Guy Wisdom

Yikes! Mom Was Right


"Yikes! Mom Was Right"
Well, at least once or twice. Here's the truth about 27 classic pieces of parental advice

That "hairy palms," "you'll go blind" stuff is dead wrong. And we have plenty of experience.

1. Stop cracking your knuckles, you'll end up with arthritis.

Wrong. Not that you should do it. You won't get arthritis, but over time it will loosen your ligaments and tighten the muscles in your hands, making them work harder. Stick topopping bubble wrap.

2. Eat your liver.

Wrong. It's a good source of iron, but men get plenty of that, and too much is not a good thing. The body hoards iron like old magazines, and two Finnish studies suggest a link between excess iron and an increased risk of heart attacks in men.

3. Don't sit so close to the TV, you'll burn your eyeballs.

Wrong. The light's not intense or focused enough to do damage. But Mom and Dad should've worried when we had our noses in a book: A 1993 Israeli study of 870 teenagers found that Orthodox Jewish male students had a higher degree of myopia than other students, possibly because of sustained near vision from reading the Torah and from other study habits.

4. Big boys don't cry.

Wrong. This attitude creates a stoic whose only emotional expression is anger, says William Pollack, PhD, a Harvard psychologist and author of Real Boys in the US. A man who didn't cry as a boy will be disconnected and may try to numb his depression with alcohol, fast driving, and women. Great for a country song, bad for health. High levels of depression can lead to heart attacks. Crying slows the heart rate and reduces stress hormones.

5. Just cut the moldy part off the cheese. It's fine.

Right. Mold grows from the outside in, so if there's some on the surface, it's okay. If it's on the inside, it's been there a while, and the cheese is bad. Or it's blue cheese. In which case, break out the chicken wings.

6. Don't talk with your mouth full.

Right. You look disgusting. You swallow air and belch. And talking opens the trapdoor to your windpipe—so you could choke and turn purple and maybe die. None of which will get you a second date.

7. Forgive and forget.

Half right. Forgiving reduces anxiety and depression and helps you release anger, says Bob Enright, PhD, a professor of education psycho-logy at the University of Wisconsin in the US and author of Forgiveness Is a Choice. Studies show that anger contributes to coronary artery disease. Of course you won't forget that your ex-roommate set fire to your car. But forgiving lets you remember until you're really old.

Go ahead, sit close to the TV. But don't let Brownie handle the remote. (He'll hit the paws button.)
8. Keep playing that video game and your thumb will fall off.

Wrong. There may be some risk of repetitive-stress injury. But writing is actually more damaging than an hour of Tekken 5—gripping a pen locks your joints and slows circulation. To keep your paws from turning into claws, rest and rotate your wrist and hand every so often, says Peter Evans, MD, PhD, a hand specialist at the Cleveland Clinic in the US.

9. Make sure you Cover your mouth when you sneeze.

Right. A good sneeze can infect anyone within 10 feet of your schnozz. And sneeze into your handkerchief (or the crook of your elbow), so your hand doesn't infect everything you touch.

10. Wait 30 minutes after a meal before you go swimming.

Wrong (sort of). You could eat a meal in the pool without danger. The real issue is the intensity of your postmeal activity. Digestion and exercise both need your blood. Digestion wins out, and that can make performance suffer. So dive in just hold off on the synchronized swimming.

11. I'm not driving you to school if you miss the service.

Yeah, right. This was an empty threat, so no consequences were faced and no responsibility accepted, says John D. Gartner, PhD, a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University medical school. You're left with the sense that you can screw up and someone will bail you out in the end, which is also known as the Internet Business Plan.

12. Be tough: walk it off.

Wrong. Rest and make sure the pain goes away. Once it does, get back in the game and show them tough. If it doesn't, get some treatment, says Bill Roberts, MD, a sports-medicine physician in White Bear Lake, Minnesota in the US.

13. Nobody likes a wise-ass.

Wrong. Two words: Jay Leno

14. Don't swallow gum, it'll stay in your stomach forever.

Wrong. Your stomach juices dissolve Juicy Fruit. So it's safe. But so is the bottom of the table.

15. Your nose is bleeding. Tilt your head back to make it stop.

Wrong. You'll swallow blood, which is just slightly less unpleasant than white prune juice. Instead, pinch the tip of your nose, which is where the vessels are. And sit up straight.

16. Sit up straight.

Right. Keeping your head erect and shoulders back takes the strain off your upper and middle back muscles and the pressure off your spine. Keep your hips at 90 degrees, arms supported, and back against the back of the chair; and maintain a slight curve in your lower back. Every 20-30 minutes, take a walk to stay loose, says Dr. Roberts.

