We all remember being a child and having mom harass us continually about washing our hands. You can use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol if soap and water are not available. Paper towels or clean cloths are the most effective way to remove germs without spreading them to other surfaces. If there is any dirt on your hands or under your fingernails, you will need to use soap and water.

Researchers at the University of Southampton randomly divided more than 20,000 people from GP lists into two groups, one of which was invited to visit a website designed to encourage people to wash their hands, while the other group didn't get access.

Rinse your hands thoroughly under clean, running water. Allow for two #washyourhands minutes (or, at the very least, 20 seconds of rigorous scrub time after lathering, as recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). Once your 20 seconds is up, rinse your hands thoroughly to remove all the debris you just scrubbed off.

Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis is credited for advocating hand washing in medical clinics to prevent the spread of germs. The germs picked up on the hands are then transported and possibly re-deposited to a patient that may be very susceptible to an infection due to their weakened condition.

However, what this study didn't trumpet is that there are nowadays even more important reasons to be concerned about handwashing. But if soap and water aren't available, the CDC recommends using an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. By frequently washing your hands, you wash away germs that you may have picked up from other people or from contaminated surfaces.

In its medical literature, the Food and Drug Administration states that hot water comfortable enough for washing hands is not hot enough to kill bacteria, but is more effective than cold water because it removes oils from the hand that can harbor bacteria.