Adventist Adventurer Awards and Answers/Hygiene

Learn about personal cleanliness.
Did you know that keeping clean is one of the most important ways to stay healthy? Sometimes, washing up or brushing your teeth may seem like a bother. But brushing your teeth helps fight germs that cause cavities, rotten teeth, and bad breath. And washing up helps protect you from all sorts of germs that can make you sick. So keep clean!


 * Brush your teeth at least twice a day, before you go to bed and when you get up in the morning.
 * Take a bath or shower every day. Wash all over with soap.
 * Wash your hands with soap and water before eating.
 * Keep your fingernails and toenails clean and clipped.
 * Wash your hair regularly with shampoo.
 * Keep your hair combed.

Remember: staying clean will help you look and feel your best!

Discover three important times for washing your hands.


Washing your hands is the best way to stop germs from spreading. Think about all of the things that you touched today - from the telephone to the toilet. Maybe you blew your nose in a tissue and then went outside to dig around the dirt. Whatever you did today, you came into contact with germs. It's easy for a germ on your hand to end up in your mouth. Think about how many foods you eat with your hands.

You can't wear rubber gloves all day long, but you can wash your hands so those germs don't get a chance to make you or someone else sick. When germs go down the drain, they can't make anyone sick.

So when are the best times to wash your hands?


 * Before eating or touching food (like if you're helping cook or bake, for example)
 * After using the bathroom (that includes washing their hands)
 * After blowing your nose or coughing
 * After touching pets or other animals
 * After playing outside
 * Before and after visiting a sick relative or friend
 * After brushing your teeth

Practice proper brushing of teeth.

 * 1) Place your toothbrush next to the teeth so that it rests on the gumline (the point where the teeth and the gums meet), forming a 45 degrees angle against teeth and gums.
 * 2) Move the toothbrush from the gums towards the edge of teeth to move the dental plaque away from the gum line.
 * 3) Move the brush back and forth gently in short (1½ tooth wide) strokes.
 * 4) After brushing, one by one tooth, all the outer teeth surfaces do the same for the inner surfaces.
 * 5) Brush the chewing surfaces of the teeth with horizontal moves.
 * 6) Spit out the toothpaste and rinse your mouth with water or mouthwash.
 * 7) Wash hands after brushing your teeth.

''' During toothbrushing give special attention to the area of the gumline where gum disease starts and to the back molars where it is easier for bacteria to hide. '''


 * Brush your tongue, removing the bacteria that cause bad breath will freshen your breath. Use a tongue scraper if you do not feel comfortable cleaning your tongue with your toothbrush. If you have a bad breath problem, brushing the roof of your mouth might also help.
 * When you brush your teeth, you remove most of the plaque-causing bacteria. But some stay behind. These bacteria can set up a colony and begin damaging your teeth within 24 hours—which is why dentists recommend brushing twice a day to consistently interrupt their growth.
 * After finishing brushing your teeth, you can check if you have effectively removed dental plaque by using disclosing tablets.
 * Avoid the use of hard toothbrushes. Do not use too much force while brushing teeth. In both cases you could cause abrasions to the tooth enamel or dentin, that could lead to tooth sensitivity problems.
 * A correct brushing must have a duration of 2 to 3 minutes.
 * After brushing teeth use the dental floss to complete your dental hygiene.

Take a bath daily
To keep the dirt and odors away (use deordorant daily if you are ready).

Taking a bath or shower means washing your body with soap and washing your hair with shampoo. How often you take a bath or shower will depend on your activities. If you take part in activities that get you dirty or make you sweaty, then you will need to get clean more often then someone who does not take part in such activities. A good rule to follow is to take at least one bath or shower each day no matter what and then if you get dirty and smelly while playing, you will need to get clean after your activities.

To keep your hair clean

 * Wash regularly with shampoo (cheap ones are often as good as very expensive ones).
 * Massage your scalp well. This will remove dead skin cells, excess oil and dirt.
 * Rinse well with clear water.
 * Conditioner is helpful if you have longer hair as it makes the hair smoother and easier to comb, but hair doesn't need to have conditioner.
 * Use a wide toothed comb for wet hair as it is easier to pull through.

How many glasses of water should you drink daily?
On the average, a person should drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water every day. That's about 2 quarts. However, the overweight person needs one additional glass for every 25 pounds of excess weight. The amount you drink also should be increased if you exercise briskly or if the weather is hot and dry. Water should preferably be cold - it's absorbed into the system more quickly than warm water. And some evidence suggests that drinking cold water can actually help burn calories. When the body gets the water it needs to function optimally, its fluids are perfectly balanced.

