Scientists explain why wearing shoes inside is just plain gross




If you step in something filthy or muddy (please pick up after your dog! ), you usually clean your shoes. But do you always take your shoes off at the door when you arrive home?

Numerous Australians do not. The last thing most people think about as they arrive home is what they bring in on the bottom of their shoes.

We are environmental chemists who have spent the last ten years researching the toxins that individuals are exposed to inside and in their own homes. The science points against de-shoeing in the house, despite the fact that our investigation of the interior environment through our DustSafe program is far from complete.

Leave your trash outside the door if possible.

How did the pollutants enter your house and what are they?

Since most of our time is spent inside, the decision of whether or not to wear shoes inside the house is not a simple one.

The outside environment's dangers to soil, air quality, and public health are often the focus of legislation. However, the issue of indoor air quality is gaining regulatory attention.

The debris accumulating within your house is made up of more than simply dust and filth from pet and human hair and skin shedders.

A third of it is brought in from the outside, either by wind or those repulsive shoe bottoms.

Some of the microbes found on shoes and floors are drug-resistant pathogens, including infectious agents (germs) linked with hospitals that are exceedingly challenging to treat.

You may start to see the dirt on your shoes in a different light after you consider the cancer-causing poisons found in asphalt road residue and endocrine-disrupting lawn pesticides.

A list of indoor dangers

Our study has included measuring and evaluating exposure to a variety of hazardous compounds present in houses, such as:

genes that withstand antibiotics (genes that make bacteria resistant to antibiotics)

Microplastics, perfluorinated chemicals (also known as PFAS or "forever chemicals" because of their propensity to persist in the body and not degrade), which are widely used in a variety of industrial, domestic, and food packaging products, disinfectant chemicals in the home environment, and radioactive elements.

Our study has placed a significant emphasis on determining the concentrations of potentially harmful metals (including arsenic, cadmium, and lead) in households across 35 countries (including Australia).

These pollutants are tasteless and colorless, with lead being the most hazardous neurotoxin. Therefore, it is impossible to determine if the risks of lead exposure simply exist in your soil or water pipes or also exist on your living room floor.

According to scientists, there is a significant correlation between the lead levels in your home and the soil around your yard.

Dirt from your yard, dirt from your shoes, and dirt from the furry paws of your darling pets are the most likely causes of this relationship.

This relationship highlights how important it is to ensure that material from your external environment remains precisely where it is (we have tips here).

Shoes in the house aren't always a negative thing, according to a recent Wall Street Journal story. The author argued that E. coli, a deadly bacteria that can grow in the intestines of many mammals, including people, is so broadly dispersed that it may be found almost everywhere. Therefore, it shouldn't come as a surprise that it may be swabbed on shoe bottoms (96% of shoe bottoms, according to the report).

Let's be clear, though. This is merely the bacteria connected to poop, despite the fact that it's good to sound scientific and use the word E. coli.

If we are exposed to it in excessive doses, whether it is Fido's or ours, it might make us extremely ill. And let's face it, it is simply downright disgusting.

Why wear shoes inside your home when you can remove them at the entrance, which is a very easy alternative?

Overall, going barefoot wins.

So, are there drawbacks to living in a shoe-free home?

From the perspective of environmental health, having a shoe-free home has little drawbacks except the occasional stubbled toe. Potentially dangerous viruses are also left behind when shoes are left on the entry mat.

We can all agree that prevention is always preferable than treatment, and many of us find that taking our shoes off at the entrance is a simple and effective preventative measure.

For foot support, do you need shoes? Simple—just have a pair of "inside shoes" that you never wear outside.

The "septic house syndrome," which refers to a rise in childhood allergies, is still a problem. Some claim it's because homes are too antiseptic.

Indeed, some dirt is probably advantageous since, according to research, it strengthens the immune system and lowers the risk of allergies.

However, there are cleaner and less revolting methods to do it than by wearing dirty shoes and wandering around inside. Get outside, go on a walk through the forest, and take in the scenery.

Just don't bring the dirtier portions of it inside where they can collect and pollute our houses.

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