By walking barefoot we experience multiple benefits that we don’t receive either at all or nearly as much by walking with shoes. Walking barefoot, also known as “earthing,” has gone from being a kooky counter culture trend, to a scientifically researched practice with a number of remarkable health advantages, such as increasing antioxidants, reducing inflammation, and improving sleep. Earthing is the first and quite influential benefit of walking barefoot, but there are many other benefits of walking barefoot as well. Such as:
Improving Sleep Quality
Our ancestors slept on the earth itself or close to the earth. By being grounded (otherwise known as earthing) it relieves tension and removes positive ions to make way for negative ions. Negative ions are relaxing and help you to improve sleep quality. Ever go swimming in the lake or ocean and slept great that night? or went swimming in the lake or ocean and walked barefoot on the sand that day? You were earthing in the water and on the sand and you slept better because of the negative ions flowing through your body. Walking barefoot helps to balance your circadian rhythm to give you better awake/asleep conscious awareness. The best rested people on the planet wake up with the sun and go to bed when the sun sets. It is a subconscious reminder of that ‘natural’ time to wake and sleep.
Balance Electrons & Influence The Brain
Our bodies are around 70% water and the more grounded we are in nature the more conductive and alive that water is in our entire body. Walking barefoot helps to create an ionic balance within our cells and tissue. Exercises with the most age and wisdom such as martial arts, yoga and tai chi are all done barefoot, do you wonder why? This helps us wire our brain to be on our feet at all times. When we walk with shoes we don’t “think on our feet” as much because we are somewhat disconnected from our feet. It helps to balance emotional and mental stability and well-being.
Develop & Increase Your Senses
Our cavemen ancestors walked on sand, grass, wood and pebbles. Because we wear shoes all the time we miss out on the sensory experiences involved in that process. Our feet when stimulated transmit that information to other ares of the body. There are multiple pressure points and nerve endings on the bottom of our feet that go unstimulated because of shoes. When we remove shoes we open up our sensory would and allow our nervous system to explore more.
When you walk barefoot you have to be more alert, aware and present in this moment because you have to watch where you’re walking. It takes walking subconsciously and makes it conscious again which makes you conscious and present which is a valuable gift. Walking barefoot also stimulates the nerves and pressure points on the bottom of the foot which can help to bring chi energy (life force) to different areas in the body associated with those pressure points on the bottom of your foot.
Improves Your Overall Posture
Our foot muscles are weaker than ever because of shoes and soft surfaces that don’t cause our feet to be flexible and strong like they once were. This leads to bad posture because we become reliant upon other muscles to do the job our feet are responsible for doing. Our weak feet can lead to bad posture which can lead to back pain, neck pain, even knee pain which is actually often caused from shoes that misplace your postural alignment. When we begin to walk barefoot, run, jog and play with just our feet we can begin to strengthen our ankles, feet and toes again which give us better balance, stability and posture.
