Hygiene

I have never had a strict regime regarding things like when I cook meals, when I got to bed or when I brush my teeth. Because of this, I was never quite sure how often I did these essential things. So, starting on 2005-01-01 I began to keep a record of every time I took a shower, washed my hair or brushed my teeth. I stopped collecting data on 2005-02-28 because I had been collecting data so accurately that prolonging the study to increase accuracy was unnecessary.

Results

I have published the raw data I collected from each month in these web pages

I had a shower, hair wash and brushed my teeth in the evening of 2004-12-31 to give the results at an appropriate origin.

Evaluation

During January my showers are between four (4) and seven (7) days apart. During February they are between two (2) and eleven (11) days apart. The eleven day gap includes the three days carried forward from the previous month and is frankly quite shocking. Not just using our cultural obsession with cleanliness but from medically credible concerns, too.

Working so hard on my computer pursuits is what I would identify as the major barrier to allowing myself time to pay attention to this necessary chore. The infrequency with which I meet other people allowed me to believe that there as no great necessity for me to regularly wash.

Conclusion

This study has confirmed my suspicisions. The main reason why I wanted to find out exactly what my routine is like was because I suspected it was too infrequent. This has now been proved incontrovertably by this study and so I shall adjust my hygiene practises, much like I have adjusted my diet after my food study. The changes I believe necessary are that I should shower at least once a week as a basic start point. I shall retain the lack of a strict schedule but shall give a higher priority to washing based upon the findings of this study.

Since summer is approaching and the weather is already warming, more frequent shower shall become more necessary anyway. Another incentive is that being clean makes one feel more relaxed. It has been proven elsewhere that people think best when relaxed, so I can justify the quantity time spent in the shower as it directly benefits the quality of work I produce. Feeling more relaxed and operating at a more effective level will make life more pleasent for those around me. Not to mention being less smelly!

Due to the quality of the results and logical reasons for improvement, I predict these changes should be pretty easy to implement.