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Posts from the “Myths” Category

True or False – Individuals Who Multitask Are More Productive?

Posted on March 2, 2015

False.image47

There has been a fair amount of research performed on multitasking. However, before I reference a scientific study I’d like to discuss an “informal experiment” I conducted with one of my best friends in a canoe on a sunny summer afternoon. My friend and I were fishing, and the fish were biting! My friend has the habit of using 2 or 3 rods at the same time, and this particular day he was using 3. He held one in his hand, had one balanced in his lap, and had the other one propped up diagonally in the canoe. Not paying close attention to any of his rods, he missed many more fish than he caught. I’d estimate I out-fished him 5 to 1 that afternoon. That was all the “evidence” I needed to confirm that it is better to focus on one task than to do multiple things at once. Our brains are wired in such a way as it is difficult for us to take in multiple streams of information at one time. Likewise, we are not wired to be able to perform more than one task at a time very well (try reading and saying the alphabet at the same time). Now you might think that, considering the lives many of us lead, multitasking seems to be a necessity. A vision of a mother paying the family bills, checking her son’s homework, cooking dinner, answering e-mails, talking on the phone, all while listening to her i-pod, comes to mind. The truth is that when we try and do two things at once, our productivity actually decreases. The authors of one study (Ophir et. al., 2009) which examined cognitive control in media multitakers concluded “This led to the surprising result that heavy media multitaskers performed worse on a test of task-switching ability”. Not only can multitasking decrease productivity, it can also be dangerous – think about the dangers of texting while driving!
Reference:
Ophir E, Nass C. Wagner A: Cognitive control in media multitaskers. Psychological and Cognitive Sciences (2009), Vol 106, pps. 15583-15587.

Categories: Myths

True or False – Chocolate is very harmful to dogs and can even kill them?

Posted on February 24, 2015

True. 63 Chocolate can kill dogs

Years ago, my wife and I took a leisurely stroll with our beloved dog, Cody. The walk was uneventful until Cody came to a dead stop that nearly pulled my arm out of its socket. Since he wasn’t doing his doggy duty, I closely inspected my pet to learn the reason for his odd behavior. I discovered that he had found a perfectly intact chocolate bon bon on the ground, and was holding it gently in his mouth, head down, indicating that he knew full well that it was forbidden. To make a long story short, my wife was panicked, certain that Cody would die on the spot and Cody was just as desperate to keep his prize. Amazingly, the dog actually forfeited the chocolate after much coaxing, and lived to see another day. While one bon bon may not have actually killed Cody, it is true that chocolate is harmful to dogs in large quantities, and could result in serious health problems or possibly even death. The authors of a short article which appeared in the British Medical Journal (2005) wrote “The potential hazards to humans of eating too much chocolate are well known (obesity and dental caries to name but two), but you may be unaware that chocolate is potentially lethal to dogs”. There is a chemical in chocolate called theobromine, and this is what is so harmful to dogs. Different types of chocolates contain different amounts of theobromine, however. White chocolate contains very little theobromine and is usually not considered to be harmful to canines. Milk chocolate contains 60 mg per oz, semisweet chocolate 160 mg per oz, and bakers chocolate about 450 mg per oz. Consuming theobromine will likely stimulate a dog’s central nervous system and heart as well as increase their blood pressure. Additional negative effects could include vomiting, diarrhea, muscle spasms, excessive panting, and increased urination. If you have a dog that consumes chocolate, the best thing to do would be to call your veterinarian immediately.

Reference:

Finlay F & Guiton S: Chocolate Poisoning. British Medical Journal (2005), Vol 331, pg 633

Categories: Myths

True or False – The longer you sit at a slot machine, the greater your odds are of winning?

