A Clean Home Helps You Live Healthier and Longer!

Cleaning the body and the place where you live has been one of the most fundamental parts of human culture for millennia — and good hygiene is closely tied to better health and longer life. This article looks at how attitudes toward cleanliness and hygiene differ around the world, drawing on an international survey by the hygiene company SCA, and at what the long view of public health tells us about living healthier and longer.

The survey found that attitudes toward a clean home and personal hygiene vary widely by gender, education, and country. As a hygiene issue, respondents reported a clean home mattered more to women than to men, and there was a tendency for men with more education to spend less time on household cleaning. Those with less formal education tended to place more value on cleanliness in their own homes while being less concerned about others’ hygiene.

In some cultures the line between cosmetic hygiene and hygiene as a health issue is blurry, and showering and bathing habits differ a great deal between countries. In the survey, almost half of Chinese respondents showered twice a week, while Mexicans treated showering as central to personal hygiene — as many as 89 percent showered at least once a day. Changing sanitary conditions also shift people’s attitudes toward hygiene over time.

Public health researchers have noted, for example, that people in the industrialized world are more sensitive to strong smells. In Russia, China, and Mexico, respondents said poor hygiene is mainly something visible, while people in other surveyed countries felt that smell is what reveals poor hygiene. There are major differences in both what people value about personal hygiene and how much they value it.

The survey also surfaced some striking regional contrasts. Russian women reported the highest expectations around beauty attributes — jewelry, makeup, shaved legs — from those closest to them, and valued these most for their own well-being. Mexicans spent the most time getting ready in the morning, while Swedes and Chinese respondents were less particular. In Mexico, 74 percent thought men should wear cologne, compared with only 24 percent in China. Women generally showered more often than men, with Sweden an interesting exception — there, slightly more men than women reported showering at least once a day.

Showering habits also changed with age, and two countries stood out. In China, the youngest respondents showered far more often than older ones; in the UK, it was the youngest who showered the least. Across all countries, people placed a high value on personal well-being: as many as 98 percent considered fresh breath important, and 86 percent felt it essential to smell good.

That emphasis on well-being is increasingly reflected in hygiene-product trends, built around a concept in which hygiene, health, and well-being matter equally — alongside comfort, ergonomics, design, and medical considerations such as accommodating allergies. Hygiene concerns everyone in different ways. Improved hygiene and sanitation give people dignity, identity, and pride, reduce the spread of disease, and support stronger social development over the long term. This survey was conducted by SCA as part of the company’s stated effort to open up dialogue on hygiene and sanitation.

Is there a limit to how long we can live?

A natural question is whether there’s an upper limit to human life expectancy and, if so, when we might reach it. A well-known theoretical estimate (Olshansky et al., 1990) put the maximum average life expectancy from birth at around 85 years for any population of both men and women. At the time of this survey, the average for many European populations stood between roughly 77 and 79 years — close enough to that ceiling to raise the question of how much further it can climb. (Life expectancy figures have continued to shift since then, so current national averages may differ.)

In summary

Many factors have combined to make modern life safer and healthier — a conclusion that is by no means new. Hippocrates said something similar over 2,000 years ago, in the 5th century BC:

“Positive health requires knowledge of man’s primary constitution and the powers of various foods, both those natural to them and those resulting from human skills. But eating alone is not enough for health. There must be exercise, of which the effects must likewise be known. The combination of these two things makes regimen, when proper attention is given to the seasons of the year, the changes of the winds, the age of the individual and the situation of his home.”

Remarkably, Hippocrates touches on nearly every element we still consider important for health and longevity: genetic makeup, food availability, nutrition, exercise, sanitation and hygiene, the weather, and even a subtle nod to medicine. As part of that sanitation and hygiene, it’s worth building a healthy routine for home cleaning.

Judged by changes in life expectancy, health in modern society has been improving over the long run — not, as is sometimes suggested, getting worse. Progress in medical care, better living conditions and hygiene, a more reliable food supply, improved nutrition, and regular physical activity are all part of that story.