Health column

HOW TO BANISH YOUR BAD HABITS
Should you come with a health warning? Statistics show that we have a terrible track record when it comes to bad habits.
On the face of it, biting your nails and chewing your hair may seem harmless, but they could play havoc with your health and the health of those around you.

Now wash your hands:
The number of germs on fingertips doubles after using the toilet. It is therefore hard to believe that up to a half of men and a quarter of women fail to wash their hands after they’ve been to the WC, do you know the virus that causes diarrhea can survive on a toilet flush handle for two weeks and the Hygiene Council claims clean hands can be the most powerful weapon on earth for defeating infection.

Put the lid down:
The toilet seat was created for a reason – so use it and put it down when you’re finished. Flushing the toilet with the lid up releases an ‘aerosol’ mist of water containing a stomach-churning brew of faeces, urine and other evil germs which you probably don’t want to know about. These contaminated water droplets settle anywhere in the bathroom including (you’ve guessed it), your toothbrush.

Sucking hair:
Those luscious locks might look squeaky clean after a wash, but guess what - a one millimetre hair follicle can harbour up to 50,000 germs. “Hair picks-up dirt from the air the minute it’s been washed,” says Marilyn Sherlock, chairperson for the Institute of Trichologists. “And using sticky products such as hair spray help attract even more germs from the environment.” Sucking the tips of your hair allows bugs to hitchhike from the outside to inside of your body. You are also swallowing a chemical cocktail of shampoo, conditioner and styling products. -----to be continued