Introduction

Hi there, welcome back to Practically Happy. This is episode number 276. Bare Essentials: Surprising Benefits of Getting Naked. I’m really excited to share some of the evidence-based benefits of spending more time in your birthday suit.

If the idea of spending time in the nude makes you cringe a little bit, you wouldn’t be alone. I read an article in the New York Times a couple weeks ago that prompted an Instagram poll that I shared on my Instagram page about people’s comfort level with being naked. The article that I read is in the New York Times. It’s called Naked with Strangers: In Europe, it’s How You Relax at the Spa.

The European author who wrote this article, Valeria Safranova, spent time soaking in different spas as she was collecting data and looking at research for her piece. I thought this article was so fun to read because I’ve had a conversation about the idea of spending time naked, both being naked and comfortable naked by yourself, as well as being nude in the company of strangers and friends in designated locations like spas and saunas.

There has been mixed reactions to this conversation. I read the article. I pulled a quote from it to share on Instagram. I’m going to share that with you right now and then share the results of this poll.

The quote says, “In a number of studies, Dr. West and his team found that being naked around others can increase your self-confidence and life satisfaction.”

That’s a quote straight from the article. I’ll link the article in the show notes today, if you want to look at the whole thing. That quote resonates with me. I feel like my self-confidence and life satisfaction has increased as a result of spending intentional time in my birthday suit. And so, I was curious what my audience thought.

I shared this poll that said, “Thoughts on being naked with other people?” There were four options to choose in the poll.

One was yes, I’m good with it.

The next one was, I don’t even like being naked alone.

The third was, depends on the people and situation.

And the fourth was, maybe friends, never strangers.

I had 697 responses to this poll.

And 14%, that’s only 96 votes, said yes, I’m good with it. 40% the majority said, I don’t even like being naked alone. 37% said depends on the people or situation. And then 10% said, maybe friends, never strangers.

I did have a handful of people, not one, three or four people reached out and said, how they would be okay with strangers never friends.

That level of, emotional connectedness in addition to being naked would probably be too much, but I could probably do it with strangers instead of friends.

I’m curious as you’re listening what your thoughts are. Would you be in the yes, I’m good with it category?

Would you align with the majority saying, I don’t really want to be naked even by myself?

Do you feel like it depends on the situation, and maybe friends never strangers, or maybe strangers and never friends?

I thought it was fascinating that 40 percent of the respondents, so that’s almost 300 people, said that they were not interested in being naked even by themselves, that they don’t like being naked.

I think the term for this is “never-nude”. You want to be always clothed and covered for your comfort level.

What I find so interesting about this idea, and it’s not uncommon, I know a lot of people who feel this way, who have a real discomfort with their bodies and with being unclothed.

Naked is Natural

The thing that seems so interesting to me about this is that we can’t avoid being naked at some point. That is the natural state of ourselves. All our layers gone, underclothing, like we are naked before anything else. We have to add something in order to avoid that state.

And the idea of being inherently uncomfortable in this most natural of states with our bodies seems a little heartbreaking to me, that so many people feel uncomfortable with just the fully natural pieces of themselves.

Of course, a lot of this is contributed to by cultural norms and societal expectations and the way that we talk about and look at and manipulate the idea of bodies out of their natural state into something that is supposed to mean something rather than just be who we are.

And that’s why this research is so interesting to me.

Nude bodies with our own bodies as they are, unclothed, just raw, natural bodies is correlated to our level of self-confidence and our level of life satisfaction. The more comfortable we can get with our bodies, the more comfortable we can be with ourselves.

In today’s episode, I’m going to share about my personal relationship with nudity and I think some of the scaffolding that built it, as well as some research about the benefits of being bare.

Life Lately:

First, I want to start with a quick Life Lately segment.

Lots of Landscaping

The main thing occupying most of my free time and brain space right now is nudity. The yard, the garden, the landscape. As soon as it started getting sunnier and warmer, earlier this year, in February, is when my first crocus poked its little flowery head above the mulch.

Now my entire front walk is lined with daffodils and crocus and hyacinth. The tulip leaves are starting to come up. I haven’t seen a tulip before. Bud or bloom yet. And I also planted some ranunculus, which I’d never planted before. And so I’m curious to see how those do.

