
Show Me the Science – How to Wash Your Hands - Reedx
https://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/show-me-the-science-handwashing.html
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hairofadog
Last fall I asked my doctor how I could avoid my annual month of cold/flu
downtime, and she said “wash your hands a lot and stop touching your face.”

I bought a container of sanitizer for my desk, I carry a smaller one in the
car and another in my jacket pocket, and I try to be conscious of using it any
time I come out of a public space (the bathroom, grocery store, restaurants or
cafes, the water cooler). When I have to scratch my face (which is frequently
because of anxiety and slight dermatitis) I use my sleeve or try to ensure
I’ve sanitized my hands since the last time I was exposed. It hasn’t been as
difficult as I’m making it sound here, and this is the first winter in a
decade that I haven’t been sick, knock on wood. If you catch bugs easily, I
recommend trying to be mindful of cleaning your hands for a season to see how
it goes.

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johnz
And for drying your hands
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FMBSblpcrc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FMBSblpcrc)

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rfmw19
As for alternatives to paper towels, here's [0] a review of different studies
about drying your hands. It's not clear that alternatives to paper towel hand
drying are more effective from a health perspective. But obviously cost and
environment are the biggest problems.

It seems most harmful microbes are between your nails on your fingertips and
paper towels might be more effective with removing microbes on your
fingertips, but there is still some controversy about if this even matters
overall and which is more effective in removing them from other parts of your
hands. Some are also concerned about air dryers blowing up airborne microbes,
and I'm personally concerned with the super loud noises (also mentioned in the
research below [0])!

Finally, I only see paper towels in every medical center or hospital I've been
to.

[0]
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3538484/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3538484/)

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hprotagonist
one of the more striking demonstrations you can do in a biology wet lab is to
dust peoples hands with fluorescent powder and then ask them to wash their
hands and see what they missed.

Top of the thumbs is almost always poorly washed, even if the rest of the hand
is generally clean.

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newsbinator
> However, the best way to dry hands remains unclear because few studies about
> hand drying exist, and the results of these studies conflict.

One of the most striking aspects of this is how much we don't know about hand-
washing and hand-drying. It seems like a topic worth studying until the
studies stop conflicting.

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mrbonner
”The temperature of the water does not appear to affect microbe removal;
however, warmer water may cause more skin irritation and is more
environmentally costly.” And I always thought warm water is better than cold
water for washing hand.

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speedgoose
I don't know what my partner will think about my mental health if I sing the
happy birthday song twice every time I wash my hands.

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kick
It just asks you to hum it! Entirely different!

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ape4
Its hard to turn on the water to rinse without touching the faucet (with your
hand).

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Ives
Second to last point:

> While some recommendations include using a paper towel to turn off the
> faucet after hands have been rinsed, this practice leads to increased use of
> water and paper towels, and there are no studies to show that it improves
> health.

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ape4
Thanks. I guess depending on the faucet you could use your elbow.

