Tips To Maintain Cleanliness and Hygiene in Your Home Tips To Maintain Cleanliness and Hygiene in Your H | Page 7

Just don’t go there. These items can’t be cleaned easily, so when you use them you’re basically
scrubbing your body with bacteria, dead skin and possible mold particles.
Toothbrushes
Mechanical toothbrushes usually have an indicator for when you need to change the head. For
regular toothbrushes, the three-month standard is usually fine, though if you brush your teeth
multiple times a day you may want to change it more often. You should always buy a new
toothbrush after you’ve had the flu or any kind of oral infection.
Dishes
If you’re someone who rinses your dishes, places them in the dishwasher and promptly forgets
about them for a week, you aren’t alone. But any leftover food particles on dirty dishes are an
invitation for bacteria. Try to wash your dishes every day or every other day, if possible,
particularly if you hand wash your dishes. Dishwashers tend to reach temperatures hot enough
to sterilize items and kill any bacteria living on them, but most of us would scald ourselves if we
tried to hand wash using water that hot.
The takeaway
Roberts recognizes that many people won’t be as mindful of cleaning as she recommends—
after all, she’s a microbiologist, which gives her a unique (and potentially disquieting) look into
the world of the microbes living amongst us. So just do your best. And the most effective to
protect yourself from bacteria and viruses? Something simple that you probably aren’t doing
enough. “Washing your hands is really the first line of defense against infection,” Roberts says.
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