Since It’s Cold and Flu Season, Here’s Some Health Advice from Sheldon

(Photo property of CBS, Warner Brothers Television, and Chuck Lorre Productions)

A few years ago I was watching “The Big Bang Theory” and the clip below was a part of the story.  It features the show’s smart-but-prickly character Sheldon comedically explaining why those air-blowing hand dryers in public rest rooms are actually unsanitary. 

After the show, I looked it up online and found that this is actually true. Since then I’ve used paper whenever possible to dry my hands. So what’s the point of posting this? Two reasons, actually.

1. Keep Sheldon’s advice in mind since it is cold and flu season.

2. Television shows – even sitcoms – can change people’s behavior and even ways of thinking. So don’t write them off as just silly entertainment. Stories have power.

Here’s an article excerpt from WebMD:

FRIDAY, Nov. 21, 2014 (HealthDay News) — Those air-blown hand dryers in public restrooms may spread far more germs than conventional paper towels, a new study suggests.

British researchers placed a harmless type of bacteria on the hands of volunteers in order to simulate poorly washed hands. They then had them use warm-air dryers, high-powered “jet-air” dryers or paper towels to dry their hands.

The investigators measured airborne bacteria levels and found higher amounts of germs around both types of dryers than around towel dispensers.

Jet-air dryers were the worst, the study found. Bacteria levels in the air around jet-air dryers were 4.5 times higher than around warm air dryers and 27 times higher than around paper towel dispensers, said a team led by Mark Wilcox of the University of Leeds.

His team also found that the bacteria persisted in the air around hand dryers long after they were used. Forty-eight percent of the bacteria around hand dryers was collected more than five minutes after use, and the bacteria could still be detected 15 minutes after use.