Posted on February 10, 2015

False. image43

Imagine this scenario; you are in your favorite casino playing your favorite slot machine, you’ve been playing about two and a half hours and just put your last quarter in hoping to hit it big.  It didn’t happen and now you’re out $125.  You decide to head to the $19.95 all-you-can-eat buffet and drown your sorrows with BBQ ribs, fried chicken, and soft-serve ice cream.  On your way to the buffet you see the jackpot lights go off on the exact machine you just left.  You think, if only I’d have stayed a couple of minutes longer, that jackpot would have been mine.  The truth is that even if you would have stayed at the slot machine, you likely wouldn’t have hit the jackpot.  Today’s slot machines use random number generators for the symbol combinations, so they are always changing; it is not possible to just “wait a machine out”.  If that were the case, you could just keep playing until you hit the jackpot.  The truth is the odds of hitting a jackpot on the 3rd spin are the same as hitting a jackpot on the 30,000th spin.  You also might think that if a machine hits a jackpot, it won’t hit another one for some time, also not true; the odds are the same on hitting a jackpot the very next spin.  Many people find slot machines fun to play and stimulating.  The authors of one study (Yucha 2007) reported that gambling increased physiological variables such at systolic and diastolic blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, and skin temperature.  It is understandable how people can get addicted to slots.  However, if you’re looking to actually win money at the casino, slots are not a very good bet.  Your odds of winning at games like blackjack or craps are actually higher.  Many slot machines are programmed to pay out roughly 92%, so for every dollar you put in, you win back on average 92 cents.  Good deal for the casino, bad deal for you.

Reference:

Yucha C, Bernhard B, Prato C: Physiological effects of slot play in women. Applied Psychophysiology & Biofeedback (2007), Vol 32, pps. 141-147

 

Categories: Myths

True or False – Some red food colorings are made from ground up bugs?

Posted on February 4, 2015

True.image45

The next time you pull out the red food coloring from your cupboards to make frosting for a cake, keep in mind that the food coloring may have been made from ground up bugs.  The food colorings carmine and cochineal are in fact made from ground up insects – Dactylopius Coccus bugs.  These bugs live on Opuntia Cactus plants in South and Central America.  When harvested and dried, roughly 20% of the volume of these insects is carminic acid; this is what is used to create food coloring.  The bugs are harvested by scraping them off the cactus or collecting them in small baskets or nests attached to the cactus.  It takes about 70,000 bugs to make a pound of coloring!  These particular food colorings are sometimes labeled as “natural coloring”, “cochineal extract”, “carmine”, and “artificial coloring” on food labels.  For obvious reasons, food manufacturing companies have made the decision to stay away from adding “crushed bugs” to their ingredients lists.  These colorings were used by the Aztecs and other Indian populations in Mexico for a variety of reasons (e.g., food coloring, coloring clothing).  Today, cochineal extract and carmine can be found in products like yogurt, candy, fruit juices, and even in cosmetics.  These “natural” food colorings have increased in popularity over the past few years as some have suggested links between synthetic food dyes and cancer.  The food colorings derived from bugs are generally considered to be safe, however, Chung et al, (2001) report a number of cases of allergic reactions after individuals consumed carmine, and reference other studies in their paper where carmine ingestion or exposure contributed to asthma, alveolitis, and food allergy.  Understandably, certain cultures or groups of people are opposed to eating insects for religious or nutritional reasons, and then of course there is always the “eww” factor.

Reference:

Chung K, Baker J, Baldwin J, Chou A: Identification of carmine allergens among three carmine allergy patients. Allergy (2001), Vol 56, pps. 73-77.

Categories: Myths

True or False – Hostess Twinkies have a shelf life of just over two years?

Posted on January 28, 2015

False. image46

As I was preparing to write this post I realized it had been years since I’ve enjoyed the sweet, spongy, cream filled delicacy that is the Twinkie.  So, I made my way to a store and soon realized I couldn’t buy just one individual cake, I had to buy a box of 10.  What I thought was going to cost me a quarter, ended up costing me $3.39!  Twinkies have been around since 1930 when a baker in Chicago wanted to better utilize shortcake pans and started experimenting with the cream filled spongy cakes.  The cakes were initially filled with a banana cream filling but during WWII when bananas were hard to come by, the banana cream filling was replaced with a vanilla flavored filling.  Many people think that Twinkies last a long time.  I’ve read that some believe Twinkies have a shelf life of 2, 5, and even 10 years.  Some have even thought that Twinkies never go bad because they are made from nothing but chemicals.  Not true.  The shelf-life of Twinkies is about 25 days.  Don’t believe it? I didn’t either! In comparison, some MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) can last up to 10 years if stored at 60 degrees.  Shelf life is defined as the time that a product is acceptable and meets the consumer’s expectations regarding food quality (Martins 2008).  Things that impact shelf life include temperature, water content, light exposure, and oxygen.  There are a lot of chemicals in Twinkies (too many to list in this short chapter), but there is also flour, sugar, shortening and eggs.  If you indulge, do so in moderation as each cake contains 150 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 27 grams of carbohydrates and 220 mg of sodium. 

