Tag: hygiene

The benefits accruing from being hygienic can never be overestimated but before I unravel the 10 importance of hygiene, it remains of utmost consideration you know what hygiene is really.

Hygiene refers to practices, habits, and conditions that help maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases. The term is often used to refer to cleanliness and sanitation.

It is an integral part of public health, as good hygiene practices can prevent disease outbreaks and ensure the overall health of a population.

Categories of hygiene

See below;

Personal Hygiene

This involves the cleanliness of the individual body. It includes a range of activities like regular bathing, washing hands, especially before meals and after using the restroom, brushing and flossing teeth, wearing clean clothes, trimming nails, and maintaining hair cleanliness. Personal hygiene is crucial in preventing diseases and infections that can be transmitted through dirt, sweat, and physical contact.

• Oral Hygiene: A subcategory of personal hygiene, oral hygiene specifically refers to maintaining the cleanliness of the mouth, teeth, gums, and tongue. Regular brushing, flossing, and dental check-ups can prevent dental diseases like cavities, gum diseases, and bad breath.

Environmental Hygiene

This refers to keeping one’s surroundings clean. It includes proper waste disposal, keeping living spaces clean and clutter-free, maintaining clean public spaces, and ensuring safe and clean water supplies.

Proper environmental hygiene helps to reduce the spread of diseases, particularly those that can be transmitted through the environment, such as malaria or cholera.

Food Hygiene

This pertains to the preparation, handling, and storage of food in ways that prevent foodborne illnesses. Practices include washing hands before handling food, ensuring food is cooked at the right temperatures, storing food properly, and avoiding cross-contamination.

Occupational Hygiene

This type of hygiene is related to maintaining health and safety in the workplace. It involves identifying, evaluating, and controlling physical, chemical, and biological agents in the workplace that could cause illness or injury.

For instance, in healthcare settings, this could mean sterilizing instruments, washing hands frequently, and wearing protective clothing.

Sleep Hygiene

While not about cleanliness, sleep hygiene refers to the practices and habits that promote better quality sleep and full daytime alertness. It includes maintaining a regular sleep schedule, ensuring a quiet and dark sleep environment, and avoiding caffeinated drinks before bedtime.

Mental Hygiene

Again, not directly related to cleanliness, mental hygiene refers to practices that maintain mental and emotional health.

These practices might include stress management techniques, regular exercise, maintaining a balanced diet, ensuring adequate sleep, socializing, and, if needed, seeking professional help for mental health issues.

10 personal hygiene practices everyone must know

Here are 10 important personal hygiene practices:

1. Hand Washing: Wash your hands frequently, especially before meals, after using the toilet, and after contact with dirt or germs.
2. Bathing/Showering: Regularly wash your body and hair to remove dirt, sweat, and dead skin cells that can accumulate and lead to various health issues.
3. Oral Hygiene: Brush your teeth at least twice a day, and floss regularly to maintain oral health and prevent dental diseases.
4. Nail Care: Keep your nails clean and trimmed. Dirty or long nails can harbor bacteria and germs.
5. Toilet Hygiene: Use toilet paper or bidet to clean yourself after using the toilet, and always wash your hands afterwards.
6. Healthy Diet: Consuming a balanced diet is a vital part of personal hygiene as it boosts your immune system and keeps you healthy.
7. Hair Care: Regularly wash and comb your hair to prevent scalp diseases and dandruff.
8. Wearing Clean Clothes: Always wear clean clothes as dirty clothes can harbor bacteria and lead to skin infections.
9. Facial Care: Regularly clean your face to remove dirt, oil, and dead skin cells. This can prevent skin issues like acne.
10. Proper Coughing/Sneezing Etiquette: Always cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze to prevent spreading germs to others. It’s best to use a tissue or the inside of your elbow rather than your hands.

