FEEL--GOOD MISCONCEPTIONS

Most of us humans not only believe in superstitions (e.g. Friday the 13th), but also, even more commonly, engage in feel-good actions that belie real understanding. Some of them follow:

1. Some prefer a bath to a shower for cleanliness. How can one stick one’s butt into bath water that is then used for cleaning everything else, and assume that this is better than a shower? It isn’t. Now, if one wants to enjoy lolling in a warm bath because it is soothing, calms one, and just feels luxurious – fine. But, if one is interested in getting clean, a shower is better, and, incidentally, uses less water!
2. As a corollary to #1 above, many, perhaps especially Americans, have a fetish about cleanliness, and scrub themselves “all over” frequently, even every day! Some professions might demand this, but most don’t. (Old joke: Most men wash hands after going to the toilet, the blacksmith washes his before!) Some of this scrubbing leads to dry skin and other problems for which all kinds of lotions and crèmes are used that cost money; this helps the cosmetics industry but seldom the user. What about the skin on your back? Except for those few who use a long handled scrub brush, most cannot reach the back; most let some water flow over it, and don’t worry about it. “Out of sight, out of mind.” A message there?
3. How often have you seen someone open a bottle of soda or beer and use a hand to wipe the top before drinking? This may be a habit, but does it make the bottle more sanitary? (No “dirt” like your own “dirt.”)
4. Toilet paper: Use of modern toilet paper is, no question, better than the old red corn cob, then the white, then (possibly) the red again routine, but, as an old medical professor of mine once said, depending on toilet paper to “protect” one is illusory. Here, proper hand washing afterward is where it’s at! Proper hand washing after #1 is important, after #2 essential!
5. Proper hand washing? What is “proper”? A little water plus perfunctory hand swiping is almost worse than nothing. Many males don’t even do that! (Women I don’t watch!) In effect, one is saying that “my equipment” is sanitary, yours is not.” Right? Proper hand washing depends somewhat on the purpose: Certainly that before a surgical operation demands more than some others, but usually soap and a vigorous “one hand washing the other” for about 20 seconds is acceptable. An approximate second is longer that one thinks! Count 1000 one, 1000 two, etc.
6. How about those throw away paper cut outs available in some public johns? Well, if there is visible excrement on the toilet seat, I suggest you use another toilet.
7. I admit to amusement sometimes when I have noticed in a given exercise room that some exercisers carefully wipe the equipment after its use, (sometimes before as well!) believing it is then “sanitary.” Well, if a user leaves visible sweat on some equipment, wiping it up is being polite and to be applauded, but being sanitary it isn’t. Unfortunately most people have no real concept of what bacteria (bacterium is the singular) – let alone viruses – are like. Myriad bacteria exist on most used surfaces, and spreading them around by “wiping” does not make anything “germ-free.” Luckily, most bacteria are actually “good”; our very lives depend upon some of them, especially in the normal gut!
8. #7 above brings to mind the frequent use of “mouth washes” (such as “Listerine”) in order to render the mouth “germ-free,” or at least “to kill the bad bugs.” As with most OTC lotions and crèmes, this habit helps the producer, but hardly the user – except to “feel good.” (Or, perhaps to try hiding that beer-breath from your Mom.) Any mouthwash that really would “kill the bad bugs,” wouldn’t be very kind to the mucous membranes of the mouth!