Wash Your Hands, Friends! | The Prescription Shop

We’re in the middle of the cold and flu season–have you gotten your flu shot? The Prescription Shop has an important reminder in the midst of the holiday hustle and bustle. Let’s talk about the importance of hand washing!

Keeping our hands clean and free from germs is among the most important things we can do to avoid catching a bug and spreading our sick germs to others. A wide variety of illnesses are spread by not washing hands with soap and clean water.

Most of us know that germs are easily spread if we don’t wash our hands after using the toilet or changing diapers. But those aren’t the only ways our hands pick up germs. Handling raw meats, and touching contaminated surfaces can spread salmonella, E. coli, norovirus, adenovirus and hand-foot-mouth disease.

Related: Make sure you know how to properly wash your hands.

How does handwashing make such a difference? Washing your hands with soap removes germs from hands–which is pretty important since we all frequently touch our eyes, nose, and mouth without realizing it. Germs travel into the body through the eyes, nose and mouth and make us sick.

Germs from unwashed hands can also get into our food or drinks during preparation and consumption. In some food and drinks, germs can quickly multiply and make many people sick.

Unwashed hands can also transfer germs to surfaces like handrails, table tops, or toys, which then get transferred to another person’s hands.

Eliminating germs through hand washing helps prevent diarrhea and respiratory infections and may also prevent skin or eye infections too.

Hand washing is so important that it can even help reduce antibiotic resistance by reducing the amount of illnesses which are unnecessarily treated with antibiotic medications.

What happens if you don’t wash your hands after using the bathroom?

This Christmas season, we hope you enjoy good health and great cheer! Be sure to visit The Prescription Shop for all your family health needs, and check out our website to learn about our services.