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October 18, 2009

Teach Little Boys To Wash Their Hands


Men are less likely to wash their hands properly than women, according to a new study.
" While the majority of women use soap and water on their hands after using the bathroom, men often need blunt reminders to lather up, according to research on hygiene habits conducted by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

The study, released on Global Hand Washing Day, October 15, used online sensors to record how much soap was used by 250,000 people after they had used the toilet.

The results revealed a large discrepancy between the sexes: only 32 percent of men used soap compared with 64 percent of women. Some of the men that were included in the study were only urinating, that's probably why they think they don't need to wash their hands even if they should.

While women responded to gentle reminders like "Water doesn't kill germs, soap does," men often only washed their hands after reading explicit signs like "Soap it off or eat it later," researchers observed. If they think other people are watching them, then they are more likely to wash hands."

9 comments:

Beth said...

And this is why I passed on my germ-o-phobic ways to my boys.

Ina in Alaska said...

Good post. I too am a germ-o-phobe. I never touch any part of my face until I have washed my hands with soap and hot water. You can never be sure if anything is clean anymore.

and that brings me to covering up your mouth/face when sneezing! A week or so ago at work a co-worker brought home made banana bread to share. I was looking forward to having a slice. She placed it in our kitchen area. Someone in the kitchen area soon thereafter started sneezing. Not just one gentle sneeze, loud, ongoing honks with accompanying sounds! Did not cover up face or mouth, it was so disgusting! No banana bread for me!!

Cindy said...

I was in a restaurant where we were the only table, we had arrived early for lunch. anyway i had to use the ladies room and so did the waitress. I washed my hands, she did not! i could not eat my food and never went back there. YUCK.

Brian Miller said...

errr...ok, off to wash my hands....

Margie said...

I wash my hands so much I take hand cream with me wherever I go.

I think my son is a good hand washer ....I think!


Margie:)

Owen said...

Love the Larson cartoon... he's wonderful ! In France these days there are signs up all over many workplaces about washing hands often to prevent the spread of swine flu...

Julie said...

I love this. The cartoon is hilarious, too. It's especially timely, with all the worries about H1N1.

Kulio said...

ew....laughing at the "reminder" that gets through to men - I don't think it's so much that it's more blunt - but that it's funny :-)

A Free Man said...

I'm trying to teach him!