The British Medical Journal publishes a list of medical myths today: things that doctors and patients believe but that have no scientific evidence to substantiate them.
The list ranges from how many glasses of water you should drink in a day to whether hair grows after death.
The full list of myths:
• Everyone must drink at least eight glasses of water a day
• We only use 10% of our brains
• Hair and fingernails keep growing after death
• Reading in dim light ruins your eyesight
• Shaving causes hair to grow back faster or coarser
• Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals
• Eating turkey makes you especially drowsy
Authors Aaron Carroll and Rachel Vreeman, both doctors in Indianapolis, scoured Medline and trawled the internet for any evidence to back up the claims. The study is meant to give their colleagues a "light-hearted reminder" that anyone (yes, even doctors) can get things wrong. They add that doctors should think about other deeply held ideas they may have that might not actually be based on any evidence.
Carroll and Vreeman didn't find any evidence for the above beliefs, but do you agree with their conclusion that all the statements are wrong? And what other medical myths have you come across? Share them with us below...
