Are hand sanitisers bad for you?

In the end, washing hands with simple soap and water is the best way to fight germs and infections.

Hand sanitisers, our go-to for cleaning and disinfecting our hands

Hand sanitisers are omnipresent, in your home, office, handbag. And with the advent of the Covid pandemic, we have been even more dependent on sanitisers to disinfect our hands. Even before the pandemic, sanitisers were seen as a quick fix for the prevention of germs, especially in the flu season. Its portability and convenience have also worked in its favour. But the burning question is that is it good for us? Or are we overusing it? Let us find out?

Are hand sanitisers bad for you?

The general reservation surrounding sanitisers is based on the belief that too much of it is not good and can cause antibiotic resistance and that can lead to the creation of superbugs. But thankfully experts have negated this hypothesis. According to the experts,the main ingredient in these sanitisersis ethyl alcohol which works quite differently than most antibiotics to kill germs. So, there is very little chance of the germs developing resistance.

Which one is better, hand sanitisers or soap and water?

Many health experts and doctors are of the view that both sanitisers and washing hands with soap are great to keep up hand hygiene. But we must know when to use soap and when to use hand sanitiser as they are used for different functions. Try to use water and soap to clean and disinfect your hands but if you are unable to get water and soap then you can use hand sanitiser instead. Studies show that soap and water are better at fighting germs such as norovirus and C.diff. But keep in mind to wash your hand for at least 20 seconds to fight off any sort of infection.

What type of hand sanitiser you must use?

Ironically, we find sanitisers with different accessories and fragrances that seem less like a necessity and more like an accessory. Many a time, we are not quite sure whether such kinds of sanitisers are effective or not? So, while purchasing a hand sanitiser you must keep in mind, that it must be an alcohol-based solution that could fight germs and viruses. Hand sanitisers must contain at least 60% alcohol content that could help ward off germs.

So, in the end, we can say that we can’t demonize sanitisers, but excess of it is something we can avoid, and use water and soap to clean and disinfect your hands.