We often expect a drug prescription when we visit a doctor. However, physicians seem to be gradually shifting from solely recommending the use of medications to prescribing other unconventional things. These bizarre prescriptions could be issued alone or to supplement a medication or some other treatment.

These newer treatments include playing, cycling, singing, visiting museums, bird-watching, and even consuming alcohol. Cool! At least we may get a perfect excuse to miss work and do what we love at the same time. These prescriptions were all issued by real doctors and backed by state and even federal health departments, so they are not some fraudulent moneymaking scheme.

10 Guinness

Guinness has always been promoted for its health benefits because it contains several medicinal properties including antioxidant compounds that may prevent heart attacks. It also contains iron. A pint of Guinness contains 3 percent of the 19 mg per day iron requirement for an adult.

This is why Guinness used to be prescribed to pregnant women and patients recovering from surgery. Due to the beer’s iron content, free cans of Guinness are also given to Irish blood donors right after they donate blood. As if that’s not enough, Guinness also contains phytoestrogen, which improves mental abilities, prevents obesity, and makes bones denser.

Little wonder that Australian doctors prescribed Guinness for a patient in 2017. The patient was Dave Conway, an Irishman from Dublin—the home of Guinness. And what could be more Irish than a bottle of chilled Guinness Extra Stout?

Conway had ended up in the hospital after falling from a seven-story construction site in Brisbane, Australia. He landed on his feet, causing horrific injuries to his feet and body. He underwent 26 surgeries, which included amputations of both legs below the knee. Conway was learning to use a wheelchair when his doctors issued him a prescription for a pint of Guinness a day.^[1]

9 Playing

We would all agree that children nowadays don’t play as much as they did a few decades ago. This is probably because many parents erroneously believe that play is just another avenue for children to run around and get dirty. Besides, many children also prefer watching television these days instead of playing.

Physicians say that a lack of play is damaging to a child’s health because play is important for learning, creativity, reducing stress, and ensuring mental and all-around development. This is why the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advised physicians to regularly issue prescriptions for play for children.

AAP and the CDC advise a minimum of one hour of play per day and another hour of some other physical activity. However, doctors often write the prescriptions as “Play Every Day.”^[2] At least, children now have one more excuse to get dirty.

8 Cycling

You are not motivated to cycle often? Your doctor has got you covered. For example, doctors in Cardiff (UK) and Boston (US) are allowed to prescribe cycling to patients who are not getting enough exercise or need to lose weight.

Physicians will issue the prescription along with a membership card of the partner bike-sharing business where it will be redeemed. In Cardiff, the prescription is redeemed at nextbike free of charge. Physicians in either city are allowed to write six-months-long, 30-minutes-a-day cycling prescriptions for their patients.

In Boston, the prescription is redeemed at Blue Bikes (originally Hubway). Initially, Hubway charged $85 a year for its bike-sharing services. However, the prescription was worth $80 for low-income patients, who were responsible for paying the remaining $5.^[3]

7 Bird-Watching And Strolling By The Beach

In 2018, the National Health Service of Shetland, Scotland, revealed its plans to allow doctors to prescribe bird-watching to patients with chronic and debilitating diseases like diabetes, mental illness, and heart disease. Doctors can also write prescriptions for the patient to stroll by the beach or just wander around.

Patients issued a bird-watching prescription will receive a tour organized by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. They will also receive calendars and lists of walking routes complete with the birds and plants they could find on the way.

Patients who receive prescriptions to visit the beach will spend their time watching the seabirds or finding oyster shells in the sand. Alternatively, they could walk up the hills to watch the birds. During the winter, patients would be allowed to visit select locations where they could enjoy the strong ocean winds.^[4]

6 Gardening

In 2016, it was reported that the UK National Health Service (NHS) was considering offering gardening prescriptions to patients suffering from cancer, obesity, and a range of heart and mental problems, including dementia. According to the NHS, gardening and several other outdoor activities improve sleep and reduce loneliness, anxiety, stress, and depression.

