CLEAN FREAKS

Article by Eleanor Black

The following are excerpts from the article 'Clean Freaks', published in both the Sunday magazine (15/11/15) and online (link to online article below).

Childhood exposure to bacteria has been proven to help protect us from eczema, asthma and other health problems. So why do so many households wage chemical warfare against microbes?

A small boy, new to kindergarten, climbs into the sandpit and promptly loses the plot. Kept immaculately clean by his germaphobic mother, he is regularly squirted with hand sanitiser and wiped down with antibacterial wipes. Why is he crying? There is sand on his hands. The same thing happens when he gets muddy in the playground. He just can't cope with unclean, gritty hands.

While there is little more affecting than a child who doesn't know how to play outside, the boy's fear of getting dirty is also a health issue. If children are not exposed to low levels of bacteria in their early years, their immune system does not develop properly. Playing in the dirt, living with animals and interacting with lots of other children is not just fun, it is good for them.

But is this important message getting through to the average Kiwi family – to the family of that little boy with sand on his hands? Emphatically no, says Professor Mike Berridge, a research scientist at Victoria University's Malaghan Institute, who has written a book, The Edge of Life, about the widening gap between scientific discovery and public understanding. 

"We don't seem to realise that our health is very dependent on a good balance of microbes," says Berridge. "Our whole lifestyle is aimed at destroying that population of microbes. It's really important that we recognise our biological heritage. We have almost got to the stage where we think we are better than our biological system."

With a noticeable rise in standards of cleanliness in Western nations, especially among more affluent people – a boon to producers of hand sanitiser, bagless vacuum cleaners and antibacterial everything – Berridge is among a host of scientists concerned that we are making our homes too clean, almost sterile, in our attempts to create 'safe' havens for our children.

It's not a new idea, but it is one that is rapidly gaining traction. The hygiene hypothesis, which links a lack of early childhood exposure to infectious microbes and parasites to a less robust immune system later in life, was first mooted 25 years ago by Professor David Strachan of the University of London. He found that children with older siblings were less likely than their peers to develop hay fever – and that the more older siblings they had, the higher their levels of protection.

Over the years, multiple international studies have given weight to Strachan's theory, to the point that it is now well accepted in the scientific community, if not the wider population. It is believed that childhood exposure to bacteria (delivered in small doses via outdoor play, childcare centres and household pets) protects against eczema, asthma and other allergies. It may also protect against type 1 diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, cardiovascular disease, some cancers, even Alzheimer's disease...

"Sending kids outside, just exposing them to the normal environment, is important. We tend to forget that our bodies are covered in bacteria and if they are not kept in the right balance then the wrong bugs can take hold."...

New parents are especially sensitive to pressure, both real and imagined, to maintain homes that are clean, healthy temples. Anecdotally we hear of industrious new mothers who swab the floors daily, disinfect door handles, wipe the kitchen bench every time they pass by, and scrub their hands to the point that their skin is chapped and their knuckles swollen. 

There are mums who ask visitors to take off their shoes and wipe their feet before coming inside, then proffer the ubiquitous hand sanitiser (developed for use by surgeons, by the way) before anyone is allowed to hold the baby...

Read the full article via the link below!

Link to the article:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well-good/teach-me/73955233/Clean-freaks-Has-our-obsession-with-cleanliness-gone-too-far