The Importance of Personal Hygiene

One of the best ways to maintain good overall health and wellness is to maintain proper personal hygiene. Personal hygiene helps you stay clean, giving you a boost in confidence and positively impacting personal relationships. Good personal hygiene also reduces the risk for disease and negative medical conditions. Side effects of poor personal hygiene include:

• The spread of sickness and diseases
• Minor effects, such as body odor or greasy skin and hair
• Serious effects, such as stomach viruses, heart disease and more

Keep reading for a few examples of personal hygiene practices you should follow.

Personal Hygiene Practices

Hand Washing: Washing your hands is perhaps the most effective way to maintain cleanliness and prevent the spread of disease. Follow these steps to properly wash your hands:

• Wet your hands with clean water and apply soap.
• Lather your hands by rubbing them thoroughly with soap.
• Scrub your hands for at least 20 seconds.
• Rinse your hands well.
• Dry your hands with a towel or air dry.

It is recommended that you wash your hands:

• Before and after eating and preparing food.
• After using the restroom.
• After being outdoors.
• After coughing or blowing your nose.
• Before putting in contact lenses.
• After coming into contact with someone who is sick.

Regular Showers: Cleaning your body rids your skin of dirt and germs. Older adults should bathe – either by showering or taking a bath – at least twice a week.

Oral Care: Good oral hygiene gives you a healthy, clean smile. Visit your dentist regularly, brush your teeth twice a day and floss once a day.

Nail Health: Cleaning and trimming your nails reduces your risk of hangnails and infected nail beds.

Illness Containment: When you’re sick, help stop the spread of illness by washing your hands regularly, covering your mouth when you cough and sneeze and cleaning all surfaces that you come into contact with using disinfectant. Also, schedule and attend all your doctor appointments. Maintaining regular healthcare appointments can help you catch infections and illnesses early, making it easier to treat them.

If you want to improve your hygiene, it’s important to set a routine. In order to turn practices into habits, remind yourself of the good personal hygiene habits you would like to include into your daily routine by using signs, writing a checklist or setting phone reminders.

Wellness is Our Specialty at Monroe Village

At Monroe Village, we put a special emphasis on wellness. LivWell is our holistic wellness program touching on all seven dimensions of wellness. Through community activities and amenities, you’re able to learn healthy lifestyle tips and ways to improve your wellness. The best part about LivWell? The program is entirely driven by choice. We work with you to discover your top goals and priorities and lead you to ways that can help you reach your specific goals.

Have questions about LivWell? Contact our team today. We’re here to answer any questions you may have about maintaining wellness in our community.