Gardening also aids recovery, makes patients active, and gives them a sense of fulfillment. A study revealed that dementia patients near or in gardens were 19 percent less likely to resort to violence than those who did not visit gardens. In fact, at the time of the study, violence among dementia patients who did not visit gardens increased sevenfold.

Interestingly, the program was already in existence in areas like Bromley and Lambeth (both in London) at the time that the NHS was planning to make it nationwide. In Lambeth, the gardens were established on hospital grounds where patients spent their time growing food. They sold their harvests to the hospital, which used them to make meals for other patients.^[5]

5 Singing, Music, Sports, Arts, And Other Hobbies

The UK National Health Service is also contemplating allowing doctors to write music prescriptions for dementia patients. According to Matt Hancock, UK Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the plan was part of the government’s attempt to reduce the persistent problem of “over-medicalizing the population.”

The government reached the decision after observing that dementia patients who sang and listened to music appeared less distressed and took less medication. In another study organized by Hull’s stroke recovery service and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, almost 90 percent of stroke sufferers experienced improved health after they were treated to music therapy.

The stroke patients also suffered less dizziness and anxiety and fewer seizures. They slept and concentrated better than they used to and showed improved cognitive abilities. Physicians in Gloucestershire also prescribed singing to patients with lung problems.

Besides singing and music, UK doctors may prescribe sports, arts, and other hobbies of a patient as part of their treatment. Hancock mentioned that, by 2023, the NHS would allow doctors to prescribe “community activities” and related pastimes for patients suffering from loneliness.^[6]

4 Museum Visits

In 2018, new legislation allowed doctors in Montreal to prescribe museum visits for their patients. To make the experience sweeter, patients were issued free tickets and allowed to visit along with their friends, relatives, or caregivers. The program was launched in partnership with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA).

According to Nathalie Bondil, the director of MMFA, the program will work because museum visits have a positive effect on the nervous system. Helene Boyer, the vice president of Medecins francophones du Canada (MdFC), added that a visit to the museum increased the secretion of the neurotransmitter serotonin, which boosts mood.

Boyer said that walking around the museum was equivalent to exercising for elderly people and for those suffering from chronic pain. She added that viewing art also had a positive effect on people suffering from potentially deadly conditions like cancer.^[7]

3 Electricity

Even in medical circles, doctors are often criticized for writing drug prescriptions for almost every medical condition under the Sun. This has become so normal that patients expect to receive medication prescriptions when they visit a doctor. Some patients even start to doubt a doctor’s credibility if this doesn’t happen.

Well! Doctors are slowly becoming aware that not all medical conditions require a drug prescription. Instead, patients could receive something as mundane as an electricity prescription for their health problems. This does not mean that doctors will have their staff administer huge jolts of electricity to their patients. Nope! The shocks are so weak that the patient will not feel them.

To be clear, the procedure is not available yet. However, scientists believe that it will work because the human body works on electricity. Our brains often send weak electrical signals to our nerves to order parts of our bodies to perform certain functions. This is the reason why nerve injuries often lead to paralysis—the paralyzed body part is unable to receive signals.

Scientists plan to send the signals from an electrical device implanted in the body. Besides managing nerve damage, scientists also intend to use it to treat other health conditions like diabetes and heart problems. This is achieved by using electrical signals to make the pancreas produce insulin or to increase or decrease the rate at which the heart beats.^[8]

2 Food

Not all patients need drugs. Some just need a perfect diet. However, they could not get food prescriptions until California doctors moved in to change that. Under the program, Food is Medicine, California doctors are allowed to issue prescriptions for food. There is a snag, though. The prescriptions are only planned for 1,000 poor patients suffering from congestive heart failure.

