You Bathe Too Much

We all like to shower. We get a little sticky from a walk on a hot day, and soon we're in the shower scrubbing that feeling off. Or maybe you just like to shower before work. And maybe you like to shower after work. Perhaps your life is merely a series of showers and baths interrupted by work and sleep.

You're probably bathing too often. North America has more bathrooms than any other continent. North Americans also consume the most potable water. However, it is Australians who seem to take the most showers. A 2007 internet "Stinker" poll finds that nearly 78% of people bathe 5 or more times a week. Nearly a quarter of the populous showers over eight times a week. A ten minute shower uses around 20-25 gallons of water. People use about 125-175 gallons a week to shower.

Do We Really Need To Bathe and/or Shower This Much?

Don't get me wrong. Showering and bathing are healthy. Remember that bubonic plague thing? That happened because we weren't being very hygienic. I'm not trying to discourage showering and bathing, but we might want to think about reducing the amount of showers we take.

According to Dr. Stephen Juan, we bathe more for social and aesthetic reasons than health reasons.

Dr. Juan:

The general rule of thumb is: "If you can stand it socially, you can probably get by hygienically." But in saying this, it must be stressed that bathing is necessary as one can get skin diseases and worse from not bathing at all. But the "one per day" frequency of showers and baths is somewhat unnecessary?.It was not so many decades ago when entire families routinely bathed in a common bathtub once a week.

Remember, just because you may feel socially compelled to shower, doesn't mean that you have to. A better solution for the neat freaks among us may be a compromise. Instead of taking seven, ten-minute showers a week, why not shower every other day for only five minutes? Instead of 175 gallons of water, you'll only be using around 50 gallons with no detriment to your health.