4 mistakes we make when we go to the bathroom
Using air dryers, not lowering the risk when pulling the chain, not washing our hands or using toilet paper incorrectly are the 4 most common mistakes we make when we go to the bathroom.
That the hygiene of some public toilets leaves much to be desired is no secret. In this article we explained how cleaning and disinfection should be in these spaces.
Even so, on certain occasions, the fact of having a better or worse experience in the bathroom is in our hands.
And, we have internalized some actions that, without realizing it, put our health at risk.
Nextly, we list the 4 most common mistakes we make when go to the bathroom as below:
Dry hands with air dryers
Use toilet paper to dry your hands
Do not lower the toilet lid when we pull the chain
Do not wash your hands
Dry hands with air dryers
In previous articles we referred to a study by the University of Westminster that claimed that hot air dryers increased bacterial contamination by 254% (for cold air dryers the figure was 54%).
And these devices drive germs and make them pollute the environment.
Dryers in which it is necessary to introduce the hands are considered especially dangerous, since a container effect is formed in which the germs accumulate inside.
As an alternative to air dryers, the use of paper towels is recommended. According to the mentioned study, with this system it is possible to reduce bacterial contamination by up to 77%.
Use toilet paper to dry your hands
Some bacteria such as enterococci, for example, can have a great presence in the baths, as these are the causes of various intestinal disorders.
With this in mind, now let’s think about how many times we have dried our hands with toilet paper because there was no hand dryer or because the dryer did not work.
Or how many times we have blown our nose dispensing the paper of the same dispenser that we use when we go to the bathroom.
This action, which a priori, may seem normal to us, is really dangerous if there is a presence of intestinal bacteria.
That is why we recommend avoiding at all costs the use of toilet paper for purposes other than your own.
Do not lower the toilet lid when we pull the chain
Making use of the cistern and not lowering the toilet lid previously is something more common than we think.
Are we really aware of the consequences of this action? A biology doctor did an experiment with Petri dishes to prove it.
The result: If we keep the lid up while pulling the chain, the amount of bacteria that are fired per square meter is 10,000.
These bacteria, in turn, usually sit on the floor or on the walls and, in case of not performing a correct cleaning and disinfection, pose a risk to our health.
The solution is very simple: keep the lid down while pulling the tank.
Do not wash your hands
As incredible as it may seem to us and as much as we think we all perform the act of washing our hands correctly, this is not the case.
If we rely on the study developed by the Jornal of Environmental Health we can verify that of the total of 4,000 participants (all of them with easy access to everything needed to wash their hands) only 5% of individuals wash their hands correctly.
As data to highlight the study, 10% of participants said they did not wash their hands after using the bathroom and 33% said they “washed” their hands without using soap.
Washing our hands greatly reduces the risk of infections. In this infographic you can consult the necessary steps to wash your hands.
And remember that automatic dispensers and drying of hands with paper provides extra hygiene to the process.