London - Scientists have worked out the best way to dry your hands – and paper towels win, erm, hands down!
It appears that paper towels not only dry hands more quickly than electric driers, they are also more hygienic.
While the importance of washing hands is obvious, the benefits may be undone if they are not dried properly, experts said.
This is because wet hands are better at passing on germs than dry ones, biomedical scientist Cunrui Huang said.
His review of 12 studies found that, overall, paper towels were ‘superior’. One study found they leave hands 96 per cent dry after just ten seconds. After 15 seconds, the hands are 99 per cent dry.
By contrast, a drier takes at least 45 seconds. The amount of time is important because most people spend only a few seconds on drying their hands. One study found men spend 17 seconds using hot-air driers and women 13.3 seconds – a fraction of the time needed.
Paper towels also scored higher because the rubbing motion may physically remove germs. By contrast, air driers may blow them on to the body – a concern in public toilets, where regular flushing of cisterns disperses germs in the air.
In the Mayo Clinic Proceedings journal, Dr Huang, of the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, said: ‘There is a risk of persons standing at air driers acquiring the bacteria dispersed in the air current towards them.’
Cloth towel rolls were marked down because of the sheer numbers of people using them.
While Dr Huang did not address the best way to dry hands at home, microbiologist Professor Hugh Pennington, said hand towels should be washed daily. - Daily Mail