The 5 seconds rule

Just a few weeks ago I happened to drop a chocolate sweetie on the floor in the med-school lecture theatre and, to great disbelief of some friends sitting around me, I picked it up and proceeded to eat it anyway.

“Eewww” and “Are you insane?” are possibly the nicest things I got told in that moment and I wondered “Insane? Why insane?” And so the 5 seconds rule came to mind… HA!
The 5 seconds rule states that it is safe to eat whatever bite fell on the ground if it hasn’t stayed there for longer than 5 seconds (presumably because bacteria, dust, mites and all other lurking and disgusting things haven’t had enough time to contaminate said bite).

Obviously pathogens attachment is instantaneous and brushing things off with my hands didn’t do much to limit the damage but now let’s be logical:

- my candy didn’t fall in the middle of the street (I got told that’s where bug gangs have the habit of congregating so beware!) so that wouldn’t be as safe as the med-school floor.
- though as a good “almost doctor” I do have the tendency to try and keep my hands clean, it’s not like they are the most hygienic place where a candy could ever end (you know, before I unwrapped my sweetie I lifted my backpack that was sitting on the floor, a street sidewalk precisely, so bug gangs may have been hitching a ride to school with me)
- I like to keep fit through a variety of activities and so I wanted my immune system to exercise a bit by giving him a challenge… (have some bugs, will ya?!)

Jokes aside, it is proven that a lot of those people who never stress their immune system a little will have the tendency of getting sicker than those who once in a while will indulge in a little “forbidden bite”.
Keeping everything as close to sterile as possible, as many people have now the tendency to do, could actually be more harmful than beneficial. One could get shielded form the most common forms of bacteria or viruses to then get rather sick fighting the infection of something that shouldn’t create too much trouble.

I’m not saying that unless what you have dropped on the floor it’s walking on its own is still edible, but certainly the 5 seconds rule (provided the environment it is applied to is considered “clean”) it is actually a very good and humorous way of helping our immune system to get some muscles and be better prepared for its duties.

Plus honestly, who would want to miss out on a chocolate sweetie?!? I just had to retrieve it!!!