Earthing and Earthing Products

EDIT APRIL 2012: I HAVE STOPPED SLEEPING ON THE EARTHING SHEET. I FOUND THAT I WAS STILL WAKING UP STIFF, AND THE SHEET IS SUPPOSED TO HELP WITH THAT. I AM TAKING A BREAK BUT WILL START UP AGAIN AT SOME POINT. I WILL KEEP YOU POSTED.

Walk barefoot. Feel better.

I grew up in Manhattan, on the 20th floor of a 40 story apartment building.  Talk about being ungrounded!

Earthing, or grounding, means connecting to Earth's energy with your body. So if you're shoeless and walking in a grassy park, you're grounded. When you lie on the beach on the sandy Earth, you're grounded. Just like how modern electrical outlets have a ground port connecting to a wire that goes into the ground protecting your computer, you too are protected and benefit when touching the Earth.

As a kid, I don't remember going bare-footed even once outside, not even in a park.  This city lifestyle is very different from how human beings existed for millions of years. They walked, slept, hunted, cooked, and did everything else while connected to the energy of the Earth.

Reading this book opened my eyes to the power of connecting with the earth.

Perhaps part of me knew this, and that's why I moved to live near the beach two years ago. But it was only recently that I read Earthing, and learned about actual studies that prove inflammation is reduced significantly when a person is connected to the ground. Now that I know we really do need to make contact with the Earth consistently, I go for daily barefoot walks. And I can feel my energy increasing.

As someone who worked in the cable television industry, Clint Ober, the author of Earthing, knew that a sharp TV picture was the result of a cable that was electrically connected to the Earth. The copper conductor inside is surrounded by a shield that prevents outside interferences from leaking in and signals from leaking out. In this way there is no build-up of electrical charges in the system, because the Earth can either deliver or absorb electrons through this shield.

So why should we be like a cable TV? What's the idea behind ditching our rubber-soled shoes that insulate us from Mother Earth's electricity? When we make contact with the ground, our bodies actually absorb electrons. It is these electrons that are so health-promoting. Chronic inflammation involves free radicals, which are electrically charged particles that are missing electrons. When you're grounded, electrons can now be absorbed by the body as you maintain the same electrical potential of the Earth.

Not only do you pick up healing electrons when your feet are on the grass or when you're sleeping on a grounded sheet. You also reduce your body voltage -  the amount of electric fields from power lines, electric current in the walls, electric alarm clocks, etc. - that affect your body. The most exciting part of this is that you can test the effects yourself. Buy a volt meter and compare the results when you're touching an Earthing pad or sheet, and when you're not. In my Earthing journal that I started writing after purchasing the pad, I recorded that my body voltage was 2.5 volts. When I put my bare feet on the pad (that was plugged into the ground port of the electric outlet)  and took the measurement again, the volt meter read .07 volts, which is significantly lower. I am quite happy to have a lower body voltage when I can, thank you very much.

In a draft report issued in March 1990, the EPA recommended that EMFs be classified as a Class B carcinogen - a "probable human carcinogen," along with formaldehyde and DDT. Most studies declare that there is no link between exposure and negative health impacts. But also true is how financial interests are at stake in this very controversial issue.

Here I explain how to hook up an Earthing sheet to the ground port of an electrical outlet, and also to the ground outside. She shows how to use the circuit tester that comes with the Earthing sheet, and demonstrates how you can test that the sheet is really protecting you from ambient electrical current.

To read more about the beneficial health effects of grounding and to buy the sheets or pad that I recommend, please read Earthing, by Clint Ober and Martin Zucker. And let me know what your results are. Do you notice better sleep and more energy during the day after sleeping grounded for a while? I have. I like that the company gives a 60 day money back guarantee, because their bed sheet is expensive. Fortunately, it does what Ober says it does. And part of this you can test with a volt meter, which I bought at Home Depot for 29 bucks.

So if you'd like to equalize your body's energy to the same energy level as the Earth's, go for a barefoot walk outside right now! It would be easy to believe that you'll come back inside feeling better. If you're jet-lagged, this healing effect may be felt even more as the Earth also synchronizes your internal biological clock.

Sleeping grounded reduces inflammation?

Here's a downloadable pdf of a study on heart rate variability that was published recently in Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal, conducted by electrophysiologist Gaetan Chevalier, Ph.D., and cardiologist Stephen Sinatra, M.D. It concluded that connecting to the Earth creates a calmer nervous system. And with thermographic images, another study showed significant improvements in circulation and inflammation in 20 patients after 4 nights of sleeping grounded.

Research on earthing has proven that it is possible to decrease inflammation and pain, increase energy, improve sleep, and be protected from electromagnetic radiation - just by connecting to the Earth. The simplicity is welcomed.