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Hand-Washing Technique Is Surprisingly Controversial
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Your hands are never going to be clean
There are just too many things living on our hands to wash all of them off.
Killing all the microbes on your hands has never even been the point of hand-washing. The point is to get as big a reduction in microbes as possible while balancing that effort with the demands of real life.
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The numerical oddities
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says to wash your hands for 20 seconds. The World Health Organization says hand-washing should take 40 to 60 seconds. And it's complicated to determine who is right.
The optimal length of time for hand-washing is likely to depend on many factors, including the type and amount of dirt on the hands and the setting of the person washing hands (temperature of water, washing technique, the type of soap, etc.)
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Logarithmic reduction
Food safety researchers have to think in orders of magnitude, by necessity. Instead of aiming to completely wipe out a population of microbes, they’re trying to achieve a relative decrease as measured in orders of 10.
A 1-log reduction would be a 10-fold decrease — so, 90 percent fewer germs. A 2-log reduction is a 100-fold decrease — so 99 percent fewer germs — and 3-log is 1,000 times less, or 99.9 percent fewer. You get the picture.
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Cleaning hands
Studies show that improving handwashing at 10 of the world’s leading airports could slow the spread of infectious diseases.
On average, only 20 percent of people in airports have clean han...
Improving handwashing
Focussing on the handwashing message at the most significant 10 airports in the world could reduce the spread of disease significantly at a global level (potentially by almost 70 percent).
Even small improvements in hygiene could make a huge difference. This could potentially be achieved through education, awareness, social-media nudges, public announcements and improved access to handwashing facilities.
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Touching our faces
We touch our faces on average 16 times an hour.
And almost half of the face touches involve the mouth, nose, or eyes, which are the easiest pathways for viruses and bacteria to ...
Handwashing is crucial
Effective handwashing consists of five simple steps: wet, lather, scrub, rinse, dry.
Do so for at least 20 seconds.
Stop touching your face
- Be mindful of your intention to keep your hands away from your face.
- Place visual reminders at home and at the office so you will be aware that you want to keep your hands down.
- Use a scented hand sanitizer or a scented hand soap to help remind yourself to keep hands away from your face. The smell will keep you alert.
- Use gloves if necessary.