Clean homes for healthy living
We are very slowly emerging from a long season of colds, flu, sinus infections, and a range of respiratory viruses that seem to have touched us all in one way or another. Many are saying recovery seems to be taking a long time too.
Spring is just around the corner, a time when traditionally homes were given an extra cleaning to get rid of any germs still lurking around after winter.
When someone in the home is ill we are particularly aware of germs and how easily we can make others sick. Often just as we start to feel better our spouse gets sick.
It has made me think of our current standards of cleanliness in the home. Gone are the days when women in the home did all the washing on Mondays, the ironing on Tuesdays, washing of windows, scrubbing of floors and so on. With both parents generally working full-time it is really difficult to fit in a cleaning schedule along with everything else.
It is good to be reminded though of the importance of a clean environment. The Good Housekeeping Institute in the U.K. has come up with a checklist.
Making up your bed, putting dirty laundry in the laundry basket and washing dishes in the kitchen must be done daily, they say.
On a weekly basis we should be vacuuming, dusting surfaces, cleaning the bathroom thoroughly including the toilet and toothbrush holder. The towels and bedsheets must be washed and dried every week.
On a monthly basis vacuuming should include getting right under the furniture. Move the furniture, vacuum and then return furniture to their usual position. The Good Housekeeping Institute recommends washing windows and dusting blinds once a month. Even the door mat should be washed monthly, they say.
Every three months duvets should be washed or dry cleaned. The refrigerator should be thoroughly cleaned inside and outside, including throwing out items that are past their expiry date. If any food has gone mouldy at some point there will be mould spores to get rid of.
In the season when we generally have one person or another with a cold or flu, cleaning areas that are regularly touched need to take place much more often preferably once a day. This would include door knobs, faucets in the bathroom and kitchen, refrigerator door handle, knobs on the stove, microwave and light switches. It should not take you long and even wiping with a soapy cloth is better than not doing it at all. Have a small bucket of hot soapy water and an absorbent cloth to make the job a little easier.
Research suggests the average household cleaning time has dropped by 32 minutes in the last year alone. On average we spent about 4 hours a week on cleaning in 2016. Regardless of how it is supposed to work women end up doing the bulk of the cleaning in most households.
Here’s to clean homes and here's To Your Health.
To Your Health is a weekly column by Gillian Slade, health reporter for the News, bringing you news on health issues and research from around the world. You can reach her by email on call 403528-8635.