Here's Why You Should Keep Up With Washing Dishes

Many women have a habit of keeping their household utensils in the sink for a day or so (sometimes it can be longer). While this habit of women is difficult to understand, a health psychologist from Perth (Australia) is on a mission to change this ideology and is trying to figure out why we leave the sink dirty. Barbara Mullan, assistant professor at Curtin University's School of Psychology, says she has studied for years to learn this behaviour. She says that "My PhD was on why people do not engage in safe food handling activities. Not washing dishes is a common means of spreading insects in other corners of the house."

Assistant Professor Mullan says that if you leave dirty dishes in your house, you can potentially spread bacteria around other members of the house and animals. The professor said that bacteria can survive on any surface and bacteria. It can remain on the clean surface for at least four days. She said that there may be other things like food residues on the pots, due to which bacteria can remain alive for a long time.

Bacteria Soup and Microwave Sponge

Leaving utensils in the sink can be harmful, but bacteria spread around it can increase a person's chances of suffering gastrointestinal problems. Assistant Professor Mullan says that in most studies it has been found that the dishes cleaned in the dishwasher are the cleanest. He says that leaving utensils in the dishwasher is not less of a problem because they are dirty. Not only this, but you also do not want another person to come and touch the pots and spread the bacteria on them.

Clean Sink

If you wash dishes by hand, you should follow these tips:

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• Wash utensils with warm water.
• Heat the water as much as you can tolerate.
• Wear rubber gloves.

• Use detergents or scrubs and brushes so that you can clean the dirt with strength.
• Use a clean cloth to clean the utensils, because cloth is normally the dirtiest thing in your kitchen.
• The best way to keep utensils clean is to microwave them, in addition to changing them regularly.

Assistant Professor Mullan says that it sounds a bit strange to hear, but if you wash it, no food will stick in it and you keep it in the microwave for a minute. After this, use your dishcloth indefinitely. She says that the time to soak the pot in the sink is also "not good" from a hygiene point of view. If you are putting the pot in water temperature below 60 degrees, it makes it the perfect breeding ground for bacteria. She said that if you leave the utensil in such a high temperature, it becomes a soup with bacteria and then when you put your hands in the sink, it sticks on your hand. The only solution is to try to keep the utensils out of the sink.

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