Reference:

Martins R, Lopes V, Vicente A, Teixeira J: Computational shelf-life dating: complex systems approaches to food quality and safety.  Food Bioprocessing Technology (2008), Vol 1, pps. 207-222.

Categories: Myths

True or False – Individuals who multi-task are more productive?

Posted on January 20, 2015

False. image47

There has been a fair amount of research performed on multitasking.  However, before I reference a scientific study I’d like to discuss an “informal experiment” I conducted with one of my best friends in a canoe on a sunny summer afternoon.  My friend and I were fishing, and the fish were biting!  My friend has the habit of using 2 or 3 rods at the same time, and this particular day he was using 3.  He held one in his hand, had one balanced in his lap, and had the other one propped up diagonally in the canoe.  Not paying close attention to any of his rods, he missed many more fish than he caught.  I’d estimate I out-fished him 5 to 1 that afternoon.  That was all the “evidence” I needed to confirm that it is better to focus on one task than to do multiple things at once.  Our brains are wired in such a way as it is difficult for us to take in multiple streams of information at one time.  Likewise, we are not wired to be able to perform more than one task at a time very well (try reading and saying the alphabet at the same time).  Now you might think that, considering the lives many of us lead, multitasking seems to be a necessity.  A vision of a mother paying the family bills, checking her son’s homework, cooking dinner, answering e-mails, talking on the phone, all while listening to her i-pod, comes to mind.  The truth is that when we try and do two things at once, our productivity actually decreases.  The authors of one study (Ophir et. al., 2009) which examined cognitive control in media multitakers concluded “This led to the surprising result that heavy media multitaskers performed worse on a test of task-switching ability”.  Not only can multitasking decrease productivity, it can also be dangerous – think about the dangers of texting while driving!

Reference:

Ophir E, Nass C. Wagner A: Cognitive control in media multitaskers. Psychological and Cognitive Sciences (2009), Vol 106, pps. 15583-15587.

Categories: Myths

True or False – Stress causes hair to turn gray?

Posted on January 13, 2015

False. image44

Have you ever heard someone say something like “you are going to give me gray hair” or “all this stress is going to turn me gray”?  I actually remember saying this a few times in my life, for example when our children were progressing through the terrible twos.  Well, there really is no scientific evidence that links stress and hair turning gray.  Graying often starts in the mid 30’s for Caucasians and the mid 40’s in people of color.  However, graying can start as early as the mid to late teens or not start until an individual is in their 50’s or 60’s.  If you read much on this topic you will likely come across the 50/50/50 principle.  That is roughly 50% of people will have 50% of their hair turn grey by the time they are 50 years old.  As I sit and write this chapter I happen to be attending a meeting and am sitting directly behind a woman in her mid 50’s.  She has very long pretty hair, and I’d say that somewhere between 50% and 60% of her hair is grey.  I’m currently 40 years old and started noticing the appearance of grey hairs 5 or 6 years ago and it is progressing quickly!  My father is in his mid 70’s and has brilliantly white hair, so I anticipate in the next 5 to 10 years I will be completely gray.  Some people work hard to cover up their gray hair with things like artificial coloring products, where others just accept that graying is a normal part of the aging process.  Some people even like to see their hair turn gray as they think it makes them look distinguished.  What actually causes gray hair?  Hair has the color it does due to pigment, this pigment is called melanin.  The cells that create melanin are called melanocytes.  As we age, melanocytes die or produce less pigment resulting in gray hair.  An article (Trueb 2005) about aging hair also states that genetics play a role and autoimmune disorders can turn hair gray.

Reference:

Trueb, R: Aging of Hair. Journal of Cosmetic Dermatology (2005), Vol 4, pps. 60-72.

Categories: Myths

True or False – You can catch poison ivy from someone else’s rash?

