HEALTH FACTS AND FANTASIES

1 DOES CRACKING YOUR KNUCKLES CAUSE ARTHRITIS?

Some people learn how to “pop their knuckles”.

By pushing or pulling a joint in a certain way an air bubble can suddenly appear in the joint with a “pop”.

Once the bubble is there the joint cannot be popped again until the air has been re-absorbed.

There is no evidence that cracking one’s knuckles can cause arthritis directly.

However, repeated injury of a joint or repeatedly causing it to swell can injure the cartilage and potentially lead to degenerative joint disease.

2 SHOULD YOU HOLD YOUR HEAD BACK IF YOU HAVE A NOSE BLEED?

Most nose bleeds are minor and only last a few minutes, but they can be dangerous if someone loses a lot of blood. St John’s Ambulance advice states that if someone is having a nose bleed your priority is to control the bleeding and keep their airway open. It adds, get them to sit down, not lie down, as keeping the nose above the heart will reduce bleeding. Get them to lean forward (not backwards) to make sure the blood drains out through their nose, rather than down their throat, which could block their airway. Ask them to breathe through their mouth and pinch the soft part of the nose, taking a brief pause every ten minutes, until the bleeding stops. From cracking joints causing arthritis to the rules about waking up sleepwalkers, there are plenty of health myths out there – but many are, in fact, completely wrong. We asked a GP to sort the fact from the fiction on nine of the most widely believed old wives’ tales. Dr Rebecca Ratcliffe has been a GP since 2014 and works at the Cwmbran Village Surgery. This is what she said...

Encourage them not to speak, swallow, cough, spit or sniff, because this may break blood clots that may have started to form in the nose.

If the bleeding is severe, or if it lasts more than 30 minutes, call 999 or 112 for medical help.

3 IS IT BEST TO FEED A COLD AND STARVE A FLU? There is minimal research done on this and studies contradict themselves.

When you are unwell with flu/fever then your body doesn’t want to eat so it is natural you go into “starvation mode”. However, the medical advice is not to actively starve yourself. Instead you should be drinking plenty of fluids to reduce the risk of dehydration.

4 CAN SWALLOWED CHEWING GUM STAY IN YOUR SYSTEM FOR YEARS? An article from Scientific America states any chewing gum found is not normally more than a week old.

It said: “Asked if the rumour is medically unfounded, pediatric gastroenterologist David Milov of the Nemours Children’s Clinic in Orlando, replies: ‘I can tell you that with complete certainty.’

“If the legend were true, Milov says, ‘that would mean that every single person who ever swallowed gum within the last seven years would have evidence of the gum in the digestive tract,’ but colonoscopies and capsule endoscopy procedures turn up no such evidence.

‘On occasion, we’ll see a piece of swallowed gum,’ he says, ‘but usually it’s not something that’s any more than a week old.’

“According to Rodger Liddle, a gastroenterologist at the Duke University School of Medicine, ‘nothing would reside that long, unless it was so large it couldn’t get out of the stomach or it was trapped in the intestine.’ (normally objects under 2cm can pass through stomach & bowels)

“So what does become of gum that’s been chewed up but not spit out? Not much, as it happens.

“Some of the components, such as sweeteners, are broken down, but the gum’s base is largely indigestible. (ie it is largely passed straight through with minimal impact on the body at all)”

5 COUGHING UP GREEN MUCUS MEANS YOU NEED ANTIBIOTICS Over the years we have assumed the colour of the sputum coughed up was a good guide to how serious an infection was – i.e. if it is yellowish-green then more likely to have a bacterial infection and need antibiotics.

However, in patients with no history of chest disease, this doesn’t appear to be true.

On repeated clinical studies there is no correlation between colour of sputum and clinical need for antibiotics.

There are two exceptions to this: one, if the person already has a chronic chest condition (eg bronchiectasis, COPD) then it may be an indication that antibiotics are needed; two, if there is blood in the sputum – this may also be a sign of nasty infection so it is prudent to get medical advice.

6 SLEEPWALKERS – CAN WAKING THEM GIVE THEM A HEART ATTACK? According to The Register, a technology magazine, although a sleepwalker won’t have a heart attack if woken, it’s probably best to not wake them.

The 2007 article by Stephen Juan said: “It is a myth that it is dangerous to wake up a sleepwalker because it may cause them a heart attack, shock, brain damage, or something else.

“It is not a myth that it is dan--

gerous to wake up a sleepwalker because of the possible injury the sleepwalker may inflict upon themselves or the person waking them up.

“According to Dr Giuseppe Plazzi of the Department of Neurological Sciences at the University of Bologna in Italy, rousing a sleepwalking person, especially vigorously, might confuse or distress them temporarily. Disoriented, they may strike out at anyone close. It is best not to be in their way.

“Instead, it might be better to simply guide them back to bed in their sleep. It is not likely that a sleepwalker when woken up suddenly will have a cardiac event.

“It is no different from when a person sleeping normally is suddenly awakened by, say, a loud noise.

“The important thing is to protect a sleepwalker from themselves.”

Dr Plazzi and four colleagues recently reviewed research on sleepwalking in the December 2005 issue of Neurological Sciences. According to the Plazzi study: Sleepwalking is surprisingly common. 30% of children between the ages of five and 12 experience at least one sleepwalking episode.

Persistent sleepwalking occurs in between one to six per cent of children. Sleepwalking peaks at between ages four and six.

Sleepwalking occurs occasionally in two to three per cent of adults. About one in every 250 adults sleepwalks once a week.

The prime time for sleepwalking is about one to two/ three hours into sleep.

Sleepwalking tends to run in families.

Stress may be the most common reason for sleepwalking. Other causes in adults include sleep deprivation, alcohol intake, and drug intake.

People sometimes perform elaborate tasks while sleepwalking.

7 YOU SHOULD DRINK EIGHT GLASSES OF WATER A DAY

Around three or four pints a day of non-alcoholic fluids is what most people need.

Up to 30% of our fluid intake comes from food. The rest should be made up with nonalcoholic fluids: about three

pints for women and four pints a day for men. At times you will need more fluid than this (e (e.gg in hot weather; after exercise; if feverish).

Non-alcoholic fluids, including tea, coffee and fruit juice all count towards your fluid intake (i.e. not just water).

Large amounts of caffeine act as a diuretic so can dehydrate.

However, below about 400 mg a day of caffeine, caffeine-containing drinks are unlikely to dehydrate you and can count towards your daily fluid intake (i.e. up to four mugs of instant coffee and eight cups of tea a day).

8 EATING CHOCOLATE MAKES ACNE WORSE

There is no evidence that eating oily/fatty foods promotes acne.acne

Research shows that eating foods with high glycaemic index (those likely to raise your blood sugars) can increase your risk of acne, so large quantities of chocolate may, but not the occasional bar.

9 EATING CARROTS IMPROVES YOUR EYESIGHT

According to Dr Ratcliffe, carrots do help keep your eyes healthy. Carrots are a natural source of vitamin A, which is essential for eye health.

It makes retinol, which helps produce the eye pigment responsible for sensing low light situations.

Deficiency in vitamin A is one of the leading causes of preventable child blindness worldwide and it’s first sign is difficulty in seeing in the dark.

However, carrots are not the only source of vitamin A – others include orangey-yellow fruit/ veg, leafy veg, milk, eggs, liver, fish oils.

A reasonably varied diet will include enough vitamin A to maintain eye health.

Eating extra carrots will not improve eyesight in these circumstances.