Welcome to Paging Dr. Gupta. This is the place where we get to tackle the questions that matter the most to you, drawn straight from your daily lives. And I love this because I get to hear your voice, I get hear about your experience, and we bring your genuine concerns front and center. Kyra's here. Who do we have first?

Hey, Sanjay. So first up today, we have a listener who called in about diffusers and essential oils. I was very interested in this because I use my diffuser multiple times a week. And so selfishly, I just also need to know your take on this. Take a listen.

The diffusers that people have in our homes with all the essential oils, I recently went to a functional medicine doctor and they had that right next to me where I was sitting and it just kind of bothers me, but I'm not sure if the chemicals or the essential oil they're putting into the air are good for us or if they might be bad for us. I love your podcast. I always look forward to new episodes. Thank you so much.

Okay, thank you. You know, there is no doubt that these diffusers have become really popular. I know exactly what this listener is talking about. They are popular in the home. They are popular in public spaces. So if they are emitting irritating chemicals into the air, it could affect a lot of people. So we'll get to the answer right after break.

Ok to the question at hand, what exactly are diffusers putting into the air we breathe and is that bad for us? Well the answer, no surprise, is it depends. Let me back up for a second. Essential oils are often put into diffusors to create an atmosphere of calm and relaxation or to enhance mood. What are essential oils? Well they are typically concentrated plant extracts which are obtained by pressing or distilling a plant. But they also contain a unique composition of chemicals, including alcohols, aldehydes, esters, ethers, ketones, phenols, terpenes. All of those things contribute to the smell, so eucalyptus, for example, is going to definitely have a different makeup as compared to lavender. And not only do they vary from one plant to another, but they can even vary from plant to plant. Now, I think what you're asking about specifically is what these oils are emitting. And they do emit something known as volatile organic compounds, or VOCs. And that can have a harmful effect on the respiratory system. Volatile organic compounds, they are essentially gasses that are emitted into the air from products or processes. Studies have found, for example, that popular essential oils such as lavender, orange, rose, tea tree, eucalyptus, they can all release these VOCs into the air. More to the point, different people may be more or less sensitive to breathing in the compounds emitted by these essential oils. People with asthma and COPD, they're gonna be more susceptible, no surprise. Some people might experience an allergic reaction to a particular oil. And those symptoms can include coughing, nose and throat irritation, even shortness of breath. But the thing is, there's hardly any regulation around this, so reactions can be very different depending on the different type of plant oil or even from brand to brand. Sometimes secondary pollutants can be created when different types of oils are combined. Again, essential oils are not regulated in the United States, and that means we really don't know what exactly is in each bottle or if there might even be contaminants. There are ways to potentially use essential oils in diffusers in a safer way. Do follow the manufacturer's directions when using a diffuser. Critically important, make sure there's enough ventilation. And make sure you dilute the essential oil properly or put the recommended amount in the diffuser. Breathing in undiluted oils can almost certainly lead to irritation. And I also want to point out that diffusers are probably not the only problem. Burning incense, burning candles, those can also cause respiratory issues. And sometimes you might develop headaches or skin reactions and may not be able to but those things can be correlated as well. So if you notice a negative effect, stop, stop using the diffuser, stop using incense or the candle. I get it, I get that it can improve the mood, they smell nice, and for a lot of people they're probably not going to be a problem. But you don't want to do this in a small, unventilated room, and you do wanna follow those manufacturer's recommendations. Hope that helps. Up next, are you showering frequently enough?

Alright, I hear the pager going off. That can only mean it's time for the next question.

All right, switching gears, this next one is about hygiene. And I feel like everyone's wondered this at some point, but maybe doesn't ask it out loud, but this listener did. Take a listen.

Hey Sanjay, how often should you bathe? How often should your wash your hands? Please answer them on your shows.

Well, I think most of us shower probably once a day, but a lot of people have been asking, is that really necessary? And it turns out a lot of our hygiene habits are driven by culture, much more than health.

Almost all of it is cultural, social, psychological, personal preference, and that is not at all to belittle the importance of it. But if you look at the actual way many of those products are actually doing anything to prevent disease transmission, outside of washing your hands and actually making sure you don't have bodily fluids on you or blood or vomit or anything else that might to transmit disease. The rest of it is making you look and feel and smell good.

That's Dr. James Hamblin, he's a physician and a journalist that was on the podcast earlier this year. He wrote a whole book about hygiene called "Clean," and in it, he set out to challenge norms around showering. He even went years without using soap or shampoo to understand the science behind doing less to stay clean. So for sure, showering every day is not a medical necessity. If you like how it makes you feel, then great. But from a health standpoint, you don't have to. The real question then, I guess, when do you actually need soap?

It's an extremely valuable tool if you have grease on your hands, if you have really oily skin, but usually it's more the mechanical force that's doing most of the washing. So when you rub your hands together under water, you're getting a lot of that off the soap, especially, you know, you've got honey or motor oil on your hands, you need something to help break that sticky attachment to your skin, something like sweat will come off with water.

So what he's saying then is that for most days, a quick rinse is probably gonna do the job. But if there's grease or grime or things that don't wash off easily, then you wanna bring in the extra soap. Hand washing though, I think that's actually a different beast and that's where being intentional really matters.

I'm washing my hands after I use the bathroom because there's this evidence that we need to do this to, you know, remove any possible transmission of microbes that might happen during that time. But it's not hygiene to wash your hands every five minutes. There's no evidence that that would make you any healthier.

And when you do wash your hands, make sure you're doing it properly. Wash your hands for at least 20 seconds and make sure to wash your thumbs. It's amazing how many people forget to do that. Wash your hand with purpose before eating, after the bathroom, certainly when you're sick or if you have to come into contact with anything unhygienic. But you don't need to be scrubbing constantly. And the other thing, as a parent myself, I just wanna say that a little dirt isn't just okay, it's probably good.

You don't want to encase yourself in a bubble. And I know as a parent, you know, it's very easy to err on the side of protect, protect, keep everything away, you constantly clean the kid. It's just easier and simpler to think, let's err on this side of hygiene. But exposure is important too. You know, you are building essentially all these exposures in the same way that you want to expose a kid to arts and music. But a lot of people don't think that same way about just worldly exposures. So yeah, if the kid can pet a dog, if somebody else can, you know, hold your kid and give them a hug, I'm all for it. I think that's a valuable thing in the same way that, you know, trying to keep the kid away from somebody who's sneezing in their face is valuable.

'So don't stress if your kid plays in the yard or cuddles with a dog, that's actually part of building a healthy immune system. So here's the best takeaway: bathe as much as you like, but remember, that is mostly about culture and comfort more so than health. But when it comes to your hands, wash with intention. Thanks to everyone who sent in questions, I say this all the time, but it's true, the show would not exist without you, and I'm really glad you're part of it. If there's something health-related you've been wondering about, don't keep it to yourself, share it with us, record a voice memo, email it to AskSanjay@cnn.com or give us a call 470-396-0832 and leave a message. Thanks for listening. I'll be back on Friday.