All of these bulbs went in months ago in November is when I put about two or 300 bulbs in the ground along my front walk, just as like a wish and a prayer and a hope for spring. It has flowered so beautifully.

I am happy walking up and down my little sidewalk from the car. Every time I open my front door and I’m just greeted by this walkway of blossoms. It’s been really wonderful. And I think has put a little fire under me about how fun it is to love my yard.

We live in the city. We live on a very small lot. It’s probably a tenth of an acre. There’s not a whole lot of yard to work with. What we did in our last house is where I see us going this time, just sectioning off a little tiny piece at a time that we can really pour some love and focus into. Then, putting a pin in it until the next season.

So far this year, I’ve planted all along my front walk. Along the edge of my house, there’s full shade planters because we’re only about eight feet from the house next to us. And so that little alleyway is mostly shady. I planted a bunch of full shade bulbs and we’ll see how they do.

They haven’t started coming up yet, but a bunch of Hosta and some fern, and there were a couple kinds of little flowering things that. We’ll see if they grow with flowers. That’ll be really fun. I also, along my shed in the back, decided that I wanted to have a little garden bed in front of the shed, almost like it’s own little front walk planters.

If you had been following along on Instagram, you may have seen that I planted, I dug out, lawn in order to create this garden bed. And so it took a little while to the actual lawn goes deep. It was like four or five inches down. I’m digging this out, filling it in with some new dirt. I planted about 10 peony bulbs.

I planted some Dahlias and then I scattered poppy seeds for some beautiful fluttery poppies to come up. Then it rained. Initially, looking at the forecast I thought, this will be perfect. I’ll get all these in the ground before it rains. And it rained and basically turned that half of my yard into a swamp.

I didn’t realize how much the grade affected the drainage. Everything in the yard goes down and just basically sits right there where I had planted these flowers. They don’t want to be underwater peonies especially, and dahlias, they like draining soil. I waited until it got dry again, a couple of days of rain.

Turned this into a lake and then I waited for it to dry out a little bit and went ahead and built some raised beds right along the front of the shed.

I just used these simple kits from Home Depot. They were about $60 each and enabled me to get an 8-inch rise from the ground level. I filled it in with planting soil, replanted all of the bulbs that I could find.

All four of the Dahlias that I planted disappeared. They sunk or they floated away to a different part of the yard.

When I went to the nursery to buy new ones, they said it’ll be fun to see if they pop up and where like it might be a treasure hunt in the summer to see if we have random dahlias growing somewhere else.

All this work has just felt so fulfilling to me. I talked to my sister often, my older sister, she has a huge, gorgeous yard. She said, Oh, I really wish that I liked gardening like you do, because I have this big yard to maintain and she just doesn’t love it. And I love it.

If you love gardening, maybe it’s fun to hear a little bit about our gardening adventures. We live in the South. I know that a lot of places in the country, it’s still not super warm. If you’re further North or it’s still a little bit cold where you are and you’re waiting for spring, I just want to let you know, it’s coming.

The sun is coming. The warmth is coming. The longer days are coming, and it feels hopeful. I feel like gardening is one way to plant some magic that just always feels like faith and hope and a wish for something good coming in the future.

And that tangible, literal optimism of planting something with hopes that it will grow and become beautiful feels like a great metaphor for the renewing energy of springtime. So that, my friends, gardening, landscaping, that is my life lately.

My Personal History with Nudity

I’m going to give you a little overview, like my history with nudity poersonally, so that you can understand the context of where I’m coming from and the perspective that I have.

I grew up in Salt Lake City in a conservative religion in a very modest and pure purity related culture for better or worse. Often both.

The Locker Room

At the same time, my parents were big tennis players, and we were part of a sports club. It’s called The Sports Mall. It’s in Murray, Utah. From the time I was little five, six, some of my earliest memories are spending time at the sports club all year round. I played tennis in the summer and winter.

I was on the swim team. We would occasionally go up and try to, run, walk on the track inside. And in the women’s locker room, I was exposed to nude adult women on the regular. This was so fascinating for my little young brain to understand because at church and at home, I was taught a lot about the importance of modesty and covering our bodies. And at the sports mall in the locker room, women walked around with towels on their heads and nothing on their bodies.

