Thursday, February 21, 2008

Happy Washing To You!


Kenz is all better. Every once in awhile she coughs, but whole hours can go by without the familiar sounds of the last two weeks....cough.. cough .... cough. I love the quiet, it's nice.


"Wash your hands!" The people close to me are sick of me saying this, but washing your hands can keep you healthy. I say it so often in the wintertime, my daughter can read my mind and knows when it's coming. I just used the Purell, Mom.


The last few weeks, I have been overwashing my hands. Now I am having to over-lotion them, but I didn't get sick. (Thank God)


There's other factors proven to keep us healthy. One of them is to stay emotionally balanced. Stress can definitely lower resistance. I read today that if you don't want to get sick, get out and exercise. The last couple of weeks I have stepped up my thirty minute walk, three or four times a week to ---daily.


Stress is always waiting to attack, for me, a walk almost always chases it away. I was talking to someone yesterday who said her stress reliever is---baking.

"Baking?"

"Yes," she said. "After a stressful day of work if I can come home and make some cookies or a cake, then I'm OK."

"Doesn't that make you want to eat them?" I asked her.

"Not really," she said, "as long as I get a little taste of the dough, I'm good."

The conversation reminded me of the old saying--- One man's ceiling is another man's floor.

In my experience, baking to relieve stress would be fattening, therefore--- stress producing. Everyone has to find what works for them.


Back to hand-washing.


As a student nurse I was taught how to wash my hands, the right way. I did a post on this which you can track down in the labels list at the bottom of this page. There is a right way. The CDC has also determined that long fingernails and jewelry are places germs love to hide. Hospitals are notorious for the spread of pathogens, but public places are also loaded with sneezes and diseases.


An article from Grandparents.com says:


Children touch more than 300 spaces every 30 minutes, says Dr. Kelly Reynolds, a microbiologist at the University of Arizona. Scrubbing hands — for 20-30 seconds — alleviates germs, she adds. Of course, getting your squirming little tot to stand still that long can be a challenge, so Dr. Cowan suggests singing a song such as "Happy Birthday" with your grandchild to make hand-washing feel less chore-like. TIP: Wet hands transmit germs more efficiently than dry ones, so drying hands after rinsing is key.


I think there should be billboards on every other corner, next to the drugstores and the McDonalds, large colorful reminders that shout.... WASH YOUR HANDS! We need to be reminded. Children get more illness because of immature immune systems and close contact with germs, but if I can prevent one bout of sickness, I would rather expend the energy upfront. I would rather be a bug (reminding people to wash) then have a bug hanging around on someone's hands trying to make them (and me) sick.


Many more well days to you!

1 comment:

louie said...

I enjoyed reading your post. I just found out that there are plenty of ways/techniques which can be used to relief stress. I tried one of them and it really works. Haha.Check it out http://www.howtorelievestress.org

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