Avoidable Behaviors That Cause Common Fungal Infections

While rarely outright painful, common fungal infections can prove extremely inconvenient and uncomfortable.

Athletes’ feet, jock itch, ringworm, and various others are often embarrassing, itchy, and cumbersome to deal with. Fortunately, infections of this type are often easily preventable.

Since they tend to be caused by everyday behaviors, avoiding them can be a simple matter of making small alterations to your routine.

So, if you’re looking to stop fungal infections in your tracks, take care to avoid the following bad habits.

For women, one such issue to watch for is a yeast infection during periods, which can be triggered by hormonal changes and the moist environment created by menstrual products. Keeping the area clean and dry can significantly reduce the risk of this discomfort.

Sharing Towels and Clothing

Sharing towels and/or clothing is among the most common causes of ringworm and jock itch. So, regardless of how confident you are in someone’s personal hygiene or how close you are to them, avoid sharing towels, clothing, and other personal items – especially if they haven’t been properly washed.

Even if you’ve been sharing personal items with someone for years without any repercussions, you’re liable to regret this if one of you ever develops a fungal infection.

By the same token, you should also avoid sharing socks, shoes, and other footwear, as this commonly results in the spread of athlete’s foot. This is particularly important when it comes to athletic footwear.

Since sweat is a common component of many fungal infections, it’s only natural that you’d want to avoid wearing shoes and socks that contain a fair amount of it.

Not Bathing On A Regular Basis

Seeing as sweat and assorted bacteria are highly conducive to fungal infections, it stands to reason that you’d want to prevent them from building up on your body – and there’s no better way to do this than bathing on a daily basis.

Giving yourself a good scrub each day can significantly reduce your chances of developing various fungal infections, so if you’ve developed a habit of skipping baths and showers, it’s in your best interest to rethink this.

In addition to taking at least one bath or shower per day, you’ll need to bathe after engaging in strenuous exercise or any other activity that generates a significant amount of sweat.

As such, make sure to follow up every workout with a good scrub, paying special attention to the areas in which fungal infections most commonly form.

Furthermore, once you finish bathing, take care to dry yourself as thoroughly as possible.

Fungal infections thrive in moist conditions, and residual moisture from baths or showers can be a major contributor to certain infections.

For good measure, you should also seek out activewear that utilizes antimicrobial zinc ion technology.   

Not Changing Clothes On A Consistent Basis

Unwashed clothing can be a hotbed of sweat, bacteria, and assorted grime.

As such, if you have a habit of wearing the same clothing for days on end or re-wearing clothes that haven’t been properly washed, you shouldn’t be surprised if you frequently find yourself contending with fungal infections.

So, no matter how much disdain you have for doing laundry, it’s imperative that you abstain from wearing clothing that hasn’t been washed.

By extension, take care to avoid sleeping in clothing that you’ve worn during the day. In addition to being conducive to fungal infections, this can result in outside germs getting all over your bedding.

These same rules also apply to shoes, socks, and other footwear. So, instead of having a single pair of shoes that you wear every day, invest in several different pairs and regularly alternate between them.

This will help ensure that each pair has sufficient time to air out before being worn again. Similarly, make sure to change your socks at various points throughout the day – before going to bed, after waking up, and after working out or engaging in any other sweat-inducing activities.

Socks that are riddled with sweat or otherwise dampened should be changed at your earliest convenience, as leaving them on is liable to result in the emergence of an athlete’s foot.

As anyone who’s ever battled athlete’s foot, jock itch, or ringworm can attest, fungal infections are no picnic. While they may be considered relatively minor afflictions, this doesn’t change the fact that they’re often uncomfortable, embarrassing, and aesthetically unpleasant.

Luckily, fungal infections are oftentimes easy to prevent – provided, of course, you have good advice at your disposal. Anyone looking to stave off fungal infections for the foreseeable future would do well to be mindful of the behaviors outlined above.

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