Can We All Please Just Stop Shaking Hands?
Scientists explain why everyone should nix handshakes to avoid disease
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David Whitworth is not a fan of handshakes. The biologist at Aberystwyth University in Wales thinks humans should move away from the formality altogether. “I avoid shaking hands, and absolutely refuse to [do it] if I know I have a cold, or if there is a cold going around the workplace,” he says. “I also explain why I’m refusing, and hopefully educate other people to not spread germs through shaking hands.”
Whitworth has witnessed firsthand just how unhealthy handshakes can be compared to some alternative greetings.
In an experiment back in 2014, he had one person in the study dip their hand into a container filled with bacteria, then shake hands with another person. (Both wore sterile gloves, thankfully.) After the recipient’s glove was dry, Whitworth measured the bacteria on it. The experiment was repeated with high fives and fist bumps.
A handshake transfers almost twice as many bacteria as a high five, and “significantly fewer” bacteria are passed along in a fist bump compared to a high five, the researchers concluded in the American Journal of Infection Control. In all three…
