Things to try

[ellenscult]

Or maybe not... At least, the Metro says they're good for you...

1. Picking your nose and eating it. Good for you because your nose is cleaner and your immune system is stronger.

2. Masturbation. Men who masterbate more than 5 times a week reduce their risk of prostate cance by a third. (So where's the benefit for women? Hmm?)

3. Drinking your own urine. (Or rubbing it on your skin.) Boosts the immune system by reintroducing antibodies.

4. Not brushing your teeth immediately after eating sweets. Sugar and acids temporarily soften the surface of the teeth, so brushing them scours off enamel. Best to leave it for half an hour or so, then brush.

5. Eating a human placenta. A great source of nutrients, and may cut the risk of post-natal depression due to the high level of vitamin B6.

And some things which are bad for you...

1. Not washing your hair. New hair is clean - it gets dirty quickly, so wash it. It won't clean itself.

2. Starve a fever. Not eating when hungry (and running a fever) makes it harder to fight illness.

3. Being inactive with a bad back. On the whole, keeping active is better.

4. Using balm to keep lips moist. Apparently self-defeating; get used to drier lips. When you can't get hold of lip balm, you'll lick your lips to keep them moist. This will dry them out and make them crack.

5. Megadose supplements of fat-soluble vitamins. Excess water-soluble vitamins (C) are excreted in urine, but excess fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E) remain in the body. Too much vitamin A can damage the liver, and too much vitamin D can raise blood calcium to dangerous levels.



So there you go. Amusing, entertaining, and gross. *grin*

Comments

[kissmeforlonger.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure about drinking your own urine but women used to wash their hands in it to make them softer. I think urea/uric acid is still used in dry skin preparations so this may well be another old wives' remedy with some basis in fact.

[ellenscult]

I know it was used in dying cloth, but... I can see how a mild acid would soften your hands, but yuk!

[clotilde.livejournal.com]

Some people still rub babis all over with wet nappies, not in revenge, but to give nice soft skin.

And that stuff about lip balm is rubbish, because I tried giving the stuff up and my lips cracked and bled all over the place. If they only meant this advice to apply to people with certain types of skin they should have said so. I can do without in hot weather, but I need lip balm (and moisturiser, and body lotion with menthol in and expensive face wash) in anything less then a heatwave.

[medains.livejournal.com]

Urine was used to clean wool in Scotland, apparently making the wool softer.

Urine was also used (and exported from London in massive quantities for this purpose) to extract alum. Alum is then used as mordant in the dyeing process. (A mordant is a solution that you soak cloth in before dying, then it will take dye better).

Urine was also used to extract dye from woad. (Which makes an extremely striking blue colour when exposed to air, but smells very very very very very bad [due to the woad, not the urine] - so bad that the dyers were not allowed to live within the city of London)

The aztecs used urine to clean external wounds.

Urine soaked cloth was also used as an emergency gas mask in world war one. Though history seems to be silent on its effectiveness.

It seems to be a peculiarity of modern living that has branded it as "dirty" when, unless you have kidney or urinary tract problems, its relatively sterile.

Urine...

[gaxx.livejournal.com]

Also used to streak hair apparently...