The secret to good health

If there is one thing that doctors and specialists recommend for consistent good health, it’s a good clean pair of hands.

According to the Mayo Clinic there are do’s and don’ts to hand washing. Wash your hands throughout the day. As you move about you touch people and surfaces picking up all kinds of germs. Then you casually touch your face, mouth or eyes and those germs have taken up residence.

Always wash your hands before preparing food, eating, treating wounds, touching a sick person, and inserting contact lenses. Then wash your hands after preparing food, using the toilet, changing a diaper, touching an animal, blowing your nose, coughing into your hands, treating wounds, touching a sick person or handling dirty stuff like garbage or soiled clothing.

And there are instructions: get your hands wet, apply soap, lather well, rub vigorously for 20 seconds (that part I didn’t know) and rinse well. Dry with a disposable or clean towel and turn the water off using that towel.

Antibacterial soap is no more effective than regular soap. In fact, regular use of the antibacterial kind may lead to the creation of resistant bacteria, making it harder to kill these germs in the future.

Perhaps the real miracle is alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Apply and rub until it evaporates. No water or towel required and it’s portable in small containers. Get the kind that is at least 60% alcohol. Visible dirt requires soap and water, no skimping there.

“Hand disinfection can easily be introduced and maintained as part of the daily hand hygiene, acting as an interesting and cost-efficient method of improving workforce health and effectiveness,” said Nils-Olaf Hubner of the Institute of Hygiene and Environmental Medicine in German. Considering the millions it costs small businesses in absenteeism and at an average cost to public schools of $35 per day per absent student, good health makes sense, dollars and cents!

Source: Mayo Clinic, Work Place Law