The Do's of Hand Washing

Proper hand hygiene is really important to staying healthy because it is the best way to not share illnesses with others. Hands are our tools that we use regularly to perform daily tasks. Think about it-how many items in a day do you think you touch? Every door knob, handle or hand you shake... There could be over a thousand different surfaces or objects you touch in one day! This makes our hands more likely to carry and spread many different germs and viruses.
As flu season is quickly coming, you need to make sure that you stay extra safe and healthy during these winter months. Talk to your doctor about other healthy options like getting a flu shot. The Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (the CDC) says that 20 seconds of hand washing is enough time to get rid of the invisible germs on your hands.
They also say that hand washing is simple and easy, and there are five important steps washing hands. The first step is getting your hands wet with clean running water and applying soap. Also, use warm water if it is available and the warmer the water, the cleaner your hands can be. Next, rub your hands together to make lather and scrub all surfaces. Make sure to scrub in hard to reach places like under your nails, in between fingers and on your wrists. Following this, continue rubbing hands for at least 20 seconds. A good way to time your hand washing is by singing the “A-B-Cs”, “Happy Birthday” twice, or just counting to twenty! Then, rinse your hands under running water. Make sure to get rid of all of the soap. Finally, dry your hands using a paper towel or air dryer and if possible, use your towel to turn off the faucet since germs might still be there.
A great way to imagine germs and the importance of hand washing is pretend your hands have paint on them. Pretend you stuck your hands into a tub of green paint and pull them out. The green paint on your hands would represent the germs on your hands. Now pretend you went through your day with wet, green paint on your hands! Every surface you touch with the wet paint would have your hand print on it. The germs, or paint, you left behind will most likely be touched by someone else. Now they would have the green paint on their hands! Also, you can pick up other germs on your hands by touching surfaces or objects. Since we cannot see germs with our naked eyes, it sometimes might be difficult to see those little vermin but they are there! Now try to imagine washing your hands clean from that paint. Not so easy! It seems as if paint lingers in certain areas on your hands, especially the little cracks between fingers and on your palms. They sure love to hide in those places we don’t always think to wash. The way we get sick is when we touch our faces, mouths and food with the germs on our hands.
There are certain times when you just need wash your hands throughout the day. These times are before you eat or cook, after using the restroom, after touching pets or playing and after sneezing or coughing. Using hand sanitizer is good idea when a sink is not available. So, it is a good idea to always keep hand sanitizer close by. But, sometimes hand sanitizers cannot clean your hands as well as soap and water. As far as the type of soap you should use when washing your hands, you can use whichever brand, color, scent or type of soap you like. As long as you are using soap, your hand washing will be great!
Every year, more than 3.5 million kids under five years old die from easily shared illnesses like diarrheal disease and respiratory infections. According to Unicef, frequent and proper hand washing helps reduce the rate of the illnesses by nearly half! Hand washing is a really necessary and is a lifesaving behavior that not only can prevent an illness for you and your family, but it can help prevent spreading it to other people. October 15 is Global Hand Washing Day that tries to promote the importance of this important habit.

References
Center's of Disease Control and Prevention. (2010, April 08). Hand washing. Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/Features/HandWashing/

Unicef. (n.d.). October 15, global handwashing day: lathering up to beat disease. Retrieved fromhttp://www.unicef.org/media/media_56293.html