Hygiene in Boys
Shianne Lindsay
Why is hygiene so important?
It is vital to keep up on good hygiene. It affects how you look, how you feel about yourself, your overall health, and even can affect your social life. Having bad hygiene can result in many major health defects.
Oral Hygiene
It is very important to keep up on oral hygiene. Brushing your teeth twice a day greatly lowers your chances of gingivitis, tooth decay, yellowing, and bad breath.
- Gingivitis- A gum infection that results in extremely swollen and discolored gums, bleeding of the gums, and eventually tooth loss.
- Tooth Decay/Yellowing- After long periods of paying little to no attention to your pearly whites, your teeth will begin to experience discoloration and lose density, becoming brown and brittle like. There are many other factors that contribute to Tooth decay, such as: Excessive tooth contact to sugars (like soda) and acids (like lemons), drug and alcohol use, and excessive breaking and cracking of the teeth.
- Bad breath- An odor that develops from your tongue and gums.
All of these effects can be easily avoided by regular dentist checkups and brushing your teeth twice (or more!) a day.
Keeping the external body clean
Keeping your body clean can be one of the most important factors in hygiene.
- Showering- It is very important to shower every day, especially if you have a sports practice. Taking a shower cleans all dirt, dead skin, and sweat from your skin and keeps your hair clean and soft, all while making you smell better, win-win right? Always follow up with some deodorant!
- Wash your face- Every morning and every night before you go to bed. Just some soap and warm water will do the trick. Washing your face removes excessive oil in the skin and cleans the pores to eliminate rashes and acne.
- Wash your hands- Especially after every time you use the bathroom and before eating. It is very important to wash your hands because germs will stick to your hands and will eventually make you sick.
Washing your clothes
Hygiene is more than just keeping your body clean. The little things like wearing new socks everyday and always washing workout clothes can have an impact on your health. Wearing dirty clothes can make your body odor more noticeable, and in some extreme cases can cause minor skin infections from dirt and germs imbedded in the clothing.