• The Menemen@lemmy.ml
    0·
    9 months ago

    I mean isn’t it obviously homoeopathy and a significant part of the rest of alternative medicine (not all of it I guess). It is a billion euro business in Germany alone.

  • istanbullu@lemmy.ml
    0·
    9 months ago

    Most antidepressant usage. Many of those people do not have a chemical problem in their brain, they are just unhappy due to all the societal problems. You can’t treat social problems with a chemical.

  • franzfurdinand@lemmy.world
    0·
    9 months ago

    I have a couple from the hip actually, because America has grifting baked into it’s soul. In no particular order:

    • MMS (Drinkin’ bleach)
    • Crystal healing (most sellers)
    • WitchTok kits (TikTok influencers selling expensive spices)
    • Brain pills
    • Any product peddled by a megachurch (see the Baker bucket for a great example)

    As more of these come to me, I’ll try to expand the list.

      • franzfurdinand@lemmy.world
        0·
        9 months ago

        Anti-5g dongles? That’s new for me, but I consume a lot of these grifts secondhand through a few podcasts I listen to. I might be behind.

        Sounds like the bones of a good scam are there though, assuming the anti-5G conspiracy still gets traction and clicks.

        Edit: Do you know if someone like bigclive got one? He takes those sorts of devices apart a lot to explain them and I’d love to see what’s inside. I just don’t want to pay the money for one to fund the grift.

        • irelephant [he/him]🍭@lemm.eeOP
          0·
          9 months ago

          There is a good few videos on them, it has died down significantly since the whole 5g panic went away. Some of them were just some clear USB keys, some were just stickers. Mr. Whosetheboss did a video on them.

    • Maeve@kbin.earth
      0·
      9 months ago

      Idk about prevagen but my opthomologist definitely said any generic of preservation is very good, and artificial tears with flax seed oil will definitely relieve dry, itchy “sandy eye” feel. Idk if he really believes that or not but I thought I’d give some drops a try. Last time I tried artificial tears, it burned like soap so I hope it’s not a waste of money.

      Oh I looked it up, there may (study funded by the industry) be a basis for that. Medical News Today

    • HelixDab2@lemm.ee
      0·
      9 months ago

      Any product peddled by a megachurch (see the Baker bucket for a great example)

      Some megachurches have sold freeze-dried prepper food. It’s not a grift per se, because it’s perfectly edible freeze dried food, but it’s overpriced for what you’re getting.

      • franzfurdinand@lemmy.world
        0·
        9 months ago

        You’re right, but I was thinking of the buckets that are basically terrible quality slop that’s borderline inedible.

        I might still call it a grift because they’re asking for payment as “donations” to skirt paying taxes on them. That, and like you said, it’s not a great value for what you get. Maybe not pure snake oil, but there’s definitely still enough dishonesty involved imo that I’d be comfortable calling it a grift.

  • tleb@lemmy.ca
    0·
    9 months ago

    Standing desks - stationary standing is just as bad as stationary sitting.

    Blue light filter stuff - it’s my understanding that there’s no evidence that blue light causes eye strain.

    • illi@lemm.eeEnglish
      0·
      9 months ago

      You can at least move a bit more when standing at the desk. Also, my past boss was recommended one due to back issues by his doctor at one point

    • RBWells@lemmy.world
      0·
      9 months ago

      I called my standing desk a dancing desk. Didn’t just stand there. I don’t have one now we are back in the office though, some people do but they are all short - I’m taller and it seems too odd to be looking into everyone’s workspace.

    • Maeve@kbin.earth
      0·
      9 months ago

      Standing alternating with sitting doing desk work does alleviate some tension and probably thrombosis. I won’t say a lot, but it does help.

    • Pirasp@lemmy.world
      0·
      9 months ago

      I always thought the point of standing desks was, that you could periodically switch between standing and sitting. That should be at least somewhat beneficial right?

      • tleb@lemmy.ca
        0·
        9 months ago

        It really isn’t that much better, instead we should be periodically stretching or exercising

      • Tanoh@lemmy.world
        0·
        9 months ago

        No, the main point of standing desk is that whoever has one talks about them all day, every day. At least, that was my experience 10-15 years ago, which was the last time I spent in an office.

      • Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl
        0·
        9 months ago

        Night mode kind of differs. I think there was one piece of software that did it way before operating systems got night mode, and with the help of some measuring device they found out that most competitors turned the screen red but did not actually lower the amount of blue light much, negating the whole point (as the theory behind this stuff is that blue light messes with your sleep schedule). Your screen turning reddish yellow does very little if the effect is achieved by turning on more red and green pixels.

        • Norodix@lemmy.world
          0·
          9 months ago

          Sounds impossible. The way they turn the screen red is by reducing the blue light transmitted through the LCD panel. You cant turn the screen red and keep the blue light at the same time.

          Unless its an oled screen. Then it is a stupid implementation. You could just reduce the blue light then.

          • Skull giver@popplesburger.hilciferous.nl
            0·
            9 months ago

            I remember a long blog post about it on f.lux comparing it a bunch of competitors with actual measurements rather than pure RGB values.

            Of course LCD doesn’t turn on any pixels, it just stops blocking the white light from behind the panel, but the result isn’t any different.

            Unfortunately I can’t find the link right now, I must’ve read it a decade ago. Perhaps it’s been lost to time.

            The end conclusion was that a bunch of free apps/cheap software thought they could get in on the blue light fad and turned the screen redder without significantly reducing the amount of blue light transmitted. At the time, there were one of two kits of software that actually showed a significant drop in blue light because their colour mixing algorithm/colour profile adjustments were done correctly whereas the competition just implemented it wrong.

    • bionicjoey@lemmy.ca
      0·
      9 months ago

      Blue light filters may not help with eye strain, but I’ve definitely benefited from them for circadian rhythm reasons.

    • airbussy@lemmy.oneEnglish
      0·
      9 months ago

      Blue light filters can still be nice at night right? As the blue light can keep you awake.

        • VaultBoyNewVegas@lemmy.world
          0·
          9 months ago

          Same. I’ve the twilight app on my phone because my phones filter is shite. Same thing with f.lux on pc and my Lenovo tablet which only came out last year doesn’t even have a filter. It just dims or turns things black and white which is fucking useless if I’m looking to read a comic or something.

    • then_three_more@lemmy.world
      0·
      9 months ago

      Yeah if your desk is stuck just in one position that’s obviously going to be bad. Most ‘standing’ desks are actually height adjustable. You can spend some time standing some time sitting. But maybe even more important, you can adjust the desk to the right height rather than just adjusting your chair.

    • Blaster M@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      9 months ago

      Blue light doesn’t damage the eyes unless there is a burning amount of it (or a burning amount of UV), but people with bad eye focus may find it more straining to read things in blue due to the greater light scatter of the color. The solution is wear your reading glasses, I guess.

      What really strains the eyes is focusing on close up objects for hours on end. American eye doctors everywhere have the 30/30/30 rule (every 30 minutes, look at something 30ft away for 30 seconds) as a “let your eye muscles relax for a bit” exercise for those of you always working on something up close.

      That said, night filters are good just to help with your circadian rhythm, since the brain looks for a persistent abundance of a particular chunk of blue wavelength to determine “daytime”.

      • PunnyName@lemmy.world
        0·
        9 months ago

        The problem is thinking anything cures the cold or flu. Once you have it, you have it until it runs its course. The only way to cire either would be to completely eliminate them or how they function in the body with medicine that doesn’t currently exist.

        • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
          0·
          9 months ago

          There are a number of antiviral medicines, some of which work against influenza A and B. I’m pretty sure these are prescription medications in Canada.

    • ForgotAboutDre@lemmy.world
      0·
      9 months ago

      This is a common misconception of the placebo effect. The placebo effect is a measurement issue, not an actual benefit.

      Tests are corrupted by using the reposnes and judgement of humans. People will say they had some sort of benefit because of expectations, poor recollection and politeness. It doesn’t mean a benefit was gained. A placebo group allows researchers to quantify how much the placebo effect has on the data they gathered, they can then see if the experiment they did had any effect. Placebo is literally our definition of zero effect.

      Anyone telling you placebo is a good thing is wrong, misinformed or deliberately misleading you. In many countries it is illegal for doctors to prescribe ‘placebo treatments’. They will still recommend such things to their patients - not because they work but because they get the patient out the door and less likely to come bother them again.