National Handwashing Awareness Week is observed the first full week of December. It’s safe to say that our personal hygiene starts and ends with our hands. Although our parents taught us to always wash our hands before meals, germs don’t care about the time of day. The bottom line is that washing your hands prevents the spread of illnesses. It helps to teach your child to wash their hands early on so that they’re in the habit of doing so as they grow up. Washing their hands will improve their immunity and keep them healthy. Thus, it’s extremely important to learn basic hand hygiene.
Handwashing prevents the spread of Infections
One of the most important things you can do for your health and well-being is to wash your hands with soap and water as this helps to prevent the spread of many diseases and infections. For example, you can reduce the spread of respiratory viruses by 16% to 21% by washing your hands. Here are 4 reasons why handwashing is essential to good health and well-being:
- Germs on unclean hands spread diarrheal and respiratory infections.
- Germs on unwashed hands can get into drinks and food, multiply, spread, and make you sick.
- The eyes, mouth, and nose are entry points for germs and areas of the body that people frequently touch.
- Unwashed hands spread germs onto handrails, tabletops, toys, and other surfaces.
Handwashing has always been important, but it’s even more crucial now because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Just remember that it’s important to wash your hands correctly as quickly rinsing them won’t kill the germs.
The 5 Steps of proper Handwashing
The CDC has appropriately named handwashing the “DIY vaccine” and recommends memorizing these 5 simple steps:
- Wet
- Lather
- Scrub
- Rinse
- Dry
Health experts recommend washing one’s hands with soap and warm water for a minimum of 20 seconds or as long as it takes you to sing the “Happy Birthday” song. Make sure you wash the backs of your hands, in between your fingers, and under your fingernails. Then dry them off with a clean towel.
The 4 Principles of Hand Awareness
The following 4 principles of hand awareness are endorsed by the American Academy of Family Physicians and the American Medical Association:
- Avoid putting your fingers in your eyes, mouth, or nose.
- Don’t cough into your hands.
- Don’t sneeze into your hands.
- Wash your hands before eating or whenever they’re dirty.
Remember, washing your hands not only protects you, it protects others as well.