In this issue of the flu alert, the Lockton Health Risk Management team is putting six of the better known health-related myths to rest. Now you will know the truth, whether running out to the mailbox with wet hair will put you in bed with a cold for five days, or whether your Grandma Gladys' chicken noodle soup recipe really is good enough to cure what ails you. Read on to feel better, or worse, about what you've always believed to be true.

Hand sanitizer works if you do not have the opportunity to wash your hands with soap and water.

FACT  Look carefully at the label when you buy a pocket sanitizer for cleaning your hands. Here's what the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have to say: Washing hands with soap and water is still the very best way to reduce the number of germs on them. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60 percent alcohol. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers can quickly reduce the number of germs on hands in some situations, but sanitizers do not eliminate all types of germs.   And, take note of this: hand sanitizers are not effective when hands are visibly dirty.    Did you know there's even a best practice for how to use the cold, mushy stuff once you have squirted it into your palm? The CDC says: Apply the product to the palm of one hand. Rub your hands together. Rub the product over all surfaces of your hands and fingers until your hands are dry.

FACT OR MYTH

Walking outside with wet hair in the winter can make you catch a cold.

MYTH  Colds are caused by the common cold virus. It's highly contagious and colds are more prevalent in the winter (in part because people spend more time indoors, around each other). It might seem that stepping outside with wet hair in chilly temps is what brought on your last cold, but you were already carrying the virus, and you would have gotten it anyway - even if you had stayed toasty warm inside. 1234 Next Add a comment Name: Comment: 1000 Characters Left KTVA CBS 11 | Anchorage, Alaska News and Weather and its affiliated companies are not responsible for the content of comments posted or for anything arising out of use of the above comments or other interaction among the users. We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, remove or edit user-generated content at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice, although we have no duty to do so or to monitor any Public Forum. Search Search Special Offers Alaska Lasik & Cataract Center Return to top © 2008-2013 Broadcast Interactive Media and KTVA. Original trademark and copyright holders maintain their respective rights. Comments and submitted content remain copyright of the submitter.