Persuasive Essay: Wash Your Hands For Better Health

Wash Your Hands for Better Health

Every day we come into contact with things that we don't realise may contain germs and don't give a second thought to. Banisters, taxi door handles, and even newspapers may be contaminated. We have no way of knowing who has touched these items before, and whether these people had clean hands.

This isn't paranoia; the statistics on personal hygiene are hard to wrap our heads around. Dr. Myriam Sidibe, a renowned expert in public health and hygiene, told the audience at a 2014 TED Talk that an estimated 80 per cent of people don't wash their hands after using the toilet. That's a horrific number of people. Keep that percentage in mind and think about the number of germs that are spreading around because people are too lazy - or don't think it's necessary - to spend a few seconds washing their hands with soap and water.

Why should you wash your hands?

If you instil this habit in them from the time they're young, it will become second nature to them as they grow older and keep them healthy.

Can you use hand sanitizer instead?

The answer to this question is a little tricky. Yes, you can use hand sanitizer - but only when you don't have access to soap and water. People often carry little bottles of sanitizers in their purses or keep them in their cars so that they're within reach. They squirt a little sanitizer on their palms, rub their hands together and think the job is done. It's not.

There are many reasons why hand sanitizer cannot and should not replace the soap-and-water hand washing routine. The combination of running water and the act of scrubbing your hands with soap will physically remove the germs. Hand sanitizers kill only some germs. Research has shown that hand sanitizers are ineffective against norovirus, which causes gastro-intestinal diseases, and against clostridium difficile, which causes intestinal diseases and can be