The Hand Washing Mistake You May Be Making
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Getty Im ages Hand dryers are blowing a lot more than just hot air—they’re spreading germs, according to a new study published in the Journal of Hospital Infection.
Over six weeks, researchers coated participant’s hands with the innocuous bacteria Lactobacilli (benign bacteria usually found in your gut that converts lactose and certain sugars into lactic acid) to simulate hands that weren’t properly washed. The study then tested the air around warm-air dryers, jet-air dryers and paper towel dispensers. The air around the jet-air dryers ranked the worst, with the high-powered machines creating a turbine of bacteria—levels were 27 times higher than those around paper towel dispensers and 4.5 times higher than warm-air dryers. The germs were also detected in the air up to 15 minutes after use near the hand dryers.
When it comes to the dilemma between hand dryers versus paper towels, we won’t leave you out to dry. Here’s a list of tips to keep you healthy (and eco!).
1. Wash your hands the right way.
“There’s germs in the air in the bathroom—you can’t avoid that,” said Dr. Donald Levy, medical director of the Osher Clinical Center for Integrative Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and assistant clinical professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. “But you can control keeping high concentrations of bacteria off your hands. And old-fashioned hand washing is the best thing you can do.” But you have to do more than just swipe your fingers under water. “Use a decent amount of soap and sing Happy Birthday be fore stopping,” Levy said. Also, use warm water, said Eva Pendleton, manager of integrative health at NYU Langone Medical Center. Hot water can cause chapping and cracking of the skin—an open gateways for germs.
2. Skip the sink.
If you’re hands aren’t visibly dirty, our experts said you can bypass the whole hand washing process and use hand sanitizer instead. “If you choose one that contains at least 60 percent alcohol, it will kill off microbes very effectively,” said Renée Loux, eco-advisor and author of Easy Green Living. “Just be sure to coat your hands evenly and allow it to dry completely.”
3. BYO paper towel.
Does tossing a paper towel into the trash make your inner green girl cringe? Consider bringing your own cloth towel, suggested Loux. It’s as ea sy to stash in your purse as a tube of lipstick. Let it air dry in between uses and wash it weekly with the rest of your towels.
4. Lather on some lotion.
After you wash your hands and dry them off, consider coating them in a hand moisturizer that contains an essential oil like tea tree, lavender, rosemary or peppermint. “These oils have anti-viral, anti-fungal and anti-microbial properties, so when applied after hand washing it can only help,” Pendleton said.
5. Build up your resistance to infection.
A feisty immune system is an integral piece in keeping you in tip-top shape (especially when confronted with gales of germs blowing around in the bathroom!). Levy recommended a variety of natural methods to give your body a boost: cod liver oil, Vitamin D, probiotics, green tea extract, black elderberry extract and quercetin. Talk t o your physician about the amount and frequency in which you should take any of the supplements.
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