A Guide to Good Personal Hygiene

Personal hygiene habits such as washing your hands and brushing and flossing your teeth will help keep bacteria, viruses, and illnesses at bay. And there are mental as well as physical benefits. “Practicing good body hygiene helps you feel good about yourself, which is important for your mental health,” notes Donald Novey, MD, an integrative medicine physician with the Advocate Medical Group in Park Ridge, Ill. People who have poor hygiene — disheveled hair and clothes, body odor, bad breath, missing teeth, and the like — often are seen as unhealthy and may face discrimination.

Personal Hygiene: Healthy Habits Include Good Grooming

If you want to minimize your risk of infection and also enhance your overall health, follow these basic personal hygiene habits:

• Bathe regularly. Wash your body and your hair often. “I’m not saying that you need to shower or bathe every day,” remarks Dr. Novey. “But you should clean your body and shampoo your hair at regular intervals that work for you.” Your body is constantly shedding skin. Novey explains, “That skin needs to come off. Otherwise, it will cake up and can cause illnesses.”
• Trim your nails. Keeping your finger and toenails trimmed and in good shape will prevent problems such as hang nails and infected nail beds. Feet that are clean and dry are less likely to contract athlete’s foot, Novey says.
• Brush and floss. Ideally, you should brush your teeth after every meal. At the very least, brush your teeth twice a day and floss daily. Brushing minimizes the accumulation of bacteria in your mouth, which can cause tooth decay and gum disease, Novey says. Flossing, too, helps maintain strong, healthy gums. “The bacteria that builds up and causes gum disease can go straight to the heart and cause very serious valve problems,” Novey explains. Unhealthy gums also can cause your teeth to loosen, which makes it difficult to chew and to eat properly, he adds. To maintain a healthy smile, visit the dentist at six-month intervals for checkups and cleanings.
• Wash your hands. Washing your hands before preparing or eating food, after going to the bathroom, after coughing or sneezing, and after handling garbage, goes a long way toward preventing the spread of bacteria and viruses. Keep a hygiene product, like an alcohol-based sanitizing gel, handy for when soap and water isn’t available.
• Sleep tight. Get plenty of rest — 8 to 10 hours a night — so that you are refreshed and are ready to take on the day every morning. Lack of sleep can leave you feeling run down and can compromise your body's natural defenses, your immune system, Novey says.

    Personal Hygiene: Poor Hygiene Hints at Other Issues

     If someone you know hasn’t bathed or appears unkempt, it could be a sign that he or she is depressed. “When people are sad or depressed, they neglect themselves,” Novey says.Talking about the importance of proper personal hygiene for preventing illnesses and providing personal hygiene items may help some people. Be candid but sensitive and understanding in your discussions, Novey says. Despite your best efforts, your friend or loved one may need professional help. You should encourage them to see a counselor or doctor if their personal hygiene doesn’t improve.

    Personal Hygiene: Good Habits Help Keep You Healthy

    For most people, good hygiene is so much a part of their daily routines that they think little     about it. They bathe, they brush their teeth, visit the dentist and doctor for regular checkups,     and wash their hands when preparing or eating food and handling unsanitary items. To             keep those you care about healthy and safe, help them learn, and be sure that they are         practicing, good personal hygiene.

What is personal hygiene?

Good personal hygiene is one of the best ways to protect yourself from getting gastro or infectious diseases such as COVID-19, colds and flu. Washing your hands with soap removes germs that can make you ill. Maintaining good personal hygiene will also help prevent you from spreading diseases to other people.

Personal hygiene includes:

• cleaning your body every day
• washing your hands with soap after going to the toilet
• brushing your teeth twice a day
• covering your mouth and nose with a tissue (or your sleeve) when sneezing or coughing
• washing your hands after handling pets and other animals

To slow the spread of COVID-19, you should:

• wash your hands often with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizers
• avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth
• clean and disinfect surfaces you use often such as benchtops, desks and doorknobs
• clean and disinfect objects you use often such as mobile phones, keys, wallets and work passes
• increase the amount of fresh air by opening windows or changing air conditioning

Why is personal hygiene important?

Good hygiene is vital because it helps prevent you and your children from getting or spreading germs and infectious diseases. The germs that cause many diseases can be passed on through touching other people, getting faces (poo) on your hands, handling contaminated food, or coming into contact with dirty surfaces or objects.

Conditions that you can develop if you have poor personal hygiene include:

• COVID-19 and other infectious diseases
• diarrheas', especially gastroenteritis
• respiratory infections, including colds and flu
• staph infections
• worm-related conditions, such as threadworms
• scabies
• trachoma, an eye infection which can lead to blindness
• tinea or athlete’s foot
• tooth decay

Washing your body

Try to bathe or shower each day. Wash well, especially under your armpits and around your genitals and anus. Keeping clean will prevent skin irritations and remove bacteria that cause body odors.

Wash yourself with soap, shower gel or a hypoallergenic body wash. Soap removes more germs, but you may need to wash sensitive body parts with plain water or salt water.

If there is no tap water or it is scarce, clean yourself with a clean wet cloth or sponge.

Washing your hands

To avoid getting sick, wash your hands properly for at least 20 seconds.

• Wet your hands with water.
• Apply enough soap to cover all surfaces of your hands.
• Rub your palms together.
• Clean between the fingers and the back of your hands.
• Clean dirty nails with a scrubbing brush, if one is available.
• Rinse both sides of your hands, preferably under clean running water.
• Dry off your hands with a clean towel.
• Use the towel to turn off the tap.

You can also use hand sanitizer. Make sure you use enough of the product to cover all surfaces of your hands. Make sure you rub the palms, backs of the hands and in between your fingers.

When to wash your hands

It is especially important to wash your hands after going to the toilet because faces, which you might come into contact with, contains billions of germs. Also, wash your hands:

• before and after eating or preparing food
• after changing babies’ nappies
• before and after touching a sick person or cleaning up vomit or body fluids
• after blowing your nose
• before and after treating cuts or wounds
• after touching rubbish, dirty surfaces or objects
• after handling pets or farm animals

Find out more here about hand washing.

Preventing body odor

After washing, apply deodorant to your armpits. Put on clean, dry clothing. Wash sweaty or dirty garments well and, if possible, hang them outdoors to dry. If you have a problem with excessive sweating, make an appointment to see your doctor.

Handling food safely

Wash your hands before and after preparing food. This will stop you contaminating food and will also protect you from getting ill or passing on bacteria from foodstuffs, such as raw meat. Find out more here about food safety.

Preventing bad breath

Bad breath can be caused by poor oral hygiene. Brush and floss your teeth twice a day since this reduces gum disease and the chances of future tooth decay. Use these dental care tips and make an appointment with a dentist for a check-up if you have further symptoms.