I bet I know what you’re thinking: a blog on hand washing sounds like the most boring thing in the world. Didn’t everyone learn how to wash their hands in kindergarten? Well, maybe they did, but most likely, they don’t still give hand washing the full attention it deserves. To prove this point, I hung out in the HowStuffWorks bathroom this morning, hoping to catch my fellow staff members making egregious hand washing mistakes, such as not applying soap or not washing for long enough or worst of all, skipping the task altogether.

Here’s what I learned: You look creepy when you hang out in the bathroom with a notepad. I also learned that very few people go to the restroom at around 9:45. Perhaps that first cup of coffee hasn’t kicked in yet. But don’t take my word on hand washing slackers. Feast your eyes on this article from the Chicago Tribune, which reports that 54 percent of people haven’t changed their hand washing habits since hearing about H1N1/2009, commonly known as swine flu.

The same survey also found that 87 percent of respondents wash their hands after using public bathrooms, a number that should be far closer to 100 percent in this writer’s opinion. After all, hand washing is the No.1 way to prevent swine flu. Every day seems to bring new scary statistics about how many people will be affected by swine flu, and until we have a vaccine, hand washing is the best weapon we’ve got. So let’s go over the basics one more time.

Washing your hands should take at least 20 seconds. If you’re counting to yourself, be sure to add “Mississippi” after each number, as in one-Mississippi, two-Mississippi and so on. If you don’t trust yourself to count slowly enough, sing “Happy Birthday” or “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” twice. I might even start singing aloud, as surely that can’t be any creepier than hanging out in the office bathroom with a notepad.

While you’re singing, rinse your hands with warm water. Apply some soap and rub your hands together to get a good lather going. Don’t just wash the palms of your hands, though; make sure you get often-missed places like the backs of the hands, the wrists, between the fingers and under fingernails. Have you sung your song twice now? Then you may now rinse the soap off with warm water and use a towel or air dryer. Don’t slack off at the end, though — fully dry your hands, and if at all possible, use a paper towel to turn off the faucet. If you’re using a cloth towel, be sure to wash and replace it frequently.

You’ll have plenty of time to perfect your form because hand washing should happen quite a bit in the course of a day. Some examples: before preparing or eating food, after coughing or sneezing, after playing with your pets, after taking out the garbage and of course, after going to the bathroom or changing a baby’s diaper.

It’s also a good idea to wash your hands after spending some time on your computer, because really, when was the last time you cleaned this thing? But before you go, how about some more articles from HowStuffWorks?
How Swine Flu Works
How do you know if you have swine flu or seasonal flu?
Should antibacterial soap be outlawed?