Barefoot health - Pros and Cons?
So today I went for a walk around my estate. I'd been barefoot all day and didn't see the need to put on shoes and socks for ten minutes of fresh air so I went barefoot. It was a little rough on the pavement first but after a little while it felt good. I did get one or two funny looks but that didn't really bother me. But when I got home my girlfriend, who is a nurse (albeit psychiatric), started telling me how unhygenic it was.
So, I was wondering, could a few of you generous people offer me some of the health benefits and detriments to keeping your feet naked in the average outdoors?
My opinion is there is nothing inherently wrong with going barefoot. As a kid I spent many summers being mostly barefoot. While I don't believe I have a problem with them, my arches are somewhat lower than normal. Therefore shoes with high arch supports are painful for me to wear. This includes most running shoes.
The only other problem with being barefoot is the occasional thorn or small cuts one receives. These cuts are subject to infection. The worst problem I ever had was the a small piece of clear glass got embedded in my foot. It was very painful and not easily seen for removal.
When watching the TV show "Naked and Afraid", I always wonder why foot protection isn't one of the first things that they would try to achieve. For me, I believe that this would be my first goal.
Interesting how your girlfriend would say that, but my wife is also in the health care field, and she seems OK with bare feet outside, as long as it is on our own property.
Sure, you could get a cut, and it could get infected. What are the odds? You could step on a nail with sneakers and socks on and still get an infection.
Growing up, I don't remember wearing shoes except to school (this was the 1980's). I do remember some kids in school not wearing shoes, even in high school. Nobody seemed to care much.
One time, I was wearing shorts at work I had to walk through a bunch of tall weeds to work on some utility apparatus, and my socks got absolutely saturated with stickers. I was unbearable. So, I just decided to lose the socks and shoes for the rest of the day. I stopped at the post office on the way home and just as I got out of the truck and my feet hit the parking lot, THAT was when I remembered I didn't have shoes on. I thought, "Uh-oh. My feet are going to get crap all over them." I went ahead and did the post office errand and got back in the truck. Nobody in the post office said a word. And, to my amazement, my feet were not dirty. What a relief! I can't stand it when my feet get dirty.
I've been an active barefooted for decades and the warm moist interior of shoes is way worse than the bare ground. There is really no evidence of hygiene issues going barefoot. Now if we're talking areas with possible discarded needles or human waste then definitely armor the paws! Outside in nature is no issue, shoes just became a "thing" after the plagues in Europe, middle ages. The human foot is just as functional now as the thousands of years before the WordPress use of shoes. Arches are supported by muscles, how go we strethen muscles?, use them! Just like we don't spend too much time in the sun until the tan sets in, we need to expose our feet to gain the toughness to be comfortable, then it's just natural. When walking barefoot, we are aware of where we place our feet and we don't step on all the junk that we do when wearing protection. It's not looking ate the ground as much as just awareness. Google, "shoes are not paleo " for an interesting read on bacteria transfer and health. Also " zero shoes" for info on barefoot running, talking super marathons here! Also the barefoot society. Being barefoot in nature is a very sensual experience, we like to be nude to feel the sun, wind and rain. Bare your feet and feel all the textures of the world! All the people who tell you how uncomfortable it is, have never really DONEIT!
It's been proven that going barefoot increases the mental activity and we do better on tests. Students should run around barefoot and get plenty of exercise while they study. It's also been proven that going barefoot in a blackberry patch is a bad idea. I wear shoes for protection from thorns mostly which we have an endless supply of. Grew up going barefoot spring through fall full time, 1970's, southern climate, and we didn't have much money.
I hear you on the briars, almost as bad as wild roses! Just like clothes, i wear what's needed to be comfortable. I wear minimalist shoes/sandles when hiking in the dark, around BlackBerry briars , poison ivy and when I can't see where my feet are landing. Just like wearing a coat in the winter.
Reuben, check out the DIY zeros , sole protection but you can still feel the ground contours. Love mine, and my wife is beginning to accept being seen with me wearing them :)
The zero looks good, might try them someday. I usually need more than the normal sandals for constant walking on the rough terrain of our mountainside land, I like the shoe type sandals, has a toe box and more sideways support than a sandal but has gaps in to to let dirt and water in and out. Does let a thorn in occasionally but not too bad.
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