Quick tips for helping kids drink more water:
1. Have water breaks during Adventurer meetings 2. serve water as the preferred option for snack times 3. Encourage parents to send waterbottles (clearly labeled with the Adventurer's name) to meetings, Sabbath school, school, and other events. Research and practice have both found that if a kid already has a water bottle ready to be used, that they are more likely to drink enough water to stay hydrated!

20 Tips For Getting Your 8 Glasses of Water Daily
Many of the following tips are useful for adults. The reason we include them here is that, if kids see their adults drinking more water, they are more likely to drink more water!

Sometimes drinking our eight glasses of water a day can be a real challenge Here are 20 tips to help you accomplish that feat! It is said by many beauty experts that drinking your water is the cheapest, quickest way to look better! That should motivate us!


 * 1) Make a bet with a co-worker to see who can drink more water in the course of a day.
 * 2) Have a big glass of water at every transitional point of the day: when you first get up, just before leaving the house, when you sit down to work, etc.
 * 3) Make it convenient - keep a big, plastic, insulated water bottle full on your desk and reach for it all day.
 * 4) When you have juice (apple, grape, or orange) fill half the glass with water.
 * 5) When you have a junk-food craving, down a glass of water immediately. You feel full quickly and avoid the calories, and it lets time pass till the craving fades.
 * 6) Have one glass every hour on the hour while at work. When the work day is done your water quota is met.
 * 7) Substitute a cup of hot water with a drop of honey for tea or coffee.
 * 8) While at work, get a 20 ounce cup of ice and keep filling it up from the office water cooler. The key is drinking with a straw - you take bigger gulps and drink much more.
 * 9) Freeze little bits of peeled lemons, limes, and oranges and use them in place of ice cubes - it's refreshing and helps get in a serving or two of fruit.
 * 10) After each trip to the ladies room, guzzle an eight-ounce glass to replenish your system.
 * 11) Don't allow yourself a diet soda until you've had two to four glasses of water. You will find that you won't want the soda anymore or that just half a can is enough.
 * 12) Let ounces of water double grams of fat: When eating something containing 10 grams of fat, I drink 20 ounces of water.
 * 13) Drink two full glasses at each meal, one before and one after. Also, drink one glass before each snack so you don't eat as much.
 * 14) Carry a small refillable water bottle at all times and drink during downtime; while waiting in a bank line, sitting on the train, etc.
 * 15) Use a beautiful gold-rimmed glass and fill it with cold water from the tap.
 * 16) Drink two glasses of water immediately after waking up.
 * 17) Bring a two-liter bottle of water to work and try to drink it all before you leave work. If you don't finish, drink it in traffic on the way home - it's like a race.
 * 18) Always keep a 24-ounce bottle of water handy while watching TV, doing laundry, making dinner, etc.
 * 19) Add drinking two glasses of water to your daily skincare regimen. Drink, cleanse, moisturize, etc., then drink again.
 * 20) Drink your water out of a big Pyrex measuring cup - it's a good way to keep track of how much water you are drinking.

Is it important to keep your clothing clean?
Even if you're not heavily into puberty style sweating, clothes can get stained, dirty and generally grubby, so you need to change them often.

Underclothes are right next to your skin and collect dead skin cells, sweat and possibly other unmentionable stains. Overnight bacteria start to work on these stains so your clothes do not smell as nice on the second day of wearing.

Stay away from cigarette smoke as the smell will get into your clothes and hair.

If you have to wear a school uniform then take it off as soon as you get home and hang it up to air before you wear it the next day.

Ask your family not to smoke in the house or the car. Besides being unhealthy for them and you, the smoke clings to your clothes and makes them smelly. Of course, you wouldn't smoke either, would you?

Change underclothes often.

Participate in a recognized fitness test

 * 1) President's Challenge.
 * 2) An equivalent program

External Resources
20 Tips For Getting Your 8 Glasses of Water Daily - by Donald S. Robertson, M.D., M. Sc

Brushing your teeth the correct way - Web Dental Office

Personal Hygine, Taking care of your body - Kids' Health

Why do I need to wash my hands? - Kids Health Updated and reviewed by: Mary L. Gavin, MD/Date reviewed: August 2007