
Sunshine Helps Kill Germs Indoors - lnguyen
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/10/18/658335490/grandma-was-right-sunshine-helps-kill-germs-indoors
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hprotagonist
In a similar vein, you can get even porous dishware remarkably clean by
scrubbing them out with salt and letting them bake in direct light for a
while.

This works reasonably welly while car-camping or situations where doing dishes
is annoying, or water is scarce but sunlight's plentiful.

direct sunlight for baking off mold and mildew and bleaching whites are other
old but effective tricks.

~~~
thevardanian
People used wash their dishes with the ash from the stove. It acts both as an
abrasive, and an absorbent.

~~~
divbyzer0
Soap was traditionally made from the ashes of hardwoods combined with rain
water (higher nitrogen content).

[https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Ash-Soap](https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Ash-Soap)

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moviuro
GDPR/tracking bypass:
[https://text.npr.org/s.php?sId=658335490](https://text.npr.org/s.php?sId=658335490)

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nmridul
I wonder why drying clothes in Sunlight is avoided in western countries. Even
in Summer, i don't see people hanging clothes outside in US. While this is the
norm in Asia.

~~~
peterwwillis
Well it depends on what part of the "West" you mean. Lots of people still hang
clothes out to dry in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, etc.

In the USA, we don't hang clothes out because we changed our cultural norms
with the introduction of convenience machines. Once air conditioning became
affordable, we all bought it. Same for refrigerators, dish washers, garbage
disposals, washing machines, and of course dryers. Having a machine to do your
work for you was seen as a middle-class status symbol, in addition to
relieving housework.

Once line-drying became passé, people began to dislike the sight of line-dried
clothes (it reminded them of being lower-class) and so was now "unsightly".
Neighborhood association bylaws were passed to ban line-drying completely, and
many apartment buildings also banned the practice. So now around 80% of homes
in the USA have a washer and dryer, and people in apartments use laundromats
or apartment facilities.

This article from the BBC mentions the millions of U.S. homeowners who were
banned from using clotheslines:
[https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-11417677](https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-11417677)

~~~
dashundchen
> Why would you line-dry your clothes if you have the convenience of a dryer?

Some advantages:

1\. Clothes last longer with less dryer agitation

2\. Less agitation means less lint

3\. Lower carbon emissions and gas/electric bills

I have a gas clothes dryer at home but I hang dry my clothes year round.

In the summer I have a line, more delicate and fade-senstitive items get hung
in the shade while towels, sheets, undershirts, socks and underwear can go in
the sun. If you hang them in the morning or evening when light is less
intense, or bring them in as soon as they dry during sunnier hours, there's
very little risk of fading in my experience. The most delicate items are hung
inside on a drying rack.

In the winter or rainy periods I have a folding indoor drying rack that I hang
clothes on. It takes longer but still works. During furnace weather I can
leave them in front of a vent and the dry furnace air gets some humidity as
well.

Some tips if you haven't hang dried before:

You may notice your clothes are stiff after air drying. Depending on your
water hardness you may be using too much soap (most detergents recommend too
much). Try using less, or add plain white vinegar in the fabric softener
dispenser (no commercial softener)

Vinegar will soften the water, remove soap buildup from the washer and
clothes, and leaves fabric soft without any other artificial softeners.

~~~
BoorishBears
The sun will ruin clothes much faster than a properly configured dryer

~~~
dashundchen
YMMV - it may be different closer to the equator, but in the great lakes I
don't have an issue. The brightest colors and most delicate fabrics are hung
inside or in shade. With a medium washer spin speed there's very little wear
on the clothes.

In contrast, my experience with the dryer is clothes and up looking threadbare
and worn from a high heat dryer. Just look at how quickly the lint trap fills
up.

~~~
BoorishBears
I’ve found most wear on clothes comes from people who only used timed washes
on high heat

I wash my clothes and dry them according to type with automatic settings which
end the cycle early if the clothes are dry before the full cycle is complete

On the flip side when I lived in a place where dying clothes outside was the
norm there was no avoiding sun bleached clothes unless you dryer your clothes
at night (which only partially worked because it was a tropical climate)

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eplanit
So the statement "sunlight is the best disinfectant"[1] is indeed true, both
literally and metaphorically.

[1]
[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sunlight_is_the_best_disinfec...](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sunlight_is_the_best_disinfectant)

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manmal
We use a steam-cleaning device (looks like a small vacuum cleaner) at home and
I swear we get sick less often if we use it regularly. It supposedly kills
over 99% of all kinds of pathogens. Not sure if it creates resistant strains,
but I guess such high temperatures are difficult to adapt to.

~~~
Double_a_92
Killing 99% of everything is not very good if you have young children. It can
lead to allergies, if their immune system can't train on harmless bacteria.

~~~
neuronic
That's nothing but a hypothesis. It might very well be the case but it isn't
proven at all. So stop spreading it as if it were fact.

So sick of bullshitism on the Internet.

~~~
pbhjpbhj
Surely bullshit is something that's clearly false?

~~~
neuronic
Implying that the hygiene hypothesis is a fact __is __clearly false.

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tartoran
In Eastern Europe pillows, bedsheets and blankets are put on the windowsill
every morning for airing. It is also a customary thing to keep windows open
for a couple of hours at least, every day. I was surprised that is not the
norm in the US for example. It's the AC that is always blasting instead

~~~
aclave1
It's very hot in the US. Today at 2pm the temperature where I live will be
around 29 degrees celcius. I googled ukraine's weather right now and it's 14C
over there.

~~~
Grazester
I thought you were going to say 35 degrees(Arizona, Nevada, Texas?) but you
said 29? Where I am from that's a nice to normal day.

