Why You Should Rethink Using a High Speed Hand Dryer
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You finish your business in the bathroom, wash your hands, and then you stick your hands in the high speed hot hand dryer. In today's episode of "Things You Thought You Were Adulting Correctly," we have to break it to you that everyday you're showering yourself in hot bacteria.
Flickr/Sean MacEntee - flic.kr
A study by a U.K. university said that putting your hands into a high-speed hand dryer with air blowing 400 miles per hour spreads 60 times more germs than a traditional lower speed air dryer. It also spreads germs 1,300 times more than paper towels.
Researchers at the University of Westminster put a virus on their hands and then used three drying methods: blades, air, and paper towels, according to The Guardian. They counted how much of the virus made its way to a target that was about a foot away.
ATTN: unfortunately had to tell you earlier that you're probably not washing your hands correctly either. A different study in the U.K. said that a six-step hand washing method from the World Health Organization works better than the common three-step method by the Centers for Disease Control.
Hopefully we can all step up our washing and drying game after this week.
