The Importance of Washing Your Hands

You probably wash your hands several times a day, but how often do you take time to consider what is the importance of washing your hands? Despite advances in science and technology, washing your hands is still one of the fundamental steps for how to avoid getting sick or spreading germs. While hand sanitizer can help kill germs and promote the importance of hand hygiene, experts say that it can’t replace traditional washing with water and soap. Learning about clean hands will make you think twice the next time you’re washing up, and this education can go a long way towards preventing the spread of diseases around the world.

What is the Importance of Washing your Hands

As flu season hits and diseases start to spread, experts are repeatedly discussing what is the importance of washing your hands. Having clean hands stops the spread of germs that you could have picked up from touching a doorknob or shopping cart, from shaking someone’s hand, or from gardening and working outside. Your hands can also pick up your own germs from sneezing and coughing. Clean hands are essential for how to avoid getting sick from the germs you come in contact with, washing them off before you touch your eyes, mouth, or food. It also helps stop the spread of germs to other objects or people you come in contact with. Knowing and teaching others about the importance of hand hygiene will help everyone around us stay healthy.

When Should you Wash your Hands

Most people know the basics of when should you wash your hands, like after going to the bathroom or before you eat, but the list extends far beyond these instances. Washing your hands is important before and after preparing or eating food, when you come into your house or office from outside, and after smoking or petting animals. This list of when should you wash your hands may seem long, but when it comes to how to avoid getting sick, this will keep you healthy when those around you are ill. Sometimes it may be inconvenient to run into a bathroom to wash up, so always carry a bottle of hand sanitizer. However, the chemicals in hand sanitizer can never replace the power of soap and water.

How to Wash your Hands

While it might seem like a simple, straightforward task, many people don’t know the proper steps for hand washing or how long you should wash your hands. First, wet your hands thoroughly with running water. Then, lather up the soap all over your hands, and scrub them together. When it comes to how long should you wash your hands, experts generally agree that 20-30 seconds is enough. During this time, be sure to wash between your fingers, the back of your hands, under any rings, and even your wrists. Scrubbing lifts dirt, microbes, and germs from your skin so that they can wash away when you rinse all the soap off. Before walking away from the sink, dry your hands off with a clean towel since germs are easily transferred to and from wet hands.

No matter how young or old you are, the importance of hand hygiene is something you should be well aware of. When it comes to how long should you wash your hands, it takes less than a minute, but it can save you weeks of blowing your nose and feeling ill. The next time you’re in the kitchen or bathroom, spend a little extra time scrubbing away the germs, and you’ll be part of the solution to stopping the spread of diseases.