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We all do our fair share of walking every day, don’t we? But, have you ever tried to lose those shoes and thought of walking barefoot and just feel the grass underneath your feet?
While this idea of barefoot walk might make you extremely conscious and intrigued at the same time, trust me, the benefits of walking barefoot not just affects your physical but mental health as well. Ranging from lifting up your spirits to actually boosting your immune system, this can actually help in multiple ways.
In this article, we are going to walk ourselves through the common health benefits of walking barefoot that might actually leave you astonished and gobsmacked at the end of it. Swipe up and get ready to sometimes let go off those shoes and feel the dews of the grass underneath your feet.
Check Out the Most Popular Benefits of Walking Barefoot
13 Benefits of Walking Barefoot
Not just that, even toddlers, when they start walking, are adviced to be completely barefoot because the interference of shoes often tends to hinder with how the toddler utilizes their muscles and bones.
Walking barefoot at home is not a very uncommon stance, but doing so outside, possibly in a calming environment during the dawn or dusk can be a magical experience.
If you are here to see through the effective benefits of going barefoot, hold tight and swipe up.
1. Walking Barefoot to Relieve Pain and Inflammation
One of the most uncommon yet effective benefits of walking barefoot relays to helping relieve excess back pain. Now, I am pretty sure you are here wondering, how does walking barefoot even correlate to back pain relief, right? Don’t worry, even I was.
When we wear shoes, the soled cushions of the shoes make our feet land on the ground at a slightly different angle than what it would normally have. While this slight difference might not feel like a lot in many cases, the same is very effective in inflicting negative impacts on the back, legs and the feet as well.
This is what often times contribute to back pain. If you are suffering from similar perception of pain on a daily basis, maybe, it is time to actually lose those shoes for some time throughout the day and enjoying the benefits of going barefoot.
Walking barefoot helps restore balance and straightens the posture which helps in relieving the pain and inflammation (R) that many people often feel in their back. Not just that, if you are suffering from feet pain because of the shoes, try and either switch up the shoes or go barefoot for a certain amount of time throughout the day.
2. Walking Barefoot for Curing Insomnia
Insomnia is a very common problem in our day to day life. While over the counter medications as well as other remedies provide with fruitful results, there are a few other factors that contribute to helping cure insomnia in a more natural way.
Grounding or earthing (R) as the process is called, is when we lose the restriction of shoes from our feet and walk barefoot on the ground. Experts suggest that the moment the feet touch the ground, the body undergoes instantaneous physiological changes to bring down the stress and exertion to calm the body which helps cure situations relating to insomnia.
It is believed that the earth surface or the ground acts as an antioxidant and helps neutralize the presence of free radicals in the body which causes destruction to the healthy cells in the body. Since the ground is negatively charged, it becomes effective for the body to lose those free radicals and actually help a person gain a good night’s sleep.
3. Walking Barefoot to Boost Immune System
Our body’s immune system is heavily dependent on our diet and lifestyle. We are either in a rush and flurry or else leading a completely inactive lifestyle. There’s literally no in between. Both of these lifestyles heavily affect our immune system.
An unexpected health benefit of barefoot walk is that it helps stimulate the nerve endings in the underside of the foot to send positive signals to the brain to insinuate it to boost the immune system (R) which is not often witnessed even with some of the most expensive over the counter medication.
Not just that, earthing even helps in getting rid of the excess free radicals from the body, thus boosting the overall immunity even further.
4. Walking Barefoot to Reduce the Risk of Heart Diseases
The benefits of walking barefoot have two approaches to keeping the risks of heart diseases at bay. Firstly, walking barefoot helps bring down the stress levels and calms down one’s mind which is beneficial for someone who suffers from hypertension.
That being said, barefoot walk also helps lower the blood viscosity (thickness of the blood) (R). The lower the viscosity, the more effortlessly the blood flows throughout the body. The steady flow of blood throughout the body helps in ensuring that the heart is supplied with the optimum levels of blood that it requires for its smooth functioning.
5. Walking Barefoot for Improving Nervous System
The much needed boost to the nervous system that we need once in a while can easily be gotten from the Earth itself. Grounding or earthing is an amazing way to calm the hyperactive nerves which can be a major contributing factor to one’s heightened levels of stress and anxiety.
As the earth carries negative charge, grounding and walking barefoot actually does help to get rid of the positive electromagnetic charge surrounding us, thus aiding in boosting and regulating the activity of the nervous system (R). This helps in boosting the overall blood circulation in the body, thus aiding ensuring the overall well being of an individual.
