Health & Medicine
Fist Bumping Better For Health Than Handshakes
Benita Matilda
First Posted: Jul 29, 2014 01:20 AM EDT
Fist bumping may be better for health than shaking hands or high-fiving, a new study claims.
The study from the Aberystwyth University reveal that fist bumping, a form of greeting popularized by US President Barack Obama, transmit fewer bacteria than other common forms of greeting like handshakes and high-fiving. Through fist bumping, people can lower the risk of contracting germs during a flu outbreak.
The researchers conducted a few trials to determine if alternative greetings would transmit fewer germs than the traditional handshakes. In the first trail, the greeter was made to immerse a sterile-gloved hand in a container full of germs. Once the glove was dry, the greeter was asked to exchange handshake, fist bump or high five with another recipient that wore a sterile-glove. The exchanges varied in duration and intensity of contact.
Once the greetings were exchanged, the researchers immersed the receiving gloves into a solution to count the number of bacteria that were transferred during the contact.
They noticed that when the greeter and recipient had a closer hand-to-hand contact during handshake, they transferred twice as many bacteria as compared to high-five, whereas during a fist bump significantly fewer bacteria were transferred.
In all the three forms of greeting, there was a strong association between longer duration of contact and stronger grips to increased bacterial transmission.
"Adoption of the fist bump as a greeting could substantially reduce the transmission of infectious diseases between individuals," said corresponding author David Whitworth, PhD. "It is unlikely that a no-contact greeting could supplant the handshake; however, for the sake of improving public health we encourage further adoption of the fist bump as a simple, free, and more hygienic alternative to the handshake."
It is reported that healthcare providers' hands can spread potentially harmful germs to patients, further leading to healthcare-associated infections (HAI, which is the leading cause of preventable harm and death in the United States).
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in every 25 hospitalized patients develops HAI and 75,000 patients with HAIs die during their hospitalization every year.
The finding was documented in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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First Posted: Jul 29, 2014 01:20 AM EDT
Fist bumping may be better for health than shaking hands or high-fiving, a new study claims.
The study from the Aberystwyth University reveal that fist bumping, a form of greeting popularized by US President Barack Obama, transmit fewer bacteria than other common forms of greeting like handshakes and high-fiving. Through fist bumping, people can lower the risk of contracting germs during a flu outbreak.
The researchers conducted a few trials to determine if alternative greetings would transmit fewer germs than the traditional handshakes. In the first trail, the greeter was made to immerse a sterile-gloved hand in a container full of germs. Once the glove was dry, the greeter was asked to exchange handshake, fist bump or high five with another recipient that wore a sterile-glove. The exchanges varied in duration and intensity of contact.
Once the greetings were exchanged, the researchers immersed the receiving gloves into a solution to count the number of bacteria that were transferred during the contact.
They noticed that when the greeter and recipient had a closer hand-to-hand contact during handshake, they transferred twice as many bacteria as compared to high-five, whereas during a fist bump significantly fewer bacteria were transferred.
In all the three forms of greeting, there was a strong association between longer duration of contact and stronger grips to increased bacterial transmission.
"Adoption of the fist bump as a greeting could substantially reduce the transmission of infectious diseases between individuals," said corresponding author David Whitworth, PhD. "It is unlikely that a no-contact greeting could supplant the handshake; however, for the sake of improving public health we encourage further adoption of the fist bump as a simple, free, and more hygienic alternative to the handshake."
It is reported that healthcare providers' hands can spread potentially harmful germs to patients, further leading to healthcare-associated infections (HAI, which is the leading cause of preventable harm and death in the United States).
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in every 25 hospitalized patients develops HAI and 75,000 patients with HAIs die during their hospitalization every year.
The finding was documented in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone