Washing your hands should be a natural part of everyday life, but with the world struggling with the COVID-19 pandemic, personal hygiene is on over-drive.
This hyper-focus on hand washing to avoid the flu is just as important as boosting your immune system. We’ve got 5 tips below on staying safe and avoiding the coronavirus.
1. Wash Your Hands Properly
It’s not enough to just “wash your hands”. If you aren’t a surgeon, a molecular biologist, or work in the food industry, you probably don’t even know how to properly wash your hands. If you don’t wash your hands properly, you can still spread germs AND get sick, so make sure you take the time to read below the steps to properly wash your hands.
Five steps to wash your hands properly:
- Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cool, not scalding hot), turn off the faucet and apply one pump of hand soap.
- Lather up your hands and make bubbles by rubbing both hands together. Spread soap to the backs of your hands, between your fingers, your wrists, and don’t forget under your nails (esp if they are long).
- Scrub your hands continually for at least 20 seconds, but 30 secs is ideal. Try humming the โHappy Birthdayโ song from beginning to end twice if you need a timer.
- Rinse all the soap off your hands under clean, running water.
- Dry both hands using a clean towel, paper towels or air dry them.
You can see from the graphic below what happens if you
half-ass your handwashing!
Notice that even after 15 seconds of soap and water that knuckles, in between fingers, and around the cuticles still have visible germs. Go the extra mile and wash your hands for the full 30 seconds to prevent the spread of illness and germs!
Hemp Seed Body Care just released a unique and affordable hand soap amidst this pandemic. This nutrient-rich hand wash combines cleansing ingredients like eucalyptus and green tea with gentle exfoliants and moisturizers that will keep your hands clean, hydrated, and free from dryness and cracking with every wash. It’s even better than antibacterial soap.
Hemp Seed Body Careโs Hand Wash can be purchased online at www.hempseedbodycare.com for $9.99.
2. When To Use Hand Sanitizer
Since 30 seconds of hand washing seems like a waste of time, you may be tempted to use hand sanitizer instead because it’s quicker and easier. But do you know how or when to use hand sanitizer?
Obviously, hand soap and water is the best, most effective way to get your hands clean. However, there are many situations when warm water and hand soap might not be available like after your pump gas or load the groceries into your car. In cases like that, you should use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. (Most hand sanitizers contain 62% ethyl alcohol.)
contain 70% Ethyl Alcohol!
Some people are choosing to make their own hand sanitizer too because of how difficult it is to find it in the stores. If you happen to come across alcohol and aloe vera gel, you can totally make your own hand sanitizer! Both those products seem to be hard to come by as well though.
How to properly use hand sanitizer
- Apply hand sanitizer into the palm of one hand (read the label to find out how much – usually one pump).
- Rub your hands together making sure to cover all the areas you would get to if washing your hands with soap and water.
- Continue rubbing hands together for around 20 seconds or until your hands are dry.
3. Don’t Destroy Your Skin
All the hand washing, hand sanitizers, disinfectants, and cleaning chemicals will do a number on your hands real quick if you aren’t careful! We have skin-saving tips from Dr. James Beckman, Biochemist, Board Certified Plastic and Reconstructive Surgeon and Founder of Therapon Skin Health to help make sure you don’t destroy your skin.
To protect your hands this season, Dr. Beckman suggests:
Watch the temperature of water โ try to use lukewarm or cool water even during the winter months to avoid over-drying.
Pat dry, donโt rub dry – After washing hands, gently pat your skin dry instead of rubbing your skin dry. By patting dry your skin will retain more moisture you are going to seal in when you moisturize.
Drink more water โ the moisture your skin receives also comes from your body.
Use mild soaps and detergents – soaps that contain alcohol strip natural oils from your skin.
Give extra attention to your handsโhands show the effects of a dry environment more than any other part of the body. Apply hand cream after each hand washing.
