For months, healthcare providers and public health agencies have emphasized the importance of using hand sanitizer. With the coronavirus pandemic still going on and multiple vaccines still undergoing testing, practicing proper sanitary practices is more important than ever. Following social distancing guidelines and staying home is also important for combating the spread of the pandemic. Together, these practices can significantly reduce your chances of contracting the virus.
Hand sanitizer can provide additional benefits to people other than killing germs. For instance, hand sanitizers containing vitamin E can help nourish your skin and protect it from UV damage. If you’re looking for hand sanitizers that can provide numerous benefits for your skin, make sure you purchase one that contains vitamin E. UV radicals can damage skin and cause premature aging.
Are you still new to the benefits of vitamin E? Our latest article teaches you how vitamin E can improve your skin health. Read on to learn more about vitamin E in hand sanitizer and its many benefits they can offer you!
A Quick Overview of Vitamin E
Learn more about vitamin E and why it’s so important for your health
Vitamin E can be found in a number of different foods and vitamins. Collectively, vitamin E refers to multiple fat-soluble compounds that produce antioxidant effects. In other words, it naturally dissolves in fat. There are actually eight different forms of these compounds found in nature:
- Alpha
- Beta
- Gamma
- Delta-tocopherols
- Alpha-beta
- Gamma
- Delta-tocortienols
- Alpha-tocopherol
But because the body does not naturally produce vitamin E, humans need to obtain it from food or a dietary supplement.
Nutritious Foods That Contain Vitamin E
Luckily, vitamin E is provided by a wide variety of foods including:
- Vegetable oils including sunflower, corn, hazelnut, and soybean
- Sunflower seeds
- Nuts including almonds, hazelnuts, pinenuts, and peanuts
- Leafy green vegetables such as broccoli, collard greens, and spinach
- Fruit such as mango, avocado, and kiwifruit
- Lobster, cod, octopus, salmon
- Butternut squash and broccoli
The next time you whip up a meal, try to include some of these ingredients! Foods like mango and sunflower seeds also make great snacks. Not only are they tasty, but they are also extremely nutritious.
Importance of Vitamin E
So, what’s the big deal with vitamin E?
This vitamin offers numerous benefits and can keep you healthy by nourishing your skin, promoting wound healing, preventing skin cancer, treating dryness, and more. Vitamin E can also help boost your immune system. As a powerful antioxidant, vitamin E can help your body fight off infection. Studies have also found that vitamin E can help reduce your risk of developing age-related cataracts.
Vitamin E deficiency is rare. However, it can cause serious health issues. People who suffer from vitamin E deficiency face the risk of experiencing nerve damage, muscle weakness, vision problems, and a weakened immune system. Because vitamin E requires fat in order to be absorbed by the digestive system, patients with health issues like Crohn’s disease and cystic fibrosis are at a higher risk of suffering from vitamin E deficiency than others.
Vitamin E and its Impact on Your Skin
Vitamin E offers numerous benefits for your skin
As we mentioned before, vitamin E can help protect your skin against UV rays. That’s why so many sunscreens and serums contain vitamin E. But in addition to these harmful rays, vitamin E can also guard it against pollution and smoke. Some people also use vitamin E to help reduce the appearance of scars and soften their skin.
In general, you should aim to get about 15mg of vitamin E a day. There are multiple methods you can use to increase your intake of vitamin E and enjoy its many benefits. Skin creams, foods, and vitamins can all help you get a sufficient amount of vitamin E everyday.
UV Rays and the Negative Impact They Have on Your Skin
Free radicals are particles that lack an electron. Because of their missing electron, they are unstable and must steal one from a nearby molecule in order to stabilize themselves. But by stealing an electron, the free radical produces another one in the body. This initiates a chain reaction of more free radicals being products. This reaction ultimately starts to affect the structural layer of your skin and its DNA.
Free radicals can cause some serious damage to your skin. UV rays from the sun, pollution, smoke, and toxins can trigger these radicals. It is important to note that the body also produces these free radicals in order to protect itself against viruses and bacteria. But having too many of these radicals can harm your skin’s structural layer and defensive barrier against harmful pollutants. Over time, you may notice premature wrinkles and an uneven skin tone.
Tips for Choosing Hand Sanitizer
Not sure which hand sanitizer is for you? Check out these tips!
When it comes to searching for different hand sanitizers, you will find that some are more effective than others. Some are infused with essential oils and vitamin E to help soften hands, but aren’t made with enough alcohol. Others do provide a sufficient amount of alcohol, but can easily dry out your hands. That’s why it’s important to find a hand sanitizer that can nourish your skin while also providing an effective defense against viruses and bacteria.
What You Should Look For in a Hand Sanitizer
According to the CDC, you should use a hand sanitizer that contains at least 60% alcohol. When applying it, make sure you cover the entire surface of your hands and rub it in your skin until it dries. This should only take about 20 seconds. You don’t need to wave your hands in the air to dry it off. If you rinse or wipe off the hand sanitizer before it dries, it might not work as effectively.
When to Use Hand Sanitizer
In general, you should use hand sanitizer when you are not near a sink or bathroom that allows you to wash your hands with soap and water. You should also use it before and after visiting someone in a hospital or nursing home. And, of course, you should apply hand sanitizer after sneezing, coughing, or blowing your nose with a tissue.
That being said, you should use soap and water whenever possible. If your hands are grimey, hand sanitizer won’t be too useful in helping you clean them off.
Types of Hand Sanitizer You Should Avoid
Unfortunately, there are a number of brands selling hand sanitizers by misleading customers with unproven claims. Perfense LLC, for instance, garnered scrutiny for its misleading claims that its hand sanitizer could “protect you from pathogens up to 24 hours or for 10 hand washes.” However, there is no evidence backing this claim. Consumers who purchase this product are then given a false sense of security, which could lead to infrequent hand washing or sanitization.
Why Applying Hand Sanitizer is More Important Than Ever
Fighting the pandemic is important — and luckily for you it’s a lot simpler than you think
In order to fight the spread of the pandemic, we need to work together to follow CDC guidelines on staying clean, avoiding large gatherings, and practicing social distancing. Cleaning your hands with hand sanitizer after getting groceries or going to the bank will effectively eliminate a large number of germs on your skin. This can not only reduce your chances of getting sick, but it also helps protect other people you come in contact with.
In addition to using hand sanitizer or soap and water when appropriate, it’s crucial that you remember to wear your face mask while out in public. Because masks create a physical barrier that catches droplets from your mouth, they can prevent these droplets from spreading into the surrounding air. Because a significant amount of people who contract COVID-19 are asymptomatic, this can help reduce their chances of inadvertently spreading the virus to others.
The world we live in is a scary place. It’s normal to feel anxious and worried about the state of things during this unexpected pandemic. Like most people, you are probably eager to return to a normal life. Unfortunately, it’s going to take a while before things return to normal. So until then, you need to continue to practice proper sanitary practices and follow CDC guidelines on combating the spread of the pandemic.
How have you been staying safe during the pandemic? Let us know in the comments!
