What You Need To Know About Maintaining Good Hand Hygiene?

Thanks to Covid! Even if you didn't know how to wash your hands frequently, Covid has forced everyone to do so. Funny enough, your hands didn’t need to be dirty before taking a wash. 

Companies and organizations helped in shaping people’s minds about practicing hand hygiene. At the peak of the Covid, you wouldn’t be allowed into many offices if you didn’t wash your hands at the entrance.

However, after the panic generated by the Covid-19 pandemic calmed down, handwashing and other hygienic practices continued. That’s one undeniable benefit the pandemic brought to the world.  

Maintaining good hand hygiene is an essential habit everyone should continue to implement. For one, it helps you to maintain a clean routine. It allows you to stay away from bacteria and germs. 

 
 

What Is Hand Hygiene? 

 

Handwashing is one of the easiest ways to maintain good hand care. Hand hygiene is simply washing your hands frequently to prevent germs and bacteria. Keep your hands clean by regularly washing them with soap and water. 

 

With the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of hand sanitizers has become so popular in handwashing. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are used to clean your hands to prevent the spread of harmful viruses and infectious diseases. 

 

Hand hygiene essentially aims to keep you, your household or neighbors, and your environment healthy and free from infectious diseases. 

 

Benefits of Proper Hand Hygiene  

 

Because you live in an environment prone to bacteria and some harmful diseases, it’s crucial to maintain good handwashing practices to keep you and the environment free from such infectious diseases. 

Again, germs can spread quickly and rapidly; it’s essential to always wash your hands to stop the spread and maintain a sick-free life. 

 

There are numerous benefits of proper hand hygiene. Some of them are discussed below. 

 

1. Reduces The Risk Of Illness  

Proper hand hygiene is one of the best ways to protect yourself and your family from getting  

sick. This is because the hand is the source of collecting things from the environment. Keeping your hands clean always helps ensure you don’t easily contract any bacteria-infested object, especially food. 

2. Prevents The Spread Of Infectious Diseases  

Diseases can be easily spread from one person to another if not quickly checked. One way to stop the spread of harmful and infectious diseases around you is to repeatedly wash your hands with soap and water or use hand sanitizers without soap and water. 

3. Helps To Remove Germs   

Germs can spread within surfaces and from one person to another. By washing your hands often and frequently cleaning your surfaces, you help to remove and kill germs that can cause sickness.  

4. Reduces The Risk Of Drug Intake 

Antibiotics are the primary drugs used to fight bacterial infections and viruses. Any infected person will continue to consume antibiotics until they recover from their illness. But practicing good hand hygiene can potentially reduce the risk of antibiotic consumption. 

 
 

How to Maintain Good Hand Hygiene   
 

It’s as simple as ABC to maintain good hand hygiene. These quick and easy steps will enable you to maintain good hand hygiene. 

 

1. Wash Your Hands Frequently

One of the easiest ways to maintain hand hygiene is to wash your hands frequently with soap and water. You can use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer where soap and water are unavailable. 

2. Avoid Touching Your Eyes, Nose, And Mouth

Another way germs can enter your body is through your eyes, nose, and mouth. Therefore, you should avoid touching your eye, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands. 

3. Clean Your Surfaces 

As much as you wash your hands often, you must clean your surfaces with alcohol-based hand sanitizers. This is to eradicate any bacteria on such surfaces because you can unknowingly touch such surfaces and acquire the disease. 

4. Wash Your Hands Before Preparing Any Food

Even though it is improper to prepare food without washing your hands, to maintain good hand hygiene, washing your hands before, during, and after preparing your food is essential. Do not eat foods or drinks with unwashed hands. 

5. Wash Your Hands After Blowing Your Nose

You don’t need to be told to wash your hands after sneezing or blowing your nose, but you must do this because you can spread diseases by touching other people with your infected hands. 

 

When To Practice Good Hand Hygiene  

 

Apart from the benefits of handwashing habits, there are essential times when you should practice good hand hygiene. For example:  
 

• When you touch animals or their feeds 
• When you attend to a sick person 
• After using the bathroom or toilet 

• After touching any potentially contaminated surface 
• After changing diapers 
• All the time! 

 

Practicing good hand hygiene must be a thing you engage in frequently. Whenever you return home from any public outing, you should wash your hands. This way, you help to protect yourself and others from infection. 

 

What Not to Do When Practicing Good Hand Hygiene  

 

There are certain things you should avoid when practicing good hand hygiene. Some of them include:  

• Avoid excessive use of hand sanitizers because it can lead to dry and cracked skin. 
• Do not share personal items such as towels, toothbrushes, razors, etc., as they can aid the spread of viruses. 

• Do not use any public gadgets without first sterilizing them. 

 
 

Conclusion:  

 
Maintaining good hand hygiene can help to keep you healthy. It prevents you from contracting and spreading respiratory and diarrheal infections. 

Proper hand washing stops the spread of germs from person to person and from surface to person. Wash your hands thoroughly with clean, running water. Scrub and allow the lather to penetrate for about 20 seconds before rinsing. 

Good hand hygiene is the perfect way to stay healthy and protect your family from unwanted illnesses and diseases.