Keep your hands clean

Help minimize sick time for yourself and everyone else

A great many years ago, before Covid introduced hand sanitizer into all public spaces, I read a study about hand sanitizer’s effects on a group of German workers. These people were studied over the course of a year. Half were given hand sanitizer and told to use it about five times a day. The others were told to follow their usual hand washing hygiene.

I doubt the control group of German workers were negligent with hand washing. Still, it turned out that using hand sanitizers significantly decreased the odds of being absent with a cold, cough, fever, or diarrhea.

So today’s tip is something of a public service announcement…but it’s also a productivity tip. Keeping your hands clean, one way or another, means less time away from work and other responsibilities — and given that colds, coughs, fevers, and diarrhea are exactly zero fun to experience, keeping your hands clean can result in a major boost in life satisfaction too!

An under-rated productivity tip

Before becoming a parent, I don’t recall being particularly concerned about germs. Then my eldest went through his first winter at daycare and he wound up sick almost constantly. This resulted in a lot of missed daycare days, and hence missed work, mostly for me. It is almost impossible to keep a toddler who puts everything in their mouth from picking up illnesses, which is why we wound up hiring a full time nanny shortly thereafter.

But once kids are past the toddler stage, there can be a bit more hope for battling illnesses. No one can keep themselves, family members, and colleagues from getting sick entirely. We are all human! But if you can manage to spend 1-2 fewer days sick yourself this winter, and 1-2 fewer days caring for sick children, that’s going to be a huge boost in productivity, to say nothing of reducing misery.

The study on German workers using hand sanitizer suggests this reduction might be possible. So it’s worth being a bit militant here. I wash my hands when I come in the door. My kids are also supposed to do this, but in case they don’t, we also have hand sanitizer by the door. We have hand sanitizer in all the cars. Whenever we get back in the car after some sort of activity involving the outside world, everyone gets a squirt. In public places, I’m very aware of what I touch, and I try to use a paper towel or my sleeve (or an elbow) to open things. I use Clorox wipes to clean handles at home if anyone has been sick. And we try to be judicious about going places like the gym childcare center during peak sick seasons.

Making a chore more pleasant

I don’t particularly like washing hands, but I have found a few ways to make it more pleasant if I’m going to be doing it many times per day.

First, and perhaps this is obvious, home sinks have warm water. I just automatically turn on the right faucet (cold) with two faucet sinks but if you turn on both faucets you get pleasantly warm water. This is a much nicer experience in winter!

Second, I am to use good soap that foams up nicely. I like Mrs. Meyer’s, or sometimes I treat myself to the pricey seasonal bottles in the display at my grocery store. I’ve been enjoying the scent of winter evergreen well past Christmas! I am much more likely to wash for the full 20 seconds if the experience feels like aromatherapy, and I presume this is the same for others as well.

Finally, all this washing can dry hands out, so I have splurged on luxurious lotion. If extra hand washing means missing 1-2 fewer days of work, this is totally worth it. We also have humidifiers running in the rooms of kids who are particularly prone to dry skin.

Hand washing is probably best, but given the results of the German study, it’s probably worth overbuying on the hand sanitizer too. Put a bottle on your desk, at your door, in your car, and in your bag and you’ll probably use it a few extra times than you would — as will your children, colleagues, or anyone else you offer a squirt to. It all adds up, which means the sick days might add up a little less. At least it’s worth a shot.