This is the time of year when we are more susceptible to illness and need to be extra cautious. Washing our hands and soaping thoroughly for at least twenty seconds is extremely important to help protect us against germs. Yet, no matter how you take precautions there are times you need to visit a public restroom, but do you know which is the safer choice when it comes to drying your hands?
You may avoid touching the hot air dryer with an elbow bump or some other unique method to prevent direct contact. Since your freshly washed hands did not land on the button to power up, you may think this is the cleaner choice over the paper towel option. However, I hate to tell you this but according to one study there are significantly more germs using the hot air dryer over those paper towels.
According to the researchers, the hot air dryers can blow out bacteria that accumulate inside the machines over time and stick to moist hands up to a whooping 435 percent compared to 57 percent for paper towels. This is not hot air only the disgusting truth.
So the next time you need to use that public restroom, you may want to use paper towels instead to dry your washed hands.
To further protect yourself, you should use a paper towel to turn off the water and also to open the restroom door when leaving.
