Many things that we do in life can contribute to increased or decreased exposure to microbes. I think a lot of what we do in life, while we do not think about it, has the potential to affect our microbial population in the body in immense ways. I think some of the behaviors that could contribute to decreased exposure to microbes are: being born via Cesarean-section (C-section), being formula fed as a baby, not playing outside in the dirt, no exposures to animals, homeschooling, and being born at home versus being born in a hospital.
I think that being born via C-section would decrease the exposure to microbes because you would not be exposed to the vaginal flora and are only somewhat exposed to microbes in the environment and on the skin of the mother. In learning more about C-sections we learned that the microbial flora in the baby related more towards the skin microflora versus vaginal birth microflora. I think that if born via C-section there are less microbes present on the skin than there are in the vaginal/birth canal which decreases the numbers of types of microbes that you are exposed to.
Formula-feeding as opposed to breast feeding would decrease the exposure to microbes as during breast-feeding you are exposed to the microbial flora that are transmitted via the breast milk of the mother. This means that when you are formula fed you receive less microbes and antibodies from the mother.
I think not playing outside affects the amount of microbes that you are exposed to because you are no longer getting the exposure to microbes that are found in the environment. Different microbes are found in the environment and in the dirt and if you are instead playing inside the number of microbes that you are exposed to decreases.
Decreased exposure to animals decreases the number of microbes that you are exposed to because animals carry different microbes in their bodies that can be transmitted to humans through exposure. If you do not have that exposure you have decreased amount of microbes that you are exposed to.
I think homeschooling would lead to decreased exposure as you are not exposed to the outside world as much. In this I mean you are not exposed to other people as much as you would be if you went to public school. Homeschooling could lead to decreased exposure to both bad and good microbes though.
Being born in your own house versus the hospital would also decrease the number of microbes that they are exposed to because there are a number of microbes that you could be exposed to at a hospital that you may not be exposed to elsewhere (whether this be good or bad microbes). The number of microbes that are in your house will also be different in microflora types than at the hospital.
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