The Worst Places for Your Health


Worst Places for Your Health

    Courtesy of Prevention

    Location, location, location

    Store owners aren't the only ones concerned with finding the perfect spot in which to situate their stuff. Researchers in a wide variety of fields know that how you organize your environment--from where you stand in fitness class to the place you choose to store your meds--has a surprising effect on everything from your weight to your chances of staying well. In other words, when it comes to how you feel, it's not just what you do, it's where you do it. Here, surprisingly bad locales for your health--and the best places to optimize it.

    The worst place for your toothbrush

    On the bathroom sink
    There's nothing wrong with the sink itself--but it's awfully chummy with the toilet. There are 3.2 million microbes per square inch in the average toilet bowl, according to germ expert Chuck Gerba, PhD, a professor of environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona. When you flush, aerosolized toilet funk is propelled as far as 6 feet, settling on the floor, the sink, and your toothbrush. "Unless you like rinsing with toilet water, keep your toothbrush behind closed doors--in the medicine cabinet or a nearby cupboard," Gerba says.

    The worst place for your sneakers and flip-flops

    In the bedroom closet
    Walking through your house in shoes you wear outside is a great way to track in allergens and contaminants. A 1999 study found that lawn chemicals were tracked inside the house for a full week after application, concentrated along the traffic route from the entryway. Shoes also carry in pollen and other allergens. Reduce exposure by slipping off rough-and-tumble shoes by the door; store them in a basket or under an entryway bench. If your pumps stay off the lawn, they can make the trip to the bedroom--otherwise, carry them.

    The worst place to try to fall asleep

    Under piles of blankets
    Being overheated can keep you from nodding off, researchers say: A natural nighttime drop in your core temperature triggers your body to get drowsy. To ease your way to sleep, help your body radiate heat from your hands and feet, says Helen Burgess, PhD, assistant director of the Biological Rhythms Research Laboratory at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. Don socks to dilate the blood vessels in the extremities--then take the socks off and let a foot stick out from under the blankets.

    The worst place to cool leftovers

    In the refrigerator
    Placing a big pot of hot edibles directly into the fridge is a recipe for uneven cooling and possibly food poisoning, says O. Peter Snyder Jr., PhD, president of the Hospitality Institute of Technology and Management in St. Paul, MN. The reason: It can take

    The worst place for a workout reminder

    Stuck on your post-it laden fridge
    A visual nudge can help--but only if you notice it, says Paddy Ekkekakis, PhD, an exercise psychologist at Iowa State University. In one study, a sign urging people to use the stairs rather than the nearby escalator increased the number of people who climbed on foot by nearly 200. Put your prompt near a decision point, Ekkekakis says--keep your pile of Pilates DVDs next to the TV; put a sticky note on your steering wheel to make sure you get to your after-work kickboxing class. Just remember: The boost you get from a reminder is usually short-term, so change the visuals often.

    The worst place to sit on an airplane

    The rear
    Avoid this section if you're prone to airsickness, says retired United Airlines pilot Meryl Getline, who operates the aviation Web site fromthecockpit.com. "Think of a seesaw," Getline says. "The farther from the center you are, the more up-and-down movement you experience." Because the tail of the plane tends to be longer than the front, "that's the bumpiest of all," she says. "The smoothest option is sitting as close to the wing as you can."

    The worst place to pick up a prescription

    The pharmacy drive-thru
    In a survey of 429 pharmacists, respondents ranked drive-thru windows high among distracting factors that can lead to prescription processing delays and errors, says survey author Sheryl Szeinbach, PhD, professor of pharmacy practice and administration at Ohio State University. If you don't want to give up the convenience of a rolling pickup, be sure to check that both drug and dose are what the doctor ordered.

    The worst place to set your handbag

    The kitchen counter
    Your fancy handbag is a major tote for microbes: Gerba and his team's swabs showed up to 10,000 bacteria per square inch on purse bottoms--and a third of the bags tested positive for fecal bacteria! A woman's carryall gets parked in some nasty spots: on the floor of the bus, beneath the restaurant table--even on the floor of a public bathroom. Put your bag in a drawer or on a chair, Gerba says--anywhere except where food is prepared or eaten.

    The worst stall to pick in a public restroom

    The one in the middle
    The center stall has more bacteria than those on either end, according to unpublished data collected by Gerba. No, you won't catch an STD from a toilet seat. But you can contract all manner of ills if you touch a germy toilet handle and then neglect to wash your hands thoroughly.

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      Recent Comments

      1 - 10 of 32
      32 comments

      thecubanratio 01:54:23 AM Aug 13 2008

      wow...when i saw "the WORST places for your health," i was expecting something completely different. i can't believe what kind of white-washed, germ-a-phobe, ******* the middle/upper class of our society has become; i mean, where you store your medicine, where you sit in your exercise class?!?!?! i'm embarrassed!!

      retrospectivecat 06:32:01 PM Jul 23 2008

      I'm a germaphobe and I NEVER get sick!Be quiet about women, men are just as sloppy and disgusting.

      retrospectivecat 06:29:08 PM Jul 23 2008

      I'm a germaphobe and I NEVER get sick!Be quiet about women, men are just as sloppy and disgusting.

      JEROLDRNP 06:11:08 PM Jul 23 2008

      stinky all around

      JEROLDRNP 06:07:55 PM Jul 23 2008

      I ment to say UUGEE not Jerold

      JEROLDRNP 06:07:19 PM Jul 23 2008

      JEROLD------ oh my god how true this is. it is the american women that are the biggest slobs in more ways than one, the way the dress plus there behavior in the ladys room. I go to Europe almost 3 times a month and Never seen such clean and need women than over there. The messy clothing I will not even dab into, its that bad.

      JEROLDRNP 06:03:54 PM Jul 23 2008

      anniems---- OH how right you are, Women are the worst(and I am one)and filthy, sloppy and throw the paper all over without any care.But let me refrase this: American women are, in Europe it's the other way around.

      JEROLDRNP 06:01:59 PM Jul 23 2008

      yes Bathroom seats on the airplane do suck, I avoid them and ask every timeahead of time where they located. The smell, the noise the Sloppy American's

      Anniems989 04:01:40 PM Jul 23 2008

      Women ARE filthy. They pee all over the seat because they don't want to sit on the dirty toilets...that they themselves make dirty. And they never, ever clean it up. Hey TOILET SQUATTERS! (You know who you are) Lift the seat up with your shoe tip or toilet paper and splatter to your heart's content all over the bowl. Be courteous and DON'T lower the seat for the next person. Leave the seat up and clean for those who wish to sit. We'll lower it if we need to. No one wants to sit on your urine.

      Fergus3255 11:56:36 PM Jul 19 2008

      The one about the toilet i was told is false. besides if you clean it regularly your fine. Its your germs anyways. our bodies have a great immune system and when you try to create a completely sterile enviroment, you accually weaken your immune system.

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