Maintaining good hygiene and cleanliness standards is an important part of ensuring you stay happy and healthy in your daily life. Most people do a few basic things to keep themselves clean; however, in the colder months or for those who live with roommates, it is more important to practice higher standards of hygiene to combat illnesses. This article identifies five ways to improve your personal sanitation.
- Use Deodorant Everyday
Please wear deodorant every day when you are going out in public or interacting with other people! Deodorant is the main way people prevent themselves from smelling as the day goes on; it is primarily used for the comfort of bystanders, coworkers, friends, and family who do not want to smell your armpits during a conversation. This hygiene product is designed to prevent and/or mask odors, often containing a fragrance or an antibacterial agent to control body odor. Deodorants are typically applied under the arms in the armpits, though some types are designed to be applied anywhere on the body that may produce an odor, such as the feet, groin, and intermammary cleft. Antiperspirant deodorants typically contain active ingredients like aluminum salts that reduce excessive sweating by blocking sweat glands. Find a brand that works well for your body; the first choice might not always be the most effective for your skin type, so try a few before settling on the one you like best. Wearing deodorant is expected in most public or professional settings; masking your body odor is both polite and the healthy thing to do.
2. Take Showers
Deodorant is not a replacement for a shower—neither is Axe body spray, perfume, or clothing fresheners. Showering is one of the most common methods of personal hygiene. Removing sweat, dirt, and oils from the skin helps prevent body odor (similar to deodorant) and reduces the risk of skin infections. The frequency with which you should shower depends heavily on your activity levels (Did you work out or spend most of the day seated?), the weather (Is it raining, snowing, very hot, or very cold?), and personal preferences. Approximately 35% of people shower every day, and most people shower at least once every 2–3 days at minimum. Dermatologists claim that “showering every other day or even every third day might be sufficient for maintaining good skin health and hygiene.” If you feel sweaty, gross, smelly, or sore, it is worth taking at least a quick shower to wash away surface-level grime before continuing with your schedule. Showering before bed also has the benefit of keeping your sheets significantly cleaner, which improves your skin health and reduces the growth of pimples and zits.
3. Brush Your Teeth
This is not just something your parents and dentists made you do for no reason. Brushing your teeth 1–3 times a day has both cosmetic and oral health benefits. Visually, your teeth are one of the first things someone notices about you, so if you have food stuck in your teeth, cavities, or a large buildup of plaque, whoever you are talking to will see that. If you have a chance, check your teeth in a mirror or on your phone screen to remove any leftovers from your last meal. An overwhelming amount of plaque will eventually cause cavities. Cavities occur when a part of your teeth begins to rot, and these rotted portions need to be professionally cleaned and filled by a dental practice to prevent the teeth from falling out or getting infected. Some results of bad oral hygiene include developing gingivitis, bad breath, or gum disease. Brushing your tongue and using mouthwash also helps keep your breath fresh, which anyone you talk to will greatly appreciate!
4. Clean Your Room and Living Space
Cleaning your room, apartment, or shared living spaces are just as important to your hygiene as showering, wearing deodorant, and brushing your teeth. If you complete all three of the previously mentioned methods of cleanliness but you reside in a dirty and unsanitized place, you will struggle to maintain a healthy level of hygiene for extended periods of time. Additionally, you should keep the place where you live at least semi-clean by taking out the trash, picking up clutter, and wiping down surfaces. Doing this will improve the overall smell of the area (especially in conjunction with air fresheners), ensure that you have a clean route to your door in case of an emergency, such as a fire alarm, and provide any guests you have with a clean and visually calm environment to stay in. If you have a guest in your room, you do not want them to have to wade through trash to find a place to sit. If you live in a shared living space, make sure to include wiping down and disinfecting the shared bathroom spaces, like toilets, showers, and sink handles. This will help prevent the spread of illnesses like Escherichia coli (E. coli), Hepatitis A, or Rotavirus. Keep your personal and shared spaces clean to promote a healthy and stress-free environment.
5. Practice Self Maintenance
A key part of your social image is the cleanliness of your body beyond basic showering and odor control. Clean and trim your nails, soften the sharp corners with a file, and scrape the dirt and dead skin from under your nail beds. The area under your nails is a major collector of germs, which can transfer into your bloodstream through scratching your skin, touching your food, or coming into contact with sensitive parts of the body like your eyes or mouth. Brush your hair to remove knots and tangles and apply products if you want to control frizz or volume. Shampoo and trim any unruly hair that you choose not to shave, such as facial, armpit, pubic, or arm/leg hair. Please wash your hands before and after eating, after touching something dirty or for public use, or whenever you feel your hands are sticky, gross, or messy. Hand washing is especially important during the cold and flu months, as many viral infections are spread through touching shared surfaces or breathing in contaminated air. Illnesses like the flu, colds, strep throat, and coronavirus are highly infectious but can be curbed through keeping yourself and your surroundings clean.
Staying clean will affect many aspects of your life, including your physical, mental, and emotional health, how you smell, and people’s first impressions of you. The main goal of maintaining good hygiene, however, is health. By implementing these methods, you will not only increase the quality of your own life but also help prevent the spread of sickness to those around you. It is okay if you are not perfect—no one can be 100% sterile and germ-free all the time. As much as it is necessary to get rid of the germs and residue in your life, obsessing over cleanliness and overcleaning is not healthy. You will drive yourself up the wall trying to make everything meet hospital-level sanitation, which will, in turn, lower your physical and mental health due to stress and an overabundance of chemicals. Do what you are able to do in your life to keep up good hygiene and cleanliness standards for yourself and remember to wash your hands!
