8 Unhygienic Habits People Had During the Medieval Age

 The standards for cleanliness vary between generations from one generation to another. What was considered to be normal in one generation might be unclean decades later.

This is usually beneficial as healthier practices can significantly decrease or eliminate the risk of developing diseases.

The medieval period isn't a example of hygiene. We'll take a look at some of the unsanitary methods from the current era.

• They didn’t bathe often

How often do you wash your body each day? No matter what your answer it's likely to be more than the average individual in the medieval period.

They'd usually stay for at most a couple of days before having a bath. This may sound odd however it wasn't their fault.

The water supply was not always readily available which meant that one could not regularly bathe. In the end, lots of people would head to streams or lakes to clean themselves.

It was considered to be a risky sport particularly for people who weren't able to swim. Also, people would visit public baths.

• They shared bath water.

You're probably not going to wish to go to a medieval bathhouse.

The warm bath could be relaxing until you are aware of where the water originates from.

The bathhouses were heated by firewood. the water for guests.

The water supply was limited, when a guest completed their bath after which the next guest was in the bath without a change.

The process could continue for a couple of cycles. There are many people who could use the same bath at the same time.

Today's bathhouses aren't likely to need to worry about getting water that is clean, so you won't have to use the bath water of someone else.

• They used rivers as toilets.

If you do go back to the medieval times and you're there, avoid drinking out of rivers. They were bathrooms used by the public.

Without toilets in the water closet and running water the population had only a few choices.

A few households with high incomes have latrines while others took their poop in nearby lakes of water.

As you can imagine the water hygiene issue became an issue fairly quickly. The majority of the water bodies around were too filthy to drink.

So, what was the typical person in the medieval period consume?

It's true that they did not drink from lakes or ponds, as that could make them sick. Instead, they mostly chugged alcohol-based drinks.

Some writers from the 15th century advised pregnant women to consume wine in conjunction with water.

• Their houses had no concrete floors.

Straw, mixed with herbs, was scattered on the surface.

The smell would last for quite a while, however, cleaning was difficult since moisture and dirt could build up and give the whole house the smell of musty.

Additionally, straw floors made ideal places to hide for rodents and other insects.

The outbreak soon saw people seeking more comfortable flooring.

The popularity of wooden floors was due to the fact that they were easy to maintain. Rugs as well as animal hides or carpets on their wooden flooring.

Homes with more wealth had marble or clay floors.

• They emptied chamber pots in the streets.

There were chamber pots by their beds to flush themselves throughout the night.

The way they used the contents in the next day's time could cause you to shudder.

Residents would dump all the chamber contents onto their balconies onto the streets.

If you were walking around the streets, without paying pay attention, you could overlook the warning signs and then end up covered in urine from the night before.

In certain cities, people are known to throw their poop on their balconies, too.

The epidemic made us acquainted wearing masks on our faces on the streets, however during the medieval era the people wore nose bags to serve different purposes.

The waste that was thrown out into the streets will remain in the streets for a few days. The nosebags held flowers to assist people in dealing the smell.

• They didn’t wash their hands often.

You likely clean the hands more often than couple of times per every day, but this was not the norm during the medieval era.

Even today, people often take food and drink and eat without washing their hands. This is considered to be unsanitary.

In the absence of clean, fresh water, there were times when washing your hands was not an a possibility.

• They didn’t always use soap.

Even among those who washed the hands, all made use of soap.

They could splash around with a splash of water prior to washing their hands.

If someone was using soapat home, they likely not cleaning dirt for 20 minutes.

Even if the hands appear clean, they could have germs that can cause illness.

• They treated wounds with urine.

In the medieval era the people also utilized in the past, people also used urine to treat cuts and wounds that were open.

There are a few issues associated when using the treatment of urine.

It's not a 100% pure solution, but it contains tiny quantities of bacteria, which increase when stored.

The treatment of open wounds using stored urine can expose a patient to infections.

Luckily, thanks to the advancement of antiseptics, this shouldn't be an opportunity you should accept any longer.

There are a lot of interesting things to be learned from the medieval times.

While these methods may not be the most safe however, it's quite amazing to look at how we've come.

But it isn't a good idea to adhere to any of these medieval hygiene practices.