Our story begins when an American child in the central United States, who grew up among Native Americans, went one day with his Indian friend to the family tent. At the entrance to the tent, the friend’s mother said to her son: “Take off your shoes, they make you sick…” Years later, the child, Clint Ober, became an entrepreneur of research that rediscovered the benefits of grounding, which means: walking barefoot and/or direct contact between the body and the earth. Today he spreads his vision around the world: to reconnect to the ground, barefoot.
The Importance of Grounding for Our Health To understand how important grounding the body to earth is, in English the overlapping terms are earthing or grounding, let’s zoom out from Earth to the ionosphere layer, a layer within the atmosphere at about 60-90 km above the ground. The sun ionizes molecules in the ionosphere and separates them into positively charged ions called protons and negatively charged ions called electrons. You can imagine the process as creating a battery, the sky is plus and the earth is minus. Lightning that reaches from the ionosphere to Earth charges it with electrons so that the Earth has a negative charge and the ionosphere a positive charge.
These electrons have a vital role and participate in central processes in our body and in the body of all living creatures on the planet. In the last twenty years, research on grounding has been conducted and it was discovered that our body uses these electrons daily to neutralize and end inflammatory processes, increase activity of the nervous system responsible for relaxation called the parasympathetic system, regulate high cortisol levels that create stress, and participate in cellular energy production processes.
Therefore, grounding is much more than a trend for nature lovers. Grounding is a necessary and vital process that participates in healing and regulation in the body. And also, so simple to do: place bare feet on mother earth! The research in the field has discovered several central processes in our body in which grounding takes part:
Anti-inflammatory – provides a simple, effective and natural solution against inflammation. Reduces chronic pain Improves blood flow Contributes to the process of lowering blood pressure Reduces fatigue Reduces lack of energy Natural stress reduction “preparation” Reduces sleep disorders Connects us to body and universe rhythms… Explanation? See below..
How does grounding naturally support our health? During the early history of humanity, humans lived in constant and continuous connection with the Earth, their feet exposed and connected to the ground all the time. As we “progressed” towards modern and industrialized life, we became more and more disconnected from this natural connection. The shoes we wear with rubber soles and the buildings we live in disconnect us from direct contact with the electrical field in the Earth’s crust.
Clint Ober rediscovered the wonders of grounding while experimenting with grounding electrical devices to ground static electricity. He decided to try grounding his body and was surprised by the dramatic decrease in chronic pain he suffered from. This unexpected observation sparked a scientific research journey and rediscovered forgotten ancient wisdom: grounding! It yielded several dozen studies dealing with its essential contribution to health. The research is still ongoing but for now, want to understand how all these miracles happen? Let’s focus on a few processes that we know today, in which earthing participates.
The process of creating inflammation and neutralizing inflammation through grounding Inflammation, as long as it doesn’t get out of control and become chronic inflammation, is an essential component of our defense system. Our body uses it to fight injury and infection, eliminate damaged and cancerous cells in our body and recruits it routinely for ongoing maintenance, repair and defense. When the process continues beyond what is needed and is not neutralized in time, chronic inflammation is created which can manifest in a variety of chronic and autoimmune diseases.
To understand how the mechanism of inflammation works in our body, imagine inflammation as a battlefield. The soldiers fighting foreign and unwanted factors are white blood cells called neutrophils
When the body identifies a hostile factor in the bloodstream, it sends neutrophils to the event area. Each neutrophil wraps a bacterium or unwanted cell and “fires” a weapon at it: molecules containing oxygen, with a positive charge. These molecules are called free radicals. Free radicals are “nervous” oxygen compounds, meaning they lack an electron to reach a neutral charge and “calm down” electrically. The free radicals “pounce” on the bacterium and tear electrons from it until it dies. Here, in fact, the role of white blood cells is finished, the target has been eliminated and the inflammation should end at this stage. One detail is missing: the neutrophils left behind by-products from the battle – free radicals that are still in the inflammation area. Now our body, if connected to the ground, should transfer free electrons or as they are called – antioxidants, to the inflammation area, to neutralize free radicals left in the field and successfully close a circle, to end the inflammation process.
