World Hand Hygiene Day – Here’s The Right Way To Wash Your Hands (WATCH VIDEO)

If you are like me, you have never washed your hands so much and so thoroughly as you have in the past few months.  Turns out, there's an actual day dedicated to handwashing. Who knew?

World Hand Hygiene Day takes place on May 5. It is a day that the World Health Organization encourages healthcare workers and all of us all to take part in keeping our hands clean.  Especially during this time of the coronavirus, it is imperative that we all are washing our hands often and correctly to protect ourselves as well as the people around us.

Germs spread from other people or surfaces when we touch our eyes mouth or nose with unwashed hands. As our world slowly begins to open up again, it is particularly important to keep our hands clean. We should wash when we prepare food, before we eat, after being near anyone who is sick, after coughing or sneezing, and after touching frequently use surfaces, such as a menu (when we get to use menus again).

After I researched this, I realized that none of us,  including myself were washing our hands properly. So what is the correct way to wash your hands? Start out by wetting your hands with warm water, then continue to use one to two pumps of soap, preferably antibacterial soap. Continue to lather your hands for 20 seconds (sing Happy Birthday twice) scrubbing every inch of your hands. This includes your palms, back of your hands, fingers, between the fingers and your nails. Then just rinse the soap off completely and use a clean or disposable towel to dry them. If you are in a public restroom, it is a good idea to use a paper towel when turning the doorknob to leave. washing our hands and practicing good hand hygiene is the easiest way for us all to stop the spread of viruses and diseases.

For more of a visual tutorial on how to wash your hands correctly, click here to watch.