Stay Healthy: Wash Your Hands Fool!

I have always understood the importance of washing your hands: You touch everything and eventually you touch your eyes, nose or mouth or you eat something. Literally, the moment I met our son in the hospital the importance was magnified. I was no longer only responsible for my own health and hygiene but I had become responsible for his. During his first year, I felt like I was always fighting off some sort of cough or cold. Day care does not help this as it is a petri dish.

The first and best line of defense to stay healthy is a good (and frequent) hand washing.

You might be reading this and be like “No sh!t hand washing is important” (I know if I read this post 2 years ago I would be), but after almost 2 years of fatherhood, I realize how important it is not just for my own hand hygiene but also my sons, and in the Spirit of Global Handwashing Day (10/15, a few days late) I thought I would share 

Check out these facts from the CDC:

Washing hands prevents illnesses and spread of infections to others

• Hand-washing with soap removes germs from hands. This helps prevent infections because:

• People frequently touch their eyes, nose, and mouth without even realizing it. Germs can get into the body through the eyes, nose and mouth and make us sick.

• Germs from unwashed hands can get into foods and drinks while people prepare or consume them. Germs can multiply in some types of foods or drinks, under certain conditions, and make people sick.

• Germs from unwashed hands can be transferred to other objects, like handrails, table tops, or toys, and then transferred to another person’s hands.

• Removing germs through hand-washing therefore helps prevent diarrhea and respiratory infections and may even help prevent skin and eye infections

• Teaching people about hand-washing helps them and their communities stay healthy. Hand-washing education in the community:

• Reduces the number of people who get sick with diarrhea by 23-40%. 

• Reduces diarrheal illness in people with weakened immune systems by 58%.

• Reduces respiratory illnesses, like colds, in the general population by 16-21%. 

• Reduces absenteeism due to gastrointestinal illness in schoolchildren by 29-57%.

MOST important for parents to realize: Not washing hands harms children around the world

• About 1.8 million children under the age of 5 die each year from diarrheal diseases and pneumonia, the top two killers of young children around the world.

• Hand-washing with soap could protect about 1 out of every 3 young children who get sick with diarrhea and almost 1 out of 5 young children with respiratory infections like pneumonia.

• Although people around the world clean their hands with water, very few use soap to wash their hands. Washing hands with soap removes germs much more effectively.

• Hand-washing education and access to soap in schools can help improve attendance.

• Good hand-washing early in life may help improve child development in some settings.

• Estimated global rates of hand-washing after using the toilet are only 19%. 

• Many of those facts are alarming and scary, but they drive home the importance of a good hand washing practice. 

How to properly wash your hands (from the CDC, with my comments in parentheses): 

1. Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap, and apply soap. (in the winter months, I prefer warm water, as does my son. Often you will see people stop their hand-washing after this step, keep it going, you haven’t done anything yet!)

2. Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Be sure to lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.  

3. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds. Need a timer? Hum the “Happy Birthday” song from beginning to end twice. (This cannot be over stated and is the step that I am sure people skimp on. This is a good time to practice the ABC’s with a toddler as well. Often times kids loose interest during this time, keep em going!)

4. Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.    

5. Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them. (This step is part of the cleaning process as it removes dirt and also helps remove any water/soap that might be left behind. Personally I think a lot of hand driers are gross and always prefer clean paper towels, especially since you can use those towels to help open the door on the way out of the bathroom).

Dad Hack: Hand Sanitizers 

Please check with your pediatrician before trying (I am not a doctor and am not providing medical advise), but thanks to study published in Pediatrics, it has been seen that Kids who cleaned their hands using hand sanitizer instead of soap and water missed less school, had fewer respiratory infections and were prescribed fewer antibiotics. Hand sanitizers will never replace good a hand washing, especially when it comes to removing dirt, (and there is always the concern of creating “Super Bugs”) but it can help reducing respiratory illnesses and possibly the dreaded daycare goopy nose! We now keep toddler safe hand sanitizing wipes in all cars and by the front door, and drive hope the importance of good hand washing before and after meal times and throughout the day.

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Stay healthy my friends