Why getting your hands dirty is good for you

HHatchedLake721 about 2 hours ago 38 commentsRead Article on bbc.com

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Discussion (38 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

nxobject•about 1 hour ago

I look forward to seeing a lifehacking hyper-optimizer streamline this to a polished daily workflow...

"I have a bucket of mud, in which I stick my hands for 15 minutes every morning.

Every weekend, I inoculate at a 1:5:5 ratio with biologically active stream dirt (after petri-dishing to check for activity), and a mix of poor-quality soil cover, and some compost; I finish by adding a 10-10-10 balanced fertilizer.

Recently, I've been seeing if there are any additional benefits to smearing all over my arms; I'm conducting a 3 month/3 month comparison experiment, with a washout period in-between...

Don't forget to buy my exclusive eBook!"

stevekemp•4 minutes ago

I made the mistake of looking at /r/sauna on Reddit once or twice recently, and there was a lot of people doing very similar things.

"I take my preworkout, do my exercise, then I sit for 12 minutes at 90 degrees in sauna, before three minutes in the cold plunge-pool at 8 degrees, before going to sauna again for 19 minutes and I finish with a seven minute warm shower".

Just the thought of looking at a watch in a sauna, and timing things minute by minute sounded exhausting.

I assume going to sauna takes an hour, it might be I leave it on for a couple of hours, but beyond that the minutes inside/outside are a mystery and I like it like that. Same story with being outdoors in a cabin/cottage. I might dig up some plants, or move the hammock around, but whether I get (literally) dirty is just down to whatever random things I've done that day!

anygivnthursday•6 minutes ago

You forgot the app! You can connect our app to your smart dirt bucket so you can track that the correct composition of bacteria reaches your hands at all time! Collect points by completing challenges and watch a few ads for premium guides!

tomkarho•18 minutes ago

I'm sure the comments will be full of detractors scoffing at this claiming that all one needs is not to wash their hands. Or just go outside to handle that mud. With luck you might come across the king of Briton.

mft_•26 minutes ago

There’s a startup opportunity: a body cream with concentrates of beneficial microorganisms.

“Pair it with our full spectrum sun lamp and you can have all the benefits of playing outside from the comfort of your standing desk”.

ceejayoz•16 minutes ago

FDA: “You’ve got E. coli in here.”

“Yes.”

electric_mayhem•16 minutes ago

You folks are having fun with the idea, but, well, in 2026 there’s absolutely a viable market for this.

sdcfgy•about 1 hour ago

They'd be copying the greats! I have seen a distinct pattern of artists and photographers doing self portraits while rolling around in shit or mud.

jareklupinski•25 minutes ago

"sign up now and get free peptides your macrocolony needs to immunemogg those bacteria!"

mettamage•24 minutes ago

So if I sign up for like 6 months, could I get 25% off?

satnhak•16 minutes ago

And no one has dirtier hands than the BBC

jareklupinski•23 minutes ago

after i switched to washing my hands with antibacterial soap (the orange kind they use in hospitals), i've gone from a bimonthly cold-analog disease to maybe being sick twice a year

Tepix•31 minutes ago

> Those using the microbially-diverse soil saw an increase in the diversity of bacteria on their skin, and on the number of anti-inflammatory cytokines in their blood – while the other group didn't.

That's really remarkable.

chistev•about 1 hour ago

Dirt is good to prevent you from getting sick easily.

Arodex•18 minutes ago

... Wasn't there papers and articles showing getting in contact with soil was causing Parkinson's?

Feeling some pâro, again:

https://youtu.be/w7l2hUp0CkQ

christophilus•13 minutes ago

I thought that was related to the insecticides/herbicides, not soil itself.

jeanmichelselli•about 2 hours ago

.. and we needed an article from BBC to be aware of this? :O

librasteve•about 1 hour ago

yes, I’m so delighted by this quality content I want to up my licence fee

pydry•9 minutes ago

I remember having a conversation with somebody from the BBC about a study they commissioned once to ask license payers about how the license fee was spent.

the overwhelming response apparently was:

* we don't have particular concerns about how the license fee is spent.

* we mainly just want that money back

bananaflag•about 2 hours ago

these are Imperial hands getting dirty

SachaSOL•about 1 hour ago

A hackaton here would be crazy ! Is it YC funded house ?

asimovDev•19 minutes ago

wrong tab I assume, cause above this post on the frontpage is the LAN house post