When you walk barefoot, some important changes take place in your body. Because your feet are directly in contact with the ground, they are better able to sense what is happening with the underlying terrain. Not only can this improve balance but it can also help build strength in the feet. Interestingly, it can even reduce inflammation in the body and can help promote relaxation by stimulating the key reflexology points that lie on the bottom of your feet. This can have a dramatic impact on your health by reducing pain in your joints, improving your posture, increasing your mobility, and strengthening your body.

Going Barefoot Can Provide a Surprising Number of Health Benefits

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Once you start walking barefoot, you may find yourself feeling much more youthful. Sore feet, painful joints, and crippling back pain can make you feel much older than you really are. When all of this pain is relieved, it can make you feel young, healthy, and strong. This is true not only for your body but also for your mind. When you aren’t distracted by pain, it is much easier to focus on the world around you.

Below are some of the primary benefits associated with going barefoot:

Improved Balance

Walking barefoot puts your feet in direct contact with the ground. This makes it easier for the body’s vestibular system, which is the system responsible for balance, to build new connections. This can be particularly beneficial for seniors since accidental falls can be devastating for the elderly. If you cannot walk barefoot, you can find a variety of barefoot shoes that mimic going barefoot.

Stronger Feet and Legs

When you walk barefoot, your feet become stronger since they have to work harder to keep your body balanced. Additionally, your leg muscles also have to work a little bit harder. This can help tone and strengthen the muscles of your lower body.

Improved Foot Health

If you neglect the muscles in your feet, they will begin to atrophy. This can alter the way that you stand and walk, causing strain throughout your body. Once you start going barefoot, however, these muscles will become stronger, improving the way that you carry yourself and reducing strain on your body.

Strengthening the muscles of your feet can also help reduce common foot conditions such as foot neuromas and plantar fasciitis. Bunions, hammertoes, and other problems that are exacerbated by wearing shoes also will begin to heal. People who have arthritis in their feet may even notice that the condition is less painful once the muscles of the foot become stronger.

Improved Blood Flow

When you walk barefoot, it can increase blood flow to your feet and legs. This can help improve the overall health of your feet and can minimize soreness. It can also reduce the likelihood of developing varicose veins. If you can’t go barefoot all the time, then Earth Shoes offer a good alternative, allowing you the chance to gain many of the pros of wearing no shoes.

Improved Posture

Wearing shoes can negatively impact your posture, causing your pelvis to tilt. The soles of athletic shoes are generally thicker in the back than in the front. This can throw off the center of balance of the body. In order to maintain balance, you have to lean forward from your waist. This can put strain on the muscles in the backs of your legs as well as on all of the muscles in your back. It can even add strain to your neck and shoulder muscles. Along with that, it can also increase the impact on the joints of the body when running.

When you go barefoot, on the other hand, you have a much better sense of what is happening with your body. You can detect when you are leaning forward or when your posture isn’t as good as it should be. As you move around without shoes on, you will learn how to hold your body upright, improving your posture as a result. This can not only improve your appearance but it can also minimize the excess strain that poor posture can put on your body.

Improved Health In Children

Adults aren’t the only ones who can benefit from going barefoot. Today’s children are far more prone to experiencing problems with obesity than children were in the past. In some cases, this stems from the fact that the shoes that children are wearing are uncomfortable and cause pain. This can keep them from exercising. The problem is so prevalent, in fact, that the American Podiatric Medical Association has even begun recommending that children avoid wearing shoes for as long as they can since shoes have a tendency to cause the feet to become weak and deformed. Some of the country’s leading doctors even believe that going barefoot can help boost vital brain functions such as memory and concentration.

Lower Blood Pressure

Interestingly, when the nerve endings in your feet are stimulated, it can reduce high blood pressure. It has even been shown to minimize stress, reducing strain on the body’s parasympathetic nervous system.

Reduced Inflammation

One of the most interesting things about going barefoot is that it can minimize inflammation in the body. Over the past few decades, researchers have discovered that inflammation plays a key role in many different diseases ranging from Alzheimer’s and lupus to diabetes, heart disease, and MS. Walking or standing in bare feet, which is sometimes referred to as grounding, has been shown to reduce inflammation in the body, helping to promote better health. You can also find grounding shoes that allow this connection without going barefoot.

It is believed that the reduction in inflammation stems from the effect of the earth on free radicals in the body. Free radicals, which are the driving force behind inflammation, are positively charged. If too many free radicals build up inside the body, it can result in inflammation as well as damage to the cells of the body. You can also find anti-inflammatory supplements such as turmeric.

Interestingly, the earth itself is negatively charged. You can see this for yourself when you get a shock in the winter or by the fact that major appliances have to be grounded. The excess energy that builds up is discharged into the ground. The same holds true when you stand barefoot on the ground. The energy from free radicals in your body can be discharged into the earth.

Reflexology

In reflexology, it is believed that there are certain pressure points in the bottoms of the feet that can be used to relieve pain and inflammation throughout the body as well as to boost the immune system. Going barefoot can help stimulate these pressure points, having a positive impact on your health.