It might seem like a small thing, but washing your hands can save lives.
Skipping this simple step can lead to illness, lost workdays, and even severe infections. Here’s what happens when you don’t wash your hands.
Wash them well
Research has shown for years that washing your hands greatly reduces the risk of illness.
If everyone did it regularly, it could save up to a million lives each year. When we don’t, the risk of serious health problems increases.
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You spread germs
Unwashed hands can pass germs to family and friends and make them sick.
They can also contaminate surfaces like doorknobs and railings, spreading infection to people you’ll never meet.
A single gram of human feces can contain up to a trillion germs.
You can get sick, too
Those same germs can reach your eyes and mouth, causing diseases such as diarrhea and respiratory infections.
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Soap is far more effective than water or sanitizer alone at protecting you from these illnesses.
Kids miss a lot of school
Many children don’t wash their hands often enough and end up getting sick.
Handwashing education in schools can reduce absences from gastrointestinal illness by up to 57 %.
You miss workdays
Each year, the flu leads to around 17 million missed workdays in the U.S., costing about $7 billion in lost productivity.
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Thorough handwashing with soap and water is one of the simplest ways to help prevent the flu.
You lose money
Americans spend about $10.4 billion each year fighting the flu, including doctor visits, hospital stays, and medication.
Washing your hands can therefore also help you save money.
Your stomach suffers
Diarrhea can signal diseases like cholera, typhoid, or rotavirus.
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About 1.5 million people die each year from diarrheal illnesses, most of them in Africa and Southeast Asia, including around half a million children.
Washing hands with soap can prevent roughly four out of ten cases.
Your eyes may be affected
Handwashing helps prevent eye infections such as pinkeye, which affects about 6 million Americans yearly, and trachoma, a bacterial infection that remains the leading cause of blindness worldwide.
Skin infections
Staphylococcus bacteria or staph naturally live on your skin and in your nose but can cause infections when entering open wounds.
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These infections can spread to joints, bones, and organs, or lead to blood poisoning.
Staph is the leading cause of infections in U.S. hospitals. Washing hands and covering wounds helps prevent this.
Sepsis
Sometimes, when your body fights infection, the immune system turns against itself, a dangerous condition called sepsis.
It affects 1.7 million Americans each year and kills nearly 270,000. O
ne of the most effective ways to prevent sepsis is proper handwashing, especially before and after caring for someone who’s ill.
How to wash your hands properly
Use water and soap, lather thoroughly, scrub for at least 20 seconds, rinse, and dry. Wash your hands:
- Before, during, and after preparing food
- Before eating
- After using the bathroom or changing a diaper
- After touching pets
- After sneezing
- Anytime you may have come into contact with germs
Hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol is acceptable, but soap is best.
This article is based on information from WebMD.com.