These are the personal hygiene practices you must practice!
PERSONAL HYGIENE PRACTICES – These practices are forms of self-care and they should not just be mere practices, they should become a habit.
Proper hygiene is essential for several reasons. Mainly, doing this is not just for aesthetics purposes, it is also for maintaining good physical and mental health, fostering positive social connections, and contributing to a clean environment. These practices should become a habit to prevent getting diseases and also, good hygiene can leave a good impression on other people. How we take care of ourselves affects how others perceive us and can influence social interactions and relationships.
What to do? Here are some essential things to know!
- Proper Handwashing
Basically, hand-washing is best done using water and soap. In running water, wet your hands and lather the soap generously and well. This should last for 20 seconds and make sure to scrub the backs of your hands and wrists, between your fingers, and under your fingernails. Then, rinse well and dry your hands with a clean towel.
When to wash your hands? Wash your hands before and after preparing and eating food, treat wounds, care for a sick person, touch surfaces considered germ hotspots such as door handles, gas pumps, or shopping carts, and put and remove contact lenses. Wash your hands after using the toilet, changing a diaper, dealing with anything about animals such as feeding them or cleaning up waste, nose blowing, coughing, sneezing, handling garbage, and handling pet food or pet treats.
- Care of the Sense Organs
A human has five senses namely sense of sight (eyes), sense of smell (nose), sense of touch (skin), sense of taste (tongue), and sense of hearing (ears).
How to take care of them:
- Eyes – avoid smoking, avoid long sun exposure, have a healthy diet with plenty of antioxidants
- Nose – avoid smoking, have a healthy diet, eat foods with essential vitamins and minerals such as zinc
- Skin – secure sun protection, eat healthy, avoid injuries, stay active, keep yourself properly hydrated
- Tongue – make sure to have good dental hygiene, avoid consuming extremely cold or extremely hot foods, and reduce consumption of very spicy or very sour foods
- Ear – avoid listening to loud noises or sounds, have a healthy diet, avoid cleaning your inside ear using a cotton bud
- Oral Care
If you have poor oral hygiene, some signs will show up such as bleeding gums, tooth decay, chronic bad breath, gum recession, mouth sores that don’t go away, toothache, jaw swelling, and an infection called Gingivostomatitis.
To avoid this, make sure to brush your teeth twice daily, floss once daily, brush and scrape your tongue, use antibacterial mouthwash, have regular checkups with your dentist, and avoid smoking. If you do these, you can achieve healthier teeth and gums, beautiful smile, fresh breath, reduced need for dental work, and lowered risk of oral cancer.
- Body Care
There are several types of hygiene such as toilet hygiene, shower hygiene, nail hygiene, teeth hygiene, sickness hygiene, and hand hygiene. All of these contribute to your overall physical and mental wellness. When it comes to bathing, it is important to wash the whole body thoroughly and give importance to all parts such as the armpits, groins, neck, belly, knees, elbows, back, and feet.