I think that it was good for me at those ages before I had any real adult preconceived ideas or notions that had been passed down about the inherent goodness or badness of bodies. For me to just see different kinds of bodies, different women, different ages.

They were generally older women, like adults to elderly women. And not only would they walk around, and they would change. They would also sit in the steam room and the sauna in the women’s locker room. And we would go in there on occasion. I think we had to be a little older to go in without an adult, but we go sit in there.

And I just remember thinking, huh. That’s so interesting. Look at all these bodies and especially being pre-pubescent myself, seeing post pubescent women with breasts and with hair and with, tummies and with hips and with bums. It was a good, I think of it as a very positive experience with exposure to the human form, at least the female human form, in a way that felt totally separate from the shame and the guilt.

Without the perfectionism and the competition that’s often really entangled with the way we think about bodies, particularly women’s bodies in our culture.

The Polaroid

Another additional early memory is that at some point in my youth, my siblings and I came across some Polaroid photos from my parents on their honeymoon, and there were a few select photos of my parents nude skinny dipping in a waterfall in Kauai, and they weren’t explicit pictures.

They were like from the back or, they were really far away, and they were Polaroids that were 30 years old, so they were blurry, and I remember thinking. This was a fun kind of, cute, and we made fun of them like, Oh, look at your bum, these things felt like normalizing nudity with this sort of subtle cue of there is there are context to this.

There are relationships where this can be something that’s fun and interesting, and it’s not inherently wrong. It’s not inherently bad. There’s nothing like sinful about being naked. Fast forward a few years.

Dance Company

I was an adolescent dancer. I performed with a singing and dancing group. I performed on the dance club and later the drill team at high school. In junior high and high school, I was in dance a lot. I was in and out of a leotard often. I was changing backstage, having our leotards on as like our base layer while we were, putting on and off different costumes was normal in mixed company. We were all like stripping down to our base layer to be able to put other things on.

And while that’s not nudity. It was a lot of being comfortable with getting in and out of clothing and feeling like, Oh yeah, bodies are bodies.

In addition to that, these, some of these girls from my singing and dancing group became really good friends and we would go on tour every summer. One of these years, I remember that we all decided to go streak across the lawn.

This is like really late at night and I don’t think anyone is awake, but it felt really fun and rebellious for a lot of and even though I don’t think, I’m fairly certain that no one else saw us, even that experience of being naked running with my girlfriends in this dance group normalized nudity within a group of friendship in a context of safety and fun.

The Hot Springs

Again, like going back to this idea of normalizing and taking the inherent sort of shame and sex out of it and having it just be bodies. Another way that I was exposed and really normalized to the naked form was in Hot Springs. I grew up there. In Salt Lake City, Utah, we had a cabin in Midway in Snake Creek Canyon and at the base of the canyon, in this weird parking lot sort of area, which I know has now been developed.

It’s owned privately now and has been developed.

We had a hot spring, a natural hot spring that we called the Hot Pots when I was growing up, and it was just a it was a natural hot spring that emptied and formed this kind of little kind of sludgy pond.

To be totally honest, some of my earlier memories when I was a teenager, the hot pot had an old bathtub that someone had sat in it so that you could get into the hot spring and actually sit inside like a clawfoot tub in the hot spring behind.

This was like nestled in rocks, and there was for sure algae and mud and different stuff happening in there. A very natural spring and we would go when we went in mixed company, we would wear bathing suits. But when I would go with my girlfriends, we would always go nude. There’s a real culture of nudity around natural hot springs and throughout Utah and in Idaho.

I know that a lot of people that’s normal. Like when you go to a hot spring, you take off your clothes and you get in and then you put your clothes back on and get back to your day.

The Naturist Retreat

This comfort level with being nude in hot springs and having that be a cultural reference for me, paved the way for when I was a little bit older in 2002, I was a river guide in Idaho and I only had one week off that summer.

We spent a lot of time in and out of hot springs along the river with our guests. And we were always in our bathing suits then. Often, I was in my bathing suit and like my river shorts and my Tevas and my whole outfit.

