Did you know the 1 June is National Go Barefoot day?! 👣
Within our feet we have 26 bones, 33 joints, and more than 100 muscles, tendons and ligaments. They're a pretty strong and complex part of the body!
Here are five reasons getting your feet out is good for you:
1. The feet are sensory rich, assessing and responding to the forces from the ground and providing proprioceptive feedback to the brain. (Proprioception can be defined as your internal perception of where your body is in space.) Many shoes inhibit the sensory nerves in the feet, going barefoot helps restore this awareness and improves foot mechanics and balance.
2. Walking barefoot strengthens and stretches the muscles, tendons and ligaments in your feet, ankles and calves. This helps prevent injury, knee strain and back problems. It will also work muscles not used when you’re wearing shoes, and can activate your core, helping keep your posture upright.
3. Going barefoot outdoors allows you to connect better into the ground. Being in touch with the ground outdoors can have many benefits, some of which affect the nervous system, sleep and inflammation. The earth has a negative ionic charge and going barefoot grounds our bodies to that charge and can positively affect the functioning of our systems within our body.
4. It encourages mindfulness. It’s hard not to pay attention to every step when you’re walking barefoot. You have to be on the look out for anything that might be painful to step on! Awareness of how you are walking in the moment helps to silence your inner dialogue and clears your mind helping focus you on the here and now.
5. Being barefoot allows you to connect with Mother Nature. Feel the sunshine on your face, hear the wind in the trees, feel the sand between your toes, whatever it may be! Getting back to nature can be so beneficial for health and wellbeing, we can all do with some fresh air and a little vitamin D!
Take some time this weekend and walk around your garden or if you are still away for the half term head to the beach without your shoes on and see how amazing it feels!
References:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foot
2. https://www.facebook.com/DanielleWhiteUK1/posts/2091097324463148
3. https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4369/7-Health-Benefits-of-Going-Barefoot-Outside.html