Why you need to maintain hygiene
Wash your hands and generally maintain hygiene to stay healthy,
In children, regular hand washing reducesthe probability of gastrointestinal diseases by 29–57%, and the incidence of colds and respiratory infections by 16–21%. Hand hygiene also helps to reduce the spread of most diseases: parasitic, viral, bacterial: from influenza to Ebola or giardiasis. Because pathogens are often transmitted by contact: from skin to mucous membranes. Some experts point out that lowering the incidence of respiratory infections (if people wash their hands more often) will result in less antibiotic use. And it will make the growing problem of resistance - the decreasing sensitivity of bacteria to these drugs - less acute.
However, careful hygiene should notmove into the pursuit of absolute sterility: microbes in the environment are a kind of training for immunity. They keep him on alert. If a person spends some time "in a vacuum", he will get more severely ill even with a common cold, because the immune system will be weakened. However, this does not mean that you do not need to wash your hands, fruits and vegetables, or change clothes when you come home. Sterility implies the too frequent use of antiseptics and disinfectants, UV lamps and quartz in apartments where they should not be. All this destroys not only pathogenic microbes, but also useful ones present in the body and partly also responsible for the state of immunity.
Hygiene and health in the world
Essity's 2017 Global Survey foundresults unlike today: even in developed countries before the pandemic, much less attention was paid to hygiene. Almost 30% of people forget to wash their hands before eating, over 10% - after using the toilet, more than 20% - before preparing food. Men wash their hands 30% less often than women. True, these are general figures, but in the context of individual countries they look different.
Among the cleanest countries for more than one centuryJapan is located: the attitude to hygiene is the most reverent here, which surprised foreigners back in the 17th century. In schools, cleaning not only classrooms, but also toilets, corridors, stairs is the responsibility of students. Parents from infancy explain to the child that he must keep things and space clean. The Japanese take off their shoes not only at home, but also at school - a shift is required. In street shoes, not only guests will not be allowed into the house, but also service: plumbing, electrician and others. Money is never passed from hand to hand: only through a special tray, even in a taxi. People with colds or flu must wear masks. This allows Japan, despite the hot, humid climate (a paradise for the reproduction of pathogenic microorganisms), to be among the five healthiest countries with a high life expectancy: according to the WHO, in Japan it is 84 years. The Japanese die mainly from cardiovascular problems.
Bloomberg's Healthiest Rankingscountries showed that in terms of life expectancy and mortality rates in 2020, Spain was in the lead with an estimate of 92.8 points. Italy (91.6), Iceland (91.4) and Japan (91.4) are slightly behind it. The United States did not even enter the top twenty - it has 73 points and 35th place. And the life expectancy there is 78 years.
Hygiene is paid less attention in the USA than inJapan (as well as China and Korea with a similar mentality), but in the States it is customary to change clothes every day, take a shower (63% do it every day), wash your hair several times a week, shave off unwanted body hair, and visit the dentist every six months. Bed linen is changed by 33% of Americans weekly, and 34% - about once every three weeks. Among hygiene products in active use, they have toothpaste and soap or shower gel (used by 95% and 85% of IPSOS respondents). True, in the United States (as in European countries), it is customary to walk around the house in street shoes, unless the family has a baby or an allergy sufferer. It is believed that the outside of the house is clean: yes, of course, the roads are washed regularly, but this does not make them absolutely sterile. Women in the United States are cleaner, but more than 30% indicate that they do not consider it necessary to shower before bed.
Russians are quite attentive tohygiene rules: official statistics show an annual increase in demand for personal care products. In 2014–2018, their production increased by 17.6%. During the pandemic, spending on hygiene products among Russians increased: 59% of respondents to the Essity survey reported this. And along with this, there was a jump in demand for antiseptics: in March-April, the volume of their production was forced to increase six times. By 2024, the market for alcohol sanitizers may increase 2.5–10 times due to changes in sanitary and hygienic standards.
