Wearing a mask increases the risk of catching the flu by 1.25 times? Turns out I missed something

According to data released by the China Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), influenza is common in winter, especially from October when the number of cases increases gradually until March of the following year, especially from January to February, which is the season when the number of influenza cases and severe influenza complications peak. Although everyone knows that wearing a mask and getting more rest can prevent and treat influenza, Japanese doctors specifically remind you that wearing a mask can actually increase the risk of catching the flu!

Dr. Nobuki Tomaru, Director of the General Health Checkup Center of Heisei Yokohama Hospital in Japan and honorary professor of Toho University, said that if you don't pay attention to this, wearing a mask will make you more likely to catch the flu!

He points out that in fact, an Australian study published as early as 2007 found that if you compare families with children diagnosed with influenza, the likelihood of the entire family getting the flu in families using regular medical masks was actually 1.25 times higher than in families not wearing masks!

The US medical team then conducted a behavioral survey on this study and found that when people wore masks, they felt uncomfortable and within 3 hours, each person would rub their eyes 7.4 times on average, touch their nose 16 times, and touch their lips and mouth 24 times through the mask.

The flu viruses and bacteria on your hands will invisibly penetrate the body's mucous membranes. However, such behavior is often not noticed by the person himself, and outsiders will not pay special attention to it.

In fact, if you wash your hands before putting on and taking off your mask, you can significantly reduce the risk of bacteria from your hands being transferred to your face and entering mucosal tissue, says Dr. Tomaru. 

The United States also conducted a behavioral experiment on 1,437 people and found that compared to wearing a mask alone, which has no ability to prevent and treat influenza, if you wash your hands carefully and wear a mask, you can reduce the risk of getting the flu by 30% to 50%.

According to a survey by the Tokyo Security Research Center, in addition to washing your hands when putting on and taking off a mask, you should also remember to wash your hands regularly to kill bacteria. This is especially true for people who hold their urine and go to the bathroom less often in the winter. They should wash their hands frequently to keep their hands clean.

He also shared a simple “quick hand-washing method.” According to a bacterial survey conducted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Safety Research Center, this method can reduce the amount of bacteria on hands by 100 times compared to the normal hand-washing method, making fingers less likely to accumulate large amounts of viruses and bacteria.

First, wet your hands lightly with water, then use soap or a coin-sized amount of hand sanitizer and rub your palms, backs of hands, fingernails and wrists for 10 seconds. Rinse under running water for 15 seconds.

Then repeat steps 1 and 2 again, spending a total of 50 seconds washing your hands. This can remove 100 times more germs on your hands than the traditional method of spending 30 seconds lathering and 15 seconds rinsing.