That's Fit

I will never forget a TV special I saw several years ago about household germs. They claimed that germs could "jump" from a toilet bowl and surfaces such as doorknobs were just breeding grounds for virtual colonies of little beasties.

Now the new germ-haven is your computer keyboard. Makes sense. Most people may remember to wash their hands before eating, but who thinks to wash their hands before using the computer? And, other than a perfunctory wipe down, my guess is there aren't too many people who really clean their keyboards.

Research from Great Britain indicates that computer keyboards may have more germs than toilet seats. The study was somewhat limited -- swabs were taken from 33 keyboards, one toilet seat, and one bathroom door handle. Several keyboards were dirty enough to be health hazards and one of the keyboards had five times the germs found on the toilet seat.

But even though the findings are a bit gross, there's no reason for alarm. The solution is simple: wash your hands before starting to work and clean your keyboard regularly. You may also want to consider minimizing the amount other co-workers use your keyboard.

I think one of the best inventions of all time (except the wheel, maybe) is indoor plumbing. It allowed our standards of cleanliness and hygiene to improve tremendously and had an enormous impact on the health of our society. But how much do you really know about personal hygiene? Did you know that toothbrushing didn't become routine in this country until it was enforced for soldiers in WWII? That NASA recently spent $23.4 million dollars designing a toilet that would work in zero-gravity space? Or that certain monks in India are forbidden to ever wash anything other than their hands and feet?

And that's just the start, read this list of 20 things you didn't know about hygiene and see how much you really didn't know.

Here's an eye opener for your local school district. After a middle school in Oregon banned students from bringing water bottles, Kyleray Katherman decided to do a little experiment. He had a thought that the water fountains they were forced to use weren't the cleanest sources of water on campus. Kyleray's experiment was to take samples from four water fountains and a toilet and then measure the bacteria content in each one.

Turns out the water fountains were crawling with germs, and the toilet water was clean. What's amazing is that the 13-year-old used cotton to swab the entire rim of the toilet bowl! And he took samples from the water fountains by swabbing the spigots where most kids get the closest with their mouths.

Kyleray proved his point. The water fountains were in need of a robust cleaning, but the school didn't budge on their "no water bottles" policy. However, spigots and casting were replaced at a few fountains and teachers are beginning to offer water in the classroom. More districts could learn a lesson from North Bend Middle School, or even find a new alternative like water coolers.

While buffets are tempting because of the low cost bargains and all you can eat amounts, ordering food from a menu can be much safer to eat. Other common sense rules to follow when going into a restaurant is to look at the overall cleanliness of the establishment and the hygiene of the people working there and that should give you a clue that foods are being handled properly and things are safe to eat. If you are in a state where health inspection grades have to be publicly displayed, be sure to check out their last inspection grade. A low score means it might not be that safe to eat there.

Unlike menu ordered food being prepared per order and coming out hot and fresh, buffets have foods resting in steam tables, ice baths, or salad bars. If improperly tended, these buffet stations can allow disease causing bacteria and viruses to flourish. Customers can come into contact with food on buffets including unattended children that might be tempted to poke a finger into the cake. And not to put down children, I have witnessed many an adult picking up food with their fingers instead of tongs or sneezing and coughing over the food. Pay attention to the warning signs that food is being neglected if you see dried out chicken or browned wilted salad. Another key thing to think about is if you are trying to diet and lose weight it is easier to stay on plan if you order from a menu. If you eat from a buffet, you will tend to over eat and break away from your diet plan.