The program is based on a 2013 study by Philadelphia nonprofit Metropolitan Area Neighborhood Nutrition Alliance (MANNA). That year, the nonprofit gave three square meals and a snack to each of 65 patients suffering from congestive heart failure.

Twelve months later, the nonprofit discovered that the study group had spent less on health care than they used to do. Their average monthly medical costs also declined to $28,183 from $38,937 before the program.

Patients involved in the study also visited hospitals only half as much as the control group and had shorter stays at the hospital whenever they were admitted. They were also likelier than other patients to be sent home after receiving treatment rather than going to rehab or some other specialized treatment center.

The program probably worked because congestive heart disease patients often require specialized meals with low salt content to manage their conditions. However, they often find it difficult to get these meals because we have lots of high-salt meals like chips out there.^[9]

1 Park Visits

In 2015, the South Dakota Department of Health and the state’s Game, Fish and Parks Department launched a limited pilot program that allowed doctors to write prescriptions for park visits for their patients.

Patients who received the prescriptions randomly visited any park or recreation area owned by the state. A few other US cities have similar park prescription programs—for example, Baltimore, which calls it “Docs in the Park,” and Albuquerque, which calls it “Prescription Trails.”^[10]

Prescriptions do not always lead to the pharmacy. These days, a doctor’s scribble can take you into virtual worlds and fake surgery. The homeless are also prescribed homes and addicts can pick up their heroin. Even those who bother their GPs too much run the risk of being carted off to Bingo or given Bollywood dancing lessons.

SEE ALSO: Top 10 Corpse Medicines That Turned Patients Into Cannibals

10 Depression – Books

In the United Kingdom, doctors can now prescribe reading. Should a patient with depression need treatment, they can get a prescription paper from their physician for “bibliotherapy.” However, this ticket is not a backstage pass to grab any book. Given only to those with moderate depression, it can be handed over to a librarian in exchange for specific reads. Forget about your favorite Harry Potter tome. The titles are chosen by the doctor and relate to self-help topics involving depression, anxiety, OCD, diet and feeling better.

The hope is that sufferers would feel less isolated and experience a solution-providing catharsis. Bibliotherapy already has a good track record among children. Books explaining death, divorce and other difficult life issues to kids have been around for decades. The therapy cannot cure depression on its own but might provide another way to help manage the condition.^[1]

9 Healthier Lifestyles – Community Gardening

The National Health Service (NHS) is turning people to “green prescriptions.” No, this is not marijuana. The term refers to bonding with nature to reap the medical benefits. However, in this case, the focus is more on community gardening.

The individual can enjoy less loneliness, anxiety, and depression. But what purpose does a bunch of gardeners serve together? A group project encourages better habits. One is more inclined to stay with a social project over time, foster a sense of community and even walk more if the garden can be reached on foot. Since many community crops produce vegetables, people also enjoy fresh produce that is free or cheaper than store-bought. Planning and maintaining the garden also helps people to think and communicate better. A successful project can even boost the environment. Growing trees consume harmful carbon from the air while also providing a haven for birds and wildlife.^[2]

8 Mental And Physical Illnesses – Museum Visits

In 2018, the Francophone Association of Doctors in Canada (MfdC) asked physicians a curious thing. Would they treat patients to a museum as part of their treatment? Over 100 doctors signed up for the program. The unconventional initiative is based on evidence that visual art has a positive influence on health in general.

A doctor will provide a free access card to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA). The prescription allows two adults and two children to visit the museum together. This is an additional perk. While the patient views the art, they can also spend some time with their family or friends. Being social in a safe space erases the stress that aggravates many conditions.

Shepherding people into a museum as a medical treatment is a world first. Even better, the doctors can suggest it for a wide spectrum of conditions, including trauma, anxiety, depression, epilepsy, autism and Alzheimer’s. Basically, most mental and physical ailments could benefit from this program.^[3]

7 Health Management – Nature

After a successful trial run, doctors in Scotland can now legally release their patients into the wild. Since 2018, nature is an official prescription to help treat an existing condition or to reduce the risk of developing a disease. These range from diabetes, cancer, high blood pressure, and stress. This may sound insane but numerous studies have found that nature has a beneficial effect on the human mind and body.

