Taking shower too often (basically over-cleaning) can affect your immune system

Not bathing for a few days can leave you a bit smelly, but showering too often can actually do more harm than good. Study reveals that over-cleaning can damage the human microbiome.

If you think that taking shower everyday can keep you healthy and hygienic then give it a second thought, as a study reveals that over-cleaning can damage the human microbiome, thereby affecting the immune system, digestion and even heart.

Not bathing for a few days can leave you a bit smelly, but showering too often can actually do more harm than good, reports the Independent.

According to researchers from the Genetic Science Centre at the University of Utah, over-cleaning can damage the human microbiome - a collection of bacteria, viruses and other microbes that live in and on your body.

These are essential to our health and disrupting the microbial ecosystems can cause disease.

As a result, your immune system, digestions and even your heart could suffer.

The study of the Yanomami village in the Amazon revealed that people who lived there had a far richer community of microbes in their skin and “the highest diversity of bacteria and genetic functions ever reported in a human group.”

While the thought of giving up showering completely doesn’t sound too appealing, some people have given it a go.

Take James Hamblin, senior editor of ‘The Atlantic’, recorded his journey towards kicking cleaning all together.

“At first, I was an oily, smelly beast,” Hamblin wrote, but it wasn’t long before his body started to adjust.

“After a while... your ecosystem reaches a steady state and you stop smelling bad. I mean, you don’t smell like rosewater or Axe Body Spray, but you don’t smell like B.O., either,” Hamblin explained.