We touch things all day long without ever really thinking about it, from the shopping trolley we push around the supermarket to the phone sitting in our pocket.
Most of us wash our hands after using the toilet, but there are loads of everyday objects that carry way more germs than we’d ever guess. Experts say a lot of colds and stomach bugs come from touching these surfaces and then touching our face without realising it. Once you know which things to watch out for, it becomes a lot easier to stop germs from catching you off guard.
There’s one surface you tap without even thinking about it.
When you pay for something at a shop or cafe, you may tap in a code on a little machine if contactless isn’t working, and that machine gets touched by hundreds of different hands every single day. Germ experts say this is one of the biggest culprits people overlook, mostly because we’re too busy paying to think about what our fingers are actually touching.
Pressing your finger down firmly on the pad leaves behind a decent amount of germs from your hand, and because so many different people use the same machine, those germs build up quickly. Things like flu, tummy bugs and even nasty bacteria from raw meat can end up sitting on these pads, just waiting for the next person to come along and press the same buttons.
Pressing down hard makes things worse.
The reason these machines are such a problem comes down to pressure. When you push your finger down to enter your code, you’re basically pressing your germs directly into the surface, rather than just brushing past it. That firm contact makes it a lot easier for germs to jump from your hand onto the pad, and then from the pad onto the next person’s hand.
It’s a bit like a stamp pressing ink onto paper, except instead of ink, it’s whatever germs happen to be on your fingers at that moment. This makes payment pads one of the sneakiest places for germs to spread, simply because almost nobody thinks to clean their hands straight after using one.
The trolley handle at the grocery store is chock-full of bacteria.
Shopping trolley handles are another sneaky germ hotspot that barely anyone pays attention to. We’re usually far too focused on grabbing everything on our shopping list to stop and think about who touched that handle before us, or what might be lingering on it.
Because so many different hands grip the same handle throughout the day, it’s an easy way for germs to hop from person to person. Skipping a hand clean after a shopping trip could easily leave you with a sore throat or a cold a few days later, without ever knowing exactly where it came from.
Your phone is probably dirtier than you’d like to know.
Think about everywhere your phone goes with you in a normal day. It sits on the table while you eat, comes with you to the toilet, gets shoved in your bag at the gym, and probably ends up on random surfaces you’d rather not think too hard about. Despite all that, most of us barely ever clean it.
Experts suggest making a habit of washing your hands before picking your phone up, and giving the phone itself a proper wipe down a few times a week. Since we touch our phones constantly and then often touch our face without noticing, a dirty phone can quietly become one of the germiest things we own.
Hand sanitiser only works if you use it right.
Grabbing hand sanitiser is a great backup when you can’t get to a sink, but plenty of people rush through using it without realising they’re doing it wrong. Most hand sanitisers work using a type of alcohol that kills germs, but it needs a bit of time on your skin to actually do its job.
Rubbing it in for just a couple of seconds and then wiping it straight off doesn’t give it enough time to work properly. Experts recommend keeping your hands damp with the sanitiser for around fifteen seconds before letting them dry, rather than rushing through it in three or four seconds like most people tend to do.
A few simple habits can stop you getting sick.
You really don’t need to panic every time you touch a trolley or tap a payment pad. It simply means building in a quick habit of cleaning your hands afterwards, especially before you eat, rub your eyes, or touch your face in any way. Germs mostly cause problems when they travel from your hands to your eyes, nose or mouth, so breaking that chain makes a real difference.
Something as small as sanitising your hands after a supermarket trip or before scrolling on your phone can actually lower your chances of catching a cold or stomach bug. It’s a tiny effort that barely takes any time out of your day, but it adds up to a much lower risk of getting ill.
You might be able to work out where your last cold actually came from.
Next time you catch a cold and have no idea where it came from, think back over your past few days. Did you tap a payment pad, push a trolley, or scroll through your phone without washing your hands afterwards? There’s a good chance the answer lines up with one of these everyday habits without you even realising it.
Once you start noticing these patterns, it becomes much easier to figure out where germs are sneaking in. A few small changes to your daily routine could be the difference between staying well and picking up yet another cold this year.
