Category: Myths debunked

By now, I guess lots of people had the chance to take a glimpse at the alleged pregnant man or at least read about this new urban legend.
Although I am not homophobic, I found the picture grotesque. Aside from that, my first reaction when I have read about it was somewhere along these lines ‘yep, and the pigs fly’, followed by ‘it’s a hoax’.
I just don’t believe it for many logical reasons.

First of all, even if the scientists are considering male pregnancy as theoretically possible, the risks associated with the pregnancy would outweigh any benefits.
Try to think about ectopic pregnancy in women, which are considered so hazardous (it’s the number one cause of first-trimester deaths) that they are normally terminated after an ultrasound confirming them.
A man, who would undergo such a risky procedure of having an embryo implanted into a part of his body, would face and run into the risk of hemorrhaging to death with the progress of the pregnancy

It was a case back in 2005, when a woman delivered at 33 weeks a baby that survived development outside the womb.
“We won’t see another case like this in my lifetime,” Dr. Victor Han, chairman of the division of neonatal-perinatal medicine at St. Joseph’s told the Medical Post.
“A case like this won’t happen in the lifetime of my colleagues either. Probably not even in Canada. It is so rare.”
So rare, in fact, there have only been four similar cases reported worldwide.
The baby did not have any amniotic fluid surrounding her, had dislocated hips and club feet and her skull was flattened due to the fact that she was squished beneath her mother’s liver and bowels during the pregnancy.

There are two artists behind the male pregnancy hoax: Virgil Wong and Lee Mingwei.
Go to Virgil’s website http://www.virgilwong.com/ and check for yourself.
He owns both the domain names: malepregnancy.com and genochoice.com, according to Alexa and even more, the site is described as being “Documentary on “the first human male to ever birth a baby from his own body.” [Contains fictitious information].” Moving on to the next website, “This is a fictitious web site,” reads a disclaimer on the GenoChoice home page, “created to be an exploration of a very likely scenario that may one day result from new advances in biotechnology and infertility treatments.”

People think that this is art and because beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, I must conclude that I may be blind with regards to this concept.

Controversial as it was or maybe just because of that, the site got an Alexa rank of 344,000, which is not bad at all.

In conclusion: the news trolls are having fun.

1. More is better. In some things yes: in exercise, no. Your body will respond in a positive manner to an appropriate amount of stress (demand) placed upon it. Exceeding that amount is usually a waste of time (depending on your reasons for exercising), and quite possibly may be counterproductive.
2. Exercise can’t be fun. Fortunately, almost everyone can find an exercise activity that meets his or her particular needs and is well tolerated (emotionally, as well as physically). If you don’t find your conditioning regimen to be relatively enjoyable, it is very likely that you will give it up for ‘greener pastures.’
3. The more you sweat, the more fat you lose. If you exercise in extreme heat and/or humidity or in rubberized clothing, you certainly will sweat and lose weight. Any weight lost is this manner, however, represents lost water-not fat. When you replenish your body fluid stores by eating and drinking, those lost pounds will return.
4. Muscle will turn to fat when you stop lifting weights. Absolutely not possible. When you stop strength training: your muscles may lose some of their girth but will not be transformed into fat.
5. Performing aerobic-type exercise at a low-rather than a high-level of intensity promotes a greater loss of body fat. While it is true that the lower your exercise intensity level, the more your body prefers to use fats rather than carbohydrates as fuel, the absolute amount of fat calories burned during high intensity exercise tends to be equal to or greater than the number expended during low intensity activity. You lose weight and body fat when you expend more calories than you consume, not because you burn fat (or anything else) when you exercise.
6. During exercise you will become thirsty when your body needs water. Not true. Your thirst mechanism almost always tends to underestimate your fluid needs during exercise. As a result, you should consume a small amount of fluid at least every 15-20 minutes while exercising.
7. Strength training is a more appropriate activity for men than women. Absolutely not. Strength training can be just as beneficial (if not more so) for a woman as it is for a man. A higher level of muscular fitness has been shown to have numerous desirable consequences for women of all ages (e.g., better muscle tone, greater strength, and enhanced self-image)
8. Exercise is a contest. The word ‘contest’ usually connotes a natural dichotomy of ‘winners’ and ‘losers.’ Exercise, however, should not be viewed as a contest for several reasons, not the least of which is the fact that if you exercise properly, there are no losers-only winners.
9. Strength training will make you bigger. In reality, a number of factors influence the degree of muscle hypertrophy (growth) that an individual experiences as a result of engaging in strength-training program. Almost all of these factors are genetic. As a point in fact, a majority of men, and almost all women, lack the necessary level of male hormones requisite for a noticeable increase in muscular hypertrophy.
10. No pain, no gain. Wrong! Exercise should not be painful. A felling of discomfort (e.g., a ‘burning’ sensation in your muscles, muscular soreness, etc.) is generally a sign that you’re asking your body to do something that is not used to doing. Such a feeling often occurs when a previously sedentary individual initiates an exercise program. Pain is exercising to the point where you may be harming yourself. Keep in mind that the individual who first coined that popular phrase, ‘no pain equals no gain’ probably meant to say, ‘no pain equals no gain equals no sense.’
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Source URL:
http://www.hawkhealth.ku.edu/?q=node/28