Germs are everywhere in our daily lives—we are practically surrounded by them. Bacteria, pathogens, and the like are lurking almost everywhere. Most of them are generally neither harmful nor dangerous. However, many illnesses are not caused by contamination itself, but by common hygiene mistakes that we make every day.
We’ll show you where these sources of bacteria are hiding and how you can protect yourself with a few simple rules:
Putting off cleaning your phone display!
Touch something quickly, take a look at your phone, type a message—then touch something else and grab your phone again. It’s hard to imagine what kind of germs are living on a phone. Mold, gastrointestinal bacteria, or flu viruses could be with you all the time—quite a scary thought!
You should make it a habit to disinfect your phone display every few days.
Just like your phone, your laptop or PC keyboard is also frequently touched. And where your hands have been before… you’d rather not know. If you also eat in front of your laptop, you’re adding even more bacteria to the mix.
Touching your face with dirty hands
Be honest—how often do you touch your face with “unclean” hands? Your face should be off-limits for unwashed hands. Impurities can occur when bacteria enter the skin through small wounds. Even if your hands look clean, you never really know what’s on them. We touch so many objects every day—shopping carts, door handles, light switches—that we can’t wash our hands every time. But we should try to avoid touching our face unnecessarily.
Drying your hands on a dish towel
Cloth towels are one of the main sources of germ spread in the kitchen. In many households, the same towel is used for drying dishes, surfaces, hands, and even food.
Because of this “multi-purpose” use, germs spread very quickly. Change dish towels every 2–3 days and use a separate towel for drying your hands to reduce the risk of contamination.
Bacteria alert in your handbag!
If you carry a handbag, did you know it can contain more bacteria than a toilet seat? That’s quite a disturbing thought!
This is often due to creams and makeup products that stay in the bag for a long time and repeatedly come into contact with your hands. A good solution: empty your bag regularly—following the Marie Kondo method—and occasionally disinfect your products. This keeps your bag a clean and pleasant place.
Not drying your toes
After showering or bathing, we usually dry ourselves thoroughly—except for our feet. But to prevent infections like athlete’s foot, it’s important to dry your feet carefully, especially between the toes. Bacteria don’t multiply as easily on dry skin. Thin towels or microfiber cloths work well for this.
Attention! The risk of infection is especially high in swimming pools and saunas.
Yuck: fecal bacteria on your toothbrush!
Did you know that fecal bacteria can land on your toothbrush if the toilet lid is open when you flush? Flushing creates a fine aerosol cloud that can rise up to 6 meters and contains tiny droplets with bacteria. These settle on surfaces in your bathroom—including your toothbrush. Not a pleasant thought!
Make sure the toilet lid is closed when flushing and store your toothbrush as far away from the toilet as possible—ideally upright so it can dry properly. Where do you keep yours?
We could list many more hygiene mistakes, such as:
Defrosting food at room temperature or even on a heater—this encourages bacterial growth and can spoil food. Defrosting in the refrigerator is much safer.
Or blowing out birthday candles, washing raw chicken, or using the same tongs for grilling—these are all common sources of bacteria.
As you can see, you don’t have to be unhygienic to make these mistakes. Most of us have probably done at least one of them.