For your consideration...
It is my opinion that changes in my own life style have caused me to be healthier and while some of these ideas are backed by scientific research, the following information was obtained through my personal observations.
Prior to my undergraduate education I was very cautious of "germs". I would habitually wash my hand very thoroughly after touching doors, before eating, and after coming into contact with other people. Most of the time with harsh soaps and very hot water. I would often shower two to three times a day; once before work, once after my work out, and even again before bed. Much of this behavior came from my father who is insistent on hygiene, and for good reason. Hygiene prevents illness, and that is proven. That being said, the only thing that separates a poison from a cure is the dosage (Thanks Paracelsus).
I found myself getting ill very often. I would almost always catch a cold if one was going around. I would also get more intestinal illnesses too such as food poisoning.
My skin was also in bad shape. I would shower often because I was producing a lot of oils in my skin and my hair. I had acne on my scalp and all over my upper back.My hair dresser would comment on my scalp and so would loved ones around me. I did not have acne on my face as a teen, but I did have it in my hair and on my back. After an afternoon nap, my hair would again be greasy and look unprofessional or dirty! I even sought help from a dermatologist and while the proscribed cream worked, the underlying problem was still there.
(Not me)
During my time at University, I spent a great deal of time learning of the bodies innate defenses to diseases and the elements. The outer most layer of skin dies and becomes a barren wasteland for bacteria. This dry dead skin prevents most bacteria from colonizing your skin, and combined with natural oils you produce prevents many infections. I made a connection to why my skin was covered in acne and itching, it was from over showering and scrubbing my outer skin.
My body was losing its outer physical barrier against infection and elemental exposure when I scrubbed all of the protective layer of dead skin off. As a result, my body had to work over time to replace the oils in my skin which caused me to be more oily than usual. The hot soapy water I was using was also most likely killing the healthy and protective layer of bacteria already on my skin. This is the second layer of defense on your skin. With the good bacteria in place, the other microbes have trouble competing for real-estate on your skin.
To combat the excess oil removal I used less harsh soaps with more natural ingredients and less strong surfactants. Hot water also makes the oils in your skin "melt" and become more fluid, much like butter in a frying pan. This combined with the harsh soap was washing away almost all of my natural oils on my skin. I switched to cold water and I will never go back. My skin has cleared up completely and I no longer suffer from acne on my scalp or back!
I also realized that this outer layer of bacteria was on my hands as well. Being completely sterile and touching a surface unknowingly containing pathogenic microbes or viruses is worse than touching it with hand covered in normal human flora. The outer layer of bacteria helps to block the harmful bacteria from getting hold and setting up shop. I now never use hot water or harsh soaps unless I know my hands have been in contact with especially dirty surfaces. Rinsing with cold water will remove dirt and water soluble chemicals without harming your natural layer of bacteria. When I was over washing and scrubbing, I was removing some of my immune system. My dish washer recently stopped working and I was forced to hand wash my dishes. The use of dish soap and scrubbing I believe contributed to a recent cold I contracted. Prior to this period I was illness free for over three years.
Because I am coming into contact and ingesting more microbes I feel that my gut microbiome is also stronger than before. I now rarely contract diarrhea. The microbes I have been consuming as a result of less stringent hygiene as in my opinion bolstered my natural defense against common pathogens. Much like when one takes antibiotics and destroys their normal gut flora they contract intestinal diseases, I did not have a very strong coat of bacteria in my gut or at least a healthy variety and as a result I was getting sick more often.
Mice raised in a sterile environment grow up with hindered immune systems and deficiencies compared to mice raised in normal conditions. https://irp.nih.gov/catalyst/v19i4/germ-free-mice
Of course, this doesn't mean never clean. Keep good cleanly habits but be weary of destroying your bodies immune system in the process. I know for at least me personally, changing my habits improved my way of life considerably. While not contracting diseases may have been luck, although 3 years is a stretch, my skin and the removal of microbes causing acne on my back and scalp were 100% due to over use of shampoo and hot water. I know this because when I trick myself into using the harsh soaps and hot water, at least for me I get sick more often and my skin is in poor shape afterwards.
