TIME Magazine just reported on a study in an article headlined Could hand-washing boost your workplace productivity?

In the study, some workers were given a hand sanitizer to use regularly. Time writes:

….the researchers suggest that the hand-sanitizer group may have been… more productive while in the office. The hand-washers certainly felt better. They reported fewer cases of the common cold, as well as less fever and coughing in general.

This makes sense to me. I always have a big bottle of hand sanitizer (and tissue paper) available for students, and encourage them to use it. I certainly haven’t done any kind of study to determine its effectiveness, but it would seem to me that it wouldn’t be that big of a reach to suggest any classroom study might reach similar conclusions.

And, apart from that, I think it also has an impact on students knowing that I’m concerned about them. Of course, it’s also in my own self-interest — the less they’re sick, the less likely I am to be, too.

Please leave a comment if you do something similar (or something different) to encourage student health, and if you have seen any impact…