Frequently Asked Questions about Hygiene

Here are the answers to some of the most asked questions relating to hygiene;

• Why is personal hygiene important? Personal hygiene is important because it helps prevent the spread of diseases and infections, improves personal comfort and well-being, and is key to maintaining healthy interactions with others.
• How often should I wash my hands? Ideally, you should wash your hands multiple times a day, particularly before preparing or eating food, after using the toilet, after sneezing, coughing, or blowing your nose, after touching garbage, and whenever they look dirty.
• How does poor hygiene affect health? Poor hygiene can lead to skin complaints, unpleasant smells, and bacterial or fungal infections. It can also lead to the spread of infectious diseases. Oral hygiene issues can lead to dental problems such as gum diseases and tooth loss.
• What is the correct way to wash hands? Wet your hands with clean, running water, apply soap, and lather your hands by rubbing them together. Be sure to lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails. Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds, then rinse your hands well under clean, running water. Dry your hands using a clean towel or air dry them.
• How often should I brush my teeth? It’s recommended to brush your teeth at least twice a day, typically in the morning and before bed. Dentists also recommend flossing daily.
• Is using hand sanitizer as effective as washing hands? Hand sanitizers can quickly reduce the number of germs on hands in many situations, but they do not eliminate all types of germs. Washing hands with soap and water is the best way to get rid of all types of germs in most situations.
• How often should I change my bed sheets? It’s recommended to change and wash bed sheets at least once every one to two weeks. If you sweat a lot at night or are sick, you should change them more frequently.
• How does food hygiene affect our health? Proper food hygiene practices prevent foodborne illnesses. Contaminated food can lead to a variety of illnesses, from stomach upset to more serious conditions like food poisoning, listeria, and salmonella.
• How can I maintain hygiene in a public place? Avoid touching surfaces as much as possible, use hand sanitizer if soap and water aren’t available, avoid close contact with people who are ill, cover your mouth and nose when you cough or sneeze, and avoid touching your face.
• What is sleep hygiene and why is it important? Sleep hygiene refers to the habits and practices that are conducive to sleeping well on a regular basis. Good sleep hygiene is important because it can improve the quality of your sleep, thereby boosting your mood, energy levels, productivity, and overall health.

A final thought about 10 importance of hygiene

We get worried and think Why do I smell bad even with good hygiene? Something we try everything we hear about, some healthy while others can be detrimental to our health, yet no solution.

Let’s start from the causes of the smell down to why you smell even after taking your bath and using those expensive perfumes and all.

Those bad smells are generally referred to as body odour or BO for short. Body odor is what your body emits when your sweat comes in contact with the bacteria on your skin.

Sweat itself doesn’t smell, but when the bacteria on your skin mix with your sweat, it causes an odor. Body odor can smell sweet, sour, tangy or like onions.

You hear people say he sweats a lot, that’s why he is smelling, but that’s not necessarily true. The amount you sweat doesn’t necessarily impact your body odor.

That’s why a person can have an unpleasant body odor but not be sweaty. So a person can sweat a lot and still not have a body odor.

So we can say body odor is a result of the type of bacteria on your skin and how that bacteria interacts with sweat, not the sweat itself. What causes the unpleasant smell is the bacteria that build up on your sweaty skin and react with sweat and oils to grow and multiply when sweat reacts with bacteria on the skin.

Sweat as a primary source of bad smell

There are two types of sweat glands in the body:

The Apocrine and Eccrine glands.

The Eccrine glands open directly onto your skin and can be found all over your body. When your body temperature rises, they release fluids that evaporate and help your body cool down.

While the Apocrine glands is found in areas where you have hair, such as your armpit and groin area. These glands release a milky fluid when you are stressed and are odorless until they come into contact with bacteria.

Hair is particularly prone to trapping bacteria, which is why men are more likely to smell even after showering. In other words,  lingering underarm odor is caused by enduring bacteria.

As sweating occurs in the areas, bacteria that like warm, moist areas, break down the sweat to produce body odor.

Why do you smell bad?

There are many reasons why you’ll smell bad even with good hygiene and this could be as a result of hormonal changes, medication, food, illness such as Diabetes, Gout, Menopause, Overactive thyroid, Liver disease, Kidney disease, Infectious diseases.

Diabetes: High ketone levels cause your blood to become acidic and your body odor to be fruit. Internal health issues may result in unpleasant body odors (BO), as well, such as liver and kidney disease and hyperthyroidism, which can lead to excessive sweat and increased BO.

In the case of liver or kidney disease, your odor may give off a bleach-like smell due to toxin buildup in your body

Food: If you eat food rich in sulfur you may develop body odor. Sulfur smells like rotten eggs. When it’s secreted from your body in your sweat, it can put off an unpleasant smell.

Food rich in sulfur includes;

1. Onions
2. Garlic
3. Cabbage
4. Broccoli
5. Cauliflower
6. Red meat

Clothes: Most times you bath regularly and apply all the body perfume and deodorant and you still smell, you should consider the fabric of your dress, sometimes it’s still looking new but the fabric is dead and retains the smell.

