Your feet are likely an often ignored or under-cared-for part of your body – but when your feet have issues, you likely will very quickly realize the value of properly caring for your feet. No one likes dealing with foot fungus, foot smells, or blisters on their feet!
Daily Foot Hygiene
One of the most basic ways you can have good foot hygiene is to take the time to wash and then thoroughly dry your feet daily, which removes bacteria and dead skin. Simply standing in the shower is not enough to properly clean your feet.
After ensuring a proper foot wash, before you stick on any shoe, consider what type of socks you will wear. Socks that wick away moisture are very beneficial to an active person. There are different socks that may look best with your style or be beneficial for particular activities, such as no-show socks, low-cut compression socks, and full-length compression socks; thankfully, choosing a sock for its function does not mean that it has to lose its appeal stylistically.
Wearing Socks - The Key to Proper Foot Treatment
Socks not only prevent blisters, cuts, and tears, but also socks keep your feet dry. This in turn prevents the growth of foot fungus. Socks can also have other benefits, such as giving our feet extra cushioning for impact sports, or, in the case of compression socks, increasing blood flow. Socks also keep the lining of the shoe cleaner, which extends the life of the inside of the shoe, preventing smells and stains from overtaking the liner. Wearing your shoes even one time without socks risks starting the growth of fungus inside the shoe, as you may have experienced if you have ever tried this. Socks can help you avoid the recurrence of Athlete’s Foot and other fungus complexes.
Changing Your Socks As Needed
With wearing socks, ideally you should change them out for a clean pair twice a day if you wear socks the majority of time you are awake. If you work 8 or 9 hours a day, you could intentionally change your socks during your lunch break, for example. You can help yourself stick to this habit by taking extra socks with you to work. You may even want to change shoes into more breathable ones or just a pair that will be naturally cooler as it has yet to absorb your body heat.
Driving a car surprisingly makes your feet sweat, especially your pedal foot. Always pack a couple pairs of socks if you are driving for extended periods on a road trip or long commute. If you play a sport, switching your socks promptly after your cool down can aid in keeping your feet dry. If you already know your feet tend to sweat often, whether just naturally or also due to your activity level, you should plan on switching your socks even more often. After all, the bottom of the feet contain more sweat glands per square inch of skin than any other area of your body – that is, there are 125,000 sweat glands on each!
Choosing The Right Socks
Depending on your activity, you may desire a range of different socks. Perhaps you would like to wear a no-show sock for wearing flats, boat shoes, or loafers. Or, perhaps you’d like to wear low-cut compression socks with running shoes, work shoes, or cycling shoes to increase stamina, circulation, and recovery. Or, choose to wear full-length compression socks – which can be worn with a variety of shoes during a variety of activities and more importantly, full-length compression socks are the best way to promote stamina, improved blood circulation, and faster recovery.