Making sense of common health myths

It is exciting to know that many people are taking responsibility for their health. That is definitely a legacy every health professional will love to establish and I am no exception. I will once again remind my dear readers that “the most efficient way to reach your realistic health goals is to make small healthy choices daily.”

This wind of health awareness is apparently limited by inappropriate knowledge from the wrong sources. I definitely appreciate the dilemma; we are flooded with information and may get hooked on “wrong” ones that may sound logical. We will assess a few interesting statements and determine if they are factual or just myths. It is heartwarming to know that some “old-wives tales” have actually received approval from the scientific world several years after great women have insisted on their benefits.

1. “Light” soup helps us recover from the “common cold”

a. For centuries mothers have insisted on feeding us with hot chicken soup when our noses run like a tap and our cough and sneeze could be the envy of many a brass band. We simply would have loved to remain in bed to rest our aching bodies.

b. VERDICT – It is a FACT! “Light soup” actually reduces inflammation associated with the cold and also speeds up the movement of mucus through the nose, relieving congestion and reducing the time viruses stay in contact with the nasal lining. I can’t vouch for abe nkwan and nkate nkwan (palm nut and groundnut soup), so the next time you have a cold sit back and enjoy the pampering as you down spoonfuls of light soup.

2. Skipping breakfast will help me lose “weight”

a. It sounds logical that eating less means we have reduced our calorie intake and hence we are on the path to weight loss. After all we are told daily that to reach a healthy weight we need to reduce our calorie intake and increase our calorie output.

b. VERDICT – it is a MYTH. Totally FALSE. This must be bad news for those who can’t face food when they crawl out of bed and the weight loss aspirants who find it convenient and logical to skip breakfast. Our mothers were right again, a good breakfast can help both children and adults to be less irritable, more efficient and more energetic. Parents insisting on breakfast could be laying the foundation for better performance at school by their wards. Skipping breakfast eventually makes us hungrier and we eat less healthy snacks and food the rest of the day to make up for the initial lack. When we skip breakfast, our body also tends to conserve energy (reduced metabolism) leading to more fat stores.

c. The next time you have “no time” for breakfast, STOP! THINK! MAKE THE HEALTHY CHOICE!

3. When you pluck out one grey hair, many others grow

a. It is common to find people who will swear that anytime they pull out one grey hair, a thousand new ones spring forth. This multiplication theory makes “wo kum apem a apem beba” sound like child play.

b. VERDICT – it is a MYTH. CERTAINLY FALSE. I am certainly against the practice of subjecting yourself to torture by pulling out hair with no form of “anaesthesia” (surely an overkill). Each strand of hair has its own follicle and ONLY one hair can grow out of it. Pulling one out is also not a process capable of inciting its compatriots to go grey. Do not lose sleep, only one strand will regrow and it will still be grey. Remember all the other follicles are subjected to the same conditions: stress, soap, shampoos, hair cream, age and genetics so many of them were already in the process of graying.

4. The harder you brush your teeth the cleaner they become.

a. Is it not strange that some of us prefer to use hard-bristle toothbrush and brush our teeth so hard that we could compete with someone scrubbing a gutter. All this is done with the aim of having clean teeth.

b. VERDICT – It is a myth. Hard bristles have no place in keeping your teeth clean. This excludes smokers. It’s rather the technique, the frequency, how new the brush is and probably how often you floss or see a dentist and your toothpaste.

c. Brushing so hard may end up making your teeth extra sensitive and then you begin to scream when you drink or eat hot or cold substances. Take it easy on your teeth.

5. Only fat people need to exercise

a. This is an extremely common EXERCISE EXCUSE. We will do almost anything to avoid cashing in on the modern day fountain of youth. Most of us know it is beneficial but we can’t get ourselves to prioritize exercising.

b. VERDICT – it is a MYTH. NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH. Exercise certainly helps us to manage our weight but that is only one of its numerous benefits. Underweight people can boost their appetite, gain some muscle and even put on some weight. You definitely need to tap in on the other benefits of exercise even if you are not fat. Lifestyle diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, cancers, mild depression and a host of others a not reserved only for fat people. Surely being overweight raises your risk but being underweight or even the right weight does not insulate one from these evils. JUST DO IT!

6. If you have a fever (your temperature is high or you are hot) then you have malaria

a. Those of us living in malaria endemic zones seem to give more honour to malaria than it is due this illness. At the first sign of a fever, we start to see visions of earlier mosquito bites and the signs and wonders that malaria of old has caused us, our friends and family.

b. VERDICT – it is difficult to classify this as a myth but certainly not all fever even in a malaria endemic zone is malaria. There are other contenders such as many viral infections including the common cold, liver infection, urinary tract infection, infections of the intestines, hormonal changes and many others that can mimic this terrible illness. Seek medical care promptly especially when after a correctly taken appropriate antimalarial does not cause a significant change in our temperature. It may be pointless to take more courses of the same medication. We may be causing more harm to other organs.

Hopefully we have expanded our arsenal of reliable health knowledge and this will go a long way to help us make healthy choices.

AS ALWAYS LAUGH OFTEN, WALK AND PRAY EVERYDAY AND REMEMBER IT’S A PRICELESS GIFT TO KNOW YOUR NUMBERS (blood sugar, blood pressure, blood cholesterol, BMI)

Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel

Moms’ Health Club

(dressel@healthclubsgh.com)

*Dr Essel is a medical doctor, holds an MBA and is ISSA certified in exercise therapy and fitness nutrition.

Thought for the week – “Your lifestyle has more impact on your voice than you may think. Avoid harmful habits.”

References:

1. Health by Choice Not Chance by Aileen Ludington, MD & Hans Diehl

2. Have a Good Hair Day! By Dr Kojo Cobba Essel

3. The Common Cold; A Enemy of Productivity