FEATURE HYGIENE Anyway, once the smell has been identified a blend of water and white vinegar is apparently the most effective way to remove both the offending stain and odour. Though if any smells do linger the ever useful baking soda should be applied once more. Kitchens can often be the smelliest part of the house (after the bathrooms anyway) but it isn’t just because of the bins. Fridges, sinks and appliances can cough up stenches that invade the entire house or workspace. Fridges are probably the simplest to sort out, throwing out the old food and giving everything a good scrubbing apparently does the trick more often than not. Dishwashers though are more of a problem. Most people assume that dishwashers clean themselves (it is sort of implied) but this isn’t the case, food that isn’t scrapped of the plates can get stuck in mechanisms and seals and start to smell. Every once in a while give your dishwasher a thorough clean and if there is a problem fill a couple of glasses with vinegar and start it on a full cycle. The most obvious place, whether we’re talking offices, houses or pretty much anywhere else, for bad smells to appear is toilets and bathrooms. This is one case where prevention is undoubtedly better than cure. If The other major issue to consider is your flooring, especially if you have carpets. Smells can linger in the fibres and if you have pets, have spilled food or drink or simply if your carpet has gotten old then you could be letting yourself in for trouble. Regular vacuuming will help, as will keeping windows and doors open to let air into the room. If this doesn’t help then you can always fall back on that ever reliable baking soda! ODOURS Although taste and smell are separate senses in land animals, sea creatures often combine them into one. Apparently humans can remember and identify smells they haven’t smelled in up to 60 years. The humans’ sense of smell evolves over their lifetimes. Babiesactually like smell of feces because it is something they are familiar with. It is only as we get older that it starts to repel us. Mothers can actually identify their child almost immediately, purely by smell. Though smell can trigger memories they are most effective in triggering ones from your first ten years, sight become more useful the older you get. Smell was the first sense that our ancestors evolved. Age-related loss of smell is linked to race. Research has shown that blacks lose their sense of smell faster and earlier than whites. Humans have five to six million odor-detecting cells, dogs that have 220 million. Humans can remember smells with two thirds accuracy after a year, visual memories is down to about half after only three months. Some experts claim that peoples lingering smells could be the enxt big breakthrough in crime solving. York’s Viking museum has started to pump in recreated smells from the Viking era Your sense of smell is “turned off” whilst you sleep Parosmia is a condition where everything smells rotten or spoiled 12 JULY / AUGUST 2016 CLEANING HYGIENE TODAY Indeed smell is the sense most closely linked to memory with smells often triggering recall of past events” you want to stop your loos smelling then you have to clean them on a regular basis. Bleaching the toilets is essential and make sure you check the wax ring as well for any signs of decay.
CHT July / August 2016
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