Ways to Avoid Germs

“Wash Your Hands!” I can still hear my Mom’s sage words echoing in my ears every time I sit down to the dinner table, sneeze or return from taking out the trash.

But it wasn’t until much later on in life I came to realize how important Mom’s advice really was to maintaining overall good health and wellbeing.

According to The United States Centers of Disease Control and Prevention, “Hand washing is the single most important means of preventing the spread of infection.”

Basically what happens is your hands come in to contact with a virus – most of which can live for up to 3 hours on just about any surface. Then you touch your eyes, nose, ears or mouth and bang - you’re infected!

And we’re not just talking about the common cold here either – everything from the flu to gastrointestinal infections. Even food born illnesses like Salmonella and the dreaded E. coli bacteria can be spread through direct hand to hand contact.

While it is true that many colds and viruses can be transmitted though the air via coughing and sneezing – you’re still much more likely to contract a serious illness through direct physical contact.



With that being said - today I thought we’d discuss 6 of the most common yet surprising places you can come into contact with these sneaky bugs – and after reading some of them you just might decide you haven’t been washing your hands nearly as often as you should be.

1) Shopping Cart Handles: They can harbor millions of germs – so many in fact that many supermarket chains now offer anti-bacterial wipes in their cart pick-up areas so you can wipe down the handles. Take advantage!

2) The Kitchen Sink: It houses more germs on average than anyplace in your home. Surprised? Well don’t be - your kitchen sink, cutting boards, sponges even your dish cloths contain more disgusting germs than your average toilet seat.

3) Elevator Buttons: You’ve heard me tell you to take the stairs before – well here’s one more valuable reason. Because elevator buttons – especially the ones on the first floor can harbor more germs than a garbage can. If you can – let somebody else push it.

4) Dirty Desk: It’s hard for some to believe but your typical office desk harbors about 400 times the amount of germs and bacteria as your home toilet seat! The most notorious offenders are your phone, mouse and computer keyboard - I hope you wiping them down right now!

5) Public Bathrooms: Goes without saying right? But did you know that research has shown that most people tend to use the middle stalls the most and the first stall the least. So for the sake of your health and good hygiene use the stall with the least amount of germs. Personally I’d wear rubber gloves if I had them on me.



6) Shaking Hands: Of course I don’t really expect you to stop shaking hands – but it is important to know that direct hand to hand contact is one of the leading causes of bacterial contamination anywhere.

Even if you’re vigilant and follow all of the advice I mentioned above – who knows if the new client you just met and shook hands with is as conscious of his hygiene as you are.

According to a recent study only 67 percent of Americans wash their hands after using the bathroom – and only 33 percent bother to use soap. So unfortunately the responsibility falls on you to protect yourself from these deadly intruders.

So if you’re serious about your long term health and happiness – remember mom’s words of wisdom and wash your hands! It only takes a minute – but it can add up to years of great health and happiness.

A little soap and some warm water can go along way – and just think how happy this is going to make Mom!

Stay Healthy!