My friend Meghan and I decided to take a road trip. We had one week off in the summer. We road tripped up through Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and then into Oregon to visit my brother, who was working on Mount Hood. Meghan and I were car camping the whole way. We were in our car and we would get out. I remember skinny dipping in Coeur d’Alene Lake late at night because mostly we needed a shower.

We had some Dr. Bronner’s and we did that. It was very cold. Coeur d’Alene is like an ice cold lake, and it was a cold plunge. It was a little bit of a shower. It was like, true living out of our cars for the week. We camped our way over into Oregon, visited my brother at Mount Hood, and then we had been looking for a hot spring in the Oregon Mountains and we had followed a printed map to a place called Brightenbush Hot Springs.

This is 2002. So maybe we had a GPS didn’t have like a smartphone, maybe had a map quest print out. All I remember is that we were really excited about going to Brightenbush Hot Springs and we got there and there were these really beautiful flags put up and a big sign Welcome to Brightenbush Retreat.

 It wasn’t like a hot spring in the middle of nowhere. It was like a nature center. And so we follow the little pathway under the arch to the reception. And they told us that this was a healing center. There were several natural hot springs that were all nude springs. There were clothing was not allowed within the hot springs.

There was a yoga center. There was, all these other things. And I think we were there and it was a silent retreat. They were hosting a silent retreat and they said, you can buy a day pass and go in the springs, but we ask that you not talk while you’re here because the other participants are here on a silent retreat.

We thought this sounded fantastic. The place looked beautiful. It was really cool. And we were like, Oh yeah, we’re comfortable nude and hot springs. That’s how we do it.

What we didn’t realize from the get go was that this was a co-ed retreat center. Meghan and I showered off in these beautiful showers with stained glass, sunlight streaming through the stained glass.

And then we put on our robes and went over to the yoga center to, we just meditated, is what you would have called it. We were just relaxing and looking up in the beautiful building. And then finally we’re like, okay, let’s go get in the springs, follow the pathway down through the woods, got into one of the hot springs.

There was no one else in the springs when we initially got in and we were sitting there just enjoying soaking, when a family with two older boys, probably in their late twenties, early thirties, and the parents, father and mother came along the pathway, disrobed, and got into the hot spring with us.

I remember Meghan and I gave each other eyes, like caught each other’s eye and sunk a little bit deeper down into the water. Because it was a silent retreat, we weren’t able to have a full conversation or, we just smiled and stayed over to our side of the hot spring and within a couple minutes, maybe even within a minute of this family getting in and just finding their seats and just, closing their eyes and relaxing.

I remember my thoughts had been racing like, Oh my gosh, naked men and I’m naked and I’m feeling a little vulnerable and maybe I can get, scooch a little under this water. And then it was fine. And suddenly it was like, it doesn’t even, we’re just all here enjoying the hot springs and there’s no, there doesn’t have to be weirdness layered over us just being people enjoying a retreat in the middle of the woods.

And we happened to be naked and that’s okay. If that sounds weird to you, if you’re like, oh my gosh, that’s so inappropriate. That’s so uncalled for. I understand because I think that I’ve thought that might be how you should feel in that situation and what’s really empowering is knowing that those are thoughts and it doesn’t have to be that way.

In fact, in cultures all over the world, people spend time nude together for bathing, for soaking, for meditation on beaches, in retreat centers, and they don’t create the story of it being inherently sexual. They don’t create the story of it being inherently relationship oriented.

When it becomes normalized into appreciation of our bodies and of our natural state and of each other as humans, there’s something really beautiful that unlocks within yourself, because if you can feel that way, that we are beautiful, whole and natural, and there’s nothing about our bodies that we need to be either ashamed or afraid of, that’s where you can start to feel these seeds of self-confidence, self-worth, satisfaction and acceptance, self-acceptance in a really beautiful whole.

Then, Years of Clothing

Looking back, I’m so incredibly grateful for some of these seemingly random experiences that were very outside of the context of the culture that I was growing up in because I think they served as a buffer against some of the messaging that I was receiving that I didn’t fully take to heart.

From that experience, about six months later, I went on a mission. I was in a proselyting missionary for the church that I was a part of and I was basically not naked from about 21 until about 35.

