Disclaimer: This article features medical and health topics for educational and informational purposes only. It is not intended to replace or serve as medical or professional advice for self-diagnosis, self-treatment, self-medication, or the like for any health-related condition or medical emergency. Make sure to consult a health care or medical professional for proper medical care, diagnosis, or treatment related to your situation.
Avoid Health Pitfalls Through Regular Hand Washing and Disinfection
These past few years, we have learned that proper handwashing and regular disinfection of our homes are crucial practices to help reduce the spread of harmful bacteria and viruses. By doing so, we strengthen our defense against common illnesses and diseases. Though simple, handwashing and home disinfection are proven effective when it comes to keeping ourselves healthy and safe.
Southstar Drug listed the benefits and importance of handwashing and disinfecting your home. Learn more about the ways to keep your family safe from unwanted diseases.
Steps & Techniques to Proper Hand Hygiene
Washing your hands plays a big role in keeping yourself and your family healthy. With regular handwashing you can stop the spread of bacteria and viruses as well as help ensure your family’s safety. You can practice proper handwashing by following these steps:
1. Wet hands with water.
Use either cold or warm water, or your preferred water temperature from the faucet to wet your hands. Warm and cold water both work to remove the same number of germs from all surfaces of your hands, fingers, and wrists.
2. Use a bar or liquid soap.
The choice is up to you when it comes to using a bar or liquid hand soap. Either of them works effectively as hand hygiene products to remove germs.
If you find liquid soaps to be more convenient, you can use an antibacterial hand wash that provides overall germ protection.
If you are used to something more solid, try antibacterial soap bars formulated with the same ingredients as the handwash. Scrub your hands together for at least 20 seconds to remove germs and other bacteria.
3. Dry your hands with a clean towel.
Germs spread more easily, most especially when your hands are wet. So, it’s best to dry your hands thoroughly after washing them. It’s highly recommended to use clean and reusable towels and make sure to change them as often as possible to prevent blights and molds from forming.
The key to proper handwashing is to make sure you thoroughly clean all the surfaces of your hands including your fingers and wrists.
Make sure to thoroughly clean the surface of your hands including your fingers and wrists.\
Cleaning and Disinfecting Your Home
Aside from proper handwashing, maintaining a clean and disease-free space through disinfecting with a household cleaner that contains soap or detergent helps reduce the number of germs and also reduces the risks of infection from surfaces in your home.
Surfaces that should be disinfected include, but are not limited to telephones or mobile phones, computer keyboards and mice, doorknobs, drinking fountains, sink faucet handles, paper towel dispensers, tables, and desktops.
Effective disinfection includes the use of antimicrobial chemicals. A 10% bleach water solution is also effective in disinfecting most surfaces within your household.
Benefits of Handwashing and Disinfecting
Just like proper handwashing, cleaning and disinfecting play a big role in maintaining a clean and safe household. Here are some of the benefits that may surprise you:
- Keeping your home clean, especially your bedroom may lead to better sleep.
- Clean and clutter-free home spaces may help improve your family’s mental health.
- A clean home can help lead to healthier food choices for each family member.
- A tidy home can help ease common colds and seasonal allergy symptoms.
- A consistently clean and tidy home helps you save money.
Other Ways to Prevent Disease and Infection
In addition to hand washing and home disinfection, the spread of common colds and coughs and other airborne infections can be minimized with other personal hygiene measures, including the following:
- Cover your mouth properly whenever you cough or sneeze. Avoid coughing or sneezing directly into your hands or use tissues or the crook of your elbow. If your hands get contaminated, make sure to wash them immediately.
- Dispose of contaminated or used tissues immediately.
- Avoid touching your mouth, nose, or eyes.
- Observe limiting close contact with other individuals.
- Stay at home if you are sick, rather than coming into work or anywhere outside of your home.
Help Reduce the Spread of Diseases with Southstar Drug
Observe proper hand hygiene and make it a habit to disinfect your home regularly. Grab your cleaning and disinfectant supplies online at Southstar Drug.
Shop online and grab our FREE delivery service when you purchase items for a total worth of Php 1,499 and up for Metro Manila, Rizal, and select areas in Pampanga, Cavite, and Batangas. For the rest of the provinces, you may enjoy the same FREE delivery service when you order for Php 5,000 and up.
