Nowadays, it would be best if you cleaned your hands to avoid getting sick. Germs are everywhere, and every surface you touch may contain some of them. To protect yourself, your family, and your household, you need to practice good hygiene at every moment. Read more about how to practice good hygiene in this link here.
Germs Can Spread Everywhere
When you touch a surface, expect it to contain bacteria and viruses that are not visible to the eyes. It would be best if you kept yourself safe from diarrhea, infections, and other respiratory diseases by ensuring you have clean hands. Most germs can spread from one surface to another, and when you throw in people who don’t have good hygiene, diseases can become rampant. Here are other ways on how most people get sick after touching surfaces:
- Touching the face, nose, mouth, and ears with dirty fingers.
- Preparing and eating food without properly sanitizing
- Touching contaminated railings doorknobs, devices, and other objects
- Sneezing or coughing on the palms and touching others afterward
When Do You Need to Wash?
You can stay in good health and avoid sickness when you are often conscious of cleanliness. The following instances are the most critical times when you need to grab a bar of soap and place your hands through running water.
- Food preparation for any meals or snacks
- Before eating anything
- When caring for someone who is sick
- After cleaning vomit
- When you experience diarrhea
- Bandaging a wound or cut
- Changing Baby Diapers
- Cleaning up the toilet after a toddler has used it
- After you went to the toilet
- After touching dogs and cats
- During and after you handle pet food
- After touching garbage
A Very Important Note
During the pandemic, you need to go the extra length of bathing if you go out. Many surfaces can become contaminated, including the keys of ATMs, screens, shopping carts, restaurant doors, and gas pumps. Always wear protection such as face shield or masks since the mouth, nose, and eyes are key entry points of viruses.
The Right Way of Washing Hands
One of the most effective ways to stay healthy is to keep cleanliness. Washing your hands will put a stop of the spread of germs from one individual to another. The entire community will also be safe from viruses, and you can help protect children and the elderly with this simple action. For further steps on washing hands, you can click this link here: https://www.wikihow.com/Wash-Your-Hands. Here are the proper washing techniques that you can follow:
- Place your hands under warm or cold running water. Get the soap and apply.
- Create lather through rubbing motions together with a bar of soap. Make sure that there are bubbles in the areas under your nails and between your fingers.
- Make the scrubbing motion by completing the “Happy Birthday” song from the beginning to the end. Sing the song twice while lathering your palms and other parts. This takes approximately 20 seconds.
- Rinse thoroughly with the help of running water from the faucet
- Air dry or use a clean towel after washing.
Sanitizers are Convenient Options
Many people who may spend most of their time outside might want to use sanitizers instead. Some have an alcohol-based formula that can effectively get rid of germs. There is a citrus hand sanitizer variety that can have up to 70% alcohol solution, and you should get this type. You can look at the product labels for the ingredients and choose only the most effective ones.
When you are out and about, you may not have immediate access to soap and water. This is why you need to bring a sanitizer with you at all times. The gel-like formula of these convenient disinfectants will significantly reduce the germs on your palms. However, here are some of the things that you may want to know about them.
- The sanitizers may get rid of a lot of germs from your hands, but NOT ALL of them.
- When you see your hands with dirt and grease, the sanitizer may not work effectively. It is still better to wash them through running water to get rid of grime.
- If you are using pesticides or working with heavy metals, the sanitizers may not remove all of them.
Sanitizers are very convenient when you are pressing the buttons of an ATM, or going into the grocery store. Afterward, remember to wash your hands after you get home as an extra safety precaution.