In order to become a missionary I participated in some ordinances for the church that basically gave me the mandate to not spend very much time naked and to, cover myself and I, of course I did as a missionary and then I came home and the way that I dressed had to change a little bit.

And that was all great. I have nothing against, dressing in a way that you feel comfortable and that feels good. This at the time was fine for me, but I did not spend very much time with my own body because when I woke up, I would put on my undergarments and then, I would exercise and swim in swimsuits and short shorts and tank tops and things, but I was wore my undergarments most of the time.

There were times that I was uncomfortable in my underclothes and I always felt like it was a special occasion to be naked for some reason. Of course, getting married, I was able to spend more time naked in an intimate relationship, but still, most of the time, I was clothed in some way or form.

And this, even though I really liked being naked.

Okay, this, I know this sounds all very weird, but if you consider yourself someone who isn’t naked often, then you can see how you regularly just get in the habit of dressing. You get out of the shower, and you just put on clothes. I think in our culture, particularly in a more conservative religious culture or a modesty kind of purity culture, naked is not the default.

Naked Takes Intention

Clothed is the default and naked feels like something that takes intention. When I was 35, so this is only a few years ago, I decided to intentionally spend more time nude on my own.

I got a beautiful robe and I decided that rather than getting out of the shower and putting on my undergarments and, to get ready or to get dressed immediately that I would spend time in my robe.

And then sometimes I wouldn’t even put on my robe. I had a bathroom that I could close the door, and I could get out of the shower and I could be nude while I put on my makeup and while I did my hair and while I decided what to wear. It was also around this time when I shifted from wearing the undergarments that had been given to me through my participation in the church to experimenting with what other types of undergarments might I choose to wear for myself.

If you don’t come from a particularly religious culture that has dress guidelines, then this might feel confusing to you to not understand why wouldn’t you just feel like you could wear whatever you wanted to wear anyway, within the context of where I had been raised, wearing a particular set of undergarments and then dressing according to some guidelines was part of the culture.

It was intentional self-exploration for me to say, I don’t actually want to do this anymore.

I want to see what it feels like to get to know my body. I realized at 35 that I hadn’t spent much time alone with my own body since I had been 21. That was a long time. And my body had gone through a lot of different phases and stages and changes since then, having had three children.

I noticed instantly, like within a couple weeks that I started to feel more at home in my body, more at home without clothes in my body. When I talk to my friends about this now, I use the metaphor that your body is like a friend.

If you have a relationship with a friend, that usually means that you spend some time getting to know one another, and that you see each other, and that you spend time together, and that when our bodies are continually covered, even when we’re alone with them, we maybe don’t have the same relationship with them that we might otherwise.

The Gym and The Spa

A couple bigger shifts that I’ve noticed in my relationship to my body have happened as a result of some public spa attendance with some friends, and my new ish exercise passion CrossFit.

At CrossFit, people are wearing clothes. Of course, they’re wearing exercise clothes. And especially during the summer, a lot of the CrossFit attire is short shorts and sports bras because it’s so intense and rigorous and it’s also really hot and sweaty.

For comfort, people are wearing things they can move in easily and get some air across their skin as they are flying around on the bar or lifting weights.

It’s been about two years since I started CrossFit. And in that time, I’ve noticed being able to see other women’s bodies, even with their exercise clothes on, doing hard, strong, tough things–and having those bodies be all different ages, shapes, sizes, colors– has been so enlightening.

Someone who had regular, typical clothes on, I might not know how incredibly fit and strong they are just based on their body shape and size. And of course, this is highlighting some of my own, body bias, as we all have the sort of judgment that you jump to assuming that someone who’s thin must be really healthy and someone who isn’t as thin maybe isn’t.

Of course, we know that body shape and size doesn’t have a lot to do with fitness level. You can be any different shape and size and incredibly fit. And that’s also unique. Having a specific context for me to learn that in and see it in front of my face has been really empowering. And I think of my own body now as this vehicle for strength and for fitness and for fun and for activity and for doing the things that I love to do.

There isn’t a specific way it’s supposed to look to do those things. It can look however it looks. Meanwhile, I’m able to enjoy learning and growing and feeling strong and feeling fit and feeling well.

