Why is Proper Handwashing Important?
For centuries, human beings didn’t understand that personal hygiene and general cleanliness were important in maintaining health. As medical and scientific knowledge expanded, however, even members of the general population began to understanding why proper handwashing is important.
Medical research shows that human beings suffer from millions of common colds each year as well as from dozens of illnesses caused by improper handling or preparing of food. For these reasons (and others) it is important to have clean hands when we come in contact with our food and when we come in contact with others.
Medical doctors believe that clean hands are the primary way we can protect ourselves from influenza, from viruses that cause such conditions as diarrhea and from colds. We pick up hundreds, even thousands of germs each day, just in the course of our normal activities. Touching our mouths, eyes and noses with our hands provides these germs easy entry into our systems.
If we wash our hands occasionally, and do it thoroughly, we may be saving ourselves many health problems. It is especially important to cleanse our hands after using the bathroom, and after covering our mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing. Unfortunately, studies have shown that about half of all youths wash their hands properly after using the bathroom at school.
Life Savers
No, this paragraph isn’t about candy or about a science or religious group. It’s about clean hands as life savers. Medical research shows that washing our hands with the right cleansers and warm/hot water might prevent half of all serious respiratory illnesses in children! The simple act of maintaining personal cleanliness might save hundreds of lives that are now being taken by pneumonia, for example.
In addition to this life-threatening disease, there are slightly less serious conditions that may be prevented by proper washing of the hands. One study shows that infectious skin diseases could be cut in half if people paid more attention to personal hygiene, especially handwashing.
Certain viruses may live on our hands for several hours if we don’t wash them properly, according to most medical studies. In many cases, illnesses attributed to other causes are actually food-borne diseases that could have been stopped with correct washing of the hands. The number of days missed at work and at school could be cut from 20 percent to 50 percent if everyone would simply cleanse their hands thoroughly two or three times each day.
If you are concerned about this information and the potential for sickness caused by dirty hands, wash your hands for 20 to 30 seconds with regular soap or anti-bacterial soap. Rinse the hands with warm or slightly hot water and use an electric blow dryer if available. Remember it is important to wash the entire hand, up to the wrist. This means washing the back of the hand, the fingers and fingernails as well. Proper handwashing may do as much to keep as healthy as any other simple act of hygiene we can think of.