The program is called “Nature Prescriptions.” When a doctor decides a person needs it, they hand the patient a pamphlet explaining how nature is a powerful healing force. This calendar also highlights things to do at certain times of the year. During January, lichen hunting is recommended, while February invites gardening and dogs are best walked in March. Other suggestions include cloud adoration and hurling rocks into the ocean after inscribing them with worries. Patients are also encouraged to use their imaginations when sauntering outdoors to soak up what nature has to offer. Hiking, listening to birds or enjoying the wind are just some of the options that could lower stress levels.^[4]

6 Mental And Heart Health – Bike Rides

In 2019, Wales launched a pilot project to improve cardiovascular health. Two medical centers in the capital of Cardiff has been authorized to prescribe bike rides. Not only does regular cycling cut the risk of dying from heart disease by 52 percent but it also brightens the spirit. Needless to say, bicycles also do not pollute the air like cars and buses.

The health initiative allows doctors to give patients a six-month subscription to a bike-rental company in their area. In Europe, rented bicycles can cost up to £10 ( around $13) a day. This is not encouraging for those wishing to pedal their way to better health. The six-month subscription allows anyone to zip around the city for free. The program is the first of its kind in the United Kingdom but could lead to bigger things. Should it prove successful, the UK plans to add more out-of-the-box activities to complement conventional treatments.^[5]

5 Various Conditions – Placebos And Fake Surgery

In 2011, the German Medical Association (BÄK) gathered information about placebos. The report found that half of all German physicians prescribe placebos and as many as 88 percent in Bavaria. Contrary to what one might initially think, BÄK did not go ballistic.

The placebos included vitamin pills, homeopathic alternatives, and fake surgery. The study found that in certain cases the sham worked. Not only did it relieve the blues and aches in patients but when placebos were prescribed with real medicine, the latter showed a spike in effectiveness. Interestingly, the degree to which a placebo was successful depended on its looks and price. The cheaper they came, the less effective they were. Patients also liked pills to come in certain sizes and colors, injections proved to be the best.

Although nobody knows why placebos work, it could have something to do with trust. Whenever a patient felt that the doctor listened and understood their concerns, the phony pharmacy excelled. However, BÄK made it clear that standard medication should never be denied if a person’s health might suffer. The Association also recommended that doctors should be educated about placebos and that international guidelines should be drawn up to regulate their usage.^[6]

4 Bothering GPs – Bollywood Dancing

General practitioners have an unusual burden. Patients are making appointments for things physicians cannot help with, like loneliness, debt, welfare and housing issues. In London, almost every third appointment is non-medical. As a result, GPs are swamped. Their long working hours lead to burn-out and practices struggle to hire new doctors because of the workload.

In London, Parchmore medical center tried something called “community prescribing.” The project launched in the borough of Croyden and allowed doctors to prescribe things that got people out of their homes and more involved with their community. However, each person was allocated an activity related to their problem. Loneliness might get a ticket for bingo or Bollywood dancing lessons. Welfare issues saw prescriptions for debt and housing meetings held at church halls.

There were 112 activities available and during the 18-month trial run, around 30,000 social sessions were handed out to patients. The results were promising. People became more social and connected with their community. GPs started working normal hours and outpatient referrals to Parchmore dropped by 20 percent in 2018.^[7]

3 Homelessness – A House

Hawaii receives an annual Medicaid allotment of $2 billion. A fraction of the population is responsible for the greatest drain on this resource. Homeless people keep arriving at the emergency room with injuries, infections, mental illness and the fallout of substance abuse. Their treatment is covered by Medicaid but expenses skyrocket because individuals often return within a week with renewed infections or complications. This boomerang habit is due to living in unsanitary conditions or not having adequate shelter.

