Reusing a water bottle without washing it
Staying hydrated is important, but refilling your disposable plastic water bottle too often or refilling your reusable bottle without washing it thoroughly could be as unhygienic as licking on your dog’s toys. In one test, large amounts of bacteria – including the food-poisoning bug E. coli – were found in squeeze-top and screw-top water bottles. Over time, chemicals that leach from dirty plastic bottles can lead to conditions such as PCOS, endometriosis and possibly breast cancer.
Learn 10 sneaky ways you might be making yourself dehydrated.
Not washing your produce
How important is it to rinse those apples you bought from the fruit stand? Pretty darn important. Ingesting the bacteria on unwashed fruits and veggies can give you food poisoning, and consuming the pesticides on some of these foods can raise your risk of serious conditions. Pesticides have been linked to diarrhea and insomnia in mild cases; in severe cases, pesticides can be responsible for conditions like increased heart rate, respiratory illness, loss of reflexes, unconsciousness and even death. Needless to say, a good scrub is well worth the effort.
Discover 13 fruits and vegetables you shouldn’t peel – and 9 you should.
Not caring properly for eyelash extensions
The most frequent makeup-related reason a patient ends up in Dr Mendelsohn’s office, he says, is due to eyelash extensions. “There are varying degrees of toxicity when the glues get into the eye.” He confirms that glue in the eye can cause mild to moderate vision impairment, but in the worst-case scenario, the glue can become embedded in the cornea and lead to “keratitis, or inflammation of the cornea, which is acutely painful and usually will not resolve on its own.”
