Last Updated on December 26, 2020 by HodgePodgeDays
This is a collaborative post. As a mother, I feel like I spend most of my days repeating the same phrases over and over. “Don’t touch that”, “don’t put that in your mouth” and “please wash your hands” are things I say so often I probably mutter them in my sleep. My life is a constant battle against germs.
The battle against germs is a tricky one; some germs are good because they help us build up an immunity to some things. Some germs are very bad, no one wants food poisoning, or something even worse.
I used to work in the NHS where very regular and thorough hand washing was the norm and we all had bottles of alcohol gel in our pockets. I still carry a little bottle of alcohol gel with me now, just in case.
Have you ever wondered just how many germs you come into contact with on an average day? I bet it’s much more than you’d think. Brosch Direct have done some research into the germs we come into contact with each day. They took ten different everyday items and swabbed them for bacteria, then sent the swabs off to a lab to be analysed.
I have a grim fascination with studies like this. It’s often the most innocuous things that turn out to be the biggest havens for germs. Over the years I’ve had my fair share of illnesses I’ve picked up from people who have shared their germs with me; from colds and flu, to norovirus and one very memorable bout of campylobacter I picked up in a restaurant in Cyrpus.
Brosch Direct discovered that we encounter at least 120,000 bacteria throughout the average day. They looked at how much bacteria was on our smartphones, keyboards, our mugs, a cash machine; remote control, train seats, toilet seat, our toothbrushes, car steering wheels and gym dumbbells.
By far the most germ laden items were our toothbrushes and the train seats we sit on during our daily commute. Another reason to carry a little bottle of alcohol gel. Yuck!
You can’t really do that much to live germ free, and nor should you need to disinfect everything in your house; unless you have a suppressed immune system. All you can really do is wash your hands regularly and well in hot water with soap; try and keep food preparation areas clean and try not to lick any train seats.
This is a collaborative post.