Nude in the Spa

In addition to that, I’ve had a couple fantastic experiences at some spas. In 2022, I went out to a friend’s wedding in California, and I was staying in an Airbnb with a bunch of friends of the bride and bride.

And one of the friends recommended that we go to a Korean spa. Which consisted of gender separated hot and cold pools and steam rooms and saunas. Then a mixed gender area where they issue you like a little uniform, it’s like gym clothes, and so the men and women in the center are mingling, and in that area you are clothed. In the rest of the Korean spa separated by gender, you are doing nude dips in the pools and in the steam room and in the sauna.

You’re still surrounded by all these other women, again, different shapes, sizes, colors, backgrounds, ages, and bodies within 30 seconds bodies are just bodies.

I loved this experience and I thought about it a lot. And so, this last December, I invited my book club. Now my book club is this like other worldly group of women who we love each other and support each other. And we have so much fun together. And our book club is reaching new levels of intimacy.

Highlighted by a recent book club bonus that a few of us what did a day trip up to a Korean spot in D. C. The closest one to where I live is up in the D. C. Area. And again, the same thing.

One of the book clubbers had been before. And so we were talking about, Oh, it’s such a wonderful experience. Not only the relaxation of being in the warmth and the steam and the sauna and like the actual spa experience itself, but also just the normalization of bodies.

And our third member who, who was coming along for the first time was a little hesitant and felt a little nervous about this idea of okay, she was willing, but she was also expressed that. This was not going to be incredibly comfortable from the get-go. And, again, within a minute, we were in hopped into one of the pools and we’re sitting chatting and what the conversation started to turn to, isn’t it fascinating that within moments of being in the company of other women who are unclothed, you start to realize how okay it is.

Normalizing Naked Bodies

And not only do you feel okay about other people being unclothed, but you also feel okay about yourself. You realize we’re all just bodies and everyone has different shapes and different sizes and different lumps and bumps and things hanging and dangling. And it’s all just okay. And then you, I think you pass through to wow, we are just all so beautiful.

And I remember my girlfriends, Megan and Stephanie, and I were laughing saying, you spend a few minutes in here and you wonder why we wear clothes at all because people just look so much better nude. And, when you don’t have lines cutting and squeezing and squishing things, if it’s just like you and your body and your form, there’s something divine about it, really godly about the way that we are.

40 Years of Nude Experiences

Now that was a lot of personal experience. I just took you through about 40 years of personal experience with nudity that have brought me to a place where I feel comfortable with it and intentional about it. I like to spend time unclothed in private and occasionally with friends or in a spa situation where I am acknowledging, even sometimes through a little bit of initial discomfort, that bodies are good. It’s okay to be in our bodies.

Let’s Dive Into The Research

Now let me tell you about some of the research. In the New York Times article, the author quotes a recent study. It was done in 2018 by West. The article is called, Naked and Unashamed, Investigations and Applications of the Effects of Naturist Activities on Body Image, Self-esteem and Life Satisfaction.

Naturist activities, that’s what it’s called to be like nudist or spend time naked with other people, with strangers. They start this article by explaining that body image dissatisfaction is a serious global problem that negatively affects life satisfaction.

West says that there are lots of possible psychological benefits of naturist or nudist activities, but there isn’t very much empirical research that has investigated these benefits or explanations for them.

They reference three studies, one large scale and two prospective studies that Talks about the possible benefits of these activities and it was found that more participation in naturist or nudist activities predicted greater life satisfaction and that relationship was mediated by more positive body image and higher self-esteem.

Much previous research in the world of body image has suggested that negative body images in both men and women stems from pressure to achieve unrealistic ideals of attractiveness, and that there’s a lot of media exposure to standards of attractiveness which are unattainable, or at least unrealistic, that these things lead to a negative perception of one’s own body.

Better Self-Concept, Higher Self-Esteem

Body concept, your personal body concept, is an important aspect of your overall self-concept. And there is a whole body of research, established research, around the relationship between body image and self-esteem. The more comfortable you feel with your body, the better you’ll feel about yourself.

