Dirty is good!

[lawren2 Malibu Beach Barbie & A Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close lawren2]

WASHINGTON - Gritty rats and mice living in sewers and farms seem to have healthier immune systems than their squeaky clean cousins that frolic in cushy antiseptic labs, two studies indicate. The lesson for humans: Clean living may make us sick.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060616/ap_on_sc/dirty_rats

sorry guys i know you weren't thinking of that kind of dirt !

[tonyg Goomba & Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close tonyg]

There is also some evidence that the use of anti-bacterial cleaners and air purifiers have had a detrimental effect on humans. Remember when allergies seemed to be rare ?

[gophish Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close gophish]

Hey, maybe this is why the big exchange companies are doing so well!!!!

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

Both our pediatrician and family D.O. have talked about this and discouraged over-use of antibacterial soaps and mouthwash, etc..

[M. Henley Class President Find all posts View Profile Close M. Henley]

Reminds me...

Reminds me of my childhood, growing up miles out of "town" (more like a village) on a gravel road without electricity or indoor plumbing. The shallow well (40 to 50 ft) was by the hog lot. After WW II the health department, newly formed and apparently charged with protecting us from ourselves, came by and took water samples from the well.

After the samples were checked the health department had a rolling fit, we must have had every bacteria known to man in that well. We had to move the hog lot, (couldn't move the well).

Now at an advanced age, never having even been in the hospital, and having only had a "family" physician for ten years, and that because the health insurer got the bright idea of having a gate keeper for approval to see a specialist, and needing roto-rooter examinations every 2 years (I was a few years behind getting started on that anyway) as well as annual prostrate exams, I had to select a GP physician.

While many of my friends have allergies, I sail blithely along, not even being allergic to poison ivy. Maybe it is acquired immunituy, or maybe because I grew up in an area and in an era where if you got sick you either got well or you died (survival of the fittest, I suppose), and I survived. I suppose that would be attritubed to either luck or good DNA inherited from pioneer ancestors.

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

So, when my mother used to say "kiss it up to God".... and then let us eat the food we dropped on the floor, she wasn't crazy after all.....

[Glitter Brunello Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Glitter Brunello]

So, when my mother used to say "kiss it up to God".... and then let us eat the food we dropped on the floor, she wasn't crazy after all.....

Now that's one I've never heard!!

[ArtsieAng Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close ArtsieAng]

Now that's one I've never heard!!

Avery,

She really used to do this...Let's say we dropped a piece of candy on the kitchen floor, and there wasn't anymore she had to give us. If we started crying, she would pick it up, blow on it, or wash it off, then say "we'll kiss it up to God", as if he would take away any germs that might have gotten on it. Then she would give it back to us to eat.....

I never did that with my kids. When I thought back on it as an adult, I used to think she was crazy, but now, I guess it really did hurt us any.

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

I knew there was a reason why I'm such a slob. shaggy

[funtime2 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close funtime2]

I guess we can be too clean for our own good.

[taffy19 Gold Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close taffy19]

If I tell you what all our cat does on our counter top in the kitchen, you may be surprised that we are still kicking. I have given up. I am sitting with a plastic bag around our water faucet of the reverse osmosis unit but he is smart enough to remove that too and lick the spigot. Yuck, but he is our cat.

He also sits between my keyboard and monitor and hides the screen because he wants attention. We will miss him once he is gone but we will be free to travel. Our choice right now is to have the cat and so far, we haven't been sick by all his germs!