You might want to kick off your kicks before walking in
Does your house have a strict ‘no-shoe’-policy? Well, it turns out that transforming your house into a no shoe-zone might not be a bad idea. Even though some people prefer to keep their shoes on all day, it might be better to take your shoes off before walking into your house. Find out more below!
Outside
Think about it for a second: your shoes are the one thing separating your feet from the ground that you walk on. And the floors outside your house aren’t as clean as you would like them to be. This means that whenever you walk through dirt, step on trash or splash through puddles, all of that will stick to your shoes. The same shoes you use to parade around your house. And even if you don’t mind vacuuming every time you’ve been outside, it turns out that the soles of your favorite boots might be carrying a lot of unwanted guests inside your home too. The kind that can’t be spotted right away and that is a lot harder to clean up.
Bacteria
Research has shown that your shoes have a lot of bacteria on them. Researchers from the University of Arizona found that one of the bacteria present on your shoes is E.Coli. Yes, that’s the same kind of bacteria found in feces. The researchers gave a group of ten people a pair of brand new shoes. They had to walk in the shoes for two weeks. After that the soles of their shoes would be tested for bacteria.
It turns out that only after two weeks of being out and about, their shoes had 420.000 kinds of bacteria on them. Out of those 420.000, 27 percent was E.Coli. Researcher Dr. Charles Gerba explains: “The common occurrence (96 percent) of coliform and E. coli bacteria on the outside of the shoes indicates frequent contact with faecal material, which most likely originates from floors in public restrooms or contact with animal faecal material outdoors.” So your shoes carry around particles of other people’s body waste.
Indoors
That same research has shown that the bacteria on your shoes can stay there for a long time. Making it more likely that you’ll drag the bacteria inside your home. Onto your carpet. Or into the bedroom. This means that whenever you walk around the house bare foot after a day of wearing shoes inside, you’re stepping into all the fecal matter and bacteria that you left on that exact same floor the day before. This is especially concerning when you have small children crawling around on the floors. If they put their hands on a carpet that has had shoes on it moments before, those bacteria will transfer from their hands to their mouth within seconds. An invisible kind of dirty, but definitely not harmless.
But what about the people who don’t like to walk around the house bare feet? Even though it is not recommended to wear outside shoes inside of the house, you could invest in a pair of inside shoes or some warm, fuzzy slippers. Just make sure you keep those shoes inside; the streets are full of invisible little creatures that you don’t want to invite in. No matter how cold it is.
Also read: These are signs that you should replace your old shoes
Source: herfamily, Gotham footcare | Image: Unsplash, Diana Dima