It’s important to define some parameters of naturist or nudist activities here. Which is going without clothes in the presence of non-intimate others, or being nude in public without the intention of being sexually stimulating. The factors that are really important here are that this is a non-judgmental context, it’s voluntary, and it is non sexual.

In addition to just greater life satisfaction, measures of body positive image such as body appreciation can positively predict other aspects of psychological well-being including proactive coping and increased optimism. There’s something here. There’s something around this idea of spending time nude and feeling better about yourself and better overall.

Now, these articles, particularly West’s article, is specifically talking about naturist or nudist activities, which in this context of this particular study include interactions without clothes with people of the opposite gender in groups that’s voluntary, non-judgmental and non-sexual in nature. I’m not specifically advocating for that nudity or nudist activity in this podcast episode.

Although the research. It shows that it can be beneficial.

I think that a stepping stone to that, if you’re not just ready to jump in, is A, spending more intentional time unclothed by yourself first. Getting comfortable with your own body first, and then stepping into the ability to spend time unclothed in the company of same gender friends or strangers in the context of a spa or a sauna or something to that nature.

Even skinny dipping with friends on a girl’s trip. And then possibly if you still feel like, okay, I, I can take this a step further. Maybe taking that step into a true nor naturist activity, either at a naturist compound like Brightenbush Hot Springs, which still exists, or even on a vacation, like going to Europe and going to a nude beach and just participating in this sort of open public contained non-judgmental way and realizing how it lowers all the bar of actually, even thinking that people are looking at you.

Nude Beach in Italy

I remember when we took our kids to Italy a few years ago, Milo was probably, let’s see, this was four or five years ago. He would have been like nine and then seven and then four, the ages of our kids and we were in Positano. So, it wasn’t a fully nude beach, but most beaches, even if they’re not nude in Europe, women, particularly women are topless. It was interesting to be able to have a conversation with the kids as there were women around us without their swim tops on this beach and giggling.

Milo was just it right at that preteen age and feeling like, oh, he felt really embarrassed. And we validated that feeling and said, it’s interesting because we think about bodies as sometimes needing to be covered for respect and for privacy.

And also like it’s okay for people to if they’re comfortable and it’s we’re in a context where it’s not only allowed but can be encouraged like it’s okay. It’s just their bodies and you have a body, and you don’t have your shirt on and being able to be open in conversation about it without it being either judgmental or shameful or sexual felt important.

There’s a context, being on a nude beach or being in a European spa or something like that, or context where maybe there’s an opportunity to do an even deeper naturist activity than just putting your makeup on in the buff.

I focused on this one study mentioned in the article.

Other Benefits of Getting Naked

I also just want to share that there are some other studies with anecdotal evidence suggesting potential advantages of spending time naked. And I’m going to share eight with you right now, just briefly.

Increased Self-Esteem

The first one we’ve already talked about, improved body image. Spending time nude, either socially or privately, can lead to increased body acceptance and improved self-esteem.

Reduced Stress

Reduced stress is number two. There are some studies that suggest that spending time nude and in a natural environment such as on a beach or, at a pool or a lake can lead to reduced stress level and increased relaxation. Being in touch with nature and feeling unrestricted by clothing can contribute to that effect.

Increased Vitamin D

Number three is Vitamin D. Production. I just found out that I have very low vitamin D right now at my last visit, so I’ve started taking a supplement and I also am like, Oh, the sun’s coming. I’m going to spend more of my skin will be exposed to the sun on a regular basis.

My body is going to start creating more of its own vitamin D sunlight exposure is essential for the body to produce vitamin D, which is really important for bone health, immune function, mood regulation, spending time nude outdoors or even, little clothed outdoors can maximize your sun exposure.

Enhanced Social Interactions

Number four is enhanced social interaction. Naturist communities often emphasize inclusivity and acceptance, fostering positive social interactions and a sense of belonging. Participating in social nudity can lead to increased socialization and the development of supportive relationships. I will say that in my experiences in social nude contexts, like nudity, A Korean spa or like the hot springs.

This very much feels, this is the feeling that’s there, this non-judgmental, accepting, open, positive social situation. As odd as that may sound, somehow, everyone being in the same level of vulnerability enables an openness that is otherwise sometimes hard to get to.

