Table of contents:
- Is bathing once a day or two healthier?
- Everyone has their own standards
- Bathing needs by age group
- 1. Toddler
- 2. Children
- 3. Youth
- 4. Adults
- 5. Elderly
- What happens if the shower schedule is not as needed
- Shower too often
- Shower too rarely
Bathing twice a day has become a habit for many people. He said, it's not clean if you don't shower twice. Or, some say that bathing once a day is dirty. However, is it true that bathing twice a day is healthier and makes the body cleaner?
Is bathing once a day or two healthier?
Indeed, body hygiene greatly affects one's health. Bathing can clean the skin and remove dead skin cells so that the pores are clean and skin cells can function properly.
Bathing also removes bad bacteria that can cause skin irritation and other skin problems. Not only that, here are other health benefits if you shower regularly:
- boost the immune system
- reduce pain and soreness in muscles
- reduce swelling
- blood flow
- increase concentration
- reduce fatigue
- improve breathing
However, frequent showers do not guarantee a healthier body. The reason is, frequent bathing can actually make several types of good bacteria disappear from the body.
So, actually taking a shower every day, let alone showering twice a day like most people do, doesn't guarantee you will be healthier.
Even so, there really is no standard on how often you should shower in a day. It could be that people who shower once a day are still healthier and cleaner than bathing twice a day, and vice versa.
What is clear, bathing once a day, twice, or even not bathing at all depends on each person, because the need for cleanliness for each person is different.
Everyone has their own standards
Most people believe that ideally the bath should be twice a day.
In fact, not showering at all in one day does not necessarily make you dirty and your body sick. This comes back to the needs and conditions of each person, for example, his daily activities or the weather in his blood at that time.
Bathing needs by age group
1. Toddler
According to a statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics, babies do not have to bathe every day. Babies should have a regular showering schedule when they start to crawl and start eating.
Before entering that stage, babies do not need to bathe once a day or even twice a day.
2. Children
As long as children are not actively moving, for example running around until they sweat or playing in dirty places outside the house, children aged 6-11 years do not have to bathe once or twice a day. They can even bathe every few days.
However, when they start to hit puberty, their bathing needs begin to vary and it is best during this time that the children start, at least, take a bath once a day.
3. Youth
Teenagers tend to be physically active, automatically sweat production is also increasing. Especially young boys who like to exercise with their friends at school. Therefore, bathing at least once a day after doing activities is certainly needed to keep it clean.
4. Adults
When you are adults, especially in productive age, generally people will have a job. The work and activities you do determine how often you shower.
Field jobs or heavy work that requires your body to move actively certainly requires you to shower more often than if you work in an air-conditioned room all day long.
5. Elderly
The elderly do not have to bathe once or twice a day, because generally the elderly do not move much so they sweat a lot. Elderly are allowed to bathe once or twice a week and to keep their bodies fresh every day, they can use a washcloth soaked in warm water first.
What happens if the shower schedule is not as needed
Although there is no ideal time to take a bath, if you take a bath that is not according to your needs, there will be several impacts that have an impact on your health condition.
Shower too often
Don't get me wrong, the habit of bathing frequently even more than twice a day even though you don't sweat at all and just staying at home can actually cause skin problems.
Usually, the frequent showering makes your skin dry. This condition can lead to skin diseases such as eczema. Your skin may feel itchy, reddened, and cracked.
If you have skin health problems such as psoriasis, bathing twice a day can trigger a recurrence of your disease. Bathing too often can also destroy the layer of skin called the acid mantle. Especially if you shower using alkaline soap, the pH of your skin will change.
Losing this layer and changing the pH of the skin will make the skin more susceptible to infection. Therefore, your shower schedule must also be adjusted according to skin conditions. If you have certain skin problems, you should consult this to your doctor.
Shower too rarely
If you shower too often, your body will produce bad odors. This comes from a mixture of sweat and bacteria that sticks to the body for too long.
Sweating is triggered by active body movements, hormones, and stress. Sweat itself is odorless, but the sweat production is too much and it is mixed with bacteria, so an unpleasant odor will appear.
Usually, this occurs in areas of the body folds such as the armpits and groin. Of course this makes the people around you less comfortable.
In addition, showering too rarely can cause an imbalance of the good and bad bacteria in your body. Too many bad bacteria on the skin compared to the number of good bacteria in the body can increase the risk of infection. Other skin health problems can also arise if you shower too rarely.
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