Germs, Hand Washing and the Happy Birthday Song

How long do I have to wash my hands to kill the germs?

We all know that you need to wash your hands in order to kill the germs. This is something we teach our kids from an early age. We also hope that as adults we continue this practice. We know it’s a good habit and it helps to keep us healthy. Especially in this flu season, we want to make sure we wash our hands in the hope that we don’t get the flu.

So, how long do you need to wash your hands? There is some controversy about this and it centers around what song should you be singing to help you time your hand washing…. I heard on the radio this week that you should sing Happy Birthday 2 times and that’s enough. I also heard that you can sing Mary Had a Little Lamb…. But, how about Girls Just Want to Have Fun… or New York, New York… What song would you sing?

Bottom line, we know we need to wash our hands and now we just need to remember to wash them long enough!