Boost your intelligence? Take off your shoes.

Boost your intelligence? Take off your shoes.(joshwhiton.com)

35 points by aspirant 14 years ago | 17 comments

wccrawford 14 years ago |

And then he stepped on glass, a rusty nail, got ring-worm, and several diseases that he doesn't know the names of yet. But he will.

That's how I think the story will end. Shoes were made to protect our feet and they've lasted for a reason.

I go barefoot whenever I can, but that doesn't include uncontrolled environments.

Also, I wonder if the shop owner would have let him in just having shown the shoes and shirt... The signs usually say you have to have them, not that you have to -wear- them. ;)

pavel_lishin 14 years ago | |

I wonder how the shop owner felt about him washing his feet in this bathroom.

darklajid 14 years ago |

I recently (after my move to TLV) bought me a pair of these Vibram (five finger?) toe thingies. Yes, if you try them in the store and are used to ~30~ years of wearing regular shoes, they are 'funny' at first. What a surprise..

I still bought them, convinced myself that I'd give them a decent try and at least wear them on the awful hot beach or something if they suck completely.

I love them. I only wear regular shoes now on rare occasions. The first two days were a constant source of laughter and I tried to walk on every type of ground (and - stuff) I could find. Childish? Hell yes, but fun!

Now they are comfortable like no pair of shoes that I owned before. While having no proof I do believe that I walk more straight with them and you relearn to roll your foot instead of stomping around.

If anyone wants to try this experiment and thinks about shoes like this: Don't give up after 5 minutes in the shop..

joshkaufman 14 years ago | |

Agreed. My story is similar, with a medical twist: years of chronic lower back pain disappeared once I stopped wearing "normal" shoes.

If Vibram ever makes a shiny black leather version, I won't have to wear anything else.

rbrcurtis 14 years ago | | |

I use my vibrams primarily for running and have also found that my knee problems have almost completely vanished since I started running in them.

eof 14 years ago |

Not sure if it boosts your intelligence; I am an avid barefoot walker. City streets, the woods; pretty much anything other than screaming-hot blacktop.

It feels good; your feet get accustomed to it pretty quickly. The OP mentioned his eyes were really needed to watch where his feet were going, but if he keeps up this habit this won't be the case near as much.

Small bits of broken glass or things like this will tear through most tender footed westerners, but just a few dozen miles over a few weeks barefoot will toughen up your feet very quickly so that gravel and tiny-sharp things won't bother you at all.

I just feel 'better' with barefeet. After the winter, and I can take my shoes off and rub them in the grass, after so little stimulation; it's nearly orgasmic.

Increased awareness with barefeet? Likely. Intelligence.. mm not so much.

pavel_lishin 14 years ago | |

I live in New York. About a month ago, I watched a barefoot guy try to walk through Hell's Kitchen. I looked away for about a minute, and when I glanced back, his friends were bringing him napkins to cover the huge bleeding gash in his foot.

Sure, he could have watched where he was going and made sure his soles were tough. I'd just rather minimize the chances of stepping on a sharp chunk of metal, or a syringe. I think I'm at my smartest when I'm not worrying about tetanus.

dev1n 14 years ago |

I went running barefoot a few weeks ago. It was an amazing sensation and the best run I'd had in a long time. I went significantly faster too, which I suppose can be attributed to the lack of weight wearing shoes brings. It just felt awesome. That following week, I went running through the same course. Not over a quarter mile into it did I manage to step on a bee. The course I run on is grass and a little pebble-y. My foot is still recovering somewhat. Going barefoot is definitely something everyone should do once in a while. Makes you feel more human. Don't quite know how it made me more intelligent but running and exercise generally release endorphins which make you feel better so I suppose it's possible you could "feel" more intelligent after spending an afternoon barefooted.

eru 14 years ago | |

Was it your first run barefooted? Did you get sore calves?

dev1n 14 years ago | | |

I've done sprints barefooted before for cross-country practice but yes. It was my first distance run barefooted. It definitely worked my muscles differently than when I ran with shoes.

RobertHubert 14 years ago |

Funny the things we forget about... I wonder what other of our body parts are missing out on some extreme sensory experiences. What about our brain? Can we get this type of increased stimulation directly into our heads? I think perhaps video games did this job when they were new. New exciting activities can perhaps help (sky diving, racing a car, etc).

brd 14 years ago |

"It was a little more like being barefoot than regular shoes but was way more like being in shoes than being barefooted."

I'm a big fan of VFFS (vibram five finger shoes) and I can attest that you can feel terrain changes through vibrams, this also means that you will watch where you step to avoid the occasional large rock, etc which can be extremely uncomfortable.

Barefoot shoes provide much of the positives highlighted in this article while dramatically reducing your exposure to the perils of walking barefoot, I'd recommend the author give them another chance.

ChuckMcM 14 years ago | |

I like the juxtaposition of these Vibram shoes as a fashion fad and the old Doc Martens boot fad (which seems about as opposite a direction as you can get, perhaps you could go all out and get steel toed but still)

My feeling is that we cut of sensory inputs as a defensive mechanism, fewer sensor inputs, more cycles to focus on our thinking. And yet when we're 'not' thinking we don't necessarily un-block those inputs. One of the engineers at NetApp was well known for walking around in socks all the time. I always attributed it to his scottish ancestry and not wanting to put excess wear on a perfectly good pair of shoes, but perhaps he was ahead of his tims in this foot thing :-)

RobertHubert 14 years ago | | |

How about steel-toed five fingered shoes?

nowarninglabel 14 years ago |

Did this earlier this year: http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com/

It's something to try every once in a while for a change of pace.

r00fus 14 years ago |

All of this is nice, but as someone who has flat feet, walking without (orthotic enhanced) shoes on pavement for any extended period results in pain at the end of the day.

wallflower 14 years ago |

> Hot pavement. Hmm… increasingly hot the longer I stand still.

Is this a case of mind over body? When on vacation, going barefoot to the beach, the short blacktop pavement crossings make me feel like I am burning my feet.