What is something that people think is dangerous but in reality is completely harmless?

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For my country (Germany): Catching a draft. Basically people believe that a light breeze from an open window will make you ill.
- We have a similar one here in the US. People think if you go outside when it's too cold, you'll get sick.
  
  It's not completely baseless. You can't get sick from the cold itself, but lower core body temp does weaken your immune system until you warm up, making it easier for you to get sick if you do get exposed to something.
  
  The cold, dry air during the winter can also dry out the mucus membranes in the sinuses which can make it easier for pathogens to enter the body. Again, doesn't make you sick directly but does interfere with your body's defense mechanisms.
  
  In the US, I hear this more when your hair is wet: "Don't go outside, it's cold and your hair's wet, you'll get sick!"
- Not only colds, but you also get stiff necks! According to my mother, it's almost instantly. Leaving two windows open makes here neck stiffer than a priest in a kindergarten, but only inside. Standing in the wind outside is perfectly fine.
- Also Russia and probably most eastern European countries. One of my kids will catch a cold and the first thing my mother or grandmother will ask is if they were somewhere drafty.
  
  It's even in the name! A "cold", huh!
- Similar in France, also airco giving you all kinds of symptoms
- I've heard that cited in stories, usually older. A baby dies and they blame someone leaving the door open too long and letting in a draft.
- God, on one hand, catching a draft makes you die and then on the other STOSSLÜFTEN!!
  
  Tja ein STOSS ist halt kein ZUG!
  
  Schon, wenn meine Mutter lüftet. Alle Fenster im Haus (auch im Winter) und das ist nicht mehr ein Zug, aber ein ganzer Hauptbahnhof lol
  
  Sei froh! Wenn sie die Fenster nur kippen würde wärt ihr wahrscheinlich schon tot oder zumindest schwer krank. Soweit ich weiß ist so ein kleiner Zug, den man kaum spürt, am gefährlichsten. Weil dann fühlt sich der Körper sicher und Killerviren haben leichtes Spiel!
  
  The hero we need, but don't deserve 😔
  meine Mutter, wahrscheinlich
- I didn't know it's a thing in Germany too. 😊 Drafts are also blamed for pretty much any unexpected ailment, from rheumatism to toothache. And off course cold, flu and so on.
- That's totally cultural, in the US it's dehydration
- I don't know about that, I always get a pink eye and my sinuses start to hurt if I stay in draft for a longer period of time.
- Yeah, but then they go and open all the windows to "change the air" no matter the weather.
  I used to work with a bunch of Germans in the US. I came in to the office one time at about 4:30am in February. One of the guys had all the windows open when the outdoor temperature was something like -20F.
  Like Moritz, I think that avoiding the draft is more important than changing the air at that point. 🙄
  I also had an old manufacturing guy tell me that drinking cold water in the summer would kill you because of the shock to your system.
- Oh, that kind of draft
- Similar to "fan death" in Korea, where they think running a fan in your bedroom while you sleep can kill you.
- Same in Czechia.

387 comments