Posted on May 15, 2014

False. poison-ivy

Many people avoid spending time outdoors in the summer for fear of coming in contact with poison ivy.  I consider myself to be pretty lucky in that I’ve never had severe reactions to poison ivy.  I do spend many hours outdoors hiking, cutting wood, mountain biking, and walking to secret fishing holes.  I don’t remember ever getting poison ivy as a child, but every so often as an adult I’ll get a slight rash after exposure.  Even though my reactions tend to be what I would categorize as minor, the small spots that appear can be intensely itchy and can blister up after a few days.  Poison ivy reactions occur after coming in contact with urushiol oil on the leaves, stem, or roots of the poison ivy plant.  Since the oil is found in the stem and roots, it is possible to get a rash from poison ivy even during colder months of the year.  It is also recommended not to burn poison ivy plants as breathing or coming in contact with the smoke can lead to a reaction.  The rash that occurs after exposure can get very red, irritated, and blister up.  The blisters often break and leak fluid.  This is not a pretty sight and I can see how some might think they could spread or catch poison ivy from these rashes.  However, that is not the case.  In an article written in Dermatology Nursing, Patricia Jackson Allen writes “The rash may grow in size and development of new vesicles can occur during the first 2 weeks without additional contact with urushiol due to the allergenic response of the host.  This leads to the common believe that the serum from vesicles is allergenic.  The serum released from the vesicles is not antigenic and does not spread the allergic contact reaction.”  It is probably good practice to avoid other people’s poison ivy rashes and the fluid oozing out of them.  But in the unlikely event that should occur, you can feel confident that you won’t soon be developing a rash of your own.

Reference:

Jackson Allen P: Leaves of three, let them be: if it were only that easy!  Dermatology Nursing (2006), Vol 18, pps. 236-242.

Categories: Myths

True or False – Americans have more free time today than they did in 1965?

Posted on April 24, 2014

True. imgres

We’ve all had our share of those days where we’ve felt like we couldn’t get everything accomplished that we needed to; much less have any free time.  However, research suggests that we actually have gained about five hours of free time per week as compared to the 1960’s (Robinson & Godbey, 1997).  It is interesting that even though the amount of free time we have has increased, most Americans state that they feel more rushed and they think they actually have less free time.  So, what makes up free time?  Most researchers would consider things like watching TV, listening to music, reading, hobbies, socializing, recreational activities, sports, adult education, and even religious activities as free time.  Essentially, things you do in your free time involve maximum choice on your part.  Think of free time activities as being activities that are not essential to your life or survival.  Things you might do that would not be considered free time would include sleeping, eating, grooming, taking care of your kids, housework, and working at a job that pays you wages.  Contrary to what some might believe, checking your friend’s status on Face book and watching TV are not essential to survival.  Robinson & Godbey also state that 1) middle aged, college educated, married parents, where both spouses work have the least amount of free time, 2) that people in urban areas have about one hour more per week of free time compared to those in rural areas, and 3) we have nearly 40 hours of free time per week (5 hours each weekday, 6 hours on Saturday, and over 7 hours on Sunday).  Most people overestimate how much time they spend at work and underestimate how much free time they have.  It’s not uncommon for someone to say that they are very busy and that they don’t have time for things like exercise, yet they will watch 3 or 4 hours of TV a day!

Reference:

Robinson J & Godbey G: Time for Life: The Surprising ways Americans use Their Time (1997), The Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, PA.

Categories: Myths

True or False – Wearing a tight hat leads to hair loss?

Posted on April 1, 2014

False. image40

Hair loss can be a traumatic experience for both men and women.  Right or wrong, our society places a great deal of emphasis on appearance, and many people take pride in having a thick, full head of hair.  Hair loss is common in later life, especially among men; however, many individuals start to experience hair loss in their early to mid 20’s.  The hair care industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and a significant portion of the money spent on hair care is spent on products related to hair loss.  Discussions on hair loss and baldness have been occurring for a long time.  I ran across an interesting article entitled The Prophylaxis of Baldness, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1903.  Our understanding of the cause of hair loss is much different today than it was in the early 1900’s.  It is not true that wearing a hat, even a tight hat, contributes to hair loss.  Some have speculated that this myth came about after men who entered the military noticed they started to lose their hair shortly after enlisting.  Many of these men felt their hair loss was related to wearing tight military hats and helmets.  In reality, their hair loss likely would have started to occur whether they joined the military or not.  I read a large number of scientific articles that addressed the causes of hair loss.  These articles identified factors such as genetics, skin diseases, nutrition, trauma, medications, and endocrine disorders as legitimate contributors to hair loss (there are many more).  However, not a single article mentioned the dangers of wearing hats.  An article published in Consumer Reports on Health stated “This myth may have arisen in part because people often wear hats to cover their balding heads.  And tight hats do not restrict blood flow in the scalp sufficiently to harm the hair follicles”.

Reference:

Consumer Reports on Health (2007), Vol 19, pg 7.

Categories: Myths