In practice, in Western society where most of us are disconnected from the ground for many hours a day and sometimes for long periods, we do not receive from the earth a sufficient amount of electrons needed to end the inflammation process. Free radicals that have not been neutralized and are hungry for electrons begin to damage molecules adjacent to the inflammation area and “steal” electrons from them. In this way, they neutralize their excess positive charge and reach balance, but molecules from which electrons were stolen become free radicals themselves and begin to damage additional molecules, stealing electrons from them and creating a snowball of molecular destruction.
This process that does not allow inflammation to end properly gains momentum when in response to the situation, the brain identifies that there are abnormal molecules and cells in the area and sends more “army” to the field. The process repeats cyclically with each cycle increasing the damage. Hidden and sometimes visible inflammation develops that can last for years. When such inflammation continues uninterrupted it can turn into a chronic disease such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, various autoimmune diseases and other issues.
What to do? One solution is flooding with antioxidants that can also come from food but the simplest, easiest and most immediate, grounding, touching the earth, is the preferred solution. In this way, you can reduce inflammation and also chronic pain resulting from it.
How does grounding improve blood flow and blood pressure? The benefits of grounding continue even beyond extinguishing inflammation. Our blood is like a river full of red blood cells. Like miniature magnets. The cells carry a negative charge, causing them to repel each other like an inverted magnet and thus create blood thin enough to flow freely and supply oxygen and nutrients to every place in the body. When we are disconnected from the electrical energy of the Earth, red blood cells lose a significant amount of the negative charge that free electrons gave them, lose the electrical repulsion between them and cluster together. The blood becomes thicker so that blood flow is reduced and blood pressure may rise. Thick blood has difficulty reaching every area of the body and therefore another problem that arises when we are not grounded is poor blood supply to various organs.
Grounding recharges red blood cells with a negative charge, restoring their natural magnetic repulsion from each other, when the cells move away from each other and are not clustered together, natural blood thinning is created and as a result, blood flow improves. This process, in turn, translates into reduced blood pressure to a normal level and improved oxygen supply to tissues.
What about reducing fatigue and lack of energy? Here too, the electrons that mother earth gives us generously have an important role. And this time, to raise energy in cells. In this process, miniature energy production plants located inside the cell called mitochondria produce energy “batteries” called ATP Electrons are an essential fuel in the energy production process.
Even in ancient times, different cultures recognized the role of the earth in instilling energy in the body. The legend of Antaeus, the mythological Greek hero, illustrates this well.
Antaeus was a huge and evil giant who drew strength from his mother, the earth goddess Gaia. He invited many heroes to fight with him and defeated them to the last, thanks to the energy that Gaia instilled in his body. Over time, the son of the maternal goddess became known as the terror of warriors, but the end of the deed is at the beginning of thought, Hercules managed to subdue him in battle since he lifted him in the air, disconnected him from mother earth and emptied him of his powers. Thus he defeated him easily. Those who pay attention to the computer games that children operate with various and strange heroes, can find from time to time such or another hero who weakens and then throws himself to the ground that recharges him with energy.
Grounding connects between body rhythms and universe rhythms Like many ancient practices that we thought had lost their value until science proved they were effective, barefoot walking was also seen for years as worthless and even harmful, the lot of the poor and eccentrics. New scientific studies have brought grounding to the forefront and proved that touching a bare foot to the ground produces powerful and vital processes for our health.
So how can we understand a sentence like this that Deepak Chopra, a doctor and holistic healer, says? “Grounding to earth connects us to the rhythms and music of the universe” What other gifts do we receive when we walk barefoot?
Already in the ancient theory of Qi Gong, the rhythms of the seasons are adapted to the emotional rhythm. Each season has a corresponding emotion and organ in the body. For example, the main organ associated with autumn is the lungs, the main element is metal and the main emotion is sadness. According to the season, the rhythm in autumn is slower and more contemplative. The Chinese were well able to define the complementary relationships between heaven and earth – the sky is male, yang, it is considered positive and bright, the earth is female, yin and it is dark and negative. Negative or positive here are in the sense of empty and full and in the context of electrical charges and not in the moral sense.
This holistic approach can be better understood at the scientific level if we remember that the ionosphere has a positive charge and the Earth has a negative charge. Which means that we all actually live inside a huge battery and the wonderful orchestra of the universe is composed of the electromagnetic field created within it.
How does our body react to it?
Our body is actually a kind of sophisticated and complex electrical electromagnetic device that receives and transmits internal electrical and electromagnetic messages, created within the body and also external, created between heaven and earth, the messages pass through the brain and nervous system. There are more than a hundred cyclical biological processes that are timed and coordinated with the rhythms of the changing electromagnetic fields between heaven and earth.