6. Walking Barefoot for Controlling Foot Position
For the majority of time, we don’t realize for a fact that there is a significant amount of difference in the foot position when we walk barefoot versus when we are walking with shoes on. You might not actually realize but the consistent of this often ends up affecting our foot posture, making it appear crooked and not normal, for the most part.
Walking barefoot for quite some time throughout the day ensures to put a halt to the consistent constrictions of the shoes and aids in ensuring that your feet are in a good position, rather than something else that leaves you walking funny.
Moreover, if you wear ill fitting shoes that are too small for your feet, it makes the condition even worse causing hammer toes and other foot deformities as well.
7. Walking Barefoot for Boosting Energy
There is not much evidence to back these claims up but these have had amazing results when people tried doing it on their own. It is believed that it is the calmness as well as the reduction of free radicals which helps in this process.
8. Walking Barefoot for Promoting Proprioception
Proprioception, in medical terms, is defined as form of sense of orientation of your own body in relation to the environment. In simpler terms, it is the feeling which lets you subconsciously know and feel where your body parts are, be it limbs, eyes or anything else.
One of the amazing health benefits of walking barefoot is in the fact that it helps in bettering the sense of proprioception. It is believed that it is everything because of the earthing that helps in enhancing these subtle sub-conscious senses.
9. Walking Barefoot for Helping Lower Blood Pressure
The reduced levels of stress in the body directly contribute to helping with hypertension. The reduced levels of stress ensure to improve the overall blood circulation, thus leveling down the blood pressure in the meanwhile as well. If you have been suffering from persistent signs of hypertension, try and switch up your daily activities and include at least 15-20 minutes of barefoot walk.
10. Walking Barefoot for Hormonal and Menstrual Symptoms
The whole array of menstrual problems primarily arises from altered production and secretion of hormones. If you have been here suffering from similar signs and symptoms related to hormones and in turn the menstrual cycle, walking barefoot can actually help with the problems.
It is witnessed that one of the primary factors that is reflected from menstrual cramps is the inception of stress which more often than not, tends to make the situation even worse. The benefits of walking barefoot are that it actually does help in bringing down the pain that is felt because of the cramps. The best part of it all is that it calms the mind completely and helps you focus on things that are important.
11. Walking Barefoot Helps Loosen Stiff Muscles
A preliminary study has claimed that the process of earthing is actually very helpful in getting rid of the excess stiffness that one experiences after any form of extended physical activity. It brings back the soothing and calming feel which extends to the joints and the muscles as well.
Not just that, even the regulated activity of the nervous system as well as the enhanced amount of blood circulation plays out its card in this regard. With that being said, it is also very beneficial in treating signs of migraine which is caused because of excess exposure to radiation. Earthing helps get rid of it as well, thus boosting the recovery process in the meanwhile.
12. Walking Barefoot to Normalise Biological Rhythms
Earthing or the barefoot walk helps in restoring the normal sleeping patterns in an individual and helps in regulation of the circadian rhythms of the body. There are a number of contributing factors that affect the overall sleep cycle but with a barefoot walk in the mornings, the same is regulated and affected to change for the better.
It is believed that the negative charge in the Earth help neutralize any kind of positive electromagnetic waves in the body that could be hampering our body’s overall well being.
13. Walking Barefoot for Better Eyesight
Potential Dangers of Walking Barefoot
When you are walking barefoot at home, the scenarios are different but when the same is done outside of the comfort of one’s home, that is when everything changes and you are subjected to possible threats that could be ghastly if left just as it is.
Some of the potential dangers of barefoot walk include:
- There are possibilities of injury if you have not walked barefoot for quite a long stretch of time. There are possibilities that one wrong footing can make your tumble down, thereby ending up injuring you. If you are starting out the whole walking barefoot thing, make sure that you start with doing so in places that don’t have hard rock roads or gravel paths. Start with beaches or parks that are spread with grass.
- Walking barefoot is something that can be mentally very relaxing but if you are someone who suffers from diabetes, this might not be the very best option at hand, primarily because of the fact that foot care is one of the most important parts of diabetes treatment. Any kind of complications with the feet often times end up causing even more problems for the patients with diabetes.
- Possibility of contracting harmful bacteria and germs is also very high outside. It is thus very important that you consider the kind of place that you walk barefoot on. Choose somewhere that’s considerably clean and if that’s not completely possible, make sure that you wash your feet thoroughly after coming back from the walk. That would help wash off any kind of germs or bacteria that could cause infection at a later date.
Walking barefoot is not just an experience but something that helps boost your mental and physical health simultaneously. If you have been indulging in some morning walk, try and separate at least 10-15 minutes of barefoot walking that would help your body feel fresh, energised and rejuvenated.
