Niamh Shackleton
There's an important part of your bathroom that you might be forgetting to clean, and it could impact your health as a result.
A 2021 poll found that cleaning the bathroom was up there as American citizens' least favorite household chore.
Of 1,775 people who answered the YouGov survey, 14 percent said tackling the bathroom was the worst (and I most definitely agree).
With this in mind, it's likely people avoid doing it until it really needs doing but, I hate to break it to you folks, but it's advised that you clean your bathroom once a week. Urgh.
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Explaining why, Kelly Reynolds, PhD, MSPH, professor and director of the environment, exposure science and risk assessment center at the University of Arizona, told SELF: "A lot of microbes grow slowly, especially when we’re talking about yeast and mold in the bathroom. That can take days or weeks to grow."
One item of your bathroom that you may neglect is the showerhead and, while it seems like a low-priority item to keep clean, it can prove quite dangerous if you don't.
As per newly published research, showerheads can become home to microorganisms you don't want there.
Many microorganisms are harmless, but if Mycobacterium develops (which typically presents itself as a slimy substance on your showerhead), then it could go on to affect your health.
As to how it might do this, 'the inhalation of aerosolized mycobacteria while showering has been implicated as a mode of transmission in nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) lung infections' says the study.
Starting back in 2017, researchers have been analyzing more than 650 showerheads in the US and 13 European countries from citizen scientists.
They swabbed the inside of their showerheads with special kits and sent them off to researchers for DNA sequencing for them to see what bacteria was present.
Mycobacteria was largely found in US households and, strangely, it was the homes with water treated with chlorine disinfectants that had particularly high numbers of certain mycobacteria, explains IFL Science.
It was also noted that the bacteria was more commonly found on metal showerheads, compared to plastic ones.
Discussing the project, researcher Noah Fierer said in a statement: "There is a fascinating microbial world thriving in your showerhead and you can be exposed every time you shower.
"Most of those microbes are harmless, but a few are not, and this kind of research is helping us understand how our own actions - from the kinds of water treatment systems we use to the materials in our plumbing - can change the makeup of those microbial communities."
The main takeaway here? Clean your showerhead!