by wildcherry on Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 | Health, Life | No Comments

According to research performed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hand sanitizer is considered as effective at killing germs as washing your hands with soap and water, unless hands are visibly soiled. Clean hands are very important for stopping the spread of germs. Hand soap and cleansers need to not only wash away dirt and grime, but kill the germs and prevent them from spreading from one person to another.

Here’s ways on keeping your hands hygiene without overusing your hand sanitizer:

• Wet your hands with warm water and then lather up with soap. Soap kills germs.
• Rub your hands together and scrub all the surfaces, including your palms, wrists, between your fingers, and under your nails.
• Rub and scrub for about as long as it takes to whistle one verse of “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.”
• Rinse and then dry your hands on a paper towel or clean cloth.
• In public bathrooms, turn off the water using a paper towel to avoid getting germs on your clean hands.
• You can use the same towel to open the door. Door handles are great carriers of germs.
• When you can’t wash your hands with soap and water, a good alternative is to use a hand-sanitizing wipe or gel.

It sounds almost too simple to be true. But, an important part of staying healthy this flu season is to wash your hands. Try it! You won’t be sorry you did!”

Hand sanitizers contain alcohol and other agents that are known to kill certain germs that are easily transmitted. Studies have shown that families who use hand sanitizer containing 40% ethanol are 59% less likely to spread sickness to other members of their family who also use hand sanitizers than they are to spread it to people outside of the family who do not use hand sanitizer.

Keep a portable size hand sanitizer in your purse, diaper bag and car to make sure you have it whenever you may need it and soap and water is not available to use. How many times have you used a public restroom to find there is no soap to wash your hands with? Squirt a small amount of your hand sanitizer into the palm of your hand and spread all over both hands to effectively kill most germs you may have on your hands. You do not need to rinse off the sanitizer- it dries quickly and as it does, gets rid of the germs.

As a warning, when purchasing hand sanitizers, it is important to check their alcohol concentration. Only sanitizers with a minimum of 60% ethyl alcohol, ethanol or isopropanol can effectively kill the most harmful bacteria. These items should be kept away from children, since the high concentration of alcohol could result in alcohol poisoning if ingested. However, hand sanitizers are not cleaning agents. Therefore, when removing blood or other bodily fluids from your hands, you must wash your hands first in order for the alcohol in the sanitizer to be effective.

Tags: Dirty Hands, Flu, Flu Bug, Germs, h1n1 prevention, Hand Hygiene, hand sanitizer, hand sanitizer dangers, hand sanitizer effectiveness, hand sanitizer overuse, hand sanitizers, Hand Washing, health, Hygiene, Kids