Here Are The 9 Benefits Of Running Barefoot

Last Updated on January 7, 2021

When humans used to live back in primitive days in nature, wearing shoes or clothes was the least of their worries. They were busy looking for sources of nutrition and preys to hunt to survive. Now, as these things are commonly available, people’s attention is drawn to fashion.

They are obsessed with the latest clothing trends and the most recent fashion crazes. Sometimes, going back to the natural condition of primitive humans in its good and positive respects is beneficial.

To illustrate, instead of wearing your Nike sneakers, Gucci sneakers or Golden Goose sneakers and go out running, you can try barefoot running. This sounds a bit risky and crazy; people would think that you lost your mind, but who cares about what they say anyway.

The barefoot running benefits are just beyond expectation. Next time you decide to go on a morning run, trying going barefoot. The benefits of this exercise will double. Let us find out more!

#1 – Connectedness

Forget about buying expensive sports shoes from internationally popular shoe stores to go on a walk or run. Try shoeless running! Normally, going on an evening or morning run is a form of physical exercising that will help you build a strong body and welcome the fresh, clean and cool air to break into your lungs.

When you wear shoes, especially on the beach, the air is felt only on your face and other revealed parts, surely not your feet. But if you try the barefoot running technique, you will feel connected to the sky (air) and the ground without any barrier (shoes).

#2 – Have lighter strides

One of the major morning running tips is the adherence to the healthy and proper stride length when running. Having the right stride length improves the effectiveness of the entire running exercise.

If you run with your shoes on, you will not likely get the strides right. This way, you will be exerting more efforts and exhausting your feet and legs to make the right strides which you can’t feel any way because of the shoes.

Give running barefoot on the beach a try; you will notice that your strides are lighter and no pressure is exercised on the ankles, knees, and feet. Therefore, the effects of the barefoot running technique are noticeable.

#3 – Make the right landing

Having a proper sports clothing is not the end of the sports practice preparation. You need to understand few more things about running. One of the running integral details that you should be familiar with is the way your feet strike the ground in the course of running.

You might think that this makes no sense and no change, but it actually does. When you have shoes on while running, you tend to hit the ground with great strength. This puts a great amount of stress on the feet.

This is a heel-landing which is not favored. The proper way of striking the ground is landing on the front or middle of your feet; this is possible when you run barefoot.

#4 – Have a better posture

In addition to making the right landing to take your running exercise to the next level, being in a proper posture is also essential. This will contribute to making your running more effective.

When you run with shoes on, you cannot really tell whether you are in the right posture or not. But when you run barefoot, you get connected to the ground and maintain the proper posture.

In fact, you can easily feel if something is wrong in your posture thanks to the foot-ground contact. Go run on the beach barefoot to feel the energy of the sandy ground breaking into your body!

#5 – Feel freedom and liberty

To make your body strong and solid, it takes regular exercising, and to make your soul powerful and inspirational, it takes bonding with the elements of nature. Many people feel their souls as flying angels when they go for a run barefoot in the early morning hours.

The sun then would have just risen, the sky would be as clear as blue pearls, and you would be running barefoot freely. Running with shoes on gives the impression that your feet are trapped in those shoes and socks.

You would be better off without anything on your feet to feel every part of them. This liberating experience may be just what you need to start a happy day without needing any local therapists’ advice.

#6 – Mindfulness

We all can use a break from life traffic, not referring to death of course. Throughout this break, we would seek the peace of mind and pause that long documentary of psychological issues and loads of negative thoughts. That is what mindfulness works on.

This is a common practice that is interrelated with meditation and yoga in Eastern cultures. Mindfulness involves being connected to Mother Nature. The barefoot running technique is, in fact, peace of mind therapy.

When your foot touches the ground, all the sounds of the life’s hustle and bustle disappear in a blink of an eye. It is just you and…you!

#7 – Feel less stress in the joints, feet, and knees

If we are to compare the amount of stress to which parts of the knee, feet, and joints are subject when running with sneakers on with that stress level when running barefoot, a significant difference will be detected.

Studies reveal that your feet, joints, and knees experience less stress when exercising barefoot. In fact, the weight-shift tendency on the ankles occurs when running with shoes on. You will, therefore, experience ankle sprains and knee cap pain, likely caused by the heavy strides.

The effects might extend to include your leg muscles as well. If you run barefoot, you will maintain a healthy posture, make lighter strides and, therefore, put less weight and stress on the joints, feet, and knees.

#8 – Enjoy stronger feet

Shoes were indeed designed to protect our feet from any harmful material to come into contact with them. But this practical value of shoes faded over time; shoes have become a ‘distinguishing feature’ of the ‘rich’, ‘most fashionable folks’ and a sign of fake ‘civilization’.

This is all done at the expense of our health and well-being, in the sense that we would wear tight sneakers from famous brands to just show off. Meanwhile, our poor toes and feet are cramping. It is useful to forget about the non-sense of brands and run barefoot.

Running barefoot makes our feet stronger. Scientifically, wearing shoes constantly leads to the loss of feet tactile capacity and the weakening of muscles.

#9 – Help in money-saving

Open your shoe closet now, and tell us honestly how many sports shoes do you have from famous brands like Reebok, Nike Air, Adidas, and the likes? You must have spent a fortune on them.

Well, you cannot change much about your past spending, but you still can go for barefoot running instead of spending your next wage on needless sneakers or sport shoes.

At the end of each month, you would realize that you have saved a lot of money instead of buying fashion accessories that serve no practical purpose. Besides, the benefits of barefoot running, as presented above, are tempting enough to give the whole experience a try.

It must be noted that you should run barefoot in places where there is no risk of foot injury or bruise because of certain harmful and sharp items on the ground. If you decide to give this a try, let us know about your impression. Till then, goodbye!