http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-single-best-way-to-prevent-illness.html
The Single Best Way to Prevent Illness
Each new flu season we seem to be bombarded with an endless crop of suggestions on ways to keep the bugs at bay: vitamins, herbs, sanitizers, vaccines–you name it. But the most effective way to prevent illness often gets lost in the shuffle (probably because it is so strikingly simply): Wash your hands!
According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), handwashing is the best way to prevent infection and illness. And imagine–it is cheap, it does not hurt the environment, and there is no question about negative implications for our own health. It is such an obvious win-win.
The CDC recommends that we wash our hands before preparing food and after handling uncooked meat and poultry, before eating, after changing diapers, after coughing, sneezing, or blowing one’s nose into a tissue, and after using the bathroom–to that I would add a good wash as soon as you or your children come home from school, work, errands, playing, etc.
Here’s how to wash your hands most effectively:
- Wet your hands with clean running water and apply soap. Use warm water if it is available.
- Rub hands together to make a lather and scrub all surfaces.
- Continue rubbing hands for 15-20 seconds. (For my kids, I recommend singing a round of ABCs.)
- Rinse hands well under running water.
- When out, dry your hands using a paper towel or air dryer. If possible, use your paper towel to turn off the faucet.
- Always use soap and water if your hands are visibly dirty.
- If soap and clean water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub to clean your hands.
Read about what type of soap to avoid here: The Trouble with Triclosan in Your Soap
Read about making your own homemade all-natural hand sanitizer here: Theive’s Oil Homemade Hand Sanitizer
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9 comments
add your comment »Washing my hands often has kept me healthy for many years. But don't use anti-bacterial !! Natural soap is best. Antibacterial can do more harm than good.
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Washing your hads is very good indeed, and even better when you are thrifty with water. I wanted to add something that kept me healthy last winter, for the first time in 7 or 8 years.
According to Chinese Medicine, one of the best ways to stay healthy is to eat foods according to season - think about balance. If the weather is hot, you eat cool foods, like fruits, leafy vegetables, cool drinks. If the weather is cold, you eat warm foods, like roots, cooked vegetables, late fall fruits, nuts, soups and warm drinks, like teas. Believe it or not, this simple change in my diet has helped me stay healthier than I have in years. It makes sense, doesn't it?
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The single best way to avoid illness is to not go to work or school if you have symptoms of a cold or flu. Those of you who insist on sharing your germs and viruses, you know who you are!
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keep up the good work peter!
i think in this flu searson, those individuals who wash their hands alot are going to be highly praised for doing so.
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My girlfriend says I have a Compulsory hand-washing disorder ! LOL !!!
My hobby and passion is Nishikigoi ( Japanese Koi ) ... every time ( many times per day ) I see to my pond filters, or feed my fish I thoroughly wash my hands with antibacterial handwash .... surely this is a GOOD thing ?
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People ought to know this already, what wash your hands after using the bathroom....really.... that's brilliant.
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I agree with Amethyst Davis, that washing your hands does have a very real effect on the environment/ our bodies.
Please, turn OFF the tap while scrubbing your hands!
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"it does not hurt the environment, and there is no question about negative implications for our own health"
I think the author of this article is missing something here. Frequent handwashing does have an effect on the environment. Depending on the faucet, 20 seconds of handwashing can mean a couple gallons of water going down the drain. When performed several times per day, that's a lot of water usage. Yes, it is for a purpose, and it will help keep you healthier, but you can't just ignore the environmental impact for those reasons.
Handwashing could also have health risks, given the many chemicals that are often found in soaps- especially in certain workplaces, especially food preparation, where you don't have a choice of what soap to use. These chemicals can be carcinogenic, or they can simply cause dry hands that crack easily and provide places for infection to enter the body. The soap chemicals also end up in the waterways after they get flushed down the drain.
Yes, handwashing is a good practice, and I'm not against it. But the potential risks are still worth consideration.
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"Pure, soft water is not only more effective in promoting skin wetting, soaping properties and rinsing; but it can also reduce the consumption of soap and skin moisturizers. It reduces skin irritation and encourages more frequent washing."*
*Taken from the Handwashing for Life Institute website
http://www.handwashingforlife.com/us/english/index.htm
Softening water increases the rinsing power of the water and allows soap to work to its full potential, therefore causing a huge reduction in soap usage if you are in extremely hard water, that is over 10.5 Grains/Gallon Hardness.
Softening water also "saves" water. It takes less water, time and soap to clean anything, creating savings well over and above the waste water to regenerate a unit.
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