Last Updated on June 20, 2020
Hand wash is a routine task – and a very important one for our personal hygiene. That’s why we do it several times a day in critical moments such as before and after cooking and eating, for example.
That might be the problem. According to some health entities, most people don’t know how to wash their hands the right way. This is not just an individual problem, but a public health one.
If your handwashing technique is ineffective, not only will your organism be more easily attacked by germs, but you will also spread those same germs all over everything you touch: other people’s hands, door handles, handrails, objects, etc. And you have to remember that your hands touch all kinds of different surfaces throughout the day, collecting thousands of germs – some of them may put your health at risk.
1. The importance of personal hygiene
Personal hygiene is important for disease prevention, sure. But there are also personal, psychological, and social reasons to maintain proper hygiene standards that we must address.
Personal and psychological: hygiene has an obvious and very visible impact on body image, and we all know how our body image influences self-esteem and confidence. That’s why most people are already very conscious of personal hygiene.
Besides, we are taught from a very early age to build a hygiene routine which we quickly assimilate and replicate throughout our lives. But sometimes life takes us down turbulent paths.
Mental health problems such as depression can make us neglect our hygiene and further aggravate our condition, in a kind of negativity spiral. It can take away the little confidence and motivation we had left.
Social: nobody likes to be near someone who smells like they have been locked in a room for an entire week without taking a shower. People expect others to be clean and well presented.
Those who are not are immediately perceived socially in a very negative manner. Some are even bullied at school or slighted at work. Personal hygiene is a key factor in social interactions. Let’s refocus on handwashing and try to understand what most of us are doing wrong.