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- What is National Handwashing Week?
- History of Handwashing
- What is Hand Hygiene?
- How Long Should You Wash Your Hands?
- How Often Should You Wash Your Hands?
- What to Look For in Hand Soap
- How Does Hand Soap Kill Germs?
- Are Hand Sanitizers As Effective As Handwashing?
- Handwashing in Communities
- Final Thought
Personal hygiene begins and ends with your hands. And although we are taught as children to wash our hands before dinner, it is important to remember that germs don’t care what time of day it is. Clean hands prevent illness . That’s why it’s especially important to learn the basics of hand hygiene. Let’s look at some practical tips and information in honor of National Handwashing Awareness Week.
WHAT IS NATIONAL HANDWASHING WEEK?
The aim of this annual event, which takes place during the first full week of December, is to educate the public about the importance of proper hand hygiene and appropriate handwashing techniques. It should not be confused with Global Handwashing Day, which is celebrated on October 15 and focuses on the importance of washing hands with soap and water worldwide.
HISTORY OF HANDWASHING
Handwashing has been a central component of personal hygiene and a religious and cultural custom for many years. However, the relationship between handwashing and health was first established less than two centuries ago. Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian physician working at Vienna General Hospital, is known as the father of hand hygiene. In 1846, he noticed that women giving birth in the maternity ward run by medical students were far more likely to develop a fever and die than women run by midwives. He observed that doctors and medical students often visited the maternity ward immediately after performing an autopsy. From this observation, he developed the theory that those performing the autopsies would get their hands dirty with «cadaveric particles,» which they would then carry from the autopsy room to the maternity ward
As a result, Semmelweis imposed a new rule requiring doctors to wash their hands with chlorine. Mortality rates in his maternity ward dropped dramatically. It was the first evidence that handwashing could prevent infections .
WHAT IS HAND HYGIENE?
In short, proper hand hygiene can help reduce infections by washing your hands thoroughly with soap and water or cleaning them with an alcohol-based, waterless hand sanitizer. Hand hygiene is a method of cleaning your hands that substantially reduces potential pathogens (harmful microorganisms) on the hands and is considered a primary measure for reducing the risk of transmitting infections to others. It took years before hand hygiene became a standard procedure worldwide, but once it did, it was quickly recognized as a life-saving practice.
HOW LONG SHOULD YOU WASH YOUR HANDS?
If you’ve ever wondered how to wash your hands properly, a quick rinse doesn’t remove germs as effectively as a long, thorough wash . How long should you wash your hands? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) hand hygiene guidelines say you should wash your hands for at least 20 seconds.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has developed a five-step handwashing method specifically for healthcare workers to prevent the spread of germs to others and the transmission of diseases.
5 steps to washing your hands properly:
- Wet your hands with clean, warm water and apply soap.
- Lather the soap and create bubbles by rubbing your hands together. Lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails.
- Rub your hands and arms up to your elbows
- Rinse your hands to remove soap and germs.
- Dry your hands and arms with paper towels or, if possible, with a hair dryer.
HOW OFTEN SHOULD YOU WASH YOUR HANDS?
As a child, you were probably told to wash your hands before eating and after using the toilet. But that’s not the only time a good handwashing session is necessary. Here’s when you should wash your hands:
- Before, during, and after preparing any kind of food.
- Before and after caring for a sick person.
- Before and after treating a cut or wound.
- After changing diapers or cleaning up a child or other adult who has used the toilet.
- After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.
- After touching an animal, animal food, or animal droppings.
- After touching garbage .
- If you’re not sure whether you should wash your hands… you probably should!
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN HAND SOAP
When choosing hand soap during the winter, know that all hand soaps contain detergents like surfactants that clean your hands. Surfactants break the bonds between water and dirt. They keep dirt and grease suspended, allowing for the effective removal of unwanted oils and grime from your skin. Surfactants are used as wetting, emulsifying, and foaming agents in soaps. This helps create the rich lather that effectively cleans your hands. Any hand soap, even if it’s not labeled as antibacterial, will remove harmful germs and bacteria from your hands. Most hand soaps include other ingredients such as abrasives, fragrances, and colorants. Abrasives, like quartz or sand, exfoliate the skin and remove stubborn dirt. Fragrances, usually plant-based, mask the odor of other ingredients and add pleasant, distinctive scents, while colorants enhance the product’s appeal.
There are many different hand soap options. Although some people opt for antibacterial soaps in the hope that they are more effective, the Food and Drug Administration states that antibacterial soap has not been proven to be more effective than regular soap. Ultimately, the choice is yours. If you’re looking for a naturally derived soap, there are many effective options to try, whether you prefer a basic, unscented formula, a fruity-scented liquid hand soap, or a floral bar soap. Whatever you choose, the important thing is that soap is an essential ingredient in your handwashing routine.
HOW DOES HAND SOAP KILL GERMS?
People often think of soap as gentle and soothing, but from the point of view of microorganisms, it is usually extremely destructive. A single drop of ordinary soap diluted in water is enough to break down and kill many types of germs and bacteria. The secret to soap’s impressive power is its hybrid structure. Soap is made up of pin-shaped molecules, each of which has a hydrophilic head—it readily binds to water—and a hydrophobic tail, which shuns water and prefers to bind to oils and fats. These molecules, when suspended in water, alternately float as solitary units, interact with other molecules in the solution, and clump together into tiny bubbles called micelles, with the heads pointing outward and the tails tucked inward
When we wash our hands with soap and water, we surround the microorganisms on our skin with soap molecules. The hydrophobic tails of the free-floating soap molecules try to evade the water; in the process, they burrow into the lipid envelopes of certain microbes and viruses, breaking them apart. In other words, soap doesn’t kill the germs on our hands, but it breaks them down and washes them away.
ARE HAND SANITIZERS AS EFFECTIVE AS HANDWASHING?
Washing your hands with soap and water is the best way to remove all types of germs and chemicals. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Applying hand sanitizer may be easier, but even those with high alcohol content cannot kill all types of bacteria and viruses. Soap and water are much more effective at removing germs that cause common illnesses. Studies show that hand sanitizers work well in clinical settings, where hands are not very dirty or greasy. But in work and community settings—where people handle equipment, food, or play sports—sanitizers cannot clean thoroughly enough. Also, hand sanitizer is ineffective if too little is applied or if it is wiped off before it has completely dried. Hand sanitizers also likely cannot remove or inactivate harmful chemicals we may come into contact with.
HANDWASHING IN COMMUNITIES
Many germs that can make you sick spread when we don’t wash our hands with soap and clean running water. That’s why it’s so important to wash your hands, especially at key times like after using the toilet, when preparing food, before eating, and after coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose.
Washing hands with soap and water is simple and inexpensive, and it can significantly reduce the number of young children who get sick. Teaching people to wash their hands helps them and their communities stay healthy. Studies show that community handwashing education can:
- Reduce the number of people who get diarrhea by 23% to 40%.
- Reduce the number of school days missed by children due to gastrointestinal illnesses by 29% to 57%.
- Reduce diarrheal illnesses in people with weakened immune systems by 58%.
- Reduce respiratory illnesses, such as colds, in the general population by 16% to 21%.
FINAL THOUGHT
Washing your hands has always been an important step for good health. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve been washing our hands more than ever. This time of year is another reminder of why washing is so important. Adopting the habit of good hand hygiene is an easy and effective way to prevent infections and illnesses. What type of hand soap do you normally use?
