IO, Jakarta – There is a saying that it takes 30 days to make a habit, and when personal hygiene becomes important, the best practices of cleanliness must be done every day and should become a good habit.
According to research conducted by the University of New South Wales and published in 2015 by the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC), people touch their faces on average 23 times per hour, with 10 contacts to eye, nose or mouth areas, the pathway for bacterial infections or viruses. A hand touching a face means washing hands the basic step to maintaining cleanliness. The American Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) calls this a “do-it-yourself” vaccine, and on 15 October 2008 the United Nations (UN) set October 15 as Global Handwashing Day.
To help people get used to washing their hands properly, Samsung launched the Hand Wash application for Samsung Wearable users in April. This application can be downloaded at Galaxy Store for Gear S3, Gear Sports, Galaxy Watch, Galaxy Watch Active, and Galaxy Watch Active2 users.
Setting Hand Washing Standards
With the current pandemic, awareness of the importance of washing hands as often as possible and thoroughly has increased. Samsung developed applications to provide clear guidance on how, and how often, users should wash their hands. The Hand Wash application can be found by searching for ‘Hand Wash’ in the Watch section of the Galaxy Store, and helping users remember to wash their hands at regularly scheduled times throughout the day.
Establishing Routines
Therefore, how often do we have to wash our hands? A 2020 study by University College London (UCL) shows that washing hands 6-10 times a day can be associated with a reduced risk of infection; however, it is not always easy to remind ourselves to follow this routine.
To help engage in regular hand washing, the Hand Wash application includes an alarm function. Users can choose the reminder button to add or change settings. For example, set an alarm that will notify you every two hours so they can be sure to wash their hands regularly. The number of alarms set by each user will determine the target in the application dashboard.
Wash hands thoroughly & correctly
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends washing your hands for at least 20 seconds, approximately the time it takes to sing the Happy Birthday song twice. Of course singing or humming every time you wash your hands is not always practical.
This is where the countdown function from Hand Wash is useful. The countdown is 25 seconds, including 5 seconds for applying soap and 20 seconds for rubbing. After receiving an alarm notification that it’s time to wash your hands, tap Samsung Watch to start counting, which will give you haptic results as well as a graph once the timer starts. In addition, the Galaxy Smart Watch is waterproof, so there’s no need to take it off when washing your hands.
Track personal hygiene
In the Hand Wash Application dashboard, users can easily track how long it has been since you last washed your hands, as well as reviewing the number of daily hand washing targets and how many times you washed your hands so far in a day. If users find themselves washing their hands before the next scheduled reminder alarm, users can simply press the ‘Wash Now’ button before washing their hands to deactivate the upcoming alarm.
Monitor developments on a weekly basis
Maintaining habits means being committed – and committing to washing your hands at least 6-10 times a day without exception. To help build handwashing habits, users can take advantage of the Hand Washing Trends Tracking function from the application, which records hand washing activities per day and provides weekly averages.