~~~
aclave1
I live in louisiana, it's actually really nice today compared to most days
since we're in that nice 3 days of fall season. I was just giving an example
of why AC is always blasting here. Your comment backs up my point that it's
HOT in the USA

~~~
fhood
Not going to argue with you about using AC in Louisiana. I think a lot of
people just don't understand how fucking hot and unpleasant it gets in the
southern states during summer.

~~~
crankylinuxuser
If it was just heat, it wouldn't be as bad. But a good chunk of the "South" in
the US is swampland. And that means 95-100% humidity.

That means that when you sweat, it doesn't evaporate. And it doesnt make you
cooler. And the sweat then warms up to the air/body temperature, and further
blankets you in hot... And you sweat more.

Some scarier numbers, mammals die without shelter in around 8 hours if the
temp is 35°C (95 °F) in saturated (100% humidity) air.

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amatecha
There have been quite a number of recent studies into the use of light for
medical/health purposes -- for example, using blue light for its antimicrobial
effects[0], or various wavelengths of light for other healing effects[1,2].
Use of LED light for this purpose is often covered by insurance and has been
developed & used by NASA[3].

Anecdotally, a family member of mine has one of those "led light therapy"
systems[4]. Initially he was going to a local clinic to use one and ended up
buying one of the packages for himself. I have seen person after person
experience shockingly beneficial effects from using them (like people are
saying "this is the first time I've slept without pain medication in years".
From putting a pad covered in bright LEDs on them for 40 minutes. People are
so skeptical, then suddenly their chronic pain issue is mitigated by simply
sitting there.

0:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3438385/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3438385/)
1:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4126803/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4126803/)
2:
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3799034/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3799034/)
3:
[https://www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/features/heals.html](https://www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/features/heals.html)
4: [https://www.balancedlivingllc.com/light-
therapy.html](https://www.balancedlivingllc.com/light-therapy.html)

~~~
toomuchtodo
Careful with the blue light, it can be toxic to the retina. Tilt towards
warmer spectrum whenever possible.

[https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...](https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0194218)

~~~
amatecha
Yeah, that's right. Normally you use the infrared, but the blue are still
included and the instructions usually specify exactly how to use those
properly/safely :)

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aidenn0
I wonder if the high-E glass used in new construction affects this.

~~~
danans
I think you mean "Low-E", for low-emissivity. But your question stands.

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clumsysmurf
Does anyone have a recommendation for a commercial product that can disinfect
a room with UV? Something like a more scaled down version of what is used in
hospitals. I'd use it at home, and when staying in a hotel room.

~~~
userbinator
A UVC lamp will work very well for that, just make sure nothing you want to
remain alive is in the same room when it's on, because the UV is just as
effective at killing _your_ cells as it is bacteria.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germicidal_lamp](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germicidal_lamp)

~~~
olliej
There goes my idea of a room sized tanning booth :)

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agumonkey
Read that a few months ago. I let some fruits out in the open, they stayed
'mint' for weeks. While in my house, after one week I'd see rot starting and
mold showing its head.

~~~
jacobush
Could also be temperature and humidity etc.

~~~
agumonkey
Could be but I don't think it was the case. Unless it a very sensitive, there
wasn't a lot of difference, it was summer, house was open, low humidity if at
all.

~~~
Uberphallus
Still, objects in sunlight are significantly hotter than air temperature, and
molds have pretty strong requirements for developing, temperature wise.

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comboy
From what I've heard in China UV boxes for dishes sterilization are more
popular than dishwashers.

~~~
mobilemidget
Now I wonder why dishwashers don't have UV light in their washing cycle. _runs
to patent office_

~~~
dalore
[https://gizmodo.com/5995220/this-ultraviolet-lamp-keeps-
your...](https://gizmodo.com/5995220/this-ultraviolet-lamp-keeps-your-
dishwasher-clean-no-matter-how-dirty-the-dishes)

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rhacker
I once dried something outside. It ended up being in half shade half sun. When
I checked on it a couple hours later, there was a distinct fading line where
the sun/shade line had travelled. The sun side was completely faded.

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mclightning
this explains a lot :D we have an old saying in Turkish;

"A home where the sun do not visit, gets a doctor's visit"

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tobyhinloopen
Data protection cookies? What are these?

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jdlyga
Next you're going to tell me drafty windows will give me a cold.

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modzu
c.f: the concept of prana; and the belief that you can sustain yourself on
sunshine alone

~~~
scotty79
People starved themselves to death believing a version of that.

~~~
newsbinator
It seems counterintuitive to believe that a thing you evolved not to do is a
thing you can do.

It'd be like training yourself to breathe underwater like a fish.

Or training yourself to molt like a snake.

You're simply not designed with the right hardware for the task, not matter
how much "practice" you get. Amazing how people can convince themselves
otherwise.

~~~
modzu
you didn't evolve "to do" anything. that's teleology.

~~~
newsbinator
I mentioned things we evolved _not_ to do, which obviously wouldn't fly in a
biology paper, but perhaps gets across "things we lack the evolution-provided
hardware to do".

