How Much Bacteria is In Your Gym?

Going to the gym? grab your hand sanitiser!  Ok so it's now official! Whilst the gym may help get you fit, the gym could also be a danger to your health if you don’t wash your hands afterwards.

Researchers from 'Fit Rated' found that equipment in a commercial gym had some worrying levels of bacteria and germs from everyday use.

How Much Bacteria?

As an example of the levels, the researchers reported :

• An exercise bike has 39 times more bacteria on it than a cafeteria tray
• A treadmill has 74 times more bacteria than a public bathroom tap
• Free weights harboured up to 362 times more germs than a toilet seat

How Was This Measured?

To calculate this researchers took swabs from pieces of gym equipment and looked at the number of colony forming units (CFU) - in effect the number of bacteria present.

The bacteria found to be present on treadmills, bikes and free weights were all of a type that could definitely lead to stomach upsets. In addition, bike and free weights also had Bacillus, which can cause ear, eye and respiratory infections.

In fact one of the highlights from the report is that over 70% of bacteria found was potentially harmful to human health.

What Do I Do?

The advice is not to stop going to the gym, but to think about how you use it so that you don’t catch an unwanted bacterial infection.

Some simple suggestions are :

• Try to wipe over machines with antibacterial wipes before you use them
• Don’t walk barefoot in a gym
• Try not to touch your face and mouth whilst working out
• Wash hands immediately after a workout and change clothes as soon as you get home

We can't ever remove all bacteria from our daily lives, but these levels show that simple hygiene can help to prevent tummy bugs and illnesses spreading unnecessarily.