A Guide to Good Personal Hygiene

Mom was right: Good personal hygiene is essential to promoting good health.

Personal hygiene habits such as washing your hands and brushing and flossing your teeth will help keep bacteria, viruses, and illnesses at bay. And there are mental as well as physical benefits. “Practicing good body hygiene helps you feel good about yourself, which is important for your mental health,” notes Donald Novey, MD, an integrative medicine physician with the Advocate Medical Group in Park Ridge, Ill. People who have poor hygiene — disheveled hair and clothes, body odor, bad breath, missing teeth, and the like — often are seen as unhealthy and may face discrimination.

Personal Hygiene: Healthy Habits Include Good Grooming

If you want to minimize your risk of infection and also enhance your overall health, follow these basic personal hygiene habits:

• Bathe regularly. Wash your body and your hair often. “I’m not saying that you need to shower or bathe every day,” remarks Dr. Novey. “But you should clean your body and shampoo your hair at regular intervals that work for you.” Your body is constantly shedding skin. Novey explains, “That skin needs to come off. Otherwise, it will cake up and can cause illnesses.”
• Trim your nails. Keeping your finger and toenails trimmed and in good shape will prevent problems such as hang nails and infected nail beds. Feet that are clean and dry are less likely to contract athlete’s foot, Novey says.
• Brush and floss. Ideally, you should brush your teeth after every meal. At the very least, brush your teeth twice a day and floss daily. Brushing minimizes the accumulation of bacteria in your mouth, which can cause tooth decay and gum disease, Novey says. Flossing, too, helps maintain strong, healthy gums. “The bacteria that builds up and causes gum disease can go straight to the heart and cause very serious valve problems,” Novey explains. Unhealthy gums also can cause your teeth to loosen, which makes it difficult to chew and to eat properly, he adds. To maintain a healthy smile, visit the dentist at six-month intervals for checkups and cleanings.
• Wash your hands. Washing your hands before preparing or eating food, after going to the bathroom, after coughing or sneezing, and after handling garbage, goes a long way toward preventing the spread of bacteria and viruses. Keep a hygiene product, like an alcohol-based sanitizing gel, handy for when soap and water isn’t available.
• Sleep tight. Get plenty of rest — 8 to 10 hours a night — so that you are refreshed and are ready to take on the day every morning. Lack of sleep can leave you feeling run down and can compromise your body’s natural defenses, your immune system, Novey says.

Personal Hygiene: Poor Hygiene Hints at Other Issues

If someone you know hasn’t bathed or appears unkempt, it could be a sign that he or she is depressed. “When people are sad or depressed, they neglect themselves,” Novey says. Talking about the importance of proper personal hygiene for preventing illnesses and providing personal hygiene items may help some people. Be candid but sensitive and understanding in your discussions, Novey says. Despite your best efforts, your friend or loved one may need professional help. You should encourage them to see a counselor or doctor if their personal hygiene doesn’t improve.

Personal Hygiene: Good Habits Help Keep You Healthy

For most people, good hygiene is so much a part of their daily routines that they think little about it. They bathe, they brush their teeth, visit the dentist and doctor for regular checkups, and wash their hands when preparing or eating food and handling unsanitary items. To keep those you care about healthy and safe, help them learn, and be sure that they are practicing, good personal hygiene.

Learn more in the Everyday Health Healthy Living Center.

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CCOHS: Good Hygiene Practices – Reducing the Spread of Infections and Viruses

What can I do to reduce the spread of “germs”?

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The most important way to reduce the spread of infections is hand washing – frequently wash hands with soap and water, if unavailable use alcohol-based hand sanitizer (containing at least 60% alcohol). Also important is to get a vaccine for those infections and viruses that have one, when available.

See the OSH Answers Hand Washing – Reducing the Risk of Common Infections for more details.

This OSH Answers document will discuss other methods beyond hand washing that can also help to slow or stop the spread of infections.

NOTE: During a situation where a virus is spreading in the community, information is likely to change rapidly. Please see OSH Answers on Pandemic Influenza and Coronavirus for more information.

What are good practices to slow the spread of infections?

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Ways you can reduce or slow the spread of infections include:

• Get the appropriate vaccine.
• Wash your hands frequently.
• Practice physical distancing from members outside your household, when appropriate (staying more than 2 metres (6 feet) apart).
• Stay home if you are sick (so you do not spread the illness to other people).
• Use a tissue, or cough and sneeze into your arm, not your hand and turn away from other people.
• Use single-use tissues. Dispose of the tissue immediately.
• Wash your hands after coughing, sneezing or using tissues.
• If working with children, have them play with hard surface toys that can be easily cleaned and disinfected.
• Do not touch your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands (viruses can enter your body from unwashed hands).
• Do not share cups, glasses, dishes, cutlery, cigarettes or cellphones.
• When recommended by public health authorities, wear a non-medical mask when in a public space and physical distancing cannot be maintained.

