THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW WERE TRUE - PART NINE

 At tennis yesterday I was looking at the 'library' books that are there where players share books. I spied a couple of interesting titles but when I picked them up I decided not to take them. This wasn't because I wouldn't mind reading them but more to do with the fact that they were used and well thumbed.

Now before I get accused of being a 'hygiene crank' let me say that for many years now, I read all of my books on-line via the free library service collated by Overdrive or Libby.

I read or listen to audio books on my iPad so very rarely read a printed book except for those on our own bookcases.

This got me to thinking that, in this 'digital' and social media age, do people read printed books anymore? Well we know that they do but just not as much hence the decline of bookshops. Libraries must be feeling the pinch as well.

For years ,younger people and now more older people are getting their news on-line and using social media platforms like X, TikTok, YouTube etc. and through blogs. This in addition to the rise of pay-for on-line reading like Kindle and the free sites that I access. They rarely buy books and even more rarely borrow books from libraries.

Now, given that there are much fewer 'thumbed' books being handled and read, things should be a bit more hygienic.

This is true and goes hand in-hand with the rise of wet-wipe cleaning, hand sanitisers, proliferation of commercial and home cleaners and obsessive parents who won't allow their precious off-spring to get dirty.

Where is this going you might ask if you managed to get this far?

Pandemics.

That's where this is going. The resurgence of old infections and introduction of new ones like COVID might be due to lower immunity in people from obsessive cleaning and from being protected from 'natural germs'.

There are  concerns over being too clean which stem from the hygiene hypothesis, a theory first introduced in the 1980s based on research that indicated children who are kept in very clean environments have a higher rate of hay fever, asthma and a wide range of other conditions.

Dr. Carl Later a Beaumont allergist and immunologist said:

“While we do believe our immune system is influenced by both the environment and infectious exposures, it happens before we are born or during early childhood. As we grow up, our immune system grows up, too, and the influences become less and less profound. If you do have small children right now and are concerned about the development of their immune system, keeping your child safe while not going overboard is your best option.

As a general rule, excessive cleanliness to the point of obsessive compulsion is probably not a good idea. On the other hand, don't go out and dip the kid in the sewer and think that that's going to be good for their immune system. Common sense has to prevail.”

You can read what Lauter has to say in full: HERE 

For a more detailed look at the relationship between pandemic infections and hygiene and the anxiety and compulsive behaviour that can result - read this: A PERFECT STORM

I'm not advocation that we give up washing and being on top of personal hygiene but it is essential to keep things in balance. Parents being over-protective of their children might not be doing everything right for them and putting them at risk of severe allergies and suffering in the future.

I think though, that I'll continue to keep my mitts off grubby paperbacks, buttons in lifts, door handles and supermarket trolley handles unless I've cleaned them with a wet-wipe and or sanitiser first.