Even after washing for hours immediately when you put the cloth on, it starts smelling so bad and makes you uncomfortable.

How to prevent this Body odor

Having done all you can do, bathing and all, let’s look at ways to prevent or curb this bad smell from running your day.

Food:

Check your diet, eat healthy, drink a lot of water so your body can clean from the inside. The saying what you eat is who you are becomes literal to you.

Find the meal that you react to or cause a strange smell around you and reduce it, if you can’t entirely stop it.

Keep tabs on your food and changes that come with them and if it works stick to the routine.

Clothes:

Wash your clothes regularly, dispose of dead fabrics( sometimes the garment still looks new and we have grown sentimental attachments to it) but if the fabric is dead, endeavor to dispose of it.

Anti-perspirant:

Before running to get a good spelling deodorant or body spray, endeavor to shave your pubic hair cos they can retain bacteria that will in turn smell.

Mixing deodorant with an existing body odor would only produce a stronger foul and offensive smell. So shave, then use your anti perspirant and also keep taking your bath

See your doctor:

If it is related to a health issue, you should see a doctor before taking any over-the-counter drug. Let your doctor look and assess you and tell you the way forward.

How do you know when to visit your doctor you will ask? If you have done everything hygienically possible and you still feel stinky, escalate it and see your doctor and get access. It would do you good.

Why do I smell bad even with good hygiene, a concluding remark

In addition to your bathing regularly, shave your pubic hairs because osm they retain smell and enable breeding for those bacteria, learn to discard your fabric, drink a lot of water to clean your body from the inside, watch your diet, and If need be, consult your doctor.

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How often should you brush your teeth? Allow us to give you clever approaches to care for your oral health

The teeth are the only part of our skeleton that is visible and needs care in the appropriate ways to keep it clean and healthy.

This part of the body needs extra care and caution as the teeth affect both the health and appearance of a person.

It will be necessary to note that it is important for the teeth to be regularly and properly cleaned through brushing so that food remnants after eating that have glued to the teeth will be washed away; this will make for a brighter smile, good health, and prevention of tooth hole and decay.

The concept of brushing the teeth is dated back over 100 years ago when philosophers and dentists found the ideology behind oral hygiene. Dentists and philosophers found out that good oral hygiene can prevent cavities.

Introduction to how often should you brush your teeth

The recommendation by a dentist is to brush your teeth is twice a day, that is, morning and evening with a minimum of two(2) minutes each time while using an appropriate toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste, doing these will reduce the susceptibility to cavity and decay.

Tooth cavities tend to be common dental complications nowadays because people pay less attention to the health of their teeth.

Normally, after eating, there are food particles left in the mouth, when these food particles stay too long in the mouth, they react with the bacteria in the mouth and then become acidic, this acid now takes its toll on the enamel of the teeth which protects the crown of the teeth, thereafter, cavity sets in and if not properly cared for, can lead to total decay and the removal of the teeth.

This is an important reason to brush your teeth regularly and properly.

Brushing your teeth continuously doesn’t mean that they will be properly cleaned. In order to avoid the wastage of your toothpaste and energy, it’s advisable that you brush without leaving any of your teeth untouched.

The Teeth of an Infant is also Important

Even infants and children are not left out! The care given to infants determines how they grow up, the same applies to their teeth.

Assisting them in inculcating good oral hygiene will go a long way in making them have healthy teeth. For toddlers, immediately their teeth pop out of their gum line, assist them by using a very small amount of toothpaste and a soft brush to wash their teeth.

And if they are infants, use a pea-sized amount of fluoride toothpaste to wash their teeth, and if they will be on it themselves, supervise them so that they don’t swallow the toothpaste and for them to do it properly.

Washing the teeth properly allows the teeth to be free from plaque; this will in turn will make the crown of their teeth stronger.

Children tend to consume lots of sugary foods such as cake, hence, brushing their teeth appropriately will prevent the damage the sugar would have on the crown of their teeth.

They should also cultivate the culture of brushing twice daily, that is, morning and night, two(2) minutes each.

Root Cause of Dental Complications

There are usually reasons for whatever situations and the root cause of dental complications starts from bad oral hygiene.

If you consistently keep skipping brushing your teeth and especially in the morning after breakfast and before you go to bed, the food remnant in your teeth will build up; this will cause reactions between your teeth and the acid from the food.

