They are the universal pearls of wisdom that explain some of the more puzzling things about the human body and help people live healthy lives: don’t read in dim light, drink eight glasses of water a day and don’t use mobile phones in hospitals.
The problem is: there is no evidence to suggest that these gems of advice are actually true. In a study out today researchers have scoured through leading databases of medical research to test whether any of the most commonly held beliefs among doctors and patients bear any links to reality.
The two doctors behind the research wanted to remind their colleagues that anyone could get things wrong and suggested that doctors should think twice about commonly held ideas that might not be based on evidence.
“We got fired up about this because we knew that physicians accepted these beliefs and were passing this information along to their patients. And these beliefs are frequently cited in the popular media. We didn’t set out to become myth busters.”
Two of my favorites are: “We only use 10% of our brains” and “Mobile phones are dangerous in hospitals”.
Only 10% of us – have brains. The other 90% are the people who use mobile phones in hospitals – in their cars, the movies, walking through parking lots pushing a shopping cart, etc..
They’re all in the article.
Those aren’t all either. I just finished reading the book, Good Calories, Bad Calories and most doctor’s and the government’s ideas about what you should eat are seriously flawed.
This applies to much more than medicine, where people say something is true without evidence.
#2 – MikeN,
Actually Mike, this is often true of the medical profession that they don’t take scientific study seriously enough. Sometimes they get something in their heads that blah is healthy or unhealthy and don’t actually do the science to check. Logic != Science.
However, I know what you’re referring to, and that is incorrect. In the total tangent to which you refer, the science really has been and is continuing to be done. And, the results are real. You can take your head out of the sand now. Denial based on absolutely nothing won’t make it untrue.
I think if you knew how to read evidence, you would likely understand that, at least at present, there is no conflicting data and a huge amount of supporting data.
Could they be wrong? Yes.
I would love it though if one of the many kool-aid drinking deniers would at least explain to me why they fail to even admit the possibility that the vast majority of scientists with all of their data may be right.
Why do you expect those who have the data to admit the possibility that they are wrong while those who do not have any data simply expect others to admit that they are right without question?
Further, please answer this one: Why are you willing to bet the survival of our species on a long shot?
I never get an answer to that one, only more kool-aid shoved in my face. The kool-aid smells like almonds. Sorry, I’m not drinking it.
Damn kids and their cellphones.
Get off my lawn!
#5 – pedro,
Really? I thought it was allegedly due to possible interference with some of the medical equipment.
#4 Scott, you jumped to a conclusion I was not making. I assume you are talking about global warming, which I was not. There is evidence for global warming, though not much that the proposed solutions would achieve the desired ends.
I was talking about so many other things, with nothing specific in mind. Affirmative action, religion, Head Start, any number of government programs, like the aircraft security of the other thread, bicycle helmet laws, I could go on and on.
#8 – MikeN,
Sorry to jump to a conclusion. I assumed you meant at least somewhat in the scientific fields. None of those other things you listed have anything to do with science and so, by definition, are not guided by the same level of evidence. Medicine actually should be guided by the same level of science as global warming, relativity, quantum mechanics, evolution, and the rest.
#10 Ben,
I believe coffee is known as an antioxidant, though I doubt that will make it good in the quantities I drink. I believe alcohol in moderation has been shown to dramatically lower risk of heart attack, though that isn’t going to cover a fun night of binge drinking. Bison is lower in cholesterol than chicken and very high in omega 3s. Sorry, I can’t help you with the smoking thing; that’s just bad all around.
Hope this helps.
#11–Scott==everyone knows smoking makes you sexier.
#12 – bobbo,
Only if you’re into licking an ash hole.
Well, that does remind me of an old joke.
In a bar, always go for the babe that smokes. She has shown she will put anything into her mouth.
OK, I think I misunderstood the post. Did the researchers debunk items that appear in prominent medical databases, or use the databases to debunk commonly held misconceptions?
I was responding to the idea that people frequently jump to conclusions that are not backed up by evidence, or are contrary to the evidence.
#15–Mike, what do you base that on?
#9, Scott, I think what Mike was talking in #8 about would be somewhat provable by looking at before and after statistics.
Bike helmets? Casual riders, the ones who do not take chances, stopped riding. The serious ones that ride in traffic kept riding where it was more dangerous and at higher speeds everywhere, so injuries per bike mile ridden went up even though injuries overall went down.
The utility of Head Start is subject to testing, but I think most people use that as a baby sitting service anyhow.
Specific parts of Affirmative Action can be tested, like the number of “disadvantaged students” who pass the bar exam in California, but I think it did good overall by smashing hostile racism. Now we need to get rid of AA to smash the assumption that people who are not white males are inherently inferior (Who can say “nigger” or “bitch”? Why? Why not?)
(Religion is just plain silly, but some people have to have a faith system, so no point in going there.)
What you say about cyclists is so true, Phillep. Neither I nor anyone I knew needed helmets. Of course, neither did we ride out in traffic, pretending like preschoolers that our 30-pound conveyances had anything in common with the 3000-pound vehicles they were built for. We rode against traffic, and never got hit by something we couldn’t see coming; we rode on sidewalks (and never hit pedestrians), which was remarkable effective in staying out from in front of cars.
I still can’t keep down a contemptuous chuckle when I encounter the typical yuppie clown clad in his neon spandex advertisements, with the flashing LEDs and helmet. Thus safely equipped, he proceeds to blindly, blithely violate every single principle of common sense thus far discovered. And when he does, inevitably it seems, get hit, riding out in the middle of a traffic lane – because he has the right! –, by Granny, who ‘didn’t see him’, if he survives, he’ll tell everyone in earshot about how dangerous people in cars make it for even “safe” cyclists like him!
Idiocracy, anyone?
#16, pedro,
Cell phones are usually banned in Hospitals due to the fear they might interfere with the sensitive equipment. In my wife’s hospital, most of the equipment is wireless so it may be used anywhere in the hospital. Apparently cell phones have caused noticeable interference with such equipment although I have only heard that from the hospital Maintenance Manager.
I’d just like to know why every doctor I go to wants to stick his finger up my ass. Can’t they talk dirty to me or dim the lights? When I leave I stick my head in his office and say, “call me!”
#21 – Prostate,
If you have good insurance, they’ll cover the reach around and the flowers the next day.
Ah, Scott. I see you’re filling in on ‘comic relief’ duties for M. Mustarde while he’s away serving his country, setting fires in the White House or pranking the crew of the Space Shuttle or whatever it is they have him doing…
Next thing you know they will say excess drinking and hookers are bad for you.
The Kyoto Treaty isn’t based on evidence. The scientists own models show that it accomplishes very little with regards to global warming.
Another: If you make a face, it will stick that way forever.
And the corrolary: If you cross your eyes, they’ll stick that way forever.
And another: A penny saved is a penny earned. Actually, a penny saved is a drop in the bucket.
Here’s a biggie: God wants you to (fill in the blank). Actually, she’s more interested in seeing what the heck you decide to do.
How about masturbating would make you go blind.
Ok, how many of you guys wear glasses?