Water bottle hygiene — it is most likely one thing you by no means considered earlier than, however, we warn you, after studying this, it could by no means be far out of your thoughts once more.
There are specific issues all of us type of neglect to clean: our telephone screens, our keyboards, our sun shades, our make-up brushes. Responsible, responsible, responsible, responsible. One such merchandise that would undoubtedly do with a wash? Your water bottle.
Sure, your water bottle that you simply refill day by day; your water bottle that you simply drink from at your desk, on the health club, throughout a hike, watching TV; your water bottle that has been accumulating micro organism and, fairly presumably, limescale for months.
Apologies if you’re immediately stuffed with dread realising that the final time you cleaned your water bottle was by no means — however now we have some fairly terrible information for you — it is most likely filthy. Actually, based on a 2022 research, the common reusable water bottle incorporates 40,000 instances as a lot micro organism as a bathroom seat. (Oh. My. God. Ew.)
However earlier than you go dashing off to soak your water bottle in bleach, now we have a bit extra info for you. Enter nutritionist Michaella Mazzoni, who tells us why water bottles are so soiled and the way we must be cleansing them…
How usually do you have to wash your water bottle?
Okay, this may come as a shock – however based on Michaella, we must be washing our water bottles each single day. Yep. She recommends utilizing “warm, soapy water” for the job.
What are the well being dangers of not washing your water bottle persistently?
It is protected to say which will of us aren’t washing our water bottles each single day. Which brings us to the subsequent query — what’s going on in our water bottles once we do not wash them?
Despite the fact that chances are you’ll consider water as being “clean,” your water bottle can quickly become a breeding ground for bacteria and mould. Every time we touch our water bottle or, even worse, drink from it, we are potentially transmitting bacteria to its outer and inner surfaces. Over time, this bacteria can grow.
This is, of course, gross. Your water may even begin to taste a little “off.” But it surely can be unhealthy. Ultimately, chances are you’ll start to expertise negative effects from consuming from an unclean water bottle, together with “headaches, nausea and an upset stomach.” Provides Mazzoni: “Interestingly, if you have a mould allergy you may experience mould allergy symptoms such as headaches, feeling groggy and upper respiratory irritation.”
The actual lifespan of a reusable water bottle
This brings us to a different fairly disagreeable truth. Reusable water bottles do not really final perpetually. Certain, they’re extra sustainable than plastic water bottles, however you most likely should not be utilizing the very same bottle for years on finish.
“Even with cleaning, water bottles should be replaced every 6 to 12 months,” Mazzoni says.
And with that, I’m off to offer my water bottle the warmest, soapiest, most severe scrub of its life.
