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Sat 20 Oct, 2007 12:00 pm
My house mate is a Master's of Public Health (MPH) student. She was away at a conference earlier this week and came back with stories of people she saw presenting there. A few of the lectures focused on environmental pollutants. One such was about exposure to volatile chemicals while in the shower.
Most of us know that there are chemicals in our water (and wise-guys who say, "Yeah, like H2O!" - not funny). These scientists are studying these chemicals. It turns out that when the water is on the very hot end, more of these chemicals become volatile and float around in the steam produced. So, your exposure is greater if you take very hot showers. You exposure is also greater if you take a hot bath because you are actually sitting in the chemical soup. Furthermore, you are exposed to the previous showerer's volatiles if you head into the shower before the bathroom has a chance to cool off.
Wow.
So.
Should we stop showering and bathing? Did the Puritans know soemthing we have since forgotten or unlearned?
I don't think there were further studies showing how these shower volatiles affect human health. And the exposure all around was failry small. So, no worries.
My real question is this: why are they studying shower volatiles?
we should all be born with a warning sticker that says being alive is hazardous to yuor health
Ha! This was featured......
Everything causes death. Fourth graders studying biographies learned this week that the only guaranteed events in one's life are birth and death.
My breast cancer was probably enviromentally induced. I'm interested in all sorts of research about all sorts of additives.
I think many breast cancer cases are environmentally related.
This research was started to explore the frequent occurrence of low birth weight and spontaneous abortions. Apparently, there's a connection.
littlek wrote:I think many breast cancer cases are environmentally related.
This research was started to explore the frequent occurrence of low birth weight and spontaneous abortions. Apparently, there's a connection.
Yes... I gather that is where a lot of the breast ca research is going.
Re the showering. I would rather die younger and be clean.
Anyhoo, it's all relative.
Yikes, I'll pay attention, at least to read.
Alas, a good hot shower is one of my life's pleasures.
I'll admit there is all sorts of data about hot showers being negative for one's skin.
Well, I'm not sure that no matter what data they come up with, that I'll stop a hot shower, however short.
I have taken to heating the bath with a ceramic heater (electric) for a few minutes before I hop in the shower. It cuts down the steam and allows me to have a cooler shower. This is how I've come to prefer showers. But, sometimes I WANT the steam, like when I have a head cold. Perhaps I should boil distilled water on the stove and steam above that?
Sort of in the same camp as Dlowan - oh well.
if you believe it will pay for itself in the long run, you can buy a water filter designed for showers.
spill a little bleach on your hand sometime (not on purpose,) and wash it off before it burns. you'll notice a feeling of your skin tightening. in some urban areas the chlorine is strong enough that you can get a similar feeling after a shower. are you disinfected or slightly poisoned? it's an odd sensation, either way. i do find a shower *without* this feeling afterwards to be more refreshing.
Much, if not most, of the data involved in these studies are epidemiological in nature. The first part of the study may have been an epidemiological look at possible origins of certain disease states. Individuals with.... i don't know.... chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) may have indicated a preference for scalding hot showers. If there's a decent correlation between disease state and answers to a medical history question then additional studies are funded to look at what may be a causative agent.
I'm not saying that's what happened here -- I have no idea -- but it's typical of the type of studies performed in the public health arena.
Interesting, a similar (? or perhaps the same?) study (made by "an worldwide known chemical firm in Anaheim/USA") is used here for advertising special shower filters ...
i can't imagine the brand even matters. mentioning a study in an advertisement is one thing, writing an entire advertisement around a study would seem unethical, in my opinion.
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