When to Wash Your Hands

One of the easiest, and least expensive, things you can do to help maintain good health is to wash your hands, per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). You probably already wash your hands after you’ve gone to the bathroom, or before you prepare food. But for optimum health benefits, the CDC says, ‘don’t stop there!’ Here’s a non-comprehensive list of some other times to wash your hands. During food preparation, when you change between food types (for example when you move from preparing raw meat to preparing vegetables) Before eating food Before and after caring for someone who is sick Before and after treating a cut or wound After changing diapers or cleaning up a child who has used the toilet After blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing After wiping a child’s runny nose After touching an animal, animal feed, or animal waste After handling pet food or pet treats After touching garbage Washing your hands with soap and water is the best option, but sometimes it just not feasible. In those cases, a hand sanitizer contains at least 60% alcohol is a good alternative. For more information on when and how to wash your hands visit the CDC at http://www.cdc.gov/handwashing/when-how-handwashing.html