This is the Best Possible Habit
One Can Instil
Several
studies carried out during the 2006 outbreak of severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS) suggest that washing hands more than 10
times a day can cut down the spread of the respiratory viruses by 55
percent, according to a report published by UNICEF India. Washing
your hands is something your mother must have advised you since
childhood. You listened at times and shrugged it off at others.
However, now is the time to pay heed to her advice and follow it
diligently. Hand
washing at regular intervals can help prevent a host of
communicable diseases from spreading.
A Small Habit that Can Make a Big Difference
Your
teachers and parents have been telling you since childhood to wash
your hands. The question is what happens if you don’t? The
basketball with which you play every day for an hour is probably
infested with thousands of germs that can only be seen through a
microscope. A friend you play basketball with might be carrying the
germs of a communicable disease, such as pneumonia.
When
you do not wash your hands after using the toilet, you not only
contaminate any object you touch after that but you also put others
are at high risk of contracting infections, such as diarrhoea, by
touching the objects you touched. That is how germs spread through
touch.
People
carrying germs touch objects such as door knobs, fridge handles, TV
remotes, laptops and phone, which are then touched by other
individuals. You might also touch your nose, mouth and eyes or eat
after touching contaminated objects. This means germs find easy
access to infect your body. No wonder the common cold spreads through
a family so fast.
Given
below are few instances when hand washing with soap becomes
mandatory:
- Before eating.
- After and before food preparation (make sure to wash your hands after handling raw ingredients, like meat, and before touching other food that is to be eaten without being cooked, such as fruits).
- After using the bathroom.
- After sneezing, coughing or blowing your nose.
- After playing with pets or other animals.
- After changing diapers.
- After cleaning the house (wiping the kitchen counter, washing the bathroom, etc).
- After playing outside.
- After visiting a sick relative.
In
case hand washing at regular intervals in not possible (for example,
when you are not at home) due to unavailability of soap or clean
water, you can use a sanitizer. Hand
Sanitizer is a great choice since it helps kill 99.9 percent of
the germs without water.
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