. Or you could simply avoid eating the seeds altogether.

In any case, apples are far better at keeping the doctor away than they are at poisoning you.

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If you do, you'll catch a cold. Or that's what this myth would have us believe. In fact, wet hair in chilly weather will just make you uncomfortable.

As we know, colds are caused by viruses that get into our systems. Being cold or damp doesn't conjure viruses out of thin air. That being said, lowering your body's temperature might weaken your immune defenses slightly, but the real culprits are still unequivocally the germs.

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A Hollywood myth that has crawled deep into our collective imagination. While the exact origin of the phrase is unclear, it is often associated with the lectures of Harvard psychologist William James, who told audiences that we only tap a fraction of our full potential during the 1890s. The idea then evolved and spread through self-help and motivational literature, eventually becoming the widely believed claim we know today.

Scientific research has thoroughly debunked this notion. While the inner workings of much of our brain are still unknown to us, we do know that virtually all of it has a function, and we use 100% of it.

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A Thanksgiving classic, people like to blame their festive drowsiness on the turkey. There is some scientific basis for this: turkey does contain tryptophan, an amino acid that promotes sleep.

However, the amount in turkey is minimal and no greater than that found in chicken or beef. The real culprits behind your post-dinner nap are the carb overload, extra drinks, and day-long festivities—not the turkey itself.

Nature & Language

Grow your vocabulary with these 10 plant-related idioms

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Individual words combined in a certain way result in metaphorical phrases with a new meaning, different from the one they have by themselves. These phrases are called idioms and can originate from different contexts and situations. In this case, we have cherry-picked 10 expressions related to plants and flowers that will make you want to go outside and smell the roses!

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Some people are direct and get to the chase, and others take their time to say what they have to say. When we need to discuss something important with one of the latter and they keep beating around the bush instead of getting to the point, it can be really annoying, don't you think?

But who would have thought that this expression we use every day without giving it a second thought is actually related to nature? The first written record dates back to 1572. It appears in a text by the Elizabethan poet George Gascoigne, although it was probably a metaphor used regularly at the time. Apparently, it has its origins in a game of bird hunting. Beating is the practice of striking plants with a stick to make the birds come out of hiding and thus catch them in flight.

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When we are faced with a conundrum or have to make a life-changing decision, it is sometimes difficult to figure out what’s really important. We are probably focusing on a specific, small aspect of the problem and fail to see the big picture. When this happens, a good friend will ideally help us gain some perspective and say: "You can't see the forest for the trees!" —Fun fact: in Old English, for was used in the sense of "on account of", "because of"—.

This proverbial idiom originated in the 16th century and makes perfect sense: back then, before cities took over, people's contact with nature was an everyday thing. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it first appeared in 1546 as part of the works of English writer John Heywood.

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Imagine a small animal running from the clutches of a large predator. The only thing in sight is a tall, fragrant tree. If it can climb up to the top, it will be safe, but the beast will still be waiting below with sharp teeth. This is how the idiom up a gum tree came to mean to be in a predicament or in a problem that is difficult to get out of.

Its origin is not so clear. Some etymologists suggest it is a phrase that appeared in Australia, where gum tree is the common name for the Eucalyptus. Others found records from the early 19th century in the United States. There was even a folk song called "The 'possum up the gum-tree" that stood the test of time only as a popular expression.

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According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, wither means "to become dry and sapless" or "to lose vitality, force, or freshness". When we leave fruit abandoned on the vine, it goes to waste, and to be honest, the same thing happens with all aspects of life.

The idiom wither on the vine —an equivalent of _die on the vine_— is used to express that something failed to be implemented or dealt with because of neglect or inaction. The Oxford Dictionary says it probably originated in the biblical image of a withered vine as a metaphor for physical or spiritual impoverishment.

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To continue with trees, fruits, and biblical references, this proverbial idiom means that a person's character should be judged by their actions —and the results of those actions— and not so much by appearances, prejudices, or what they have to say about themselves.

This parable appears in at least two different sermons in the New Testament. From Matthew 7:15-20: "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruit."

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Gardens usually have a positive and pleasant connotation. But for some reason, to lead someone down the garden path means to deceive or mislead. Like many of the expressions that are orally transmitted from generation to generation, we cannot be sure of the exact origin of this one. However, there are some theories.

According to legend, this idiom has its roots in England at the beginning of the 20th century. Apparently, it had to do with men being led into the gardens to get engaged to young ladies covered by veils that hid their faces completely. In any case, one of the earliest written records of this phrase dates back to 1926 and belongs to British writer Ethel Mannin. In her text Sounding Brass, she refers to women leading men up the garden for the purposes of seduction.

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These two idioms have a similar meaning. Shrinking violet is used figuratively to describe shy and introverted individuals, while a wallflower, in its colloquial sense, is a shy or unpopular person who usually remains on the sidelines of social activities.

The expression shrinking violet was probably coined in the United States, although there is no certain theory to explain the connection between these beautiful, vibrant flowers and shy people. One of the earliest written records is a sarcastic newspaper article from 1870 that mentions a shrinking violet businessman from Pennsylvania accused of stealing public money. Real wallflowers, on the other hand, are perennial herbs that grow on cliffsides and walls, hence the name. In this case, it is easier to see the analogy.

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We can tend our garden with love and dedication, but weeds can still sprout out and damage other plants and flowers. When this happens, the course of action is to get rid of these intruders as soon as possible to stop them from growing further. In life as in gardening, when we see a problem on the horizon, it is best to address it before it becomes more serious. This is when the expression nip it in the bud comes in handy.

The bud is the early stages, the undeveloped part of a plant. If you cut it —or nip it— before it springs up, you are avoiding future troubles. In the 16th century, this phrase was used literally. Over time, it became a common idiom that we use every time we find an issue that is best to tackle at an early stage.

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This one has a bit of a dark meaning but, at the same time, it allows us to think about death in a slightly more pleasant and positive way. After all, a little bit of dark humor never hurts. Let's not beat around the bush; pushing up daisies means to be dead and buried.

The origin of this idiom is not too clear, although there are records of analogies between daisies and death coined by romantic poets such as John Keats. The first written mention of this expression in its current form is from a 1917 poem by Wilfred Owen. On the other hand, we know it was a widely used metaphor during World War I.

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You probably already know the meaning of this idiom, and the truth is that it is pretty straightforward. But since it is one of our favorites, we thought it was a good idea to bring it to the gardening table. To plant the seed of suspicion means to cause someone to have doubts —often in an indirect manner— or to introduce someone to a worrisome idea that wasn't there before.

The origin of this expression is totally unknown and has different variables: to sow the seed of doubt, to plant a seed in one's head, etc. Interestingly, to plant the seeds (of something) is also used to describe an action done to ensure a certain outcome in the future, especially an unfortunate one.