From laziness to germophobia, how many times a day should you wash your hands?

At the end of 2023, the American media

New York Post

published the results of a survey that had been carried out among university students about their hygiene habits. The headline, which said that almost half of members of Generation Z are germophobes for washing their hands ten or more times a day, caught the attention of many readers, who expressed their confusion online and wondered: isn't it? Is that normal hygiene?

They say it as if washing your hands 10 times a day is....A LOT 👁👄👁

??????????????? https://t.co/8TxzBO7xsq

— No Awakatito (Sweet Caroline) (@NoAguacatito) November 28, 2023

“Ten times a day or more does not seem alarming to me,” says Mireia Cantero, member of the Spanish Society of Preventive Medicine, Public Health and Health Management (SEMPSPGS). Washing your hands, after all, is “the most effective measure to prevent infections”, as the entire population was very aware during the covid pandemic. Hand washing is related to fewer respiratory infections or as a good measure to prevent diarrhea, for example. It has also been studied how school attendance figures improve during flu season when school-age children are encouraged to wash their hands thoroughly.

More information

What is the correct and safest way to clean your ears?

As for the number of times you should go to the sink to rub them with soap and water (or put hydroalcoholic gel on them), the expert explains that the recommendations are more based on the type of situation than on the number of daily washes. “The basic thing is to wash them after going to the bathroom, when you are going to eat or prepare food, whenever they are dirty or after blowing your snot, for example,” she points out. In this way, reaching ten washes is not complicated.

The data does not leave a part of the population in a good position: according to a survey by the market research company YouGov Omnibus, a quarter of Spaniards do not always wash their hands after going to the bathroom. Furthermore, although the times when it was advisable to wash your hands during the most intense months of the pandemic are the same as in a normal situation, the truth is that concern about hand hygiene has decreased. “It is unfortunately one of the things that have been lost. It was said that these things were here to stay and are now forgotten,” laments Cantero. This is seen, for example, in the data collected by the Carlos III Health Institute for the World Health Organization (WHO) Behavioral Insights survey on covid in Spain (COSMO-SPAIN). In the last round, carried out in September 2022, washing hands often as a preventive measure had dropped from 4.39 points in July 2020 to 3.65 (5 is always, 1 is never). Washing with hydroalcoholic gel, which Cantero indicates is even more effective, had dropped from 4.44 to 3.34.

When is it too much?

Although frequent hand washing is recommended, it is also possible to overdo the number of hygiene procedures and it becomes a problem. When they wash too much, Mireia Cantero points out, there is “more risk of dermatitis, dryness or micro-wounds.” This was common in hospitals, since healthcare personnel must wash their hands more often than the general population. “Before there were no alcoholic solutions for hand hygiene, so the only way was with soap and water, which irritates more. So there were quite a few dermatitis problems among professionals. The soaps weren't that good either and there was the problem of the gloves, which were dusty and also affected the skin,” she explains. For the general population to reach this level of causing wounds, they have to wash a lot (or have especially sensitive skin), something that Cantero points out is very rare. “We tend to err on the side of washing less than more,” she says.

There are, however, cases in which washing hands too frequently hides a problem. The germophobia with which the

New York Post

headline pointed out generation Z. In Spanish it is more common to use the term mysophobia, which Manuel Oliva, from the Official College of Psychology of Madrid, defines as “a type of phobia that focuses on an extreme and irrational fear of germs, dirt or contamination.” Furthermore, it is not always a specific fear of contamination, but is sometimes also associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Worrying about germs doesn't have to be a problem. “We can all experience some apprehension of catching some germ present in dirty or contaminated places. Faced with this fear, we can take some logical hygiene measures that do not interfere with our normal life; On the contrary, they make us feel safer and connect with the education in cleanliness that most of us have received,” explains the psychologist.

The problem comes when fear “becomes central.” If the frequency of thoughts of contamination is high and a great need to carry out washing or prevention behaviors appears, in such a way that "it influences the normal functioning of the person's life and generates high anxiety about it", we already speak of a pathological fear that can be worrying. Vila lists some symptoms of mysophobia: “Avoid places that are perceived as dirty or full of germs; spending too much time cleaning and decontaminating everything around you and using cleaning or disinfecting products excessively; washing hands obsessively; refusing to share personal items and avoiding physical contact with others or avoiding crowds or animals.”

Mireia Cantero adds that the important thing is to take into account whether or not there is an indication for hand washing. “If the indication is there, you have to do it, even if it is many times. When there is a compulsive pathology related to hand washing, on the other hand, you constantly do hand hygiene, without being indicated,” she points out.

Finally, remember that it is also essential to find balance. “Living without microorganisms is impossible and is not beneficial either, the world is not sterile. Yes, there are a series of moments in which it is good to do hand hygiene to avoid infections, but it never ends with microorganisms (and it should not be done). The important thing is to prevent them in moments of risk or not to put them in your mouth or to certain places where they should not be,” he concludes.

You can follow

EL PAÍS Salud y Bienestar

on

Facebook

,

X

and

Instagram

.