1. You can catch poison ivy from someone else.
MYTH. You get poison ivy from the oil of the plant. If the oil gets onto tools or gloves or even a pet, it is possible to pick it up. But it is not transmitted from person to person.
2. Eating watermelon seeds can make you sick.
MYTH. The idea that they can sprout within the body and otherwise cause a problem is completely a myth.
3. Tanning one time in a tanning bed can protect your skin from the sun’s damaging rays.
MYTH. Tanning does not shield your skin against the damaging rays of the sun or protect you from developing skin cancer.
4. Going into and out of an air-conditioned environment can cause you to catch a cold.
MYTH. Cold air indoors in the summer does not cause colds. Viruses cause colds.
5. You should wait 30 minutes after you eat before going swimming.
TIP: BUT the time to wait depends on how much you are exerting yourself to swim. The digestive process requires blood flow to the stomach, and if you distract your stomach by exercising and leading the blood flow to the muscles instead of the stomach, you might get some stomach cramps.
Editor’s Note: UofL Today reprints To Your Health articles from the “UofL Physicians-Insider” newsletter. Read the entire July Issue (opens as a PDF document).