Cleanliness is a human effort to maintain its environment to realize a healthy and comfortable life. Cleanliness can also reflect the health of every human being. The creation of environmental cleanliness can be realized from the simplest things, for example, home cleanliness.
Home cleanliness has an important role in realizing a healthy life. This indicates whether a family applies healthy living behavior or not. If not, various diseases can live in various places in the house, such as children's toys, carpets, pillows, or beds. This leaves us and our families vulnerable to illnesses such as colds, coughs, and allergies.
The most common cause of illness comes from the hands. Hands can directly come into contact with various sources of disease, such as feces (human and animal) and body fluids (sweat, saliva, snot). After that, hands touch other objects in the house to be cleaned and through this process various diseases can finally live in the house. Therefore, we must always pay attention to hand hygiene.
Maintaining hand hygiene can start by always washing your hands after touching something with soap and water thoroughly to reduce the risk of transmission of infection. If there are conditions where we are directly involved with microorganisms such as handling food contaminated with bacteria or taking care of family members who are unwell, the use of a hand sanitizer or soap with antibacterial ingredients provides additional protection in the hand washing procedure.
In addition, here are some tips to support home cleanliness:
- Change pillowcases and sheets at least every two weeks to prevent bacteria growth
- Be careful about using cleaning products for your child's toys as your child's immune system is not fully developed
- The bathroom is the dirtiest area of the house. Because the temperature, which tends to be hot and humid, allows bacteria and mold to grow. So, the toilet/ closet, bathtub, bathroom floor, toilet handle, shower curtain are some of the parts of the bathroom that need to be cleaned regularly. This is because these areas or objects are prone to becoming breeding grounds for bacteria. The bathroom should be cleaned with the right cleaning fluid or disinfectant to kill bacteria and prevent their growth
- Apart from the bathroom, the kitchen is also a perfect place for bacteria. A study found that kitchen utensils used in food processing contain bacteria. Sponges for washing dishes, napkins, and cutting boards should be cleaned after each use using a cleaning liquid with antibacterial ingredients to kill bacteria in the kitchen. This is to prevent food and other cooking utensils from being contaminated with bacteria
- Disinfect the room regularly. There are various types of cleaning fluids that can be used to kill germs and one of them is disinfectant. To make their use more effective, you can use disinfectants that have at least 60% alcohol content.
- The refrigerator is cleaned ideally once every two weeks to avoid unpleasant odors and bacteria in the refrigerator. Here's how to clean the refrigerator that you can do:
- Unplug the power of the refrigerator first and then start emptying the refrigerator. Take out all the items and groceries as well as the shelves inside the fridge.
- Provide a bowl filled with warm water and mix it with dishwashing soap. You can use a dishwashing soap that contains lime to remove grease and odor.
- Use a clean sponge and dip it into a solution containing warm water and dish soap, rubbing it over the entire surface of the refrigerator to the inside and the refrigerator door. Use a clean cloth dipped in clean water to clean the remaining foam. When it is clean, you can use a dry cloth to dry the parts of the refrigerator.
- Close the refrigerator door for a while until it dries completely.
In addition to keeping the house clean, there are situations and conditions that require special care to keep the environment clean, especially during this pandemic. First, when one family member is exposed to a viral infection and requires self-isolation, increased care for hygiene is needed to prevent other family members from being infected with the same virus. All equipment and clothing of exposed family members should be cleaned immediately after use. Then, the home environment itself must be regularly disinfected to minimize the virus that lives in the home environment.
Second, conditions after receiving guests. This needs to be a concern because it is possible that guests who visit the house are not in good health. For this reason, after receiving guests, it is highly recommended that the place and equipment be sterilized to avoid exposure to the viruses from the guests.
A clean house can reflect the behavior of a person's life. Therefore, let's start getting used to cleaning the house regularly and thoroughly so that we and our families can prevent various diseases.
Source:
Hygiene procedures in the home and their effectiveness: a review of the scientific evidence base – International Scientic Forum on Home Hygiene