Cant help but touch your face? Well then you have got to read this

We all keep touching our faces all the time. While browsing through a book at home, or working at our cubicles in office, we all probe our faces throughout the day. It’s time we take coronavirus prevention seriously and learn how can we stop touching our faces.

With the rapid spread of the new coronavirus, it seems that this seemingly harmless gesture has become a determining factor in increasing the possibility of the COVID-19 virus entering our body.

Studies show that we touch our faces – a lot
Things get further complicated when you realize that a study, conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, had found that on an average people touch their faces 16 times in an hour.

A separate study carried out by the Australia School of Public Health and Community Medicine saw that during a course of an experiment on average, volunteers touched their face 23 times per hour.

Scientists further found that among those touching their faces, almost half of them made contact with the mouth, nose, or eyes, which are the easiest ways for viruses and bacteria to enter our bodies.

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Here’s how the virus spreads
Since the virus can spread from person to person through respiratory droplets, when someone sneezes or by touching virus-contaminated surfaces, maintaining hand hygiene and not touching the face at all times can go a long way in staving the disease.

Experts have revealed that one can pick up the coronavirus from infected surfaces as well. While it is still not certain how long the coronavirus can survive on surfaces, they could stay there from several hours to several days. Since we are surrounded by surfaces that may be contaminated, it becomes even more important to not touch our faces after coming in contact with such surfaces.

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Why is washing hands important?
Washing hands is one of the basic precautionary steps to avoid the disease. However, this can only work if you stop touching your face because one still does not know how exactly the virus is getting transmitted. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC), effective handwashing includes lathering, scrubbing and rinsing hands for at least twenty seconds and stay safe from the virus.

Even after having clean hands, there seems to be zero possibility for our hands to never touch our faces unnecessarily. However, there are ways that we can consciously choose to minimize contact between our hands and face.

Also, Read: No handshakes or hugs. Coronavirus is also changing the way we greet each other

Hacks for the times you can’t keep your hands to yourself
For starters, one has to be mindful of their intention of keeping their hands away from their faces. Here are 4 ways you can avoid contaminating your face with your hands:

• Use post-it notes at home or at the office as reminders.
• Use scented hand sanitizers or hand soaps with a strong aroma to help remember to keep the hands away from your face. Wearing gloves could also work.
• One could also set a phone reminder, which keeps on beeping the message, ‘Don’t touch your face.’
• Also, make use of your knuckles to press elevator buttons and elbow to open doors to protect contamination in your fingertips and hands.