In the ionosphere there are electrical and electromagnetic currents that constantly change and are influenced by the sun, moon. And even from more distant stars such as Jupiter and Saturn whose magnetism is several times more powerful than that of Earth. From there these currents come to earth, penetrate our body through our bare feet and synchronize rhythms and biological clocks. The “music” from the magnetic fields is picked up by tiny compasses in our brain and coordinates them with frequencies in the brain. Thus brain waves synchronize and adapt themselves to this cosmic music and the cyclical processes in our body are perfectly adapted to it.
Experts who study this wonderful synchronization say that the sequence of frequencies in the universe is the frequency of wellbeing and connecting to it brings us to a state of wellbeing.
For example, one of the biological cycles synchronized through grounding is the daily cortisol hormone cycle. Cortisol secretion begins to increase around 4 am, peaks around 8 am and drops sharply in the afternoon, between 2 and 4. Too high a cortisol level characterizes stressful lives in Western society and can cause stress and a host of health problems.
In an experiment published in 2012 in the NIH library, the National Institutes of Health of the USA, participants were allowed to ground for eight weeks and found that grounding reduced high cortisol secretion to normal values. There is no doubt that earthing opens up access to a path of wellbeing for us.
How to relax and how to reduce stress through grounding? In our body there is a nervous system called the autonomic nervous system. This is the system that operates systems and organs in the body and important processes such as digestion, detoxification and additional processes and it works almost without our intervention, hence its name.
The autonomic nervous system is divided into two subsystems: the sympathetic system which is responsible for emergency actions when we experience a threat. For example, we encounter a threatening bear on a nature trip. The second system is the parasympathetic nervous system and it is responsible for rest states in which it deals with digestion, detoxification and various building and maintenance activities. Grounding was found to encourage activation of the parasympathetic system and thus, increase feelings of calmness and reduce stress. And again, all you have to do is find a piece of bare earth or grass to step on with bare feet and… that’s it, you’ll immediately feel relaxed.. To create continuity even when you’re not outside, read the next paragraph about grounding at home and in the office.
I don’t know about you, but for me, after I understood what the benefits of grounding are and the wonderful benefits inherent in grounding I ran to the garden with bare feet.
How to ground inside the house and office? And what about those of us living in urban environments? Fortunately, grounding doesn’t require a walk on the beach, although such a trip has many additional benefits. If you have a park or garden nearby you are invited to take off your shoes and walk barefoot at least part of the time. But even those who live in a house surrounded by a garden often spend most of their time at home and all the more so when working in an office. To do grounding routinely and regularly from home there are electrically conductive grounding sheets that can connect us to Earth’s energy inside homes and offices and offer a convenient alternative. These grounding surfaces can usually be connected to the grounding in the electrical outlet, usually grounding mat suppliers recommend that those who are not 100% sure that they are connecting the pin of the mat to the grounding hole in the outlet, consult an electrician. For those sensitive to dirty electricity and those sensitive to radiation, it is preferable to connect the various grounding products directly to the ground near your home/office. A grounding mat can be placed under the work table or chair, allowing you to receive healing benefits from grounding practice without getting up from your chair.
While you sleep you can use grounding sheets made of fabric and woven silver threads that make the sheet conductive and various other grounding accessories.
What materials ground and what insulate? Earth, preferably moist or even muddy, will excellently transfer the electromagnetic field to your body, grass is excellent for this purpose, concrete and stone, sitting on a tree stump whose roots are in the ground, all of these will do the job. On the other hand, parquet, asphalt, synthetic floors such as PVC and glazed ceramic floors are insulating and not suitable.
I hope that the information you received here will motivate you to leave your comfort zone, overcome the barriers of social conventions and spend every opportunity with bare feet on the ground or with a grounding mat under your feet. The reward you will receive is great and justifies every barefoot moment…
Did you like the content and did it enrich you and give you practical and simple tools to improve your good feeling and wellbeing? I invite you to contact me and order an interesting lecture on grounding and other topics related to wellbeing and help your friends or your employees enrich their knowledge and receive simple tools for immediate implementation that will help them for a significant improvement in quality of life.
Grounding helps lower pressure, reduce stress, quickly, easily, naturally, just place bare feet on the ground and ground
