According To Experts, Taking Your Phone To The Bathroom Could Be Making You Ill

Nov 21, 2018 by apost team

Taking your phone to the bathroom with you might seem harmless. However, it could actually be making you sick. Many people used to take a book or a magazine with them to the bathroom. These reading materials have been replaced with phones of all kinds, allowing you to scroll through the internet, play games, or read a book that you have saved on the device while in the bathroom.

Although your toilet is probably full of germs and bacteria, the dirtiest thing in your home is likely your mobile phone. After touching everything else in your home, your fingers touch the screen of your phone, which then transfers germs to other surfaces and parts of your body that you touch.

When tested with a meter that measures bacterial levels, levels of a mobile phone were at a 900 while a toilet was only at a 200. Anything that is over a 300 using this meter is high enough to spread various illnesses to people who touch the surface.

A reading of 900 is three times the level of that which makes people sick.

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You probably don't wipe the surface of your phone, and you might not wash your hands as much as you need to during the day. When you continue touching your phone and other surfaces, you don't know what kinds of germs you're picking up and spreading. Once these germs are on your phone screen, they are transferred each time the device is used.

There are several things that can get transferred to your phone in the bathroom, such as E. Coli and salmonella along with the other kinds of bacteria that are spread from bodily fluids and waste. Think about your bathroom routine. You wipe yourself and then touch the handle on the toilet to flush. Then, you touch the door handle.

Throw in washing your hands at some point after touching all of these surfaces, and if you don't wash your hands, then you're going to have more bacteria on your hands that will only breed over time. After leaving the bathroom, your hands likely begin touching your phone - according to one study, nearly 2,600 times a day. You'll also bring your phone to your face, mouth, and nose while you're talking to someone.

Aside from touching all of the surfaces in the bathroom, the spray from the toilet can reach about six feet around the toilet. This means that there could be water droplets on your phone screen that you can't even see. Another item that you shouldn't leave close to your toilet is your toothbrush so that you don't transfer bacteria to your mouth.

As phones get warm from being used, they provide a breeding ground for bacteria. Each time you turn on your phone, you're creating an environment that bacteria love, which means that you're helping to spread these illnesses to other surfaces after touching your phone. Stay aware of how your phone or any other item is being transferred from one hand to the other while you're in the bathroom if you need to have something to keep you busy.

Do you take your phone with you to the bathroom? How do you protect yourself against spreading germs? Let us know in the comments and send this article to your friends and family to warn them!

Our content is created to the best of our knowledge, yet it is of general nature and cannot in any way substitute an individual consultation by your doctor. Your health is important to us!