Us Brits are a right mucky bunch - a new study has revealed a shocking amount of us live extremely unhygienic lives and are putting our heath at risk as a consequence.
According to new research, millions of us could be risking out health because of poor hygiene in the home.
The study asked Brits about a range of hygiene habits and saw a third admit they don’t always wash their hands after going to the toilet, almost half leave the same sheets on their bed for weeks, while half use the same dish cloths and sponges over and over again until they could almost walk out of the kitchen.
One in ten don’t wash their towels weekly, the same number don’t clean their teeth twice a day, and only half (53%) shower and bathe once a day.
Almost a third of pet owners admit they let their furry friends sleep in the bed with them, with more than 40% saying they let them up on the sofa.
That’s according to an in-depth survey by the carpet cleaning experts, Rug Doctor which found that half of parents never wash their children’s cuddly toys, while 91% always let their kids play on the carpet despite the research showing the cleanliness of our floors and carpets leave a lot to be desired.
Unclean carpets were also a big focus area - the study authors swabbed the shoes of a cross-section of age groups and demographics around the UK to see just what lurks on the sole of our footwear.
High numbers of bacteria from the pneumonia and E Coli families were found on the soles of parents, children and young professionals up and down the UK, as well as vomit-inducing toxins and traces of animal and human gut and faecal bacteria.
This is not surprising when the vast majority of those surveyed did not know some carpets are embedded with horse manure, fox poo, urine, vomit and tar.
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As well as bacteria, the swabs also contained human and pet hair, dust mites, pollen and traces of skin.
But with around 40% of us wearing footwear inside, less than one in five of us cleaning the bottom of our shoes, and only one in 10 pet owners saying they only let their pets onto the carpet if they are clean – the chances are millions could be living amongst this filth.
So could you be at risk of illness because of your bad hygiene habits at home?
Dr Pixie McKenna from Embarrassing Bodies answers that for us: "Men are the worst offenders at not washing their hands after going to the toilet (38%), but more worrying, is the fact that dangerous bugs like pneumonia and E Coli are being brought into our homes on the soles of our shoes, and are then trampled into the carpets by us not removing our shoes at the door.
"In fact, 41% of people say they still don’t intend to remove their footwear at the door. This is no laughing matter, people of the UK - poor hygiene at home risks your health!”
Not only is it a case of dirt being brought into the house, but spills, stains and mishaps are adding to the ground-in grime in our carpets.
More than a quarter (28%) of the UK’s population has had a pet be sick on the flooring and 24% have had a pet leave their mess.
Furthermore nearly a third (30%) have had a baby or someone else be sick on their carpet and a quarter (22%) admit to having had sex on the floor.
We'll never look at our carpets in the same way again...
