Apr 28, 2007 3 min read

You’ve heard it said a thousand times since you were a child, but many people still don’t wash their hands as often as they should. In a recent study, 94 percent of American adults said they wash their hands after using the restroom.

But the study found that only 68 percent of the people washed after they used a public restroom.

Question: What’s the best way to keep adults and children from getting sick? Answer: Wash your hands.

What’s the big deal? Germs are everywhere — on people, on toys, doorknobs, tables and on animals.

You pick up the germs on your hands, and then infect yourself when you touch your eyes, your nose or your mouth. You can spread germs when you touch the children or things they’ve touched.

Before you know it, you and all the children are sick.

When should you wash?

You can’t see or smell germs. They can be on your hands and you don’t know it. You should wash your hands often to get rid of them.

These are the most important times to wash: before touching food, before feeding a baby, after touching raw meat, after changing diapers or helping a child to use the toilet, after wiping a runny nose, after using the toilet, after playing with pets or just when your hands are dirty

The best way to wash?

Follow these steps for proper hand-washing:

– Wet your hands under warm running water.

– Put on some soap and rub hands together for 10-15 seconds. Be sure to scrub between your fingers and on both sides of your hands.

– Rinse hands under warm running water. Leave the water on as you dry.

– Dry hands with a clean paper towel.

– Place the paper towel on the faucet handle to turn it off. Remember: dirty hands turned the faucet on.

– Throw the towel away.

How long is 15 seconds?

Many people don’t take enough time to wash. To make sure you’re washing long enough, sing the “ABC Song” or “Happy Birthday” while you and the children wash.

You may want to make up your own hand-washing song. When the song ends, hands should be clean.

What about anti-bacterial soaps?

You don’t need to use anti-bacterial soap to do a good job of hand-washing. Regular soap and warm water work very well.

Some researchers think that anti-bacterial soaps may do more harm than good, killing the helpful, as well as the harmful bacteria.

Source: Caring for Our Children, the federal Center for Disease Control, www.HealthAtoZ.com, St. Louis Children’s Hospital,

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Developed by Lyn Horning, Penn State University Better Kid Care program.

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Cathy Brady and Don Fretts are educators with the Penn State Cooperative Extension, an educational network that gives people access to the resources and expertise of Penn State University.

Penn State Cooperative Extension is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and by state and county governments.

Local extension educators and volunteers can be reached at fayettext@psu.edu or by phone at 724-438-0111.

For more information, one can check the state’s extension Web site at www.extension.psu.edu.