While some wives’ tales do have some truth to them, there are others that are nothing more than confident nonsense.
A bowl with a job to do
A lot of people swear by having some chicken soup when they’re sick, and as it turns out, there’s some truth to that, although not because soup is actual medicine. It’s just that the warm broth is good for loosening congestion, and it’s easy to eat when you have very little energy.
The steam helps, too, because it can unclog your nostrils. One study found that chicken soup could slow down the movement of white blood cells, and that could be why you feel less miserable once you’ve had a bowl. Fluids, warmth, salt, and comfort, it all works.
The timing trick
Another tale says that you should have a warm bath before you sleep because it’s supposed to help you drift off. It’s true, although there is a technicality to it. A warm bath right before bed will make you feel too hot to sleep, while having one 1-2 hours before seems to be the trick.
Just make sure it’s not too hot. Once you get out of the bath, your body will cool down, and that drop in temperature tends to help people sleep more quickly.
A tiny clue in the middle
Pregnancy. There are so many tips and tricks about what happens when a woman’s pregnant, one of them being that having heartburn is a sign a baby will have more hair. There’s some truth to it. One study looked at women with and without heartburn during pregnancy.
The results? Those who had moderate or severe heartburn tend to have babies born with average or above-average amounts of hair, while those with little or no heartburn had babies born completely bald. It probably has something to do with hormones, but doctors aren’t sure.
The cooler choice
There’s also the actual, you know, getting pregnant part of things. One old wives’ tale says that guys shouldn’t wear tight underwear when they’re trying to have a kid, and there’s actually some science behind that, with one study looking at it specifically.
They found that men with looser underwear had higher sperm concentration and counts than men with tighter pairs. It’s because of the temperature, specifically how tighter underwear traps the heat, and that’s not great news for sperm. It needs to be slightly cooler.
An old trade-off
‘Gain a child, lose a tooth.’ That might sound like a strange line, it certainly is, but there’s a reason why some people say it. Getting pregnant can cause gum problems and increase a woman’s risk of getting cavities.
There’s also the fact that pregnant women don’t usually have the time or energy to visit the dentist because they’re so busy making new humans. Several studies have found that the more children a woman has, the more likely she is to lose some of her teeth. Who knew?
A cut that behaves
There’s one old wives’ tale that says a sharp knife is safer than a dull knife, and it’s a line that doesn’t seem like it could be true. But it is. A dull knife doesn’t cut cleanly, so you’re forced to press harder, and you might push the food more. Bad news.Â
You’ll probably end up cutting yourself simply because your knife was too dull. However, with a sharp knife, the blade cuts into the food more easily and stops it from sliding around.
Something across the top
You’ve probably heard about the cooking hack that says you should put a wooden spoon across a boiling pot, as it’s supposed to stop it from overflowing. It can’t be true, can it? It can. Starchy foods, like pasta, make tougher bubbles, and these collect to make foam.
When these bubbles hit a dry wooden spoon, they’ll pop because the spoon is cooler and rougher than the foam. It’s not a perfect trick, though, because the spoon will stop popping the bubbles when it gets warmer. Use this trick to help you, not do the cooking for you.
A chilly warning
So many parents tell their children not to go outside when they have wet hair because, apparently, it’ll make them sick. Not true. Colds come from viruses that spread through coughs and sneezes, as well as contaminated objects, rather than wet hair.
Cold weather doesn’t make you more likely to get sick, either. It’s actually just because people usually stay inside when it’s cold, so there are more opportunities for the germs to move around in a crowd. You’re not going to get sick because your hair’s damp.
The party table myth
Another thing parents love to tell their kids is about sugar. Namely, that sugar will make them more hyper, so they shouldn’t eat too much of it, although the research doesn’t support that. It doesn’t affect a child’s behavior or make their thinking any more reckless.
The real cause of their hyperactivity? It’s because of the event, as kids usually eat a lot of sugar when they’re at a party or something similar. There are balloons, presents, music, and so many other things going on, which give a kid energy.
One plate near the finish
There’s no truth to the idea that a late-term pregnant woman can eat spicy food to induce labor. It doesn’t work like that. Eating a hot curry or having some spicy salsa only irritates your stomach, and that can cause issues like cramps or sweating, not contractions.
Spicy food may stimulate your intestines, yes, but there’s zero evidence to suggest that it can start labor. All you’re really doing is annoying your gut, and that doesn’t seem worth it when you’re pregnant.
A saying split in half
Some people put a lot of faith in the saying, ‘Feed a cold, starve a fever.’ They shouldn’t. You need fluids more than ever when you have a cold or fever, as dehydration is a real risk. Eat some food if you feel like it, don’t force yourself to do it if you don’t.
But don’t starve yourself. It’s only going to make you feel a lot worse, and you really need your strength when your body’s fighting viruses. Try having some crackers or soup, maybe even a popsicle, just don’t avoid eating.
A field full of guesses
Unfortunately, you can’t count on farmyard animals to help you predict the weather. The idea that cows lying down is a sign that it’s going to rain? No truth to that. They lie down to rest and chew cud, sometimes to get comfortable, but not because they know the weather.
It might rain after they lie down, yes, but it also rains after someone washes their car. That’s not exactly a sign of how the weather’s going to be.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
12 long-standing historical myths that persist today
Most of us remember playing the telephone as a kid; what you end up with at the end barely resembles the original message. And a lot of what we think we know about history has gone through the telephone game too. Yes, our history reels & pop culture have twisted a few facts. Let’s straighten out twelve of the most common ones.
