alt Hacker NewsDid you know that walking barefoot in the Southern US was how most people contracted hookworm? At is height an estimated 40% of the population in certain regions had the parasite which was know to cause a "mental haze". Some historians attribute the disease (again, contracted by walking barefoot outdoors) to have caused the stereotype of the "lazy slow southerner" [1].
Do you feel walking barefoot is worth the risk of catching this and other potentially hazardous diseases?
[1] https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/how-a-worm-gave-the-so...
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You can get most of the benefits of walking barefoot without the hookworm by wearing a good pair of barefoot shoes. I personally love my Xero Prios. If you want the full experience at the expense of looking like a freak, you can get those Vibram Five Fingers toe shoes.
But also, hookworm infections are known to suppress allergies and asthma, help inflammatory bowl disease, and improve insulin resistance in people with type 2 diabetes.
It's also a likely contender for contributing to the spread of what people thought was smallpox after the arrival of Europeans to what became the U.S
Those people were walking barefoot near an unsanitary latrine. Is there a lot of human feces where you might walk barefoot? If not, you don't really have to worry about hook worm.
How did the southern US solve this issue? They just started building their latrines deeper.
One could wear barefoot shoes. Not that they are exactly the same as walking barefoot. They are still shoes! But a good compromise.
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Are you walking on human feces a lot? Hook work was a problem because of a huge lack of sanitary conditions. Less about being barefoot. Would I walk around barefoot in my yard? Absolutely.