Replacing Hand Washing with Hand Sanitizer 

This isn't to say that antibacterial hand gels aren't helpful to prevent the spread of germs. Hospitals keep them in waiting rooms; some grocery stores even provide them to shoppers worried about what the last shopping cart user left behind. 

But if you rely on hand sanitizer as your only means of cleaning your hands, you could be putting yourself at risk of the flu. Those handy-dandy sanitizers should be used in the absence of good, old-fashioned hand soap and a sink. Sure, sanitizer is convenient, but a thorough cleaning is the preferred method of staving off those nasty germs. 

In 2009, an Australian study published in Clinical Infectious Diseases compared the efficacy of soap-and-water hand washing with use of alcohol-based sanitizers against H1N1 flu. It found that while both were effective in reducing presence of the virus on the participants' hands, soap-and-water hand washing was the most effective. So head to the sink the next time you need to sanitize your hands!