You Should Not Wear Shoes Inside The House, And Here Is Why

Feb 24, 2016 by apost team

Had a long day at work and you walk in all weary into your house, grab a beer from the fridge, get some nuts and sit on the sofa. And all this while you still have your shoes on? Sounds familiar?

It’s high time you break this habit. There are many cultures that consider it inauspicious to wear shoes inside the house. The majority of Asian cultures, in particular, the Japanese, take off their shoes when they get home, usually before they even enter the house. Have you ever found yourself wondering where this habit originated? The age-old custom has its roots in the ancient Japanese wisdom.

Researchers in the West are now beginning to see why this Japanese habit actually makes so much sense. A study conducted by the University of Houston, for example, found that 39% of footwear contains bacteria C. diff, a bacteria also known as Clostridium difficile which is resistant to various antibiotics and, as a result, poses a great hazard to public health.

This particular bacteria can cause diarrhea and other serious intestinal inflammations. The University of Arizona also conducted a similar study and identified nine distinct bacterias on the bottom of shoes. To paint a clear picture - those shoes you’ve had on all day long are filthier than a toilet seat! Yes! You read that right. A microbiologist at the University of Arizona, Dr. Charles Gerba, wanted to know how serious it really was and conducted another experiment.

Gerba’s experiment examined shoes that were only used for two weeks and identified 440,000 units of hazardous bacteria, which can lead to severe infections of the respiratory system, such as pneumonia.

Even though only four out of ten persons can be affected by Clostridium difficile, there are still multiple other bacterias that can pose a serious threat to your health. About 2 million bacteria per square inch can be detected on public bathroom floors.

So consider this: You step onto those bacteria with your shoes and then enter your house with the same shoes, still hosting those dangerous microorganisms on your soles. The whole thing becomes even more serious when you have children because they crawl or play on the floor - the same floor that you just stepped on with your bacteria infected shoes. For babies that are younger than 2 years, this can pose a serious danger as their immune system is not yet perfectly developed. Besides bacteria, studies also found various waste chemicals, germs and other pathogens.

So, break your habit and take off your shoes before entering your house or, at least, leave them right at the door. Don’t give those bacteria the chance to affect your health.

Share this article with your friends and family so that they too can inform themselves about the risks of wearing shoes inside of the house.

apost.com