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We’ve all grown up with the saying, “Cleanliness is next to Godliness,” and other familiar clichés. Mothers of infants scramble to keep all the dirt and germs off their children, the children’s clothing, etc. – except for those mothers who let their kids get good and dirty and just wash them before bedtime. The latter group have been scoffed and scowled at by sanitary mothers the world over.
It has been proven in studies that keeping the body ‘too clean’ can be bad for us. If our body is never exposed to anything harmful it won’t fight. Perfectly made, our body will try to protect itself, but it can’t if it has no strength of immunities built up.
A study previously published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Munich University Children’s Hospital showed evidence hard to ignore. Researchers took dust samples from inside the homes of children who lived on farms and of children who lived in urban or suburban settings.
The samples from farm homes showed a much wider array of fungi and bacteria. In fact, some of the bacteria found were of the kind that actually inhibit the growth and development of asthma and other ailments. Experts now believe that a whole host of various microbes found in dust on and around farms is largely responsible for the difference.
So there is reason to take heed to the words, “You can be too clean.” It makes sense, doesn’t it? People on farms are healthier because of several reasons, but childhood asthma is kept at bay because of the wide variety of allergens and bacteria not found in the city.
