Live Green - Wash Your Hands!

Over 4th of July weekend, we traveled to visit relatives in another state. Before boarding the airplane, I visited the ladies room. As I stepped forward to wash my hands, I saw two ladies leave their stalls and walk directly out of the restroom without washing up. Cue the gag reflex. I did not need to see that just as I was about to be trapped on an airplane for 3 hours with 75 other potential non-handwashers.

I will admit it. I am a bit of a germophobe. I have always been that person with a bottle of hand sanitizer on her desk. I do not like shaking hands. Traveling by air or train is not fun for me. Taking a cruise is completely out of the question. But let me ask this question: why would you allow yourself to get sick when you could easily prevent most illness by washing your hands? Seriously.

I started teaching my kids good hygiene right from the start - a bath every night, teeth brushed twice a day, hands washed at all critical junctures of the day, sneezing and coughing into a tissue or your sleeve rather than your hand or straight into the room, don't put your fingers in any bodily orifice. I also set a good example for them by taking proper care of myself, too.

Wait, do I need to elaborate on when to wash your hands? Hmm. Oh right - the airport restroom - guess I do! Wash your hands after using the restroom, before eating, before preparing food (and after handling any raw poultry, meat, fish or eggs), after changing a diaper, before and after caring for someone who is sick, after taking out the garbage, after sneezing or coughing into your hands, after cleaning the litter box, when you come into your home, etc., etc. Think about this - did you handle money or a menu and then eat with your hands? Do you know how many people have touched that money or menu, and how many of them wash up after using the restroom? Carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer.

While the kids are little, I also do two more things to keep us from bringing illness into the house: we don't wear shoes indoors (the kids still roll around on the ground) and we use hand sanitizer as soon as we enter the car after we've been out and about. We leave the playground at the playground, the grocery store at the grocery store, the school at the school, the zoo at the zoo. If they catch something airborne, that's just the way it goes. But we do our best not to catch the really nasty stuff that winds up on our hands.

What is green about all of this? Not having to see the doctor quite as much, consuming fewer antibiotics, not creating a ripple effect of illness. But here is one more green tip about handwashing: ditch the antibacterial soap. It contributes to the rise of drug-resistant bacteria. It also typically contains triclosan, which is absorbed into the skin and is a known endocrine disruptor. Triclosan also reacts with chlorine in tap water to create chloroform, which is toxic to the environment. Just use regular soap and thoroughly lather up for 15-20 seconds each time.

(My friend Rich will think it's funny that I'm writing this - the germophobe in me was all about the anti-bacterial this and that years ago, and he scoffed at it. You were right, Rich!)