<— Anyone else seeing the ad for Poo-Pourri on this thread? :))
Next thread: How often do you apply lotion to your dry, cracked hands?
Agreed with most of the examples- especially the ones @baseballmom points out - I think paper money is incredibly gross!
This thread has made me curious as to the average number of times I do wash my hands-???. I’ll try to remember to count them all tomorrow!
Oh! & what is the average duration for which you wash your hands? I always try to hum the alphabet…
Just reading this makes me want to go wash my hands! I wash my hands very frequently. So do my kids. Luckily, no colds or illnesses this winter for anyone here.
EVERY time I touch money. Keep a pump of Purell in my car door. Use Purell, as does my family, before eating in a restaurant.
Otherwise, just all the above–cooking, sneezing, etc. for washing.
Not cleaning hands after money–ick!
There have been article regarding using cold water–thus only cold water often at rest stops.
I am really appalled when hiking and there is an Out House with no way to clean your hands–not even a Purell
type dispenser. I always wonder what the community health dept. is thinking?
How about menus! Right before you eat…ewwww. Purell to the rescue!
I keep a packet of hand wipes in my purse and use it if I feel I’ve touch germs stuff during errands, shopping, etc.
At home, I’ll wash my hands after bathroom, before working in the kitchen, and when I first get up in the morning and before sleeping, anytime I handle doggie dirty stuff or dog food (but not after just petting him) and after household cleaning. I have no idea how many times a day that adds up to.
Does Purell protect you from viruses?
@Wellspring , it kills most viruses but not norovirus (aka viral gastroenteritis aka “the stomach flu”). I’ve gotten into arguments with my primary care physician when he refused to wash his hands–and offered to show him the peer-reviewed articles backing me up.
I don’t as much as some of you. After bathroom, before cooking and after handling meat. Before emptying dishwasher. After blowing my nose. Other than that I just can’t think of anything on a regular/daily basis.
I should add that I always wash before preparing food. This is probably the most important “wash” for any human.
I forgot to mention that I also wash before I floss my teeth every night. I figure that I’m about to actively put my fingers in my mouth so it’s not a bad idea to make certain that they’re clean first.
“Not advocating raw chicken salmonella ingestion, of course!”
it is great for weight loss(sarcasm) . not as good as when I had e coli…that was really scary.
- After using the toilet
- As soon as I get home from commuting
- Before I prepare food
- Before I eat finger foods
- After I blow my nose
- As soon as I get into my office tower (have to ride an escalator and push elevator buttons)
- Right before bedtime-- who wants a spouse w germy hands? ;)
I wash my hands mostly in my kitchen as I am prepping and cooking food…because I am handling several utensils , cookware and cabinet knobs, I am very conscious to not contaminate surfaces.
When I am in public, there are some surfaces I won’t touch with my hands such as doors that push open and toilet handles…yes I am one of those foot flushers
I think all the Purell use is overkill and is actually endangering society by creating superbugs. My physician friends agree with me.
I also wash my hands a lot. Before I touch anything in the kitchen-first thing I do when I walk in there is wash my hands. I like the pre-foamed soap because it’s the bubbles that float the germs off of your hands the most effectively.
Getting into the car-first thing I do is squirt some hand sanitizer on my hands (keep it in the cupholder). While not as good as handwashing, it is better than nothing.
The MINUTE my kids get in the door they have to wash their hands. That one thing I started doing with them in elementary school probably cut down on our colds about 80%.
For those of you who think it’s silly, the Mythbusters episode about spreading germs is quite illuminating (literally!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1j8bh8_O_Q
This was what finally got my kids to be mindful about washing their hands.
A primary care physician that did not wash their hands before touching me would not be our physician. The girls’ pediatrician and the entire staff all wash their hands in front of us at the sink before touching us. It’s one of the reasons I like them so much.
"<— Anyone else seeing the ad for Poo-Pourri on this thread? "
I have Ad Block Plus running as an extension on Chrome so I never see the ads, but I LOVE Poo Pourri. Have it in all the bathrooms, and we always take it with us on vacation. It really works.
Ooooo, what an excellent video, @MotherOfDragons.
When you hear about outbreaks of, say, the Norovirus on a cruise ship, it can be related to food poisoning initially, but then when it shoots through all the passengers who didn’t even eat the culprit food item, it’s pretty clear that it is as a result of fecal/oral transmission. That’s right, someone didn’t clean up really well after using the bathroom, touched the handrail. Unsuspecting victim comes along, touches the hand rail, then subsequently touches their mouth or nose. You get the drift.
People tend to touch their faces, particularly their noses and mouths, a whole lot.
I wash my hands a lot. It’s embedded into my DNA now as a result of being a nurse for 20 years. It IS one the best ways to reduce transmission of micro organisms. At work, we use the hand sanitizers constantly. I also wash my hands with soap and water at intervals. We are required to wash before walking into a patient’s room and after glove removal. Any time I have touched a patient or anything in their room, I will wash my hands or use sanitizer.
Nosocomial infections are a big problem in hospitals but can be reduced significantly with strict adherence to handwashing guidelines.
Whoever “they” are, they are mistaken.
http://info.debgroup.com/blog/bid/337804/Is-Hot-Water-More-Effective-for-Washing-Hands
Also, the purpose of using soap and water to wash your hands isn’t so that the soap can disinfect or kill germs. It is a mechanical effect: by lowering the surface tension with the soap, you get the dirt and other stuff to physically slide off your hands. That’s why it’s important to wash for the required time.
I lived and worked in China for 3 years and one of the cost-cutting measures that our company did was to turn off the hot water in the rest rooms. It’s miserable to wash your hands in freezing cold water. I tried in vain to find any scientific evidence that hot (or warm) water was more effective for handwashing so that I could try to fight to get the hot water turned back on based on health concerns. I came across the CDC and WHO recommendations that Nrdsb4 referenced and realized that I was fighting a losing batter. So I washed my hands in freezing cold water for 3 years.
I will say, however, that I observed that co-workers did not wash their hands for very long in that freezing cold water. Most did just a perfunctory quick rinse of the finger tips which definitely does not do much for you. So while warm water may not be necessary for hand washing, it definitely facilitates spending enough time to actually get your hands clean.