How To Use A Public Bathroom Safely!

This is by far the most important part of this small guide. Infections almost always occur when you touch your eyes, nose, or mouth with your nasty hand.

Throughout the day, your hands touch dozens of different surfaces, collecting hundreds of germs that may eventually gain access to your organism through those three entrance points we have mentioned.

That is why washing your hands properly can keep you healthy. And not everyone is doing this simple task right. A study that analyzed data on the behavior of over 3700 people in public restrooms found that 10% don’t wash their hands, 33% don’t use soap, and only 5% wash their hands long enough to effectively kill all the germs.

Nowadays, most modern public bathrooms (such as those at the malls and major restaurant chains) have automatic water faucets, soap dispensers, and hand dryers. This is extremely helpful because it prevents germs from accumulating in those areas and successively contaminate people.

To achieve clean hands, simply get them wet and apply soap for at least 20 seconds. During this time, you should simply rub your hands together well, rub their backs as well as between your fingers, and then right under your nails.

Finally, rinse your hands with clean, running water and then dry them using an air dryer. If you often use hand sanitizer instead of soap and water, you should know that it doesn’t get rid of all types of germs.

Although all these precautions may seem excessive and annoying to have, it is just a matter of building these habits so that after a while you do all of them instinctively and without effort.

Additionally, restraining yourself from touching your eyes, nose, and mouth is proven to be a very effective way to stay healthy.

To encourage you, here are some of the diseases you can get from public bathrooms: bacterial infections such as staphylococcus, streptococcus, and E. coli; as well as hepatitis A, influenza virus (known as the flu)and the common cold.

Contrary to popular belief, toilet seats cannot be responsible for sexually transmitted diseases (STD). It is the president of the American Society of Microbiology herself, Abigail Salyers, who ensures this fact by saying (with a touch of humor):