Show Me the Science – How to Wash Your Hands | Hacker News Reader

Show Me the Science – How to Wash Your Hands

cdc.gov

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Last fall I asked my doctor how I could avoid my annual month of cold/flu downtime, and she said “wash your hands a lot and stop touching your face.”

I bought a container of sanitizer for my desk, I carry a smaller one in the car and another in my jacket pocket, and I try to be conscious of using it any time I come out of a public space (the bathroom, grocery store, restaurants or cafes, the water cooler). When I have to scratch my face (which is frequently because of anxiety and slight dermatitis) I use my sleeve or try to ensure I’ve sanitized my hands since the last time I was exposed. It hasn’t been as difficult as I’m making it sound here, and this is the first winter in a decade that I haven’t been sick, knock on wood. If you catch bugs easily, I recommend trying to be mindful of cleaning your hands for a season to see how it goes.

And for drying your hands https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FMBSblpcrc

As for alternatives to paper towels, here's [0] a review of different studies about drying your hands. It's not clear that alternatives to paper towel hand drying are more effective from a health perspective. But obviously cost and environment are the biggest problems.

It seems most harmful microbes are between your nails on your fingertips and paper towels might be more effective with removing microbes on your fingertips, but there is still some controversy about if this even matters overall and which is more effective in removing them from other parts of your hands. Some are also concerned about air dryers blowing up airborne microbes, and I'm personally concerned with the super loud noises (also mentioned in the research below [0])!

Finally, I only see paper towels in every medical center or hospital I've been to.

[0] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3538484/

Same video at Ted: https://www.ted.com/talks/joe_smith_how_to_use_a_paper_towel

As ridiculous as it may seem that this is a TEDx talk, it was incredibly effective for me. After seeing this about 3 yrs ago, I have never used more than 1 paper towel to dry my hands.

I watched this video more than five years ago (probably 2013), and I still shake my hands out twelve times every single time I wash my hands. This is a phenomenal, memorable presentation.

no sarcasm at all: this is the crown jewel of TED talks.

one of the more striking demonstrations you can do in a biology wet lab is to dust peoples hands with fluorescent powder and then ask them to wash their hands and see what they missed.

Top of the thumbs is almost always poorly washed, even if the rest of the hand is generally clean.

> However, the best way to dry hands remains unclear because few studies about hand drying exist, and the results of these studies conflict.

One of the most striking aspects of this is how much we don't know about hand-washing and hand-drying. It seems like a topic worth studying until the studies stop conflicting.

”The temperature of the water does not appear to affect microbe removal; however, warmer water may cause more skin irritation and is more environmentally costly.” And I always thought warm water is better than cold water for washing hand.

I don't know what my partner will think about my mental health if I sing the happy birthday song twice every time I wash my hands.

It just asks you to hum it! Entirely different!

Its hard to turn on the water to rinse without touching the faucet (with your hand).

Second to last point:

> While some recommendations include using a paper towel to turn off the faucet after hands have been rinsed, this practice leads to increased use of water and paper towels, and there are no studies to show that it improves health.

Thanks. I guess depending on the faucet you could use your elbow.

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