Wednesday 29 January 2014

Use Soap to wash your Hands



Hands Up for Health!

Keep your hands clean and stop infection spreading
Washing with Marble Hill's Neem Oil Soap

Good old-fashioned soap and water received a boost last month from the Centre for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia. It describes hand washing as being like a “DIY Vaccine”.
 Involving only five simple steps – Wet, Lather, Scrub, Rinse and Dry this most basic of activities can help reduce the spread of not only diarrhea-type diseases but also respiratory illness such as ‘flu, helping you and everyone around you to stay healthy. Getting into the habit of regular effective handwashing is one of the best ways to keep your hands free of germs so that you reduce your own likelihood of getting sick and also the risk of you spreading germs and disease around to other people.
A detailed study revealed that using bar soap and clean running water was the most effective way to clean hands. There was no benefit seen from using antibacterial products or even hot water. There is some suggestion that hot water might actually be unhelpful as it is more likely to cause skin irritation.

When Should I wash my Hands?

The CDC report lists ten indicators for thorough handwashing:

1. Before, during and after preparing food
2. Before eating food
3. Before and after caring for someone who is sick
4. Before and after treating a cut or wound
5. After using the toilet
6. After changing nappies or cleaning a child’s bottom
7. After blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing
8. After touching animals, animal feed or animal waste
9. After handling pet food or pet treats
10. After handling rubbish


How?

Wet your hands with clean, running water (warm or cold), turn off the tap and apply bar soap.

Lather your hands by rubbing them together with the soap. Be sure to lather the backs of your hands, between your fingers and under the nails.

Scrub your hands for 20 seconds. This does not mean that you need to use a brush. It means the rubbing of your fingers and hands in a methodical way ensuring that all surfaces are rubbed with soap and water. (I have added a link to a very good New Zealand website on hand hygiene at the end of this article).
Humming “Happy Birthday “twice is a good guide to time.

Rinse your hands well under clean, running water.

Dry thoroughly using a clean towel or air dry.

How can I clean my hands if I don’t have access to bar soap and clean running water?
Washing with   soap and water is the best way to clean your hands, but if they are not available an alcohol-based sanitizer is an option.
A 60% alcohol-based hand sanitizer can quickly reduce the number of germs on hands in some situations but they do not kill all germs and if hands are visibly dirty or greasy their effectiveness is limited. To get the best out of hand sanitisers, apply the product to the palm of one hand and then rub your hands together, making sure the whole surface of hands and fingers are coated until your hands are dry.

While hand sanitisers are very convenient it has been shown that those alcohol based products with an alcohol concentration of 60% or over are more effective than non alcohol based or lower concentration products.

Soap and water are better at reducing or inactivating more germs than sanitisers, including serious types such as Clostridium Difficile, Cryptosporidium and norovirus.


Drying properly helps prevent sore hands

Having washed your hands it is important to dry them thoroughly to prevent irritation and cracking or “hacks”. Many people complain of dryness and soreness on the backs of their hands which can be very itchy and unsightly. Surprisingly enough this is often not a result of allergy or eczema but simply a failure to dry the backs of the hands properly after washing.
We often feel that the washing is the important part and that we can rush the drying stage  but it is important to use a dry towel, not a manky wet one which hardly dries at all and may indeed be full of germs. Do not focus solely on the palms and fingers but extend your drying to the backs of your hands and all the areas left wet after washing so that they are not left damp and vulnerable to the cold which can cause inflammation.

When is soap not a soap?

While many of us call bottled hand and bodywash products “liquid soaps”, they are in fact “syndets” which is the user-friendly term coined by the chemical industry for synthetic detergents, not unlike washing-up liquid.
The Centre for Disease Control specifies the use of soap for handwashing and illustrates its instructions with bar soaps. Soap is recognized by the CDC as being the most effective agent for hand cleansing.
Before the introduction of these liquid wash products dermatitis was much more rarely seen than it is now. The sale of moisturisers has rocketed since syndets were introduced.
Some solid cleansers which look like bar soaps also contain syndets so be aware.

Helpful websites: This is a link to a very well laid-out website with good detailed diagrams showing the best way to wash your hands http://www.handhygiene.org.nz  You can of course also view Marble Hill’s website at www.marblehillonline.co.uk

Wednesday 15 January 2014

Name the largest organ in your body?


Pub quizzers will all be sitting looking smug because this is one of the classic trick questions. No, it’s not your liver, although the liver performs the most diverse variety of functions, it is actually the skin which is the largest in terms of physical mass.

And it does more than making sure that everything else is tucked away and keeping the rain out; maintaining body temperature, expressing emotion, forming a barrier to the elements, our skin is perfectly adapted to help our bodies stay in equilibrium with our surroundings and because it has to also be able to cope with every movement we make and sudden changes in our environment it is stressed in the most direct way, every minute of every day.

Anyone who has come off a sports pitch after playing 90 minutes in the freezing cold and wet only to jump into the shower or a hot bath can immediately attest to the ability of the skin to cope with sudden changes in temperature and humidity.

