HAND WASHING: WHY IT’S SO IMPORTANT

Why Is Hand Washing So Important?

It's a message worth repeating — hand washing is by far the best way to keep kids from getting sick and prevent the spread of germs.

What's the Best Way to Wash Hands?

Here's how to scrub those germs away. Teach this to your kids — or better yet, wash your hands together often so they learn how important this good habit is:

• Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold). Make sure the water isn't too hot for little hands.

• Use soap and lather up for about 20 seconds. Antibacterial soap isn't a must — any soap will do.

• Make sure you get in between your fingers, on the backs of hands, and under the nails where germs like to hang out. And don't forget the wrists!

• Rinse and dry well with a clean towel.

When Should We Wash Our Hands?

To stop the spread of germs in your family, make regular hand washing a rule for everyone. It's especially important:

• before eating and cooking

• after using the bathroom

• after cleaning around the house

• after touching animals, including family pets

• before and after visiting or taking care of any sick friends or relatives

• after blowing one's nose, coughing, or sneezing

• after being outside (playing, gardening, walking the dog, etc.)

How Do Clean Hands Help Health?

Good handwashing is the first line of defense against the spread of many illnesses — from the common cold to more serious infections, such as meningitis, bronchiolitis, the flu, hepatitis A, and many types of diarrhea.

How Do Germs Spread?

Germs can spread many ways, including:

• touching dirty hands

• changing dirty diapers

• through contaminated water and food

• through droplets in the air released during a cough or sneeze

• on contaminated surfaces

• through contact with a sick person's body fluids

When kids come into contact with germs, they can become infected just by touching their eyes, nose, or mouth. And once they're infected, it's usually just a matter of time before the whole family comes down with the same illness.

So don't underestimate the power of handwashing! The time you spend at the sink could save you trips to the doctor's office.

As simple as it may seem, proper handwashing remains the most effective way of removing germs and harmful bacteria from our hands.

This prevents the spread of diseases and keeps your environment safe, fresh, and clean. There are many easy ways to keep the hands clean. The common methods used in many workplaces include the use of sufficient soap and water or good alcohol-based sanitizers when water is not easily accessible. It will be easier to take hand washing more seriously when we know the benefits of keeping the hands clean as much as possible and also keeping the environments properly sanitized.

The Danger Zones

• Bacteria is everywhere! We have them inside our bodies too! Some of them are good and we need them to function properly, but the others can create havoc. If they take over the immune system, you may become ill.

• The most commonplace in our home or workplace where bacteria are most likely to have spread is the bathroom. For obvious reasons, bathrooms are thriving places for bacteria to fester until they can be carried and transferred to other objects by contact.

• The bacteria eventually get on your mobile phones, clothes, doorknobs and into your body. This is why it is important to properly wash the hands since that is the first line of defense against bacterial contagion.

• There are troubling statistics that indicate a large percentage of credit cards and mobile phones have tested positive for traces of fecal waste on them.

• A study conducted by the Harvard Medical School gives the expression ‘dirty money’ and an entirely new twist. Namely, it showed that 94% of the dollar bills currently in circulation also tested positive for having traces of fecal waste on them.

• For a healthy person with strong immunity, these facts are not a cause for much worry. Unfortunately, not everybody has a strong immune system.

• What about the children who are just building up their immune systems and the more susceptible elderly citizens; not to mention those who are managing diseases like HIV and Hepatitis. These people have weakened immune systems and are always at risk of contracting harmful bacteria if they live in dirty environments.

• So, in addition to advocating for the regular washing of hands, it is also important to note that for our hands to be actually free from germs, they have to be washed the right way.

Do You Wash Your Hands the Right Way?

The Harvard Medical School’s regular health publications indicate that the hands must be rubbed together for at least 15 seconds after applying soap. After this is done, the hands can be rinsed under a tap.

Good handwashing requires focusing on the palms, back of the hands and also the fingertips. Here, we have highlighted the proper steps to washing your hands to keep them free from harmful bacteria.

• Get your hands wet by holding them under the tap for a few seconds

• Rub the soap all over your palms and the back of your hands.

• When there is enough lather, keep rubbing your palms together.

• Rub the palm of one hand over the back of the other hand running the fingers through each other at the same time; repeat this for the other hand.

• Rub your palms together, running your fingers through each other as well.

• With the fingers of one hand, run the back of the finger on the other hand and vice versa.

• Rub the thumbs on the palms of each hand one after the other in circular motions.

• Take the fingers of one hand in the palms of the other and rub in a circular motion, do this for both hands.

• Rinse both hands with water.

• Dry your hands preferably with a paper towel.

• Use this towel to turn the tap off.

How Often Should You Wash Your Hands?

It’s obvious that you need to wash your hands regularly, but what does that mean? Can you wash your hands too much? Well, washing your hands too much can hurt your skin, but a that can be remedied with hand lotion.

There is no daily quota of hand washing that you have to hit in order to stay healthy. It all depends on your environment and what are you doing throughout the day.

You should wash your hands:

• After using the toilet

• Before touching or eating food

• When they are dirty

• After prolonged use of objects known to harbor bacteria e.g. mobile phones, steering wheel on public use cars, visibly dirty doorknobs, etc

• Wash your hands if you sneeze or cough into your hands

It is actually easier for children who are closely monitored to keep their hands clean with constant reminders. On the other hand, adults who are usually caught up with the daily activities have a higher tendency to overlook hand washing.