SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - A black light experiment revealed how touching your face spreads germs easier than you can imagine.
Nicole Kessler, a chef instructor at The Art Institute of Salt Lake challenged her students to avoid touching their faces for an hour while they reviewed for their mid-term on Tuesday afternoon.
Kessler began by tossing a ball around the classroom as she asked them questions. The students were unaware that the ball was coated with a special glow in the dark powder.
"You aren't aware of it. You don't think of how often you touch your face, how often you touch everything around you," said Kessler.
Research shows that on average people touch their faces about 16 times in an hour. Some people less, others as many as 100 times in an hour, causing it to spread germs from the hands to the face. Student saw their own habits with the help of a black light.
One by one the glowing powder revealed that even after being told not to touch their faces most of the room had. And even after a thorough hand washing, not all of the powder was gone.
Kessler says this exercise causes students to think twice about touching their faces, and remember how easily germs are passed from one person to the next.
"It just shows an exercise that shows that germs are spread wherever you go, especially with your lips and your nose," Kessler said.
Now flu germs are not spread by skin contact, you contract the virus by touching an infected surface, and then rubbing your eyes, or touching your mouth or nose. Frequent hand washing and the use of hand sanitizer is recommended and now you can see why.
