How Often Public Showers Should Be Cleaned

Illustration of a person wearing gloves and cleaning their shower

Aim to clean your shower weekly and give it a skillful, deep, disinfecting scrub once a year.

Prototype Credit: LIVESTRONG.com Creative

How Bad Is It Actually? sets the record straight on all the habits and behaviors y'all've heard might be unhealthy.

Y'all probably recollect of the shower as a sanitary infinite — a pleasant place where you wash away the grime and ditch the clay your body accumulated during the day.

But how would yous feel knowing that your tub is teeming with microscopic bugs similar bacteria? That's the reality if yous never clean your shower.

Uh huh, the ring of soap scum circling the tub and the pink stain around the drain are all plentiful parties of pathogens. But exterior of the ick factor (and it's a major ick), can a dirty shower exist bad for your health?

We spoke to Kelly Reynolds, PhD, director of the Environment, Exposure Science and Hazard Assessment Center at the University of Arizona, to go the dirt on how an untidy tub might make y'all sick and when sharing a shower stall with microbes is NBD.

It Tin can Trigger Allergies and Asthma in Sure People

Environments with high humidity (like damp showers) create ideal conditions for mold growth, according to the Mayo Clinic. For about people, a bit of bathroom-based mold isn't cause for business organisation. "Mold and mildew on your shower curtain, shower walls and bathmat are typically non a problem for salubrious individuals," Reynolds says.

Withal, people who are immunocompromised are at a greater adventure of getting sick. For people with mold-induced asthma or allergies, "loftier exposure levels could trigger an attack" or symptoms ordinarily associated with upper-respiratory allergies, including watery eyes, coughing and fifty-fifty pare rashes, Reynolds says.

Tip

If you have persistent congestion, sneezing, watery optics, shortness of breath or other symptoms, visit your doc, per the Mayo Dispensary.

Yous Could Catch a Skin Infection

While catching a nasty pare infection is more probable in public showers (similar the gym or college dorms), it's still possible to contract something when you share a home shower with others and haven't scrubbed your tub in ages.

Yeah, microbes that crusade fungal and bacterial infections tin multiply and flourish on the flooring of your muddied shower.

Some of the nearly common infections include athlete's foot, warts, human papillomavirus (HPV) and methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a type of bacteria that can cause abscesses in the skin, according to the Academy of Utah Health.

And if you have a cut or blister on your pes, your odds of becoming infected are greater, per the University of Utah Health. That'south considering an opening in the skin serves equally an easy entryway for bacteria and viruses.

Additionally, people who are immunosuppressed are more than prone to picking up skin infections from the shower floor.

It Might Atomic number 82 to Stomach Problems

Some types of germs lingering in your soiled shower — such as fecal bacteria (including E. coli) – may surprise yous, Reynolds says.

These pathogens can hitch a ride from your dirty hands (especially when people go number two and don't wash their easily) onto other objects and surfaces (like your shower stall) and spread from one person to some other, per the Academy of Michigan Wellness.

While many types of Eastward. coli are harmless, some strains can trigger tummy troubles including diarrhea, stomach cramps, nausea and airsickness, according to the University of Michigan Health.

Fortunately, Eastward. coli infections commonly resolve on their own inside a week. But serious blood and kidney problems may occur in children and older adults, per the Academy of Michigan Health.

Alarm

If your diarrhea from E. coli is persistent, bloody or severe, visit your doctor, per the Mayo Clinic.

It Can Cause Lung Infections in Vulnerable People

If you haven't given your showerhead a good scrub since last century, information technology could be spraying some gnarly things at you. Yep, while yous've probably never noticed, it's likely that fungus has found a abode on your showerhead.

Not only is fungus buildup gross, but this type of biofilm can also attract and protect other harmful microbes like the bacteria Legionella, Reynolds says. Indeed, showerheads and faucets tin can harbor potentially dangerous pathogens including Legionella pneumophilia, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Merely when people breathe in small aerosol of water or unintentionally ingest H2O containing Legionella, they tin can develop Legionnaires' illness, a serious type of lung infection, according to the CDC.

While Legionella doesn't brand most healthy people sick, older adults, people with weakened immune systems and those with chronic lung affliction and other underlying conditions are at higher risk of becoming ill, per the CDC.

So, How Oft Should You Make clean Your Shower?

Even if you're as salubrious as a horse, giving your shower a thorough cleanse every at present and so is a proficient idea to keep all the creepy crawlies that accumulate in check. That goes especially if yous live with someone who's more than susceptible to getting sick.

How oft exercise y'all need to tidy your tub? As a general guideline, cleaning and disinfecting your shower weekly will help keep mold and bacteria at bay. "If you tin can see or olfactory property mold, it's time to make clean," Reynolds says.

How to Clean Your Shower

Here are Reynold'due south tips for how to make clean your shower:

1. Floor and Walls

Each week, use a balmy soap detergent and scrub castor to clean shower surfaces (including any shower tiles and the shower drain).

One time you've removed any visible clay and muck, spray a mist or cream-based disinfecting product to kill germs. The disinfectant "should always be applied subsequently cleaning [because] the presence of dirt and soap scum reduces its effectiveness," Reynolds says.

2. Bathmats and Shower Curtains

Wondering how to clean a shower liner, curtain or bathmat? Toss them in the laundry (just check the labels to be sure they're washing-machine prophylactic).

If they're not, employ sanitizing sprays or wipes to reduce the germ count, Reynolds says. The same goes for shower doors. This can be done monthly.

3. Showerheads

Sanitize showerheads with disinfectant sprays or foaming products. But for a deep make clean, "you lot may need to unscrew them and soak in a diluted disinfectant solution," Reynolds says. "Then utilise an onetime toothbrush to loosen any dirt, debris and biofilm."

To proceed biofilm growth at bay, make a thorough showerhead scrub office of your spring-cleaning protocol (so, about once a year is fine).

Every Week	Scrub and disinfect shower floors and walls Sanitize showerheads
Every Month	Clean shower liners, curtains and bathmats
Every Year	Deep clean your showerhead

So, How Bad Is It Really to Never Clean Your Shower?

Bathing in a pathogen-packed shower may affect each of us differently — for some it's no biggie, just for others it can exist potentially harmful.

First, consider your health history. If y'all accept existing allergies, mold-induced asthma or a chronic lung condition, cleaning your shower frequently is of import. The same goes for people with weakened allowed systems.

Next, your showering behavior plays a role. How often you shower, how much dirt is left in the tub and what type of products you use volition all affect your shower's slimy cistron, Reynolds says. "For case, body washes and shampoos with loftier oil content tin coat shower surfaces and speed upward biofilm formation."

Ultimately, if you're an overall healthy person, a dirty shower probably won't affect you as well much. But if yous're noticing recurring allergy and lung symptoms (or an unexplained stomach problems or pare infection), you may want to clean your shower more frequently.