If you think about it, washing your hands is a do-it-yourself vaccine that is someone's first line of defense against the numerous infectious germs out there that cause diarrhea, the flu, the cold, among many others. Given that hands are the primary route to infection from the outside world, it's pretty dang important to wash your hands correctly. Why wouldn't you spend a little extra time to do it the right way when catching the flu can easily mean that you miss a week of work?
The scary thing is that the CDC claims that even doctors and nurses wash their hands incorrectly half of the time. The solution is actually quite simple. Check out these awesome tips provided by the CDC and WHO that clearly lay out the proper way to wash your hands.
SHARE this article on Facebook because these tips may end up reducing your chances of catching a bug.
Wash your hands with an alcohol rub if your hands are not visibly soiled.
If you need to wash them but you don't seem to have blood, dirt, or other forms of soiling, go with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. It's important that it has at least a 60% alcohol concentration. The WHO highlights that this method is easier on your hands and faster than using soap and water.
If your hands show obvious signs of being soiled by dirt or other material (like blood or feces) use soap and water.
Unless you use a ton of hand sanitizer, it's unlikely that an alcohol rub will clear the massive amount of matter on your hands. Soap and water, which can be applied generously, will do the job.
After you choose the appropriate medium to wash your hands, there is a similar technique to optimally wash your hands.
First, you need to rub your palms together consistently. This is usually as far as people go, but there are several other necessary steps.
Next, placing one hand on the back of the other, interlace your fingers and scrub.
This really gets the back of the hand as well as the hidden crevices between the fingers.
Now, place your palms against one another and, again, interlace your fingers.
This gets the nooks between the fingers that can't be reached from the top of the hand.
Place the back of your fingers from each hand and place it against the palm of the other hand, and interlock them.
Cover one thumb with your other hand and rotate.
Don't forget to do this with both hands!
Last but not least, take your fingers and scrub the other hand's palm in a rotating manner.
Again, both hands!
When you wash your hands with soap and water, there is one vital step after rinsing and drying your hands with a paper towel.
Turn off the faucet with the paper towel!! Otherwise, you will be reintroducing the same germs back onto your hands!
Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds when using the alcohol method, but closer to 40 seconds with soap and water.
One thing is for sure, scrubbing your hands for longer removes more germs. One helpful trick that the CDC recommends is to sing the "Happy Birthday Song" from beginning to end twice.
There you have it!
Yes, it may seem like a huge pain to implement these hand washing tricks to your bathroom routine, but it could easily save you weeks of time-wasting sickness.
Main image via Penn State
Collage image via oh Amanda
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