It is all fingers and thumbs!

Hand-washing is one of those idiosyncratic things that we all do, but according to research we only do it every now and then, and often miss washing hands at the most crucial moments of our daily lives!

I do not want you to mistaken my tone for cynicism, which it quite easily could be considering hand-washing is not taken too seriously here in the UK. I think this may be because we associate hand washing to children, the elderly and those who need 'protecting', those who are more 'susceptible', but in all honesty we are all vulnerable at all times.  UN Global Hand washing day is around the corner, a seemingly silly sounding event, that is in fact extremely important.

To put hand-washing into perspective let me share with you the story of the volatile and fragile cloud of microbes that exist and affect our bodies.

So imagine, there are whole colonies of microbes on your body, with their own DNA and behaviours that will continually react to whatever you do. Pathogens are the bad microbes which upset the microbial crowd and as a result can send your body into chaos!

Now although washing your hands can upset the microbes, most of them are OK with soap as long as it is not too harsh, however not washing them and potentially allowing bad bacteria to fester, can much more harmful.

As many of you reading this are colonic therapists, I think it is important to take a moment and think about the number of times a day you come into contact with people and their microbial cloud. Now think about the number of times you come into contact with potentially harmful microbes in the form of faecal matter, mucus (from a cough or a sneeze) or even sweat. I do not want any of you adopting OCD with regards to hand washing, but I would suggest we all become a little more conscious of what we are doing, and not relying on our clients to have the best hygiene. If you assume every client you meet has not washed their hands, you will probably up the dosage of your own hand washing.  

Here is a gentle reminder of how these germs (not just cold and flu) can spread, I think it is fair to say that Dettol have done so much for our awareness of germs spreading.