What will you do without your feet? We take them for granted, but they work hard each day. You run, walk, skip and jump using them, so if you think about it they really work hard and will sweat ... and even sometimes smell less fresh...
You have maybe been in a situation where you take off your shoes after a long day and your family or friends in the car or house moan and want to know what is that smell and you have to admit it is your feet .... embarrassing...
Bacteria can be blamed for the terrible smell that comes from your feet or shoes when you have been wearing it all day and your shoes has gotten sweaty. The bacteria love to live in the warm dark places of your shoes and feet and the more sweat there is, the more they will multiply. So if you wear your sneakers without socks, they will go to town....
Most people will only have a little bit of smelly feet once they are sweaty, but will go away after they washed their feet, but there are some people for whom this is a constant problem.
And for 10% to 15% of people, the smell is really bad. Why? Because their feet are extra sweaty and become home to bacteria called Kyetococcus sedentarius (say: kite-oh-KAH-kus SEH-den-tair-ee-us).These bacteria produce more than just stinky organic acids — they also produce stuff called volatile sulfur compounds. Sulfur compounds usually are powerful and awful smelling. If you've ever smelled a rotten egg, you know what volatile sulfur compounds smell like.
You can get some more information on your 'smelly feet' here.
Now that you know what causes the smell on your feet, I guess you would like to know what you can do about it, or how you can prevent it
- the most obvious one will be to keep your feet clean. You have to bath or shower at least once a day and use soap and water to scrub your feet. Just soaking in the bath is not going to help a lot. It is also very important to dry your feet properly once you are done - remember the bacteria like the dark and damp areas.
- if you are wearing shoes that do not fit properly and are to tight, your feet will sweat even more, which in turn will give more chances for bacteria to multiply.
- you will find that if you wear socks that are made from cotton or specially made for athletes to absorb the sweat, your feet will stay 'fresher'.
- in the same way that antiperspirant helps you to sweat less under your arms, will it also help if you put it on your feet
- there are also special sprays or powders that you can buy at the shop to put on your feet or in your shoes.
- every now and then you can wash your sneakers, just make sure you let them dry properly before you wear them, because wearing wet shoes and then having your feet sweat, is a bad combination.
- every now and then it is a good idea to walk barefoot - not all people like this, but it is a good time to 'give your feet some air'. If you do not like walking barefoot, at least sleep without socks. That will also help.
There are quite a lot of home remedies that you can try, but if none of these work and your foot odor is really becoming a problem, you would want to see the doctor, that he can give you special meds for your problem.
It can be quite embarrassing to take off your shoes and you see everybody's noses wiggling and you know that your feet are the cause of it....
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