Is there evidence that the over-avoidance of germs weakens our immune system? Or vice versa: Does the under-avoidance of germs strengthen our immune system?
For some reason I hold the opinion that the immune system needs to be kept busy so it wont get weak. Therefore using e.g. 99.99% sterile-making soaps is counter-intuitive, an letting your kids get low-risk childhood sicknesses like mumps, rubella or chickenpox is "training" their immune systems, thus good for them. Is there some scientific evidence that verifies or falsifies parts or all of theses assumptions?