Source: www.theraderm.net
Dr. Beckman recommends using a moisturizing hand lotion like Theraderm Extreme Dry Skin Therapy. It can help replenish your skin’s natural moisture barrier and help infuse moisture in the deeper layers of your skin. Theraderm Extreme Dry Skin Therapy contains premium, super-fine grade lanolin that replaces your skin’s natural oils, allowing them to heal. Nobody wants hand sanitizer on their dry, cracked skin! Ouch! So make sure you take care of your skin when you are home so it can handle the demands of hand washing when you aren’t home.
Washing your hands a lot can dry out your hands, especially if the soap you use contains harsh chemicals. So it is necessary to choose the right soap that has natural ingredients like goat milk. Goat milk products will not dry out your hands but on the contrary will make them smooth and soft.
4. Disinfect Contaminated Objects And Surfaces
You might be washing your hands as soon as you come home from work, but what about your shoes, your cell phone, the bottom of your briefcase or purse, and your keys?
Most of those objects either touched contaminated surfaces or you touched them with contaminated hands! It’s easy to overlook things like this and then you’ll be scratching your head wondering why everyone in the house has a fever and is coughing up a lung.
Be sure to clean and disinfect frequently touched objects like your cell phone and the remotes with a disinfectant spray or disinfectant wipes like Seventh Generation Multi-Surface Disinfectant Wipes.
Don’t forget to clean surfaces that are frequently touched with dirty hands like doorknobs, wherever you place the mail and packages when they come in, bathroom counters, devices and charging stations, and sink faucets with a household cleaner like Mrs. Meyers Multi-Surface Spray.
probiotic natural air, surface & object purifier
You also need to make sure germs from your mask and contaminated clothes donโt reach other parts of the home. You need to not only protect your immune system but the surrounding surface areas of your home. This task may seem overwhelming, but thanks to betterair Biotica800, clean air is a snap!
Better Air is an air purifier that works to eliminate bacteria pathogens and nasty viruses in the most delicate areas and objects around your house.
Now is the time to give your immune system that extra boost it needs by getting the only Air Purifier that uses Probiotics to help increase immune function, fight-off pathogens, and stop diseases before they happen.
5. Boost Your Immune System
Obviously, prevention is the best medicine so if you haven’t already been doing everything you need to in order to boost your immune system against coronavirus and the flu, check out our protocol below.
Mama’s Protocol
- Rainbow Light Counter Attack – 2 tablets 2x / day
- Sodium Ascorbate Powder (or capsules) – 10,000+ mg / day
- Nature’s Way Elderberry Syrup – 2-4 tsp / day
- Vitamin D3 – 5,000 iu / day
Child Protocol
- Probiolicious Plus Gummies Organic Superfood Blend – 1-2 gummies / day
- Sodium Ascorbate Powder (or capsules) – 5,000+ mg / day
- Herb Pharm Immune Avenger – 5-10 drops in water 3-5 x / day
- JoySpring Elderberry Blend – 2-3 droppers full / day
- Lolleez Organic Throat Soothing Lollipops – when necessary
Baby Protocol
- Wellements Organic Probiotic Drops – 5 drops / day
- Wellements Organic Vitamin D Drops – 2-3 drops / day
- Lots of breastmilk and sunshine!
Diffuse Plant Therapy Germ Fighter in the house (and carry the roll-on with you!)
Use a humidifier in every room of your house. Humidity is proven to help capture viruses and can help decrease the spreading of germs. Also be sure to change the filters on your furnace and consider getting a whole house uv light for ducts and Hvac systems.
Airfree Tulip Air Purifier destroys mold, dust mites, bacteria, viruses, pollens, pet dander, organic odors, and other organic allergens. It’s completely silent as it takes contaminated air into the unit by natural air convection and then eliminates the microorganisms at temperatures of close to 400 ยฐF. The sterilized air is then cooled before being returned to the environment.
Hopefully, all these tips will help you PREVENT yourself from getting coronavirus or the flu, and in the unfortunate event that you do get sick, these tips should help you with self-care for coronavirus and treating your flu symptoms too.
Stop The Spread
