1. Eating and Swimming

According to the old wives’ tales, if you eat a meal and then go swimming you will end up with terrible cramps. This is simply not true. Studies have been done and it is found that food will do nothing to create cramps when you swim. Eating a big meal and swimming isn’t recommended, however, but that is simply because large meals often make you tired.

2. Knuckle Cracking

Remember being told “don’t crack your knuckles, you’ll get arthritis!”? Well, that’s false. That being said, cracking your knuckles is not only pretty gross, but it can lessen your grip strength and cause swelling in the joints. So while you can rest assured you won’t get arthritis from it, it’s certainly not good for you.

3. Going out with Wet Hair

Don’t worry if you need to go out and you just don’t have time to dry your hair - you won’t catch a cold, contrary to the popular wives’ tale. The only way to catch a cold is to come into direct contact with the cold virus, and that does not happen through damp hair.

4. Feed a Cold, Starve a Fever

According to the old wives’ tale, if you have a cold you should make sure you eat a lot, but if you have a fever you should eat very little. Please do not follow this advice! If you’re sick, it is extremely important that you continue to eat and drink, which will keep your energy levels up and get over your sickness quicker.

5. Chocolate Causing Pimples

Eat that block of chocolate, because it will not give you pimples! Obviously eating too much sugar isn’t good for your body, but eating one or two blocks of dark chocolate each day actually can help clear your skin because of the antioxidants the cocoa contains. Eat up!

6. Shaving Makes Thicker Hair

Contrary to popular belief, when you shave, the hair that grows back is no thicker than that which you shaved off. It seems thicker and darker because it hasn’t been exposed to the sun and the air, which assists in making it lighter.

7. Eating Crusts Makes You Hair Curly

This is perhaps the silliest old wives’ tale to ever exist! There is absolutely no research to say that eating the crusts on sandwiches will make your hair any curlier than it is right now. There is nothing in the crusts of bread that isn’t in the bread itself, so if you don’t want curly hair, don’t worry about cutting off the edges.

Old wives’ tales are often so silly they are laughable, but at the same time, they are recited so often that it’s tricky to know which ones are real and which ones aren’t! Most of the time, however, it is pretty safe to assume they are not as true as they may sound. Which old wives’ tale were you told most as a child?