Personal Hygiene: Preventing Infections and Diseases

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In today’s culture, poor personal hygiene is typically unacceptable and frowned upon. People don’t want to be around anyone who smells badly or isn’t clean. Consequences from poor personal hygiene can develop into potentially serious diseases such as hepatitis A, streptococcus, staph infections, common colds, influenza, typhoid, lice and even dental diseases, including, gingivitis, gum disease, plaque, and bad breath. These are all far too common within our workplaces, schools, and day to day life, but I can easily prevented them by maintaining good personal hygiene, which involves washing my hands, brushing my teeth, bathing, personal grooming, and doing my laundry properly.
The key to preventing most of these infections and diseases is properly washing my hands and knowing when to wash them. I can’t see germs with my naked eye, so I wash them when they are dirty, before, during, and after food preparation, before I eat, after using the restroom, touching soiled clothing, animals, animal waste, the trash, or sneezing, coughing, and blowing my nose, and before and after treating wounds and sick people. There is more to washing my hands than soap and water. I must scrub all surfaces of my hand, including my wrist, the back of my hand, between my fingers, and under my fingernails for at least twenty seconds. The combination of scrubbing and an antibacterial soap helps to remove germs. Then I rinse my hands in warm water, drying them well with a clean hand towel, paper towel, or air dryer. If soap is unavailable, I use an alcohol based hand sanitizer.
Another factor in the prevention of poor personal hygiene is addressing the prevention of dental diseases and infections. I brush my teeth at least twice a day in a vertical or circ...

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...rive in our dirty laundry baskets or hampers. I always use a different basket for my clean laundry. I separate my clothing into three piles, colored, whites, and towels, to wash separately. Washing my colored clothes and towels in cold water and my whites in hot water, I follow the directions on my detergent bottle to ensure the correct amount is used per load. I also use a cup of bleach in my white clothes. When my laundry is done, I dry, fold, and put my clothes away so they stay clean for the next time I decide to wear them.
It is essential to maintain good personal hygiene to prevent the spreading of germs and bacteria and to maintain a clean lifestyle and appearance. With the always increasing populations and crowded cities, our members of culture should make sure to take a few spare minutes out of their busy days to take better care of their personal hygiene.

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