Why Can’t I Stop Touching My Face?!
The dog cone - may draw the wrong kind of attention.
I know that if this were the lead-in to an Oil of Olay ad, it would be empowering, “my skin is so soft I can’t stop touching it”, but no... it seems to be a compulsion. This is the one thing that I may not master in this weird “universal precautions” world we are currently living in.
Even right now, whenever I stop to read about not touching my face, I find myself resting my face on my hands. I’m constantly rubbing my eyes, or tapping a finger on my cheek. What is wrong with me?! Intellectually I know better. This is a scary germy world! I have spent the weekend bleaching my entire house. I have always been a chronic hand washer and have even stepped it up a notch. I carry around disinfecting wipes, hand gel, spray and have even added rubber gloves to my purse for when I go shopping, but I can’t do the simplest thing…. I can’t stop touching my face!
The Buff may make people uncomfortable as it could make me look like I’m robbing a bank. BTW, just noticed my fish are upside-down… oh well.
I have considered my options. Medical masks are frowned upon for the general public because they are in short supply and need to be saved for essential medical personnel and people with compromised health. Thankfully, I don’t qualify for either.
A Stand-Out Collar: There is the obvious “don’t chew on your stitches” naughty dog collar, that I’m sure would be effective, but may have some negative social ramifications. Until I figure out a way to spin this into an Elizabethan-esque look and then get society to agree that it is “in”, it may undermine my perceived sanity and would likely be more work than its worth.
In the Buff: I do actually wear buffs when fishing, to protect me from the sun. The up-side to this option is that I only have to put makeup on the upper half of my face. I think I could pull it off as a look but find that it might be off-putting, reminiscent of bank robbers, however stylish.
Mittens: Addressing the hands, I remember when my kids were babies, I would put little mittens on them to keep them from scratching themselves. They are cozy and warm but may make it difficult to type, which is what I do all day long, therefore, a non-starter.
The Root Problem. So, I decided to try to figure out why I touch my face. I did a little research. Turns out that am not alone. The average person touches their face 23 time an hour, 44% of those touches are to the eyes, nose, or mouth… the portals of all that is unholy… :-( We are hard-wired to touch our faces, and are actually touching pressure points that trigger our parasympathetic nervous system. This is a way to self-sooth. Ironic that during this time of great stress, we are under pressure to not do something that is subconscious and comforting.
Sara Cody, director of the Santa Clara County’s Public Health Department in CA, licked her finger in a press conference after delivering a caution about the very same act. We can’t help ourselves!
If it makes you feel better… Even Sara Cody, director of the Santa Clara County’s Public Health Department in CA, licked her finger in a press conference on February 28th, 2020 right after saying, “Today, start working on not touching your face — because one main way viruses spread is when you touch your own mouth, nose or eyes.” Bless her heart, I know she is getting tons of flack for this, and this is why I am glad I am not an "expert" on ANYTHING. I would so do that, in front of the whole world, never to live it down!
So, I have resigned myself to understand that I will likely touch my face again, I just need to work on doing it less, and recognize my stress points, which may be causing some of this activity. Since I know this is an issue for me, I will endeavor to wash my hands even more frequently and keep a bottle of hand lotion next to each sink, because my poor hands are getting so dried out. I’m also going to stop wearing my contacts because they cause me to rub my eyes more. Maybe the glasses will shield me from a wayward sneeze at the grocery. Sidebar: I saw today that they installed sneezeguards at HyVee in front of the cashiers! What next!?
You may have noticed this is a blog with more questions than answers. I’d love to hear anyone else’s advice. Feel free to share any wisdom in the comments section. I’m open to help, or even confirmation that I am not alone. BTW, I just scratched my nose for no reason!
Support and further reading for this blog:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/08/health/coronavirus-touching-your-face-trnd/index.html
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology
https://apic.org/monthly_alerts/dont-touch-your-face/
https://www.wired.com/story/cant-stop-touching-your-face-science-has-some-theories-why/