Personal Hygiene and Sanitation: When is it too much or too little?

[SpyderEdgeForever]

When it comes to personal hygiene what are extremes to avoid vs a comfortable middle ground?

Many people now use sanitizers such as alcohol hand sanitizer all the time, and they claim it helps keep germs and bugs away but others claim overuse or extensive use of these types of things (alcohol, rubbing alcohol, etc) can make a person "too clean" and sensitive to infections. Is that true or false?

How often should a person wash their hands and for how long? I would like your opinions and knowledge of this.

[Naperville]

This isn't too tricky.

Every time you awaken, every time you go to the bathroom, and before you eat.

I know that I probably should not but I use antibacterial soap. It's left over from my open heart surgery. I wash my hands and one hand-width above my wrist.

[Ankerson]

This isn't too tricky.

Every time you awaken, every time you go to the bathroom, and before you eat.

I know that I probably should not but I use antibacterial soap. It's left over from my open heart surgery. I wash my hands and one hand-width above my wrist.

I agree. :)

As an added note I ALWAYS and I mean ALWAYS wipe down the cart handles etc when I go into any store BEFORE I touch them.

And I wash my hands after I get home and unpack etc.

[James Y]

I'm a bit OCD when it comes to hand washing. If a store has clean antibacterial wipes at the entrance, I wipe off the cart handle and the fold-out 'seat' in the cart, as well as my hands. I'm also a professional massage therapist, and at work I always wash my hands, forearms and elbows after each session. At home, I wash them before handling any food or utensils.

That said, when I was a little kid, I played and ran around outside, in treehouses and clubhouses, and also including in the dirt, with all the other kids. We were always playing around outside unsupervised and coming home dirty. Looking back, I get the impression that, within reason, that's nature's way of building up a kid's immune system. I even remember eating a tiny amount of dirt one time just to see what it would be like.

As an adult, I rarely get sick at all, including common colds. Maybe once every several years.

Now, would I recommend that little kids should eat dirt to strengthen their immune systems? Of course not. For many reasons, that was probably foolhardy, but luckily I didn't get sick from it. But nowadays, it seems that most kids I see are rarely playing around outside, unless it's part of some youth sports program. People today are also FAR more protective of their kids, with some not even wanting their kids to get dirty at all. That over-protectiveness is probably not too good for them in the long run. The kids' smart phones are probably far dirtier than anything we got our hands into back in the day.

I also suspect that overuse of antibacterial soaps might contribute to creating "super bugs", but I don't have any proof of that. I do know that overuse of them can cause the hands to become too dry. I still use them, but find myself washing my hands with bar soap at home more than liquid soap.

Jim

[Doc Dan]

[Doc Dan]

[Pancake]

I wash my hands after making my things in toillet, after I came back home from work/outside and before I eat.
But, I never use antibacterial soap. I dont think it is necessary for a normal person. If you are working in hospital, or in enviroment that could have some nasty stuff, then yeah.

In human body, there are more bacteria then human cells. They are living happily on our skin (and in our guts) and if you are a normal healty person, I dont think there is a reason to kill them.

I think if you washed your hands in bathroom with antibacterial soap, then open door to another room, you will have bacteria back on your hands just by touching the handle. Same for normal cotton towel.

[James Y]

I'm kinda wondering when cleanliness becomes OCD, which I've had around various things since age 7 or so. I probably wash my hands between 25 to 30 times a day. As I mentioned, I think the big issue with liquid antibacterial soaps is causing the hands to become overly dry, probably due to the alcohol content.

After showering, I always have to wipe down the entire shower area, then continue running the ceiling fan afterwards for at least 15 minutes to get rid of any dampness in the room. I can't understand how other people can shower then just step out and leave everything wet. Luckily my OCD isn't as serious as many others, and at least there ain't no mold in my bathroom. :)

As you might imagine, public restrooms can be a nightmare for me, even just to walk into.

I'd like to clarify that I wasn't constantly dirty as a kid, just got dirty playing outdoors, like all of the other kids back then. At home, we were always taught good hygiene, but my OCD didn't start revolving around it until my years living in Taiwan (almost all of my 20s), which is very humid year-round, and oppressively so during the hot summers. Plus, Taipei always had a lot of pollution in the air, which you could see washing off of you at the beginning of each shower.

Jim

[The Deacon]

I think the key word here is "personal". If you're not getting sick all the time, and you're not washing your hands so obsessively that they bleed, then no matter where you fall in the spectrum between George Carlin's (definitely not safe for work) philosophy and buying hand sanitizer by the gallon, you're ok.

https://youtu.be/-G_7TDdE6iY

[The Meat man]

Ha ha! :D :D

[soc_monki]

I don't go overboard. After using the bathroom, working outside, before eating... You know, normal washing. I don't go out of my way to avoid germs, and I rarely get sick. We have an immune system for a reason, which is why I also don't go to the doctor for every little sniffle.

One trick from my foodservice days though... After washing your hands in the bathroom, use the paper towels to open the door. Keeps you from totally undoing the washing you just did!