The first thing I do everytime I come back from outside is washing my hands and I follow the other general guidelines and since I've been doing that, I've never been seriously sick and it must have been about three years now. I think you can not wash your hands too often, as long as you don't use antibacterial soap. Just regular soap. From the College of American Pathologists : Antibacterial products may cause long-term problems. Because they kill weaker strains of bacteria, stronger, more resistant germs can flourish.