Why must you wash your hands?
Have you ever stopped to think how many microbes there may be on your hands?
Well, there are millions. The great majority of them are inoffensive, but some can cause illnesses such as colds, flu or diarrhoea.
We must wash our hands for the sake of our health.
To keep ourselves healthy and fit.
If we don’t wash them, dirt could build up on our hands and pass on illnesses to us and to those around us.
Everything we touch may be dirty and pass bacteria or germs on to us.
Imagine, for example:
- a doorknob
- a banister
- a bus rail
- touching our noses or blowing them
When must you wash your hands?
You must wash your hands very often every day, even though you don’t think it necessary. Certainly much more often than you do now.
As we’ve already said, there may always be dangerous bacteria on our hands, which are harmful to our health.
Sometimes you may think your hands are clean if they are not black, covered in mud or ball-point pen stains or paint marks. But even if you think they are clean because they don’t look dirty, bacteria and germs are TINY and cannot be seen with the naked eye. They could be hidden anywhere…
There are times when you must wash your hands:
Before eating, having your breakfast, lunch, tea or supper.
How must we wash our hands?
You should always wash your hands with lukewarm, water if possible.
Wet your hands by putting them under the tap (or a spurt of water from a fountain), before using the soap.
Rub your hands with soap making sure you clean every spot: between your fingers, the wrists, the palms…
When you rub the soap into your hands, make sure the tap is turned off. (Remember that water is scarce and must not be wasted).
It is a good idea to turn off the tap using a paper handkerchief, but if you haven’t got one, try to turn it off without touching it too much, it may be dirty… and then your hands would become dirty again.
Dry your hands using a paper handkerchief, a clean towel or a dryer.