The word hygiene comes to us from Greek. Hygieia was the goddess of health, cleanliness and themoon. The lesser Greek gods had multiple responsibilities to maintain their importance in the hierarchy,like today's politicians.If you have seen a commercial about a monk (looking possibly Buddhist) turning over an upturnedturtle and moving a crawly thing from indoors to the outside by carrying it on a piece of paper, thensneezing into a tissue and screaming when told he has killed millions of germs, you may have seensomething almost real. Monks of the Jain Dharma (an offshoot religion from Hindu, having severalmillion followers in India) wash only their hands and feet. They do not bathe other parts of their bodiesin order to do no harm to millions of microorganisms that live there symbiotically.The human body harbours some one thousand species of bacteria, most of which are beneficial to us andlive in a mutually beneficial relationship with us--we keep them alive and they keep us healthy. Killingall bacteria on and in you, despite what you may read in advertisements or see in commercials, willmake you more vulnerable to disease.There are far more bacteria on your body than there are people living in the United States. It's estimatednow that we have more microorganisms living on our skin and inside of us than we have cells of ourown bodies.Antibacterial soap has been found to be no more effective at preventing infection than ordinary soap.The active ingredient in most antibacterial soaps, triclosan, can actually mess up your hormones andaffect your libido.A recent study involving over 11,000 children showed that an overly hygienic environment--especiallyin their first decade of life--increases the risk of their having eczema and asthma. Bodies of youngchildren have relatively immature immune systems that need to work very hard to build immunities tomany harmful pathogens in the environment. Other studies have examined how a sterile environmentmay affect allergies in children.The word soap derives from the mythological Mount Sapo. Women washing their clothing in the riverbelow found a "natural" cleaning agent in the water. It turned out that fat and wood ash from animalsacrifices on the mountain drained into the Tiber River. One of the first recorded cases of human wasteproducts polluting a waterway turned out to be beneficial to humankind.The Aztecs and the people of ancient Egypt were known to rub urine on their skin to treat cuts andburns. Urea, a key chemical in urine, kills bacteria and fungi, major causes of infection.England's King Henry IV made a grand move toward cleanliness when he insisted that his knights batheat least once in their lives, during the ritual of their knighthood ceremony. The rest of his people stuckwith their belief that bathing was unhealthy.The daily bath or shower has only become common during the past half century.If you have seen women in movies tossing human urine and excrement out the second story windows of their homes in 18th century London you will understand how the city's water supply was constantlycontaminated. It's said that the good citizens of Londontown got their daily supply of hydration from gin.The "five second rule" or "ten second rule" about something dropped on the floor or ground not beingable to pick up germs if it is picked up within that time frame is nonsense. An object (including skin)that touches something contaminated can become contaminated itself as soon as the touch occurs.Most people get colds and flu from handling something with germs on it then putting their fingers intheir mouths, touching food that then goes into their mouths or even from rubbing their eyes. The mouthhas natural defences against germ attack in the saliva whereas the eyes have virtually no protection.