Wash 'Em, Wash 'Em Good
The science has been clear for years: Washing your hands can cut down on being sick, but we don’t do it enough. One study estimates that if everyone did it regularly, we could save a million lives each year. What’s more, when you don’t wash your hands, problems can come up.
You Pass on Germs
If you don't wash your hands when they're germy, you could pass those germs to friends and family and get them sick. If you get them on an object -- like a doorknob or handrail -- you could infect people you don't even know. Make sure to lather up after you use the bathroom. A single gram of human feces can contain a trillion germs.
You Can Get Sick, Too
All those germs can get to you, too. Your hands can carry germs into your eyes and your mouth from places you don't even want to think about. And the illnesses the germs can cause could be serious. Washing your hands with soap (which is much more effective than sanitizer or water alone) can protect you from illnesses like diarrhea, respiratory infections, and more.
Kids Miss a Lot of School
Often, kids don't wash their hands. They can get sick from all those germs they don't scrub away, which causes them to miss school. Handwashing education in schools can lower absenteeism from gastrointestinal problems by up to 57%.
You Miss a Lot of Work
Each year, the flu costs Americans about 17 million missed workdays. That translates to $7 billion a year in sick days and undone work. One of the ways you can avoid getting the flu is to wash your hands thoroughly with soap and water.
You Lose Money
Americans spend about $10.4 billion each year fighting the flu. That amount includes doctor visits, hospital stays, and medicine. So washing your hands could also help save you money.
Your Bowels Will Give You Trouble
Diarrhea can be a symptom of a larger disease like cholera or typhoid, along with the common rotavirus. Diarrhea is the second-leading cause of death among children under 5. About 1.5 million people die yearly from diarrheal diseases, most of them in Africa and Southeast Asia. Around half a million of these deaths were among children. One study found that washing hands with soap can prevent about 4 out of every 10 cases of diarrhea.
Eyes -- Yours and Others' -- Could Be Affected
Washing your hands has been shown to prevent two far-reaching eye diseases. Pinkeye, picked up by 6 million Americans each year, can be caused by infection, as can trachoma, a bacterial infection that is the leading cause of blindness in the world.
Skin Infections
Staphylococcus bacteria -- staph, for short -- are germs often found on your skin and in your nostrils. If those germs get into an open wound, they can cause skin infections or move deep into your skin and soft tissues. From there, they can travel into joints, bones, and organs. They can even cause blood poisoning. Staph is the leading cause of infection in U.S. healthcare facilities. Washing your hands with soap and water helps keep them from traveling. So does covering those open wounds.
Sepsis
When faced with an infection, your body's immune system sometimes can turn on itself in the form of a serious illness called sepsis. It affects 1.7 million Americans each year. Nearly 270,000 of those die. One of the most important ways to prevent sepsis is good hand washing, including both before and after caring for a sick person.
How to Wash Your Hands
The procedure is:
Water
Lather
Scrub for at least 20 seconds
Rinse
Dry
Make sure to wash up:
Before, during, and after preparing food
Before you eat
After you use the bathroom (or help a toddler)
After petting your pet
When you sneeze
Anywhere, anytime germs may gather
A hand sanitizer with 60% alcohol is OK, but soap is better.