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| Source: makeupandbeauty.com |
You'd be surprised to hear that a "small debate" over one of my
friend's Facebook page was the inspiration for this blog post. My friend
shared a photo on her wall. It was of a couple kissing and the
accompanying text was something along the lines of kissing being more
hygienic than handshakes. I commented that I agreed with the statement,
saying that our hands have been everywhere, touching a lot of dirty
things without even realising it. There were a number of other comments
as well. One particular one stuck out to me. This girl commented
immediately after me, contesting that kissing was less hygienic, with a
100% transfer of bacteria. She had a good point but it made me wonder if
she is studying biological/medical science like I am.
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| Source: ladyspeak.com |
Anyway,
to the main point: hand hygiene, how much do you know about it? We all
know that we should refrain from touching our faces with our hands
because we'd be transferring more bacteria on to it. However, how many
of us actually successfully reduce this pimple-inducing habit? Being in
public places and using public items don't our case either for we use
our hands
a lot: keyboards and mice at uni computers, toilet door
handles, picking up stuff that we've dropped onto the ground. We don't
know how clean the previous few hundred people who have touched the
object were. Studies have shown that one of the main ways bacteria are
transferred is through our hands (this includes health care settings). On a side note, let's not forget that we don't go around kissing everyone and everything and that we secrete enzymes and anitbodies in our mouths to combat bacteria. So I still say it's more hygienic than handshakes.
I,
for one, touch my face a lot, be it removing a strand of hair from my
face, resting my forehead/cheek on my hand or covering my face in
frustration. So I always have a hand sanitiser in my bag. I sanitise my
hands after using a uni computer, before and after eating, before
applying moisturiser/sunscreen on the bus. Even if you don't have a hand
sanitiser, always wash your hands with soap; there's always a sink
nearby. And please DON'T forget to dry your hands. Bacteria love
moisture, they thrive in damp/wet environments (remember, life began
with water). If you don't dry your hands, you're pretty much culturing
bacteria on them.
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| Source: meishifangzhi.en.made-in-china.com |
I firmly believe in drying towels
straight after every use because a damp towel habours a lot of bacteria
as well. Imagine using a damp towel. You'd be increasing your chances of
face and body acne with all that bacteria rubbed all over you. All you
have to do is hang outside where there's lots of sunlight (don't bother
with the dryer), the UV rays do an excellent job of killing bacteria.
You may say that your towel gets dried anyway even if you don't dry it
under the sun. Well, that doesn't mean the bacteia evaporates with the
moisture. Don't forget to do the same for your hands towels too (except
you don't have to dry it after every use, just the next morning).
I
hope you found my tips useful. If you already know all of this, great! I
find that a lot of people don't. If you can't help but touch your face
many times throughout the day, do your best to remember to use the back
of your hands instead (because they don't come into contact with things
as much). Lastly, I'd like to add that not all bacteria are evil
pimple-inducing, illness-causing little buggers like the media portrays
them to be. More than 90% of them are our friends, contributing to our
immunity, ecosystem and various industries (think alcohol, food,
cosmetics, biotech). My next post will be on hygiene and makeup.
Summary
- Cut down on the face-touching. If you must, try to use the back of your hands
- Have a sanitiser ready in your bag or wash your hands well and dry them.
- Dry your towels under the sun. Bacteria thrive in moist environments.
- Not all bacteria are bad!
What do you think? What's your hand hygiene practice like?