On average, one person could cost Medicaid $120,000 per year. Put that next to the $18,000 required to give someone a home and the answer seems obvious. In 2017, a radical bill was proposed. If homelessness could be classified as a medical condition, then doctors would be able to prescribe a house. Indeed, past research showed that healthcare costs fell by 43 percent in when the homeless were given housing. Despite the savings and safety for the homeless, not everyone agrees with the bill. The department of human resources development fears it might be abused to get free houses, plus that the costs could overwhelm the healthcare system anyway.^[8]

2 Burn Wounds – Virtual Reality

Shriners Hospital for Children is one of the best burn facilities in America. They treat kids that arrive with terrible burn wounds, sometimes covering their faces or as much as 70 percent of their bodies. Despite Shriners’ excellent care, the strongest painkillers are not always enough. In the words of Hunter Hoffman, the pain experienced by the kids is “astronomically high.”

Hoffman is both a cognitive psychologist and the director of the Washington-based Virtual Reality Research Center. Hoffman and his colleagues came up with a novel idea. The human attention span is only so long and pain requires a lot of focus. Theoretically, should a person get lost in a virtual world, their pain awareness should drop as more brain signals are occupied with the false reality.

Remarkably, it worked. The children’s wounds prevented a fitted device, so Hoffman used a robotic arm to hold goggles near the patient’s face. The game is called “SnowCanyon” and features cute Arctic characters the player can pelt with snowballs. The children were so distracted by the igloos and floating along the canyon that nurses could clean their wounds during the game. Indeed, their pain levels dropped by 50 percent.^[9]

1 Addiction – Heroin

In 2016, Canada’s government passed an unusual law. Heroin addicts can now get their fix legally. There are serious rules restricting access to diacetylmorphine, which is medical-grade heroin. First, a patient must have failed at every other conventional treatment. A doctor must then apply to the health department on behalf of the addict. Everyone is judged on a case-by-case basis and should the person receive approval, the department provides the diacetylmorphine.

The approach has two benefits. The drug methadone is normally used to wean patients off heroin. When compared, the statistics showed that more people kicked the habit when they used diacetylmorphine than methadone. Those on methadone were also more likely to turn to other drugs. Secondly, the addict is monitored by medical staff during the heroin injection. This provides a safe and controlled space that otherwise could end with an overdose. In fact, Canada’s rising overdose death rate was one of the reasons why the new treatment was embraced. The paradoxical approach is not unique to the country. Doctors can prescribe diacetylmorphine in Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, and Switzerland.^[10]

Modern medicine is a term we use to describe what is generally considered the best and most advanced kind of health care we have available. This is in contrast to things like ancient Chinese medicine or old school quackery and ill-informed procedures like lobotomies and trepanning and such. But there are a number of treatments doctors still use today that may be a little more old school and unexpected than you’d think. 

10. Indoor Tanning is Still Prescribed For Many Condition Despite the Cancer Risk

Some people who want a tan but don’t want to or can’t get out into the sun choose to use tanning beds. In fact, a lot of people still think these are a safer alternative to natural sun to get a tan. Dermatologists will tell you the exact opposite, that a tanning bed is actually more dangerous than the sun and greatly increases your exposure to cancer-causing UV rays. 

Despite the risk of multiple forms of skin cancer, there are still occasions when a doctor may actually prescribe tanning beds to patients as a treatment. For instance, if you have a bad case of seasonal affective disorder, or SAD, you may find yourself feeling depressed and tired during the autumn and winter. A few minutes in a tanning bed can actually turn this condition around and help elevate your mood and was often prescribed as a way to “beat the winter blues,” as they say. None of this counteracts the dangerous effects of the radiation, of course.

Other reasons doctors may prescribe tanning is for Vitamin D deficiencies, fibromyalgia, various skin conditions and more. One patient said their doctor sent them there to deal with cramps. Most dermatologists will insist there’s no such thing as good tanning and would never recommend it for anything, however.

