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MYTHBUSTERS: WHY YOU DON'T NEED A STERILE HOME

Think that keeping a home completely germ-free is the key to staying healthy? Think again. Recent research shows that trying to make your home sterile could be counterproductive. Over-cleaning and disinfecting can harm your home’s natural microbiome—meaning the balance of microorganisms like bacteria that are found everywhere, including your home.

Here’s why:

1. Too Much Disinfection Reduces Microbial Diversity

Your home is full of microbes, most of which are either helpful or harmless. When we overuse disinfectants, we wipe out microbial diversity, leaving fewer types of good bacteria around to help protect us from harmful microbes.

2. Overusing Disinfectants Can Lead to Stronger, Resistant Germs

When you clean with disinfectants too often, some bacteria will survive because they’re more resistant. These stronger bacteria can multiply and become harder to kill over time, which increases the risk of antimicrobial resistance.

3. Health Risks from Over-Cleaning: Gut Problems and More

Your home’s microbiome is connected to your own body’s microbiome, including the bacteria in your gut. Over-disinfecting can change the balance of bacteria in your home, which in turn can affect your gut health. Studies have shown that using too many household disinfectants could lead to gut dysbiosis—an imbalance in your gut’s bacteria that can contribute to health problems like obesity, diabetes, and allergies.

4. A Better Way to Clean: Probiotic-Based Products

Rather than relying on harsh chemical cleaners, you can use probiotic-based cleaning products. These products introduce good bacteria into your home to help control harmful germs while keeping the microbial balance intact. Research in a hospital environment shows that using probiotic cleaners can reduce pathogens without leading to antibiotic resistance.

5. The Effect of Disinfectants Wears Off Quickly

Disinfectants do what they're supposed to do: they kill a large portion of the bacteria and viruses on a surface. Unfortunately, this effect is short-lived. Within minutes to hours, surfaces can become recontaminated through touch, airborne particles, or daily activities. After a few hours, the number of microbes is almost as high as it was before disinfection. Even if you disinfect daily, the microbial count won’t permanently decrease because recontamination keeps happening over and over.

Clean, But Don’t Overdo It

While cleaning is important, trying to keep your home sterile is unnecessary and could even be harmful. Over-disinfecting can kill off good bacteria, encourage resistant germs to thrive, and lead to health problems like gut dysbiosis. Instead, clean with balance in mind and think about giving our YOKUU products a chance!

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