5 Germy Habits You Should Probably Try to Break

This article sucks. What a waste of internet bandwidth. Come on Yahoo you can do better.

Using antibacterial hand sanitizer can actually weaken your immune system if you use it excessively, because then your body can build up immunity against germs that aren't all that harmful. Additionally, the flu (including swine flu) is a VIRUS! Antibacterial kills BACTERIA. Using just hand sanitizer won't protect you from the flu, you have to wash your hands with soap and water!!!

ps, i love my dog's kisses, though it may not be all that clean :)

Ya'll need to "lighten up". As a kid I drank out of a garden hose. As a Boy Scout and, later, a reenactor, I ofter ate with hands I just rinsed from a cateen; because that was all we could do! I'm 60 and still going strong.

Seriously, there's a limit. Yes, you should wash your hands often, especially after you use the restroom and before you prepare food or eat. But washing them every time my dog licks them? Come on. I would be heading to the sink every 5 minutes. That's bordering on OCD. Also, refusing to take the food samples at supermarkets? Give me a break. Sure, there's a risk of coming down with something, but you also miss out on trying new foods. You can't live in a plastic bubble. It's *okay* to take risks now and then.

IM IN THE MEDICAL FIELD AND YOU WOULD BE SURPRISE ON HOW MANY PEOPLE DONT WASH THEIR HANDS AFTER THE BATHROOM! YOU WOULD THINK BECAUSE THEY ARE IN THE MEDICAL FIELD THEY WOULD KNOW BETTER!

urine is not sterile.

Rubbing my eyes. I think I have allergies because theyre always itchy, so its really hard not to!

It is true that we should all be vigilant in fighting germs/germy habits. However, keeping hand sanitizers on your person and constanly applying them may actually lower your immune system, thus making you more prone to diseases. This article points out 5 germy and unsafe habits that many people engage in, but it in no way suggests that one should be hyper vigilant with the hand sanitizers and soap, as some here have suggested. Just use some common sense and we'll be fine.

This post is hilarious, especially the "Would I open up a bag of chips and share it, communally, with 50 people on the street right now?" part because I would never think twice about it being "unsanitary" because I really don't care.

people, one of the dirtiest things in the world is the electrical stairs in the malls, million hands touch each rail everyday, and only sometimes the malls really clean them, i work in malls i know. its pretty dirty

Oh yeah, for everyone who said anything about hand sanitizer.. Hate to tell you, but that stuff hurts you more then helps you.. It kills all bacteria, including the ones your immune system practices on.. An immune system isn't a given trait, it's something that your body 'learns' and to do that, it needs some outside bacteria...

So all those of you who clean so much you make an operating room appear dirty, you're only making things worse on yourself, you will get sick much easier, say from the same door knob someone else touched and didn't get sick, and it will also take longer for your body to eradicate the virus.

Just a little factoid for all you hypochondriacs who use the stuff religiously.

The other thing, in spite of washing your hand, you have to open the door with your 'clean' hands. Isn't that something one has to be challenged to? Also, sanitizer lotion doesn't often work. The only ridiculous notion is to sneeze into your elbow. Isn't it difficult for you to comprehend? First of all, it doesn't work, and it is just as ineffective as cupping one hand over your mouth. I am sorry, but you as an author, lack the experience to be publishing such idiotic nonsense. Other than some of the things that make more sense is to completely wash your hands especially when you get home. However you did not include this in your article. And please lay off your obnoxious nonsense on touching the eyes... we have touched our eyes regardless of how much gunk we get, naturally as just to wipe them off. If we don't wipe it off, then, it will result in more gunk in the eyes.

May I please add licking ones finger leaf through a stack of papers. It grosses me out every time I see it.

Another point that wasn't mentioned is to actually wash your hands with SOAP.

YES, alcohol-based hand cleansers are effective, but after a while, the bacteria tends to stick to it while it's still on your hands. A good rule of thumb to use is after using the alcohol-based cleanser 3 times in a row, make sure you wash your hands in a sink with soap and water

Its not about fear...its about respect you idiot.

really my only thing is the bathroom..i use my foot to flush and use papertowels to open the doors. I NEVER sit on the toilet! I get grossed out if i see people not covering their mouths and I do not like eating at buffets. I dont carry around sanitizer or anything.

I'm pretty sure it's ok to eat food samples at the store. I don't know where you shop but I've never seen a blow of chips as a sample. It's usually always separated into little cups for the sample. Germaphobes = dumb.

i wait in the br until someone else opens it

it just occurred to me that i never ever ever wash my hands after jerking off

HAHAHA thats good stuff, im just laughing thinking of all the people ive come in contact with directly after laying myself...and u know what people? they are all fine and they didnt even know better

For all of you that complain about washing your hands all the time, just think of the folks that raise livestock. When they are in the fields working and their hands get dirty, HOW are they supposed to wash their hands? If, at the same time they get some dust in their eye, are they supposed to ignore it and not try to get it out? Get real people. There are absolutely some times when it is going to be impossible to WASH your hands! You just have to live with it.
By the way all of you that are in the washroom @ your local Walmart and you are so paranoid about germs on the door when you start to leave that you use your paper towel to open the door, DON"T go out in the store shopping cause there are germs on everything your might touch!!! Better go straight home.