9. Coca-Cola is Prescribed to Treat Stomach Obstructions Called Bezoars

Bezoars are gastrointestinal obstructions that can lead to feelings of fullness, nausea, vomiting and serious stomach damage over time. There are numerous types which can be composed of various undigested or partially foods and stomach contents which get caught in your stomach or intestines and can grow larger over time. The hard lumps can also be vomited up sometimes, and the result is extremely unpleasant as you’re basically throwing up something that was meant to go out the other way.  

A large enough bezoar can cause anemia, bowel obstruction, ulcers and worse. So you need to get rid of them if they appear and one of the best tools we currently have to do that is Coca-Cola. 

Half a liter of Coke, three times a day for 7 days can break down a bezoar so that it can be safely passed or broken up. The high phosphoric acid content in the soda is believed to be the active ingredient when it comes to treating them and, weirdly, it seems to be Coca-Cola more so than Pepsi or any generic cola that works best. 

8. Meth is Prescribed to Treat ADHD and Obesity

There are numerous drugs prescribed to help treat ADHD these days including popular choices like Adderall and Ritalin. Many of these drugs are also amphetamines which are, of course, stimulants. When you hear that, however, you probably think it’s not too unusual because it’s medicine. It sounds like an illegal drug because it’s chemically similar, right? Like how morphine and heroin are kind of close but one is used in hospitals and one is an illegal street drug, right? Well, not exactly.

One of the drugs used to treat ADHD is not just an amphetamine, it’s methamphetamine. That doesn’t mean something else in medical jargon, that’s just meth. Sold under the name Dexosyn, it can also be used to help assist with weight loss. That said, the Mayo Clinic also points out that meth has a high risk for abuse, in case you weren’t aware, and should only be used for weight loss if other methods have failed. Please don’t do meth to lose weight.  

7. The Herpes Virus is Used to Treat Cancer

There are more methods to treat cancer than a lot of people realize, chief among them chemo and radiation therapies. But you can also undergo hyperthermia, hormone therapy, photodynamic therapy, surgery, stem cells and more. 

Less well known than any of those treatments is herpes. The herpes virus is occasionally used as a treatment for cancer. A form of the herpes simplex 1 virus is injected directly into melanoma skin cancer cells which either explodes the cancer cells directly as it multiples inside the tumor until it bursts or it triggers the body’s own immune response to go after the cancer more aggressively. 

Studies have shown that a number of different cancers can be treated this way and around 25% of patients seem to respond to it.

6. Horse Urine is Used in Medications to Treat Menopause

Hormone therapy and hormone replacement is a very common treatment for women who have gone through menopause. One commonly prescribed treatment is a medication called Premarin which can either be taken in pill form or used as a topical cream, a patch and injections as well. It provides the patient with estrogen to help balance hormone levels and alleviate some of the symptoms caused by going through menopause. 

A less-well known fact about Premarin is that it’s made from horse urine. Specifically, it’s isolated from the urine of pregnant mares and that’s actually where the name Premarin comes from – Pregnant Mare Urine. Around 700 farms maintain a herd of 80,000 horses to produce the urine but they have to be pregnant to produce it so you can imagine what that might entail in terms of how the animals are treated and what their lives are like.

The drug has been in use since 1942 so it’s got a long history of being effective and, in truth, is not the only animal derived drug we use, either. People tend to be a little freaked out when they hear about it though because it sounds off-putting to us thanks to social taboos around things like urine and waste material but if it works, it works. 

5. Tilapia Skin Treats Severe Burns

Treating severe burns is never easy and often the best result is a lessening of scar tissue that forms as opposed to serious and disfiguring ones. Skin grafts are sometimes used and this often requires taking undamaged skin from the victim, perhaps from their back or some other place where it won’t be noticeable, and using it to replace the worst of the burned tissue. 

