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Tick off these items on your personal hygiene checklist

Rappler.com

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Tick off these items on your personal hygiene checklist
Finding it difficult to follow through with your New Year’s resolutions? Start with these simple but important habits

MANILA, Philippines — Now that we’re well into 2018, how are your New Year’s resolutions coming along?

At the start of every year, we all look forward to a new, improved version of ourselves. But some resolutions — such as having a beach body by summer — are sometimes too difficult to keep. 

Why don’t you focus on simpler resolutions you often take for granted — like maintaining a good hygiene?

Here are some hygiene habits you should start doing ASAP:

Change your kitchen sponges more often

Did you know that the very act of cleaning your kitchenware can make them dirtier?

Kitchen sponges are used clean up messes, but they’re most likely teeming with bacteria. You’re spreading germs on your dishes, utensils, and glasses with each wipe.

Old kitchen towels and sponges become home to germs over time, so sanitize them with warm water every two to three uses, then store them in a dry place. Make sure to replace them regularly, particularly when they start to smell.

How else can you develop better kitchen hygiene? According to the Philippine Handwashing Index, a study on Filipinos’ handwashing habits, 50% of Filipinos wash their hands with just water before cooking. This, combined with dirty towels and sponges, multiplies the risk for diseases.

For a sanitary and disease-free kitchen, wash your hands with antibacterial soap and replace your sponges regularly.

Clean your makeup brushes regularly

If you’re a makeup lover with a treasure trove of brushes of all shapes and sizes, you know how tedious and time-consuming it is to wash them all.

However, when you don’t clean your brushes and Beauty Blenders, it affects the way you apply your makeup. You won’t get the precise color and shade because of the layers of blush or foundation on the brush. They also become stiff from being caked with other dried products.

It won’t just affect the way your makeup looks. It can also damage your skin. You’ve turned them into a breeding ground for germs and bacteria—you might as well be brushing dead skin cells and excess oils all over your face.

To prevent acne and to achieve the look you want, face brushes need to be cleaned once a week, and eye brushes every two weeks.

Wash your hands

We use our hands to do both the mundane and the important — working, cooking, eating, and communicating.

We rely on our hands heavily. Yet we don’t consider that with all the work they do, they might actually play a role in increasing the germs we come into contact with.

In fact, according to the Philippine Handwashing Index, 50% of Filipinos don’t wash their hands after taking public transportation, while 60% don’t consider doing so after using their mobile phones.

Those activities, which are a usual part of our daily grind, make us vulnerable to germs and bacteria.

And it’s not just you who’s at risk. 31% of Filipinos have noticed that their co-workers don’t wash their hands after using the toilet, while 21% have seen their partners neglect to do so, and 14% have observed their friends forget.

These are all people we interact with everyday. And when we don’t wash our hands, we are spreading germs and potential diseases whenever we’re in their company.

Handwashing is an age-old habit but it remains to be an important one that you need to adopt in order to maintain a healthy body.

Make this a handy habit whenever you use the restroom, hold the MRT handrails, or basically do anything with your hands. Wash your hands with clean water and an antibacterial soap like Safeguard to thoroughly kill the bacteria.

Habits for a healthier you

You may have a lot of health resolutions planned this year, such as eating more veggies, losing weight, and going to the gym more often.

If you’re sick of setting resolutions and not being able to follow through, make it a point to focus on easy, doable ones.

You’re taking little but concrete steps to maintain a healthy lifestyle, which can set you on track for bigger goals.

What other resolutions are you planning to make this year? — Rappler.com

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