When this acidic reaction occurs, it affects the protection of your crown. Thereafter, the enamel wears out, then follows cavities and other tooth complications such as halitosis, build-up of plaque that changes the color of the teeth, periondititis, and so on.

What Duration should I visit my Dentist?

Whether or not you have any tooth complications, it is advisable to visit your dentist twice in a year or once in 6 months for dental washing and other treatments that can be detected by the dentist.

This will keep your overall health in place, as there will be early detection of any teeth and other related complications.

It will also reduce the risk of other dental complications as the buildup of food that is glued to the teeth will be washed out; this procedure will give you a refreshing mouth and teeth.

 Guidelines for quality brushing of teeth

You know, it is best to always pick quality over quantity; of course quality pays. On this note, quality tooth brushing can be achieved with the following guidelines:

Brushing the Proper Way:

The proper way of washing involves using not-too-hard bristle toothbrushes and not-too-soft toothbrushes.

Wash your lower teeth by stroking upward; both the inside and the outside and avoid scrubbing your gums. While the upper teeth should be stroked downward.

Thereafter, wash your molar and your premolar in a circular way then move on to wash your tongue properly without injuring your tongue in order to wash all the bacteria that can cause bad breath.

This way, there wouldn’t be a chance for the build-up of food in your teeth or on your teeth, and all the sides and corners of your teeth would have been appropriately cleaned.

Always Use Fluoride Toothpaste:

Fluoride contains minerals such as calcium that can help keep the teeth in good shape, These minerals are locked in the teeth and make the enamel stronger, when the enamel is stronger, the crown of the teeth is protected and then the tooth cavity or holes will be prevented.

Remember, don’t just follow the brand, check out for the ingredients to see if it doesn’t contain harmful ingredients if it contains fluoride, and if it is approved by the Dental Association of your region or country. If all these factors are in check, then use the toothpaste.

Flossing Your Teeth:

Flossing allows you to effectively wash away food and other particles that can get stuck under your gums and in between your teeth. Flossing can either be done using a flossing powder a flossing stick and other flossing materials recommended by the dentist.

When flossing, do it daily and follow the directions of the dentist.

Doing the Mouth Rinse:

There is a special mouth rinse product that is really effective in keeping the mouth clean and in good condition, they usually contain ingredients that make for good breath because they kill bacteria that cause mouth odour.

When you use them, it also supplies your teeth with a lot of calcium to make them stronger and healthy, hence,  preventing cavity and tooth loss in the long run.

Another angle of the mouth rinse is using water to rinse your mouth. If you have ever had a cavity your dentist probably advises you to rinse your mouth immediately after consuming starchy or sugary food and if you can do without carbonated drinks then you should.

When you rinse your mouth immediately after consuming starchy or sugary foods, it will wash away any remnants of the food or drink in your mouth so that your teeth are free from bacteria.

It is important to know that the prescriptions or instructions of the dentist in keeping your mouth clean should be adhered to for your good.

Use Appropriate Toothbrush:

According to philosophers, virtue lies in the middle, so also with the toothbrush type, you will be using. Remember do not use a too hard or too soft a toothbrush, Let it be moderate in terms of coarseness.

If your toothbrush is too hard, it can cause you to injure your gum and in fact, plaque will still be in your teeth because you’ll be unable to properly scrub your teeth.

And if it is too soft, plaque will also be in your teeth because food remnants might not be properly washed out especially if you are an adult.

Basically, when picking your toothbrush use what will make your teeth comfortable, and do not use a toothbrush with a worn-out fray. If your toothbrush has a worn-out fray,  change immediately, or as recommended by some dentist change your toothbrush every 3 months.

To Brush it Up on how often should you brush your teeth

Maintaining good oral hygiene is the prevention of all tooth complications. Oral hygiene can only be achieved through the brushing of the teeth, not just regularly, but also properly as earlier stated. It is best to brush twice daily. You brush in the morning after breakfast; you simply rinse your mouth before breakfast.

And in the night, just before you go to bed, you brush your teeth.  If you have an untreated cavity, that is, before you get fillings from a dentist, you should brush immediately after your meal so that food particles wouldn’t remain in the hole, and bore a wider hole or form tartar that will give you severe toothaches and maybe headaches too.

Keep your teeth clean at all times, visit your dentist twice a year or once you feel any discomfort with your teeth, and follow the instructions of the dentist.

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