Another method for dealing with burns is grafts that don’t come from the victim or anyone else for that matter. The flesh of tilapia fish has proven to be a reliable source of skin for grafts. The flesh has high amounts of collagen which is vital for healing after burns and it also speeds the healing process thanks to the presence of some non-infectious microorganisms. In addition, it helps reduce pain during the healing process.

Doctors in Brazil started using tilapia when they were unable to secure human or pig skin which had been the preferred choices prior. Tilapia was used to treat animal burns before the Brazil trials.  Turned out that tilapia worked really well and was also easy to get ahold of and pretty cost effective as well since the skin is usually just thrown away.  

4. Thalidomide Is Still Used to Treat Various Diseases

Thalidomide was widely used back in the 1950s when it was prescribed for things like anxiety and morning sickness. That proved to be a devastating mistake as it was soon learned that the drug caused severe birth defects. As many as 10,000 babies were born, many of which died shortly after. The survivors had issues ranging from heart problems to eye problems to serious issues with limb formation that resulted in many with short arms, missing hands and fingers.

The drug was not banned outright, however, and is still used today to treat conditions like leprosy. It has also proven effective as a treatment for some cancers as well and was being investigated for its ability to treat other conditions.  In Brazil, children were being born as late as 2013 suffering from the same birth defects the drug causes. 

3. Ointment for Fissures Can Treat Snake Bites

Getting bit by a venomous snake is not something you want to experience. Some bites are almost guaranteed to be fatal due to the inability to get to help in time and the lack of antivenoms which need to be specific to the snake that bit you and can’t always be obtained or properly identified. The venom from some snakes can be extremely painful and cause serious tissue damage as well.

Timing is key with a snake bite and one thing recommended to slow the progress of venom is an ointment that is more typically prescribed for the treatment of anal fissures. Nitroglycerin ointment releases nitric oxide into your bloodstream. The proteins in the snake venom are slow to move their way through your body so anything you can do to slow them down can save your life. Nitric oxide constricts your lymphatic vessels and slows the venom’s progress. 

In tests to see how well it worked, a substance that mimics venom was injected into a subject’s foot. It took 13 minutes to reach the top of an untreated leg, but when the injection site was smeared with ointment, it took 54 minutes. So if you ever hike in snake country, keep a tube of nitroglycerin ointment in your bag, just in case.

2. Dolphin Therapy Can Treat PTSD

A stunning 6 in 10 people will suffer PTSD at some point in their lives. In Ukraine, soldiers there suffering from PTSD were undergoing treatment which involved swimming with dolphins. The results were pretty dramatic, too. In one case a child who had stopped speaking for months after his school was shot up was sent to swim with dolphins and after the first session he started talking again. The therapy has also been used for injured soldiers.

Other facilities around the world offer similar experiences and the results have been promising for many, though the scientific community seems quite split on the methods and results. Some have claimed the results prove little if anything and there are ethical concerns for the dolphins involved. Parents of severely injured and disabled children say they have noticed clear and distinct changes after the therapy, however. Because there has been so little scientific study on the matter, there’s not much reliable data to go on one way or the other. 

1. Beer Can Help Treat Radiation Sickness

There are probably a lot of people in the world who wish they could get a doctor to prescribe them beer to treat literally anything. Sometimes it’s prescribed in hospitals for alcoholics going through withdrawals to help ease them back to sobriety. But that’s not the only medicinal use for beer out there. You can also use beer as part of the treatment for radiation sickness. 

It doesn’t work for every kind of radiation poisoning, but if you’ve been exposed to tritium, then your best treatment is to get the tritium out of your body before it can wreak havoc and cause DNA damage leading to cancer. Because tritium likes to hang out in water, including body water, you need to flush your system and beer drinking is a great method of doing just that.

You could also use wine or tea to get the same effect, basically any beverage that works as a diuretic to make you urinate more frequently.