Reporter staff
You may wash your hands countless times a day, but are you really killing germs and getting truly clean? The 2008 edition of “The Old Farmer’s Almanac” offers not only advice on how to clean up properly, but also a test to see how well you wash your hands!
As it turns out, the temperature of the water has little or no effect on a good scrub’s germ-fighting abilities.
“If the water you use is hot enough to actually kill germs, it will burn you,” says Dr. Lamont Sweet, Chief Health officer of the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island.
The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends a vigorous 20-second scrub, once hands are lathered. (To keep track of time, sing “Happy Birthday” twice in your head.)
Rub a couple of drops of cooking oil into your hands. Sprinkle ground cinnamon onto your hands and wring your hands together to rub it in. Then wash your hands as you would normally. The amount of cinnamon remaining is the measure of how well you wash.
Editor’s Note: This excerpt is from the 2008 “Old Farmer’s Almanac.”