Did you know that when students come home from a long day at school, their hands return with about 10,000 to 10 million bacteria? Or after using the restroom you can end up with 100,000 to 2 million bacteria on your hands. These are reasons why you should always wash your hands after these types of activities.

People should be washing their hands about six-10 times a day at a minimum. Key times to wash your hands are before eating or handling food, after using the restroom or self care needs, after touching animals, when handling garbage, being out in public, or when your hands are visibly dirty.

If you don’t know the proper technique on how to wash your hands, then here are some tips. You should wash your hands for at least 20 seconds or just sing the Happy Birthday song in your head. When rubbing in the soap, you need to scrub all surfaces of your hands, including the backs, in between fingers, and under nails.

The Lucas County Health Center has listed some statistics about handwashing and possible effects that can happen if you don’t wash your hands properly. About 80 percent of communicable diseases can be transferred by touch. Most bacteria located on your hand is under your fingernail so you have to make sure to wash under there as well. Respiratory diseases, such as the flu or cold, are the most common communicable diseases to catch from not washing your hands.

In conclusion, washing your hands is one of the easiest ways to protect yourself from getting yourself and others sick. Throughout the day, people pick up millions of germs without even knowing it. Just taking the time to wash your hands for 20 seconds after the restroom or eating makes a big difference in safe sanitation.