You use hot water to wash your hands
There’s no need to scorch your hands with hot water to kill germs anymore when studies show that lukewarm and cold water work just as effectively. Researchers from Vanderbilt University in the US found that cold water did just as well as hot water at reducing levels of bacteria when people scrubbed, rinsed and dried their hands properly. The study authors also noted that you’d need to wash your hands in boiling water at a whopping 100 degrees Celsius in order to notice any significantly greater reduction in pathogens. Plus, hot water dries your skin out more than cold and lukewarm water does.
Make sure you wash your hands immediately after touching these 10 things.
You push out your poo too hard
Another risk factor for haemorrhoids is pushing too hard when you’re constipated. The harder you push, the more pressure you’re placing on the veins in your rectum, which may also lead to anal fissures, tiny tears in the lining of your anus. Try squatting for a few seconds instead of straining. Squatting naturally aligns your intestinal tract to help move things along with less effort. Or if that doesn’t work, pop a laxative to soften your stool.
You don’t wash your hands long enough
Twenty seconds is all it takes to give your hands a proper scrubbing with soap and water, according to the CDC. But at least 95 percent of people don’t wash their hands long enough to effectively kill germs based on a university study. The average hand-washing time was less than half of the CDC’s recommendation – only six seconds. Need a clever way to keep track of time? Sing the “Happy Birthday” song twice to give you the perfect amount of time to properly clean your hands.