What can a workplace do?

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Workplaces can help by having an infection control plan which includes:

• Providing clean hand washing facilities.
• Offering alcohol-based hand sanitizers with minimum 60% alcohol content, when regular facilities are not available (or to people on the road).
• When recommended by public health authorities, screening employees and visitors before they enter the building (i.e., using a questionnaire or other measures). Do not allow an individual into the building if they screen positive.
• Providing boxes of tissues and encourage their use.
• Providing disinfectant wipes, especially for use in common areas and at personal workstations.
• Cleaning and disinfecting surfaces on a schedule, such as doorknobs, handles, stair railings, bars, desks, phones, kitchens, shared computers, cash registers, elevator buttons, and restaurants tables/menus. High touch items and surfaces should be disinfected multiple times a day.
• Reminding staff to not share cups, glasses, dishes, and cutlery. Be sure dishes are washed in soap and water before used by another person.
• Removing magazines and papers from waiting areas or common rooms (such as receptions, break rooms and kitchens).
• Disinfecting items such as pens at receptions and service desks between users.
• Cleaning and disinfecting a person’s workstation (or other surfaces they came in contact with) when they suspect or confirm they have an infection.
• Making sure ventilation systems are working properly, are maintained according to manufacturers recommendation and are adjusted to provide the maximum air exchanges per hour.
• Washing hands after handling garbage.
• When handling of linen contaminated with secretions from persons thought to be or are sick, wash using detergent and dry items completely. Do not shake dirty laundry. Perform hand hygiene afterwards.
• Considering the creation of teams or crews (“cohorts”) of workers that will work together exclusively to reduce the spread of the virus.
• Limiting visitors. Rescheduling or limiting appointments with suppliers, vendors, service technicians and others where possible.

When cleaning and disinfecting, how should it be done?

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Additional measures may be required to minimize transmission of germs by touch points (sinks, door and cupboard handles, railings, objects, counters, etc.).Viruses, for example, can remain viable on hard surfaces for several hours, depending on environmental conditions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States indicates that “Most studies have shown that the flu virus can live and potentially infect a person for up to 48 hours after being deposited on a surface. ”

In most workplaces and homes, cleaning floors, walls, doorknobs, etc. with disinfectants or bleach solution (5 millilitres (mL) of (5%) bleach per 250 mL of water is recommended. Use a disinfectant with a drug identification number (DIN). This number means that it has been approved for use in Canada.

Follow the directions on the cleaning or disinfecting products. Wear personal protective clothing, such as gloves and eye protection, where required. Know the appropriate procedures for general sanitation and infection control, and how to work safely with hazardous products, including bleach.

If using gloves when cleaning, always wear the appropriate type of glove for the product you are using. No one glove material is resistant to all chemicals. Some products dissolve certain glove materials and therefore will offer no protection by allowing the product to contact your skin. This permeation can take place in a few seconds, while other products may take days or weeks.

Refer to the product’s safety data sheet (SDS) for information on which glove material will provide the best protection (e.g., glove material will be listed, such as neoprene, butyl rubber, natural rubber, etc.). If this information is missing, contact the supplier or manufacturer of the product. Manufacturers of chemical protective gloves and clothing may also assist their customers in making the appropriate choices.

For more information about wearing protective gloves, please see the OSH Answers document on Chemical Protective Clothing – Glove Selection.

What is meant by physical distancing?

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Physical distancing is a strategy where you try to avoid crowded places, large gatherings of people or close contact with a group of people. For example, viruses can spread from person to person. In general, a distance of two metres (6 feet) will slow the spread of a virus, but more distance is more effective.

When physical distancing is recommended, steps to follow include:

• Use communication technologies including telephone, teleconferencing, online or cloud solutions to conduct as much business as possible (including within the same building).
• Allow employees to work from home, or to work flexible hours to avoid crowding the workplace.
• Increase the distance between desks or work stations.
• Increase the number of times touch points and surfaces are cleaned.
• Cancel or postpone any travel, meetings, workshops, etc. that are not absolutely necessary.
• Drive, walk, or cycle to work, but try to avoid public transit. Alternatively, workplaces can consider allowing staff to arrive early/late so they can use public transit when it is less crowded.
• Allow staff to eat at their desks or have staggered lunch hours to avoid crowded lunch rooms.
• Spend as little time as possible in break rooms or photocopy centres.
• When meetings are necessary, have the meeting in a larger room where people can sit with more space between them (at least two metres apart).
• Avoid shaking hands or hugging.

