Handwashing the Germ-Free Fashion

Germs are everywhere. There are literally hundreds of thousands of them all spreading and causing disease, and while it is impossible to avoid every single one of them, ensuring your hands are squeaky-clean can reduce a significant amount of interaction with germs.

Most of us know that washing your hands before a meal is a good way to avoid internal contact with germs, but it’s going to take a bit more than simply soaping up your hands to kill off germs and the Mayo Clinic offers these added suggestions when washing:

Using a soap or hand sanitizing gel, always remember to focus on covering all surfaces of the hands, not jut the palm area. Lather up both sides of your hands and wash your wrists, fingernails, cuticles and even the area between your fingers. These areas are all often forgotten when washing and make great hiding places for germs.

Lather up using warm water and soap or hand sanitizer for at least 15 seconds. While you’re washing, cup your palm and press the fingertips of your opposite hand into the cupped palm, rotating the fingers into a circle. This will help loosen the germs under your fingernails and give them a bit of a ‘scrub’. Repeat on the opposite hand.

Remember, once you’ve washed your hands, the faucet is still lurking with germs. Rather use a paper towel or the tip of your wrist or elbow to turn if off rather than using your just-cleaned, just-germ-free hands.