Since March 2020, washing your hands has never received so much attention and focus. It’s pretty bizarre that so many adults around the world needed to be reminded to a) wash their hands regularly, and b) how to wash their hands! You’d think that something groundbreaking was being asked of the population, which says a lot about what we know about washing hands.
We all know that washing our hands is good to stop germs from spreading. It’s also just hygienic and common sense to do. Keeping that in mind, let’s look at the two main health reasons we need to either wash our hands or apply hand sanitizer fairly regularly:
To stop people from getting sick
I think it’s fair to say we all now know that washing our hands stops people from getting sick. You see, our hands collect so many germs and bacteria every single minute of every single day. Innocuous things, like opening a door or pressing a button, can lead to loads of germs landing on our fingers. The problem is that we then touch other things, further spreading these germs.
For example, if you touch someone else or touch a surface that another person touches soon after, you can pass your germs onto them. Or, even worse, let’s say you’re preparing dinner for your family, and you forgot to wash your hands. You’ve now touched all of the food that they’re about to eat, meaning the germs go straight into their body.
Ultimately, that’s the main issue. Passing germs from surface to surface is only a problem when other people start touching their mouth, nose, or eyes with germed-up hands. The same goes for you – if you touch your face after touching a surface, you pass the germs into the eyes, nose, and mouth, meaning they enter your body. Washing your hands soon after touching things is the best way to stop germs from spreading and making people sick.
To stop infections
Furthermore, washing your hands can stop infections from happening. Now, we’re mainly talking about infections from wounds and cuts. If you cut yourself – even if it’s a small one – and touch your cut with non-clean hands, all sorts of germs and bacteria can get into the wound, causing an infection.
The same goes for if you touch someone else that has a cut or a rash or anything else that can be infected! If you ever cut yourself or have a wound, you need to wash your hands right away and disinfect the area. Then, consider virtual wound care services to know if the wound is serious and needs stitches, and you can either wrap it up or go to the emergency room. Whenever you need to clean the wound, always wash your hands to stop infections!
You see, this is why we wash our hands. Not only that, it’s why you should continue washing your hands regularly when the pandemic is over. People think that hand washing is a temporary thing just to prevent coronavirus, but it’s so important for general health and wellbeing.
Jessi is the creative mind behind The Coffee Mom, a popular blog that combines parenting advice, travel tips, and a love for all things Disney. As a trusted Disney influencer and passionate storyteller, Jessi’s authentic insights and relatable content resonate with readers worldwide.