Hygiene is the science concerned with the prevention of illness and maintenance of health OR series of practice that helps to preserve health.
The word hygiene comes from French which was later converted to Latin form and in Greek later. Hygiene means “skill of health” or “good for health”. In ancient Greek religion, Hygeia word used for the person who was the goddess of health and cleanliness.
By using hygiene techniques we make ourselves clean but hygiene is not the whole cleanliness as hygiene is a broad term that includes personal choices about habits like how many times you’ll take a bath in a day?
Which technique you wanna use to wash your hands? and how will you clean your surroundings?
As hygiene is not only concerned with just your hand to wash, it is also concerned with your cognitive (thinking) and behavior to make your environment clean and hygienic.
SOME REGULAR HYGIENE PRACTICES:
Some good habits that you should adopt for regular hygiene practices are;
1. Washing your body often
washing your body once a day makes you fresh, as many people preferred morning bathing that makes them awake, and night bathing that helps them to sleep well. if you are an insomniac then it’s good to take a night bath. and bath with soap to wash away bacteria,oil-dirt and dead skin cells. not to forget to rub your groins, back, neck, armpits, feet, belly, and umbilicus (can be a room for germs).
Shampoo your hair twice a week that makes your scalp and hair clean, and helps in your hair growth.
Washing your hands:
Always remember to wash your hands with soap;
- After toilet
- Before and after eating the meal,
- Before and after making food.
- When you touch any dirty thing like dusty door, garbage shoppers.
- When you come home from out.
2. Teeth brushing:
Brushing your teeth twice a day (after waking up in the morning and at night before bed) or after every meal, especially after sweets, help you prevent gums disease, cavities, and gingivitis. Antibacterial mouthwash helps you to avoid bad breathe or smell from the mouth.
3. Trim your nails:
Keep your nails short and trimmed and brush under the nails with nail brush because nails can be the source of infection as germs can hide in them. Clean and trimmed nails help you avoid germs growth and prevent them from entering your mouth. Don’t bite your nails. Washing clothes can also help in cleaning your nails.
4. Covering your mouth:
If you are sick then covering your mouth or nose while coughing and sneezing helps you to prevent spreading germs to others. Always keep a handkerchief and tissues with you and after use throw it in the dustbin, because air souls are one of the main factors in spreading germs.
5. Change your clothes:
Daily change your clothes or one time in two days and wash them. It helps you in cleaning your nails, clothes, and hands and reduces the number of microorganisms in your clothes. Hang them in the sun because the sun also kills bacteria, parasites, and bad smells.
6. Use dustbin:
Make a habit of using dustbin because storing rapers in corners of your house helps the germ to grow at a faster rate and make you ill and also make your home a trash dump.
7. Toilet hygiene:
Wash properly with clean water because just tissue paper does not support your hygiene. After the toilet, wash your hands, make sure to clean your nails and between the fingers, because the toilet can be the source of bloody diarrhea, vomiting, and infection.
8. Food hygiene:
Always wash your solid food items like vegetables and fruits before using them. It helps to prevent food poisoning, food contamination. Also, try to keep your dining table or kitchen clean, and don’t use utensils and crockery without washing.
What happens if you have poor hygiene?
AS IT IS SAID; “POOR HYGIENE HABITS IS THE ROOT OF ILLNESS.”
If you are addicted to poor hygiene and don’t care about your cleanliness, it can lead you to a number of diseases and minor side effects like body odor, greasy and oily skin, dandruff, lice problem and also make your irritant, angry, might have headaches and be unable to sleep at all.
For example, if you don’t wash your hands after the toilet can cause you a serious disease like STDs. These are caused indirectly by the toilet (like gonorrhea, chlamydia, herpes simplex virus, and human papillomavirus), diarrhea caused by the fecal-oral route (E.coli, salmonella, and shigella), skin rashes, fistula, etc.
If you don’t take baths for a long time, there will be a number of infections like dermatitis, roundworm, tapeworm, scabies, athlete’s foot, a pilonidal cyst. Dandruff also causes eye infection, dry skin, yeast-like fungi such as Malassezia, and irritated oily skin.
If you don’t brush your teeth daily it can cause gingivitis (swelling of gums), cavities, sensitivities of gums, and you may lose your tooth too increase the growth of germs in the mouth and cause endocarditis (inflammation of cardiac wall) which is very hard to treat and other heart diseases.
Poor hygiene also affects your mood and self-esteem. Not taking proper care of hygiene can cause a number of other diseases.
HOW YOU WILL REMEMBER?
Small tips to remember your hygiene patterns are; set reminders in mobile as we can store our daily data in mobile.
Another tip is to use signs like a hand wash sign in the bathroom, restroom and above taps, and use me sign on the dustbin and you can use the sign of washing vegetables and fruits and stick it on the basket.
Always keep a small package that includes disposable gloves, hand sanitizer, mask, and tissue or handkerchief with you wherever you are.
GENERAL QUERIES:
Q. What are the healthy hygiene tips?
The steps are; take shower in the morning, brush your teeth regularly, wash hands gently before and after the toilet and eating the meal, trim your nails, wear clean clothes and make your home ventilated.
Q. As a woman how do I maintain good hygiene during menstruation?
Feminine hygiene is very important and some are; keep your undergarments dry and smooth that doesn’t irritate your skin and develop rashes, change pads after every 6-8 hours. Avoid tight clothes at night that can cause shock syndrome and use breathable fabric like cotton.
Q. What are the healthy hygiene steps for men?
Mostly boys are lazy in taking care of hygiene but some tips are; To take shower daily, it makes you fresh and feels good. Brush your teeth and use mouthwash. Trim your nails. Change your clothes daily. Don’t wear tight clothes at night.
Take Away!
Healthy and good hygiene do not only help you feel good but also makes you self-confident and helps you relax in your work. It also affects your mood. These habits are hard to adopt for some people but remember, they keep you away from diseases. It is rightly said: ‘One healthy habit of hygiene helps you prevent thousands of illnesses‘