Improved Circulation

The next one is improved circulation. You can imagine that going nude allows for increased airflow, freedom of movement, which can improve circulation through your body, better cardiovascular function, and faster muscle recovery.

Sensory Stimulation

The next one is sensory stimulation. Being nude, of course, can heighten sensory experiences, allowing individuals to feel more connected to their surroundings and to feel sensations such as being in a hot spring and having all of that warmth all over your body without the restriction of a bathing suit or other clothing on and the same thing for going into the cold plunge. Just being fully bear freezing. But the jolt that gives to your nervous system and, the improvement that it gives to your health is just unmatched.

Body Temperature Regulation

Body temperature regulation. I’m talking about hot and cold pools. Without clothing to act as insulation, the body is more effective at regulating its temperature in response to environmental conditions.

I grew up camping with my dad. I remember my dad always telling me when you get into your sleeping bag at night, you can take off the rest of your clothes and just put them next to your pillowcase and your nude body will be better at regulating your temperature within your sleeping bag than if you have your clothing on, what an interesting idea that is scientifically true.

It’s shown by evidence that your ability to regulate your body temperature nude is improved. And if you’re like me, I sleep hot. I’m very cold most of the time in my life. But when I go to sleep, I get really hot. And so being less clothed at night can help improve that temperature regulation.

Improved Sleep

Finally, this rolls over into the last one, which is improved sleep. A lot of people find that sleeping nude improves their sleep quality by promoting relaxation, reducing discomfort caused by restrictive clothing, and maintaining that optimal body temperature. There are lots of reasons why you might not want to sleep unclothed, especially if you’re a parent and you have children that may be coming in, and maybe that would also be okay.

Maybe it’s not a big deal.

If your kids get comfortable with the idea of nudity, at the same time you’re getting more comfortable with the idea of nudity. I love the idea of self-experimentation. And I’m just curious, and I’d like to invite you to consider, what would happen if I spent a little bit more time intentionally naked?

Either by myself, with my partner, with a trusted, friend or family member, or if I wanted to go drop into a Korean spa where I know that clothing is optional and just break through some of the discomfort that I may feel to see what the benefits might be on the other side. Like I said, I’ve told my friends, at the very least, spend some time on your own naked.

Get Naked More Often!!

300 people who said they don’t even like being naked with themselves. Naked with yourself is you. Body is what you’ve got.

And whether it is exactly looking or feeling the way that you think that it should right now, where you are today is where you are. I’ve found that the more time that I spend getting to know myself and feeling comfortable with the way that my body looks right now, the better I feel overall, and the more accepting I am not only of myself, but of other people in the states that they are.

That we all are human, we’re all imperfect, and bodies are miraculous. Bodies are beautiful. I hope that you will create some space in your life to spend a little bit of time naked this week.

Conclusion

I hope this episode has been informative and interesting and entertaining for you. Above all my goal with this show has always been to give you permission and some practical tips and ideas to feel a little bit better in your daily life.

Get Naked in Turkey!

And if you and your body aren’t on fantastic terms right now, maybe you just need to get to know each other a little better. Speaking of getting to know your body, one of the exciting things that I have planned for my women’s trip to Turkey is an optional visit to a Turkish Bath House called a Hammam.

This is an ancient tradition of going in and having a professional bath. It dates back to before people had plumbing and where the public bath house was the only place that you would bathe. I experienced a Hammam when I was in Morocco with my sisters this time last year, and it was such a fun, inclusive, interesting experience.

It’s relaxing and connective and wonderful. And if you’re joining me in Turkey, get excited. You’ll have a chance to experience a Hammam if you want to. I still have a handful of spots available for this trip to Turkey. July 18th through 25th, this coming summer, I am just counting down and looking so forward to it.

The women who are already signed up are incredible and it’s going to be the trip of a lifetime. Come explore with me and visit a part of the world that you may have never seen before. All of the details are in the show notes. I hope that if you’ve been thinking about it or it’s tugging at you a little bit, that you Sign up, register.

I never regret a vacation that I take and I bet you’ll feel the same way. Okay. I hope you have a wonderful week. I’ll chat with you next time until then stay practically happy and get naked. Bye.