What should a workplace do if an employee becomes ill at work?

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Generally, employees should be allowed and encouraged to stay at home if they are not feeling well. However, in the event of a pandemic, use of screening tools or a list of symptoms as determined by your local public health authority as a checklist may be appropriate. If employees are showing any symptoms, allow them to go or remain at home. If there is doubt if a person is sick, they should stay home until they feel well and are able to resume their regular activities. Your local public health authority may have specific guidance on return to work after illness.

For example, if a person becomes ill at work and COVID-19 is suspected, they should report to first aid or ask for medical attention. If the worker is acutely and severely ill (such as difficulty breath or chest pain) call 911 immediately and provide first aid. Otherwise, they should:

• put on a medical mask, if not available use a non-medical mask.
• wash or sanitize their hands, and isolate in a designated room until they are able to return to their home, avoiding public transit, if possible.
• contact their local public health authority or use a self-assessment tool for more information and instructions.

Clean and disinfect any surface or item that the ill worker was in contact with.

• Fact sheet last revised: 2021-02-17

Why is it necessary to observe the rules of personal hygiene and what are they?

Why is personal hygiene important and what do they mean?

(Materials for conducting a conversation, class)

90 004 What is personal hygiene in general?

Personal hygiene is a set of rules that help maintain health and also protect a person from disease, premature old age and death. A section of the science of hygiene called personal hygiene is the rules on how to handle your skin, teeth, genitals and those objects that surround us in everyday life. Personal hygiene also affects proper nutrition, daily routine, and mental state. Eating healthy food, exercising and even dousing yourself with cold water improves the general condition of the body, improves immunity, and prolongs life. Personal hygiene is an integral part of human culture. It is the observance of the rules of personal hygiene consciously that distinguishes each of us from animals.

One of the most important postulates of personal hygiene is skin care.

This must be done not only for an attractive appearance, but also for health. The skin is one of the largest organs in the human body. Moreover, the skin still occupies one of the first places in the body in terms of the number of functions performed. So, the skin is responsible for thermoregulation, oxygen enters the body through it, nutrients enter the blood through the skin, the skin is the most important of the sense organs. In a healthy person, the skin is clean and smooth. The appearance on the skin of any acne, redness or ulceration indicates the trouble of the whole organism. Therefore, it is necessary to constantly monitor the condition of your skin. Take a warm shower daily using a hard washcloth and soap. Do not wear underwear dirty and unwashed. Do not try to open boils or crush blackheads yourself. Choose underwear and clothes made from comfortable materials. It may not necessarily be pure cotton, many modern materials are not inferior to cotton in all respects. When going out in severe frost, put on mittens and treat exposed skin with special fatty creams.

Separate conversation about facial skin hygiene.

Everything is very individual here. Research scientists say that during the week the human body secretes 200 g of fat through the skin, as well as from 3 to 7 liters of sweat. This secretion must be washed off regularly, and therefore the number one rule in a person’s personal hygiene is to keep the body clean. Depending on the type of skin and age, you should select both the means for caring for it and the method of care. So, for example, it is easiest to take care of normal facial skin. But this is very rare. With age, the skin often becomes drier. Oily skin should not be washed with hot water. The same applies to oily hair. Hot water stimulates the production of sebum. Owners of dry skin should protect it from exposure to both cold and heat. It is important to moisturize dry skin because it fades faster.

Oral hygiene is a very important component of personal hygiene.

If your teeth are not in order, the whole organism suffers. In the presence of foci of caries in the mouth, with periodontitis or periodontal disease, the infection easily spreads to the sinuses, tonsils, and kidneys. Therefore, brush your teeth regularly twice a day. To do this, use a suitable toothpaste and brush for yourself. If you are not able to brush your teeth after the next meal, rinse your mouth with at least clean water. It is advisable to remove food debris using dental floss or a toothpick. You should visit the dentist once every six months.

Personal hygiene is impossible without hair hygiene.

Wash your hair as often as necessary to keep it clean. It is only important to choose a shampoo. If your hair is so oily that it needs to be washed daily, look for a daily shampoo. Do not brush wet hair, do not use metal combs for this. If you are doing a ponytail, do not use rubber bands. They pull the hair too tight.

Personal hygiene and your nutrition are two concepts that cannot exist without each other.

What kind of healthy lifestyle can there be if a person eats instant noodles or sandwiches? Therefore, observing food hygiene, you also contribute to the treasury of your health and longevity.

Helpful Hints .

1. Experts strongly recommend showering immediately after finishing work and just before bed. Water should have a temperature of about 37-38 degrees, i.e. slightly above normal human body temperature.

