The winter holidays are rife with mythology and symbolism. Kiss beneath the mistletoe for love. Eat the appropriate meals on New 12 months’s Day to attract in good luck for the rest of the 12 months. Burn a Xmas Log to guard your property from lightning, hearth, or dangerous intentions. Nonetheless, not the entire myths surrounding the vacations should do with whether or not or not an individual has good or dangerous luck.
There are virtually as many well being myths swirling across the holidays as there are myths about altering your luck. Turkey makes you drained; consuming or consuming the appropriate elements will shorten your hangover and so many others. In the present day, we discover 4 of these myths to see how a lot reality is concerned.
Toxic Poinsettias
Poinsettias are stunning, darkish inexperienced shrubs with sensible purple floral bracts within the winter that appear like massive flowers. These conventional vacation crops have lengthy been considered stunning however harmful, and they’re thought of too poisonous to have anyplace round youngsters or pets. This is because of irritating chemical compounds within the sap, generally known as saponins.
Whereas there’s some reality to those claims, the toxicity of those fairly vacation crops is severely overblown. The gentle irritants present in poinsettia crops set off an itchy rash if the sap comes into contact with the pores and skin, but it surely normally doesn’t final lengthy. The saponins can even trigger misery as they journey by the gastrointestinal tract, resulting in drooling, nausea, vomiting, and even diarrhea. Nonetheless, the signs are normally manageable with out additional medical remedy.
Turkey-Induced Tiredness
For many individuals, turkey is the centerpiece of their vacation feasts, and their winter holidays simply wouldn’t really feel the identical with out an enormous roast turkey. Turkey meat, which accommodates the amino acid tryptophan, has lengthy taken the blame for that sleepy feeling all of us get after one in all these hearty vacation meals. It is because tryptophan performs a significant function in creating a number of hormones crucial for sleep, together with serotonin and melatonin.
This common piece of folks knowledge isn’t fully true, nonetheless. Whereas turkey does include a considerable amount of tryptophan, steak, pork, and hen all have extra, and it usually isn’t sufficient to set off sleepiness in most individuals. As well as, the results of tryptophan are blunted when it’s mixed with the opposite amino acids naturally current in turkey and different meats.
If it isn’t the turkey, what does trigger the postprandial fatigue that so many people expertise? The sheer quantity of meals is a big a part of the equation, particularly the quantity of high-carbohydrate meals. Huge vacation meals are additionally often deliberate within the late afternoon, a time when many individuals naturally have a dip in alertness, including to the impact.
Chilly Craniums
Prevailing folks knowledge claims that we lose anyplace from 50 to 80% of our physique warmth by our heads, even though the pores and skin protecting the top represents simply 10% of the physique’s floor space. This fantasy was revealed in a number of official paperwork, together with this outdated military survival information that gave the quantity of physique warmth misplaced by the top as 40-50%.
Army researchers within the 50s probably got here up with these numbers utilizing experiments that uncovered troopers to frigid climate. The experiment didn’t have in mind that whereas their heads had been uncovered, the remainder of their our bodies had been protected against the chilly, and this left little or no pores and skin uncovered in addition to that on their heads. More moderen research present that we really lose round 7-10% p.c of our physique warmth by our heads.
Time to Retailer the Sunscreen
Sunscreen is usually related to defending pores and skin from sizzling, sun-filled summer season days. As the times turn into colder and extra overcast, this important product typically will get saved and forgotten. Dermatologists advocate making use of sunscreen to uncovered pores and skin every day year-round, and for a great purpose.
UVB rays, the UV rays answerable for pores and skin burns, are most prevalent in the summertime. Fewer UVB rays are current within the winter, particularly on overcast days, decreasing the opportunity of burning and irritation. Sadly, that doesn’t imply your pores and skin is protected. Whereas there are fewer UVB rays within the winter, they typically replicate off of snow and different frozen surfaces. This exposes pores and skin to UVB rays each immediately and not directly. As well as, UVA rays, answerable for wrinkles and age spots, aren’t phased within the least by chilly climate, clouds, and even window glass. Each sorts of UV rays can result in harmful pores and skin cancers.
There are numerous totally different traditions, symbols, and indicators which can be related to the end-of-the-year holidays, from Halloween in October all the way in which to the ultimate day of the 12 months, New 12 months’s Eve. Myths about magical beings are usually innocent and simple to dismiss. Believing unfaithful statements about your well being may be detrimental. Being conscious of the reality behind these vacation myths, notably vacation claims regarding your well being, may also help alleviate stress and should forestall malaise sooner or later.
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