The words in the above headline were advice I heard from a business owner during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was partially jesting and partially being honest. As with the pandemic, and most things in general, the truth is often somewhere in between.
Setting the COVID-19 debate aside, if there was any good that came out of the pandemic, it was that we all may be washing our hands more frequently. But how often? How many times per day should we be washing our hands? And how many is too many?
The answers come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and the most obvious one is to wash your hands after touching surfaces with lots of contact from others such as door knobs, railings, telephones, etc. The CDC gives additional advice that also makes sense, including before, during and after preparing food and before consuming food. Additional advice from the CDC is to wash your hands before and after caring for someone who is sick, or before and after treating a cut or a wound.
Most of us are likely washing our hands after using the toilet to avoid exposure to bodily fluids that can contain viruses and germs. With that in mind, the CDC says it is also important to wash your hands after changing diapers. In a nod to Captain Obvious, we should also wash our hands after sneezing, coughing or blowing our nose.
And finally, we are told that we should wash our hands after handling garbage, as it can ferment at room temperature, leading to the formation of dangerous germs.
But can you wash your hands too much? According to healthspectra.com, the answer is yes — or at least a maybe. The site says there are possible risks of an affected immune system, as over-washing your hands can strip your skin of the good bacteria that are necessary for a healthy immune response.
Over-washing can also lead to constant drying of the skin, which is comprised of numerous sebaceous glands that are responsible for secreting sebum and oils that help keep our skin soft and supple naturally. Chemical-induced antibacterial soap can strip the skin of these natural oils, resulting in cracking of the skin that can act as an open passage for the germs to enter the body and cause disease. And finally, over-washing your hands can lead to a heightened risk of bacterial resistance, as antibacterial soaps and sanitizers make the bad bacteria immune to those.
Again, the truth is likely somewhere in the middle. While you all debate this, I am going to wash my hands and get back to work.
Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.
Shane Goodman
Editor and Publisher
Times Vedette digital editions
shane@gctimesnews.com
641-332-2707