17. Stand up straight.

Right. No different from sitting up straight. But don't be rigid, keep moving. In a crowded bar, for instance, put a foot on the lowest rung of a stool and alternate feet occasionally. You'll change the resting length of the muscles and get the blood flowing, says Dr. Evans.

18. Eat your spinach so you'll be strong like Popeye.

Wrong. Cartoons are reliable sources on such scientific issues as gravity and shotgun blasts, but come on, low-protein spinach does not build sailorlike muscles. Eat it with a piece of chicken that would be "Chicken Florentine" on the menu and lift some weights before challenging the local Bluto to arm wrestle.



19. We're going to sit down and eat dinner together, because that's what families should do.

Right. Kids learn how to be close and how to share. They might also eat better. A 2000 study of 9 to 14 year olds found that eating family dinner gave kids more fruit and vegetables, less fried food, less saturated fat, and less chance of depression. Just don't force it. If people miss their favorite activity, all you get is a tableful of resentment, says Nadine Kaslow, PhD, a professor and chief psychologist at the Emory medical school in Atlanta. And dinner should be a break from the stress of the day, not a source of it. So don't bug someone about eating his liver or cleaning off his plate because of starving street kids. Speaking of which...

20. Clean your plate, there are starving street children.

Wrong. Eat until you're full, not until the plate is empty. The whole guilt trip was well intentioned, but your leftovers weren't going to be given to them anyway. Adults with clean-plate habits may end up overweight, says Kristine Clark, PhD, RD, director of sports nutrition at the Center for Sports Medicine at Pennsylvania State University in the US. Eat slowly so your stomach can tell your brain it's filling up. Otherwise those extra calories will get stored as fat.

Too many years of being blasted by Ozzy or Led Zep can permanently damage your cochlear hairs, which, unlike Styx, will not make a comeback

21. That music is too loud.

Right. Too many years of being blasted by Ozzy or Led Zep can permanently damage your cochlear hairs, which, unlike Styx, will not make a comeback. You'll lose the higher frequency sounds, such as consonants and women's voices. If you don't want to confuse "Let's go" with "Let go," sit in a corner of the room, where sound is more contained, says Jo Shapiro, MD, chief of otolaryngology at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

22. Hold it until we get home.

Wrong. If you continually deny yourself the pleasure, your overstretched bladder loses strength, leading to dribbling, lack of stream power, and frequent trips to the loo because you can't empty your bladder completely. Go at least every 4 or 6 hours—you, too, truckers and teachers—even if you don't feel the urge, says J. Stephen Jones, MD, a urologist at the Cleveland Clinic, USA.

23. Mean people are mean because they don't feel good inside.

Right. Demanding people push others away so they can avoid being rejected. Does that describe your miserable boss? Remember to breathe when he's berating you. It'll calm down your nervous system, says Dana Everson, PsyD, a clinical psychologist at the Cleveland Clinic. Amid his diatribe, repeat back any pertinent facts, such as, "So you want the report by three?" He'll feel that he's been heard. And don't forget to wish him a nice weekend. Kindness may make him loosen up, or at least ease up. Whatever the case, don't tell him what you think of him. You'll just be giving ammo to a sniper, says Beth Seelig, MD, director of the Emory Psychoanalytic Institute, in Atlanta.

24. Don't watch TV in the dark, you'll wreck your eyes.

Wrong. How come ophthalmologists haven't shut down all the movie theaters? Lack of light doesn't actually harm the eyes, says Nathan Congdon, MD, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Johns Hopkins's WilmerInstitute in the US. So keep yourself in the dark. See if we care.

25. Eat your breakfast so you can concentrate on your test.

Right. Lousy blood sugar, lousy concentration. If you have a cup of yogurt, a piece of fruit and a bagel, or whole grain cereal and milk, you'll get the carbohydrates and protein you need, along with fiber that will stabilize your blood sugar and prevent sluggishness, says Clark.

26. Don't go out with that wet hair, you'll catch cold.

Wrong. All you'll get is frozen hair. Cold tempe-ratures can make you sneeze, but it's not caused by anything viral. You get sick in the ber months because you're indoors more and in closer contact with people and their germs.

27. If you keep making that face, it'll freeze that way.

Wrong. Muscles don't permanently lock up because of face making. Same with crossing your eyes. Expressiveness—smiling, frowning, worrying—can contribute to wrinkles though. If you don't want wrinkles, don't make any facial expressions. Buckingham Palace guards are forever youthful. Men's Health Philippines - June 2005 Issue

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