I had been on about this for years. I am always barefoot other than at work or other public places where such practices are not so acceptable. This occurred to me years ago when learning how to avoid getting struck by lightning since us kids were often caught outside in Florida's afternoon summer thunderstorms. We were basically told to avoid trees, and open concrete slabs. Of course, this prompted the question. . .why? Well, then I learned about ground. Was shown the bronze rod that was driven into the earth outside the home, and how the house plumbing was also connected. That prompted even further curiosities, like, how those lightning protector spikes on the church building worked etc. My final question was, how come we don't see dead deer or wildlife all over the place with the amount of lightning we have here. That led to me realizing that every living thing but us, is barefoot. Still no real connection yet, but I was aware, at least.
Oddly enough, some years later I was working on a well pump and the woman who lived there was a very interesting person. She had flown planes for the military in WW2. Not as a fighter pilot, but to move them from one location to the other. Showed me photos of her adventures, medals she had gotten, and some rather famous people she had met. But the most striking thing was she was always barefoot. I thought it was some trivial garden therapy thing she did occasionally or something and I asked her, just to make conversation. She told me she did it because it kept her blood pressure down, and is why she was still so healthy, and how we are the only critter on the planet that insulates ourselves from it.
No real matter to me at any rate because I typically go barefoot anyway. Also, there is nothing better after a long day in work boots, than to get those toasters off and just stand barefoot on that cold terrazzo floor in my home. I can feel the cooling effect moving up my legs in just a few minutes. It's a most wonderful way to start the unwind process after being in what amounts to an oven all day, welding. Cold floor on the bottom, cold beer from the top. Done.
Then I ended up looking this up and was surprised to find there was some rather compelling research being done on the subject and some really interesting findings. Still, my friends think I'm crazy and call me a redneck and such, and my only reply to them being. . ."Perhaps, but you'll never see a barefoot cracker with yeller toenails," and this is true enough and as good a reason as any to kick off the foot armor whenever possible.
I turn myself into the saw-bone every few years and have a physical and bloodwork check. Mostly to see how I am doing as a preventative. My PCP is actually a nurse (very thorough) practitioner, and he's from Turkey. He's young enough to be open minded, and was impressed by my indoor greens garden, and other healthful pursuits. He even said, whatever you are doing, keep doing it. That at 60 years old, my bloodwork was exceptionally problem free, and that I was historically hovering around my ideal BMI. Then I told him I was always barefoot and grounded, along with a healthy, by now predominantly vegetable diet. I gave the brief about how all other living things are grounded so. . .why not? I mean, even if it sounds weird, it costs nothing and hurts nothing and feels good to me. My computer desk is grounded where I rest my feet, and my bed is too, so I even sleep grounded.
Then I come across this article that adds some qualified medical science to the issue, via a link that who of all people, my doctor sends to me. Via our brief conversation on the subject, he also was curious and looked into it. He tells me he is going to suggest it to his patients, with some of the other more holistic helpers he prescribes that usually go along with the medical treatments.
From the National Library of Medicine.
Multi-disciplinary research has revealed that electrically conductive contact of the human body with the surface of the Earth (grounding or earthing) produces intriguing effects on physiology and health. Such effects relate to inflammation, immune ...
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
"Grounding appears to improve sleep, normalize the day–night cortisol rhythm, reduce pain, reduce stress, shift the autonomic nervous system from sympathetic toward parasympathetic activation, increase heart rate variability, speed wound healing, and reduce blood viscosity. A summary has been published in the
Journal of Environmental and Public Health.
4"
Supposedly, inflammation, which is a root of, or symptomatic of many chronic diseases, supposedly cannot easily reside in a negatively charged body.