How Often Do You Really Wash Your Hands?
Here is a little follow up for the story I wrote last week about the risk of infections now that we are back to school. One of the things I stressed in the article was how important hand washing is in preventing illness. I also talked about how I use Staphaseptic on all our cuts and scrapes, to help prevent MRSA.
Well, the Soap and Detergent Association sponsored a study based on observations last month of more than 6,000 people in four big cities. They found that in public restrooms, one-third of men didn’t bother to wash after using the bathroom, compared with 12 percent of women.
Ew, you dirty boys!
The most disgusting results came out of Atlanta’s Turner Field, where only 57 percent of men there washed their hands after using the bathroom. Bring a can of Lysol with you if you plan on attending a Braves game. Kudos to the women there, though. 95% of you washed after using the bathroom.
And, things have gotten worse since the last time the survey was conducted two years ago. At that time, only one-quarter of men didn’t wash, compared with 10 percent of women.
A recent Harris Interactive survey found 92 percent of Americans said they usually or always wash up after using the bathroom. Someone is lying on the interactive survey. The results of the Soap and Detergent Association study are conducted undercover, so the results are more objective.
Now, doesn’t this make you want to go right out and by a gallon jug of hand sanitizer?
I am a compulsive hand washer. I wash my hands both before and after I go.
I have made my own children compulsive hand washers.
You would be surprised just how many women do NOT wash their hands after going to the bathroom.
Women you know. Women you have met and spent time with.
It scares the hell out of me.
Hand sanitizer is good for a quick fix, but it doesn’t make your hands CLEAN.
CLEAN is key here.
You can take a bottle of alcohol or alcohol wipes with you if that’s all you want.
I need to wash my hands NOW.
Gotta get my keyboard clean.
Oy…I’m creeping myself out.
It IS a used computer, ya know.