Health Highlights: Busting hygiene myths
As we approach another flu season, health care providers are once and for all debunking some hygiene myths.
You should not feed a fever and starve a cold, hydration is key when you're sick.
Do not go back to work or school until you're fever free for 24 hours, that's less than 100.4 degrees, and have improving symptoms.
You do not need really hot water to wash hands, shower, or bathe. Warm water is fine.
And for ears, ditch those Q-Tips.
“The ear is a self-cleaning oven. Most everything inside the ear will come out on its own," says Awad Alyami, MD, a pediatrician with OSF HealthCare. "When we put anything inside the ear, we are pushing everything from the outside to the inside, especially earwax. It makes it harder for the ear to clean itself.”
And the five second rule? It's fiction.
Bacteria from the floor can get on food in a second. So don't try to sneak a bite.