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Did you know that in Canada, healthcare-associated infections affect more than 220,000 people every year? Hand hygiene is a very simple action that saves lives, and it is the best defence against the spread of antimicrobial resistant organisms. Today is “Save Lives, Clean Your Hands” Day, and what better way to recognize it than with some hand washing myth busting? We talked to Dr. Mary Vearncombe, Medical Director, Infection Prevention and Control at Sunnybrook, who set the record straight on five hand washing myths: 1. What’s the best water temperature for washing my hands- cold, warm or hot? You’re right...

Want to avoid being sick? Here’s a fact: You can take one simple step to reduce your risks for sickness: Wash your hands! Simply Washing your hands can help you stop bugs such as viruses and bacteria. Otherwise, germs can ride on your hands into your body to infect you.  See how many facts about washing your hands you know! Fact or Myth: You need to use antibacterial soap for effective cleaning. That’s a myth. Any good hand soap will clean your hands — whether antibacterial or not. An antibacterial soap is considered to be a cleaning product with active antimicrobial...

Like anything that occurs naturally on this planet (or indeed, in the universe), essential oils are far more complicated than we may be aware of. Knowing more about essential oils can give you a deeper appreciation and understanding of aromatherapy and many other practices that involve the use of essential oils. 1. Essential oils have been around for thousands of years. We’ve all thought this same thing at least at one point in our lives: if something is more expensive, it’s probably because it has better quality. That’s not necessarily true in all cases, and certainly not the case when it...

An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) Chemical compound from plants Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetherolea, or simply as the oil of the plant from which they were extracted, such as Oil of lavender An essential oil is "essential" in the sense that it contains the "essence of" the plant's fragrance—the characteristic fragrance of the plant from which it is derived. The term "essential" used here does not mean indispensable or usable by the human body, as with the terms Essential amino acids or Essential fatty acids which are so called because they are nutritionally required...