Keeping shoes off inside a home can improve foot health and in general improve hygiene around the home. Taking shoes off inside the home doesn’t make you some sort of pedantic oddball, it’s more common to take them off than keep them on, the majority of people may find you weird for not removing them. 87% of Americans remove their shoes when entering a home, yet close to 50% won’t ask visitors to remove shoes leading to the misconception that people think they’re the only ones to go barefoot indoors or remove their shoes at the door.
Research shows that shoes are disgustingly dirty, a new pair of shoes can attract over 440,000 units of bacteria within just two weeks. Viruses thrive better on shoe bottoms then they do on toilet seats, let that sink in; most won’t touch a toilet seat for fear of picking up something yet it’s cleaner than shoe bottoms virus wise typically having 1,000 bacteria or less. Shoes are basically trojan horses heavy with viruses and bacteria being dragged all over the house.
Is it really bad to wear dirty shoes in the house? On clean tiles there is a 90% transfer rate from bacteria to the clean surface, carpeting has even more, you and family come into contact with multiple times daily, keep in mind how often children put their hands in their mouths. That means everyone in your home can possibly become exposed to bacteria that’s been picked up by a shoe from anywhere it has been, including that public restroom.
That awful feeling you get after you step in dog droppings as you sink in, and how quickly you want it off, it doesn’t all get removed. Studies show that there is always fecal matter on shoes, swabbing 26 shoes worn for three months, all but a single shoe were infected with coliform bacteria, which even alarmed the researchers as to how much fecal contamination was found.
Studies show that shoes have over time have mutated human feet as compared to groups from the past. Technological progress has made our feet worse off. Of modern humans Zulu participants have the healthiest feet, who are least likely to wear full closed in shoes and most likely go barefoot.
It’s not just the health threat, they are also noisy. Shoes are also horrible for flooring, especially wood or anything vaguely delicate. Shoes create scuffs, scratches, ding marks, and wear out carpeting faster. Why not switch to slippers, they are cleaner, quieter, and most times more comfy. Shoes are filthy, leave them at the door, and don’t track all that unwanted nastiness throughout the house, or at the very least switch to a pair of shoes that haven’t been worn outside of the home.
