We all have become couch potatoes during coronavirus pandemic especially when work from home has become a new normal. Everyone’s routine toppled after a week or so and sitting all day at our home really took a toll on our health and wellness.

Talking about our bathing cycle then we all will agree that we have skipped taking shower most of the time and now with winters are here, it has become even more daunting. But the question is why we even need to take bath every day. Most of you will
answer for this that, bathing is necessary for feeling clean and fresh, not to
stink and most importantly for the complete hygiene factor but are these
completely true?

According to medical doctors published in The Wall Street Journal “Showering
more frequently may leave you smelling fresh but it doesn’t help prevent
infection and it can actually be bad for your skin”. Yes, you heard it right, bathing is never a way to get rid of
any kind of infections.

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We should also not use soaps frequently
in order to clean ourselves as these soaps can be responsible for stripping our
skin and make it home for bacteria. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the John
Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore told The Wall Street Journal
that “For most adults, the biggest reason for showering is to reduce body odor,
especially if you are spending time around others. While it usually accomplishes
this goal, showering less doesn’t make you prone to infection, at least most of
the time”.

There is no strong data available
supporting how often one should take bath from an infection point of view, he
added. He also advised not to use those antibacterial showers products as they
damage the microbiome of our skin or microorganisms living on the skin.

However, medical suggests that
people who are suffering from obesity and are prone to skin diseases should bath
regularly. Little children and babies should also need to bath regularly to not
get infected.

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For those working at home, showering
less can be a good idea because it helps keep beneficial microbes on your skin,
says Elaine Larson, professor emerita at Columbia University School of Nursing
in New York to The Wall Street Journal, who also recommends that adults shower
every three to seven days depending on their age and activity.

As bathing
frequently leads to drying out our skin, adults above the age group of 60
should not bath very often because they already lack enough moisture and
bathing frequently will lead to dry out the remaining moisture making them
prone to germs and infections.