My opinion is that you should be just as worried about your microbiome's health as you are about your own health, because in fact you and your microbes are one in the same. I think this may be a common problem in today's obsession with cleanliness.
Everything you suggested is very true. I am especially concerned for all the kids whose parents are overly protective and clean them all the time and even don't let them play outside in the nature so they would not get dirty. Good post!
It is important to have exposure to pathogens and dirt so that your body can build up immunity, I am also concerned that children are not exposed to enough in today's society and it may be a cause of the influx in autoimmune diseases and clinical issues of young children. Thanks for the feed back!
I agree with this and think more people should realise that you can be TOO clean! Your body needs to be exposed to things to train your immune system to deal with them, this is why when you have any jabs you are in fact given a dose of what the jab is fighting against eg flu jab this trains your immune system to deal with it which is also why you may get poorly after a jab. Trust your body people it's tougher than you think!
Thanks! I agree it also keeps your immune system alert and ready for the next threat! There is a hypothesis that links autoimmune diseases and idle immune systems due to cleanliness. Thanks for your feed back, it is an interesting topic and I think more people should be aware! Spread the word!
Why worry about a few bacteria on the outside when you are full of them on the inside (literally trillions)... Keep clean but don't destroy your body's ecosystem.
Highly-alkaline soaps are especially bad for the skin.
It would be interesting to look back and investigate the pH of the soaps I used to use. I mostly just wrote this from my observations and the theory I learned in my undergraduate experience. I think it would be really cool to test to what degree certain soaps effected skin and the microbes on it maybe by brand name. Cool!
It isn't the pH which is really the problem it is soap is a surfactant ie. designed to break up molecules. This is where much of the gut microbes gets out of wack.
Right, I was mostly addressing the alkaline aspect of his comment. Honestly I have no clue all the havoc these soaps and surfactants wreak on our bodies. I didn't think of the ingestion of the surfactants, that is an interesting point! We have only been exposing humans to these substances for a short time, and the intricate balance created by natural human evolution could be, and I think is, severely suffering from these materials.
I wrote with a colleague in England last year a Surfactant scan , it took a lot to put together, it ended up having 400 chemical items in it which have these surfactants in them to enable the dissolving effect to take place. One of the worst is Roundup and it stays on the plant and is in the food chain even if organic. We are having to remove energetically these items from people, diabetes is a classic, the soaps dissolve enzymes and pancreatic enzymes are very susceptible to this and this is why we started to look at this issue was because we had so many pancreas issues showing with people and couldn't work out why. Soaps are an underlying cause.
Wow, I had heard round up was detrimental. Do you have a paper or papers you could link me to for that stuff? I would absolutely love to read them!
I just tried to get the Surfactant document up but it won't let me sorry. Just google glyphosphate and roundup. There are just 100's of things on it. Also PubMed it as well for info. We found traditional ways of removing these items from human body are not working now, we had to create a whole new approach using light, spider, snake ,fish venoms and light and sound at homeopathic levels.
This is totally different theory with I've known. Really interesting. also I'm a person who really easy to get sick.. so I want to try like this for experiment! thanks!
That would be really cool to see! I would love to hear the results of your trial! I am glad I got you thinking and I hope it helps out!
I sometimes wonder how the heck we managed to survive for hundreds of thousands of years without hand sanitizers and soap.
Its a wonder we survive today even with those practices, believe me.
Its not just about building up immunity... What people dont the realise about germs and plants to that fact; is that they are involved in the most brutal chemical warfare, racism, xenophobia and genocide. Fighting for supremacy in your armpits. What that means is that they keep each other in check., Not allowing any one population to explode due to lack of competition.
I shower daily but only use body wash on my body once a week or whenever I feel dirty. My skin became much more healthy since doing so.
Awesome, I personally believe that is a better regiment than constant or even day to day use of body washes.
@hutchordie
Thank you for sharing your personal story and for enlightening us on some things, as well! Just followed and upvoted!
Thanks for the feed back and I am glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for the follow!
@hutchchordie
Most definitely! Have a great weekend!
This is a very informative post as I am pretty health conscious and always feel the need to wash my hands. Thank you for sharing this knowledge :)