The importance and benefits of exercise to the human body are widely publicized and promoted in print and electronic media. Honestly, there is no lack of websites focusing exclusively on Men’s fitness, diet, and even skincare, but why not hygiene? Of course, we all know we should take a shower after a workout but there’s a lot more to talk about.
While the benefits of exercise are enormous, quite little is often said about the need for personal hygiene after every exercise attempt. The emission of toxins from the body makes the keeping of personal hygiene of utmost importance as failure to do this can circumvent the benefits of the exercise.
This is because the expelled toxins could be reabsorbed back into the body if the necessary hygienic measures are not taken after every fitness exercise.
5 tips for Personal Hygiene after Exercise
Take a Shower
This seems quite a basic step after every exercise but it is important to know exactly why it is needed. The skin pores tend to emit sweat whenever the muscles, tendons, and ligaments, and this sweat if not washed off can provide a natural habitat for bacteria to fester.
With regards to taking a shower, timing is important because if you don’t shower on time, the sweat together with the germs or bacteria that may have been absorbed on it could be absorbed into the body.
Therefore refusal to take a shower could predispose the body to develop body odor or perhaps illness due to the introduction of germs inside the body through the sweat pores.
Exclusive Personal Care Items
Exercise just like a social activity could be more enjoyable when done as a group activity. When you exercise as a group, there is a tendency to indulge in sharing personal care items like towels, bottles, and workout gear; this is a risky venture as this could encourage the spread of communicable diseases.
While you may not be able to completely avoid sharing gym equipment with your fellow fitness enthusiasts, try as much as possible to have your personal care items that will not be shared with anyone else.
This approach will prevent you from spreading or receiving germs or communicable diseases from whoever you share your care items with. Just as the name implies, personal care items should be personally owned, used, and maintained.
Keep a water bottle within reach
The onset of dehydration is faster when engaging in physical exercise so the best thing to do is to have a water bottle close by every time you go out to exercise. Water is like a natural fuel to the body; hence it is a good idea to have a bottle of water within your reach whenever you embark on any kind of physical exercise.
Keeping a water bottle that stores water for your consumption can help prolong the duration of the exercise as water intake can replenish the energy being dissipated by physical exertion.
Clean workout Equipment
If you use a gym or exercise in a gym accessed by multiple people then it is a good idea to wipe the surface of the gym equipment before and after use. More than 25 different types of germs have been found on gym equipment like weight machines, treadmills, etc. As you may already suspect germs can spread a lot through sweat and even without physically touching an infected person if you touch a surface held by them, the germs on them could be transmitted to you.
Therefore it is a smart thing to do to wipe the equipment that will be handled by you while you exercise. The use of a spray or disinfectant could come in handy at this point. The cleaning of the surface should be done before and after the exercise.
It is possible the operators of the gym already have the arrangement to clean and disinfect the equipment at regular intervals but you should take responsibility for your safety and wellbeing.
Change your clothes and wash your exercise kits
You need to remove the clothes you used for the exercise after taking your bath. You need to put on fresh clothes after your bath even if the clothes used for the exercise are not moist, smelly, or wet. You need to wash the cloth and other kits used to keep them fresh for your use whenever you want to go out to exercise again.
The need for physical exercise cannot be overemphasized. One lesson the coronavirus pandemic has taught is the need to maintain sound health, a sound mind, and a fat wallet the body would be in a better position to fight diseases and viruses including the coronavirus.
However, we must also pay utmost attention to personal care and hygiene before, during, and after every fitness exercise. This will ensure that the gains of the exercise are maximized.
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