You know those bizarre bits of “wisdom” that somehow survived into the age of smartphones and space travel? We’re talking about ’em. Yes, even the ones your grandma swore by and your uncle still defends.
1. Feed a Cold, Starve a Fever
This medieval medical advice is still making rounds despite having zero scientific backing. The idea that somehow your body would prefer malnutrition while fighting infection probably started because fever suppresses appetite. But here’s the thing—your body needs energy to fight any illness, whether you’re sniffling or burning up. Yet somehow, people are still out there proudly starving themselves through fevers like it’s 1422.
2. Going Outside With Wet Hair Will Make You Sick
The number of adults who still believe your hair’s moisture level is somehow connected to viral infections is genuinely concerning. Colds are caused by viruses, not damp hair—otherwise, swimming pools would be classified as biological weapons. Yet try showing up to work with wet hair in winter, and Karen from accounting will diagnose you with everything from pneumonia to the plague. The only thing you’re risking with wet hair is questionable fashion choices and possibly some frizz.
3. Cracking Your Knuckles Causes Arthritis
Every grandmother’s favorite warning about joint popping has been thoroughly debunked, yet people still gasp at the sound. The satisfying pop is just gas bubbles in your joint fluid breaking—kind of like bubble wrap for your bones. One doctor even cracked only one hand’s knuckles for 60 years to prove it was harmless. Spoiler alert: both hands aged exactly the same, though he probably got really tired of explaining his decades-long experiment to concerned relatives.
4. Sugar Makes Kids Hyperactive
The “sugar high” myth is so deeply embedded in parental lore that people will swear they can see their kids bouncing off walls after a cupcake. Numerous studies have shown there’s no link between sugar consumption and hyperactive behavior, but try telling that to a mom watching her kid run circles at a birthday party. Plot twist: it’s probably the excitement of the party making them hyper, not the frosting. But good luck convincing anyone watching a 6-year-old’s sugar-fueled birthday rampage that correlation isn’t causation.
5. Waiting an Hour After Eating to Swim
The myth that spawned a million impatient kids sitting poolside watching the clock. Supposedly, swimming on a full stomach leads to instant drowning because your body can’t digest and paddle at the same time. By this logic, ducks should be constantly sinking. While intense swimming right after a massive meal might be uncomfortable, your body is perfectly capable of handling digestion and basic motor functions simultaneously.
6. Cold Weather Causes Colds
Despite sharing a name, cold weather and the common cold have about as much in common as parking in a driveway and driving on a parkway. Colds are caused by viruses, not temperature—otherwise, people in Alaska would be perpetually sick, and tropical islands would be virus-free paradises. We get more colds in winter because we’re all huddled inside sharing our germs like communist viruses, not because Mother Nature’s thermostat is trying to infect us.
7. Hair and Nails Keep Growing After Death
This persistent myth refuses to die (pun intended). People swear corpses keep growing luscious locks and lengthy nails when really it’s just the skin retracting as it dries out, making the hair and nails appear longer. But this tale keeps circulating, probably because nobody wants to stick around long enough to fact-check it. It’s given rise to countless horror stories and at least a few goth bands.
8. Eating Carrots Gives You Night Vision
While carrots are good for your eyes (thanks, Vitamin A), they won’t turn you into a human owl. This myth started as World War II propaganda to hide the fact that British pilots had radar to spot German bombers at night. They claimed their pilots just ate lots of carrots, and somehow this lie about enhanced night vision survived. Now we’ve got generations of people munching carrots like they’re trying to unlock superhero powers.
9. Reading in Dim Light Ruins Your Eyes
Your mom wasn’t wrong about everything, but this one’s pure fiction. Reading in low light might give you a headache and eye strain, but it won’t permanently damage your vision. Your eyes are surprisingly resilient—they’re not like a camera that gets ruined if you use the wrong settings.
10. Swallowed Gum Takes Seven Years to Digest
While swallowing gum isn’t exactly recommended, it’s not going to set up a seven-year residency in your digestive tract. Your body will pass it like any other non-digestible substance. Yet somehow, people still believe there’s a gum graveyard in their stomach, collecting every accidentally swallowed piece since elementary school.
11. White Spots on Nails Mean Calcium Deficiency
Those white marks are usually from minor trauma to the nail matrix—like bumping your finger or pressing too hard during a manicure. But try explaining that to someone who’s convinced their spots are sending Morse code messages about their dietary needs. The dairy industry probably isn’t rushing to correct this one.
12. Bulls Hate Red
Turns out bulls are colorblind to red—they’re charging at the movement of the cape, not its color. Matadors could wave a hot pink cape or a spreadsheet of their monthly expenses; the bull would still charge. People still think wearing red around cattle is like wearing a “please trample me” sign. The real question is who had the time to fact-check this with an angry bull?
13. Step on a Crack, Break Your Mother’s Back
This superstition has probably done more for childhood fitness than any PE program. Kids hopping around sidewalks, desperately avoiding cracks like they’re playing “the floor is lava” with their mom’s spinal health at stake. Somehow we’ve collectively decided that sidewalk construction has mystical connections to maternal orthopedics. Civil engineers must love knowing their concrete work is being treated like a voodoo doll.
14. Shaving/Cutting Hair Makes It Grow Back Thicker
The myth that launched a million teenage mustaches. Cut hair ends look thicker because they’re blunt, not because cutting somehow supercharged the follicles. It’s like claiming cutting the end off a rope makes the whole thing thicker.
15. Sitting Too Close to the TV Ruins Your Vision
A relic from when TVs emitted small amounts of radiation, this myth stubbornly persists in the flat-screen era. While sitting nose-to-screen might cause temporary eye strain, it won’t permanently damage your vision. Kids sit close because they’re kids, not because they’re plotting to destroy their retinas.
16. The Five-Second Rule
Arguably the most scientifically tested excuse for eating food off the floor. The idea that bacteria politely wait five seconds before contaminating dropped food is both adorable and completely false. Germs don’t have stopwatches—they transfer on contact. But people still do that quick snatch-and-eat move anyway.
17. Spicy Food Causes Ulcers
Spicy food gets blamed for everything from ulcers to bad behavior when really it’s about as harmful as a strongly worded letter. Ulcers are typically caused by bacteria or NSAIDs, not your hot sauce collection.
18. Opening an Umbrella Indoors Brings Bad Luck
Probably started by someone who knocked over a vase with their umbrella and decided to make it everyone’s problem. The only bad luck you’ll get from an indoor umbrella is annoying your roommates or poking someone’s eye out.