So how is this achieved? The answer to this question lies in the very nature of the skin itself.  Skin is composed of two primary layers, the epidermis, which contains no blood vessels but provides waterproofing and serves as a barrier to infection, (the “cling film”) and the dermis which contains the blood vessels and provides the cushioning we need from the outside world as well as containing the blood vessels and glands.


Treat your skin like quality leather?

Our skin is mammalian, differing from that of animals in that it does not have fur - the human equivalent of the cow’s hide, and if we don’t care for it that is exactly what it’s going to look and feel like. Whether shoes, jackets, handbags or furniture we all know that natural materials need a bit of TLC to stay at their best.  Ensuring that it is not exposed to intense direct light for long periods, that it is kept supple and not allowed to dry out and crack due to lack of moisturizing leather conditioner.  If you are lucky enough to have a pair of Manolos or Louboutins, I bet you don’t just wear them out in the wet to go shopping for your groceries!
Your skin is the same; it needs that care and maintenance that you would not hesitate to give an expensive pair of shoes, whether by protecting them from damaging conditions or maintaining their flexibility and appearance with a specialist shoe cream.  So you should use a specialist natural moisturising cream to give your skin the treatment it deserves.
               

Get some ‘lip service’ over winter

As winter approaches we need to change our approach to skincare, cold temperatures and drying winds can be very wearing and particular attention needs to be paid to the delicate areas.  Many people find that their lips can become badly chapped and sore, for a very good reason. The skin of the lips is much thinner than that on the rest of the face and of course it is under tremendous strain accommodating the sudden stretches and puckering from speaking, smiling and eating. Regular application of moisturisers and barrier creams are very helpful and men need to realize that they are not immune and a little pot or tube of lip balm can make the difference between comfort and misery. It doesn’t have to come in grapefruit or cherry flavour, there are many neutral options and there is definitely something out there to suit everyone.  Anyone of Marble Hill’s moisturising creams also act as great natural non fragranced lip balms.

Moisturise, Moisturise, Moisturise

A good moisturiser is vital for exposed faces and hands to help maintain skin at its best and minimize the likelihood of eczema and hacks. If your skin is prone to eczema try to avoid extremes of temperature- too hot and dry indoors or intense cold while you are out and about.. Remember to wear well-insulating gloves, avoiding wool as it can cause irritation. Fingers are very vulnerable to becoming cold quicker than other parts of the body and as anyone who has eczema knows it only takes moments to trigger a flare –up but it can take months to get back to normal. Sore, cracked hands are a real source of misery so do take care.

To find out more visit our website at www.marblehillonline.co.uk

Saturday 11 January 2014

Ideal footcream for diabetes? See new study for why you should choose PediSalve!



Dr Maria’s Blog;

“ Use of Emollients and the Diabetic Foot” by Dr K Lagan of the Dept of Podiatry, School of Health Sciences University of Ulster, Jordanstown.

PediSalve Rocks!

We have just received the final draft of the report commissioned last year on the best way to look after your feet if you have diabetes and we are delighted to be able to confirm that PediSalve is the only product on the market which is both free from water and allergenic additives, recognizing that  it is the purest, most concentrated foot cream you can buy - making it excellent value for money, lasting far longer than other diluted products.  

PediSalve is easy to apply and makes for a soothing massage when it is rubbed gently all over the feet, with healing Shea butter for cracked heels and Argan oil softening areas of hard, thickened skin.  Many people report that Athlete’s Foot has cleared up with regular use of PediSalve .

It is easy to develop a regular daily regime for checking your feet as recommended for  diabetics when you use Pedisalve. The pleasant sensation which follows application of PediSalve in the morning lasts all day, and many people describe it as feeling as though they are walking on air. Applying PediSalve all over the foot helps to loosen up the  the joints and skin of the foot and helps soothe arthritis and can help stimulate the circulation. Simply dot PediSalve all over the under surface of the foot, with particular attention to the borders of the toes and heels and gently massage with a circular motion stroking the edges of the feet carefully to aid absorption, then pop on a cotton sock and wait a few minutes for the Pedisalve to soak in. If you are applying PediSalve to clean feet before bed there is no need wash your hands after putting on your socks as PediSalve is so pure it can actually be rubbed into your hands helping them benefit from the exceptional moisturizing qualities of PediSalve as well.

Having spent so long developing and trialling PediSalve it is a fantastic boost to get such a ringing endorsement for our flagship product. I hope that we can now get its benefits out to all the people out there who would find that their quality of life is improved by using it regularly.

PediSalve is available via our website  www.marblehillonline.co.uk  and in pharmacies and podiatry/chiropody clinics all over Northern Ireland  and in many outlets in the Republic of Ireland. If you would like to know more about stockists or if you have any other queries please contact us during office hours on 02871367128 or by email on   info@marblehillonline.co.uk. Remember: everyone who buys PediSalve form our website receives a complimentary pair of moisturising socks worth £2.50 with each pot.