The Importance of Good Personal Hygiene

Maintaining personal hygiene is necessary for many reasons; these can be personal, social, for health reasons, psychological or simply as a way of life. Essentially keeping a good standard of hygiene helps to prevent the development and spread of infections, illnesses and bad odours.

Personal Reasons

Many people, women in particular, are very conscious of their hygiene needs and practices. This can be a result of being taught of the importance from an early age, from being picked-on at school for head lice or similar, or as a way of making themselves more attractive to the opposite sex.

Self-esteem, confidence and motivation can all be altered by our body image, often reflected on our ability to care for ourselves and keep good hygiene practices.

A bright white smile with clean and healthy teeth can endear people to us, whereas brown, unhealthy teeth can cause embarrassment and can alter our sense of well-being.

Healthy hair, skin and nails are signs of a good well-balanced diet and can give us confidence in everyday life.

Social Reasons

Most people hate to be talked about, especially in a negative manner. By ensuring that our body is clean and well presented, we are more assured of projecting a positive body image that reflects our personalities.

Children should be taught the importance of hygiene and how to achieve good hygiene very early to keep themselves and others healthy and to reduce the risk of being bullied at school.

Health Reasons

If a person is due to go into hospital, sometimes that person becomes very aware of their hygiene. The thought of being vulnerable and exposed to strangers can cause the person to become very strict on their hygiene needs.

If you have cut yourself, the wound should be cleaned and dressed suitably, this can help reduced the risk of infection and pain.

Conditions such as head lice, athlete’s foot etc. should be treated immediately to prevent further infections and spread to others.

Hand washing cannot be emphasised enough as this simple action can prevent a plethora of illnesses and disorders developing. Many people ‘forget’ to wash their hands after using the toilet or before handling foods; this deed can cause a great deal of illness and even death.

Psychological Issues

By being well presented, clean and tidy, people can feel more confident, especially in social situations. Many job interviews and such like are highly dependent of hygiene as many decisions are made by first impressions within the first few minutes of meeting; these decisions are often made in the sub-conscious. Our chances of succeeding either in work or social settings, or even with the opposite sex can be altered by our maintenance of hygiene.

Maintaining hygiene practices helps to reduce the risks of ill health, but equally important affects how we and others perceive ourselves and can influence our levels of confidence and self-esteem which can affect many aspects of our lives.