2. It is highly recommended to use soft water to wash your hair. Its softening is carried out by adding 1 teaspoon of baking soda to 5 liters of water. Regularity of washing hair: normal and dry – once every ten days, oily – weekly. The temperature of water for washing hair is 50-55 degrees. It is useful to rinse them with infusion of chamomile after washing.

3. If you set aside 20 minutes for a little gymnastics in the morning, this will fill the cells with oxygen, remove stagnation, tone the blood vessels, give vigor and good mood for the whole day.

4. Fresh air will remove drowsiness and headaches, relieve fatigue and catarrhal bronchopulmonary diseases, if you ventilate the room before going to bed, at least 30-40 minutes.

Rules of personal hygiene – GAUZ Children’s City Clinical Hospital No. 8 GAUZ Children’s City Clinical Hospital No.

8

Each person is obliged to observe personal hygiene, that is, himself must keep his body and clothes clean. After all, personal hygiene plays a big role in communicating with people. Being clean and tidy means showing respect for others. To maintain personal hygiene, a mirror, soap, toothbrush and other personal hygiene items are great helpers. The human body is 80% water. If it were not covered with skin, then the water would quickly evaporate and a person would not be able to live. Human skin is also waterproof and prevents water from entering our body. Imagine what would happen to us in the bath if the skin absorbed water! The skin also protects our body from germs and regulates body temperature. When we are hot, sweat is released, which cools the body, and the blood vessels expand and rise closer to the surface of the skin, and our body turns red, and when it is cold, the blood vessels constrict to keep warm. When we are sick and the temperature rises, we sweat more.

And this is good, because microbes that are harmful to the body come out of the body with sweat. In gratitude for its work, the skin requires self-care. This care consists in cleansing the skin so that it can properly perform its functions. Thus, water for our body is the first friend.

And few people want to communicate with a dirty and carelessly dressed person. Many boys think that only girls need a mirror. And here they are wrong. After all, looking at yourself in the mirror, you immediately find out how you look – whether your hair is combed, whether your face and clothes are clean. At the same time, it must be remembered: a boy or a girl who often looks into the mirror does not look very beautiful. By the way, an untidy person can be recognized by the ears. If they are dirty, then other people will definitely pay attention to it. So do not spare water for washing not only the ears, but the whole body.

Nails on hands and feet should be trimmed once a week. By the way, special care should be about the legs – they must be washed every day and change socks often. Why do you think it is strictly forbidden to use someone else’s comb or toothbrush?

What is it to be clean?

What is it to be clean?

Wash your hands often with soap;

I wash my face in the morning and even in the evenings.

If I wash my ears clean, my ears will listen better.

Why are the eyes shining? I washed with soap.

Hair is friends with a comb: my hairstyle is good!

I. Kurochkina

A well-mannered person will never leave rubbish or dirt behind in the classroom, at school and in other public places, especially in the toilet or bathroom. Shoes also like cleanliness and order. Arriving from the street – put your shoes in order – wipe them and clean them with cream.

Do not wear other people’s shoes. On the river or in the park, when you walk barefoot, you must be extremely careful not to injure your feet on pieces of glass or plant thorns. At the same time, if you see broken glass, be sure to collect it and take it to a place specially designated for garbage. Each of us should always have a clean and neatly folded handkerchief in our pocket.

It can be used when coughing to wipe the nose, hands or face.

Item:

Give at least five reasons why a dirty handkerchief should not be used. Appearance is what immediately catches the eye. Appearance can say a lot about a person. It is always pleasant to communicate with a neatly dressed person, but no one wants to sit next to, play and communicate with dirty and sloppy people.

Clothing protects a person from the cold, makes him more attractive, affects his mood. Clothes form the first impression of a person. In beautiful, neat and comfortable clothes, we feel more confident. The condition of the clothes must be monitored and protected. Clothing must be clean, ironed, without holes or stains. There is no such clothes that would be suitable for all occasions. Any clothing is worn for a specific occasion or for a specific activity. For sports, clothing should be light and loose so that it does not get hot.

And, of course, after class, you need to take it off and take a shower. An educated person in a tracksuit will not go to the theater or to the cinema. And what will you look like if you go out for a walk in the yard in a suit with a bow tie around your neck? One can say about a person who knows how to dress beautifully – he has taste. This means that he knows how to choose the right clothes for any occasion.

Test yourself!

1. What does it mean to be beautiful and attractive?

3. Do you agree with the statement that water brings us cheerfulness, health and good attitude of others?

4. Explain the statements: “Perfume and cologne after, not instead of washing.”

5. Explain the expression: “Clothes and appearance should be appropriate for the environment and upcoming activities.”

6. Where do you keep your school uniform? 7. Do you yourself know how to clean shoes, sew on buttons, wash small things?

I consider myself neat and tidy.