Before the pandemic, the market also developed actively:in 2018 it added 30% in comparison with 2017, in 2019 - 91% in comparison with 2018. However, this is no match for the jerk of 2020. 60 new manufacturing companies appeared on the market, and the volume of output increased from 50 thousand liters / day to 300 thousand liters / day. But despite this, Russia barely entered the top 100 in the Bloomberg rating, ending up in 95th place (with a life expectancy of 73 years): it was bypassed by less developed countries like Cape Verde, and Chile and Cuba. Bloomberg researchers note that the results are largely influenced by dietary habits (one of the reasons for the leadership of Spain and Italy with their Mediterranean diet), the state of the health care system.
However, hygiene is very important.The countries of South Africa ranked last 27 out of 30 in the Bloomberg ranking, and this clearly demonstrates the importance of sanitation and standards for health: more than 70% of the population do not comply with them or do not have access to them, as noted by UNICEF. Almost 20% of South and East Africans practice open defecation without access to toilets, and in schools 62% of children cannot fully wash their hands. Due to poor sanitation and hygiene, small cities become epicenters of cholera, most infections come from water, which is contaminated by feces that enter it. Given this data, it is not surprising that life expectancy in Somalia (56 years), Mozambique (58 years) and Zimbabwe (60 years). Despite the rise in these numbers in 2010–2019 (some have risen from the age of 50), they remain the lowest of all countries.
Hygiene assistance
Wearables help to maintain hygiene todayDevices: With the watchOS update, Apple Watch adds a handwash control feature. Moreover, the smartwatch determines the procedure independently - through movement and sounds. After that, a timer starts for 20 seconds. If the person completes the procedure earlier, the watch tells them to continue. In addition, the device can prompt you to wash your hands when the person returns home. This is an effective solution, since in the first quarter of 2020 the market of wearable devices in Russia grew by 54% compared to the same period in 2019. And the direct purchase of fitness trackers - by 61%.
Of course, 20 seconds is not the 40-60 recommendedWHO, however, many experts indicate this time for hand washing as the minimum acceptable. But between the use of antibacterial soap (usually it differs only in the presence of triclosan) and the usual one there is not much difference: they prevent infection in the same way. Moreover, triclosan can cause bacterial resistance to antibiotics, which is why it is already banned in the US and EU. For this reason, the choice of soap is only a matter of personal preference. According to the results of research on the soap market, Dove is the leader among Russians: it does not contain alkali (this was demonstrated by the famous test with litmus tests) and restores the natural lipid (fat) barrier on it.
Another useful hygiene gadget is smartan electronic brush Kolibree, which is able to monitor the thoroughness of brushing your teeth. The information read by the device is transmitted to the smartphone, after which recommendations are formed to improve the efficiency of the procedure. The gadget can tell you whether you need to brush your teeth longer, which areas to pay more attention to. The device appeared in 2016, and now it has enough competitors: any electric brush with Bluetooth paired with a smartphone application can offer such functionality. For example, with the Oral-B App. Moreover, modern brushes can also suggest the force of pressure on the teeth and gums, take into account the presence of braces or other structures (veneers, crowns).
However, assistants in controlling hand washing orbrushing your teeth - pretty simple and straightforward. There are also more innovative startups: for example, underwear that can not be changed for a month. The idea belongs to the Danish team Organic Basics, who proposed to treat the fabric with a composition with silver chloride, due to which it retains freshness for longer. True, testing the novelty did not show impressive results: the smell of the linen still appears. And how much the impregnation really protects against bacteria that accumulate from the contact of the genitals with tissue is unclear.
Immunity state cannot be tiedexclusively to the observance of sanitary and hygienic standards: it is also influenced by ethnic characteristics, geography of residence (climatic conditions), dietary habits, local health care system, cultural moments. However, the study of countries through the ratings of the "healthiest" and "cleanest" shows a direct dependence of health on hygiene.
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