The Barefoot Breakdown

I LOVE warm weather. I love the extra hours of sunlight, the time spent outdoors, the smell of freshly cut grass. I love warm breezes and fresh produce from my garden. But most of all, I love being barefoot. I hate wearing socks, but I hate the discomfort and pressure of wearing shoes. I keep my house abnormally warm because I hate wearing shoes and socks. Even slippers are awfully constricting and they make my feet sweaty, although they are better than regular shoes.

When I was a kid, if it was warm we were barefoot most of the time. Indoors, outdoors, if we were in the yard we went sans shoes. We climbed trees, ran, jumped, and rode bikes barefoot. Other than a few splinters here and there, we didn't have any problems. If we had to wear shoes, a lot of the times, we wore sandals. Living in North Carolina, I could basically wear sandals from March to November, and only wore shoes if I was participating in sports or was in a dangerous environment (some kids had jungle gyms, we had the woods and swamps).

My dad would tell us stories about going to school barefoot, how he refused to wear them at all. He would leave them at the store at the end of his road, where the bus would pick him up and drop him off. My dad had no accidents or negative problems due to his barefoot-ness.

This morning I was watching Japanese tv. (Crazy, I know but I had very little energy.) There was a show on called Cool Japan, and they were focusing on footwear. One of the segments featured a school in which the dress code encouraged the children to go barefoot, and part of the curriculum focused on foot health and exercises. In a study done before the curriculum was implemented, they found that the majority of students had flat feet, were exceedingly tired, and could not stand up straight. When the students feet were printed, their entire foot was visible, but after several years of following the program, their footprints showed marked arches.

This got me thinking. What would happen if this were implemented in the US? Thanks to Google, I found this interesting site Why Barefoot Is Best. This has tips and tricks to help develop good foot and arch health.

Other things not mentioned:
You have 3 arches in each foot.
Limit the amount of time spent in heels.
Get properly fitted for shoes.
Wear shoes with good arch supports.
Massage the bottoms of sore feet with a tennis ball.
If you wear sandals, buy high-quality sandals with proper arch support. Reef sandals are my personal favorites. They were designed for people with high arches, and they mold to your feet over time. I've heard similar things about Rainbows, but I don't have personal experience with them.

To this day, I have very high arches. You should see my footprints on a pool deck. They look like this.