Earthing: Health Implications of Reconnecting the Human Body to the Earth's Surface Electrons
The Journal of Environmental and Public Health just published a comprehensive scientific review of the research and health implications of Earthing. Here is the abstract: Environmental medicine generally addresses environmental factors with a negative impact on human health. However, emerging scientific research has revealed a surprisingly positive and overlooked environmental factor on health: direct physical contact with the vast supply of electrons on the surface of the Earth. Modern lifestyle separates humans from such contact. The research suggests that this disconnect may be a major contributor to physiological dysfunction and unwellness. Reconnection with the Earth's electrons has been found to promote intriguing physiological changes and subjective reports of well-being. Earthing (or grounding) refers to the discovery of benefits—including better sleep and reduced pain—from walking barefoot outside or sitting, working, or sleeping indoors connected to conductive systems that transfer the Earth's electrons from the ground into the body. This paper reviews the earthing research and the potential of earthing as a simple and easily accessed global modality of significant clinical importance.
93% of test subjects reported better quality of sleep compared to 13% of control subjects, and 100% woke feeling rested compared to 13% of control subjects (see Table 1 below). Chronic back and joint pain were also improved. And subjects woke fewer times at night, which is what I have found to be true for me as well.
This article also describes how the Earthing patch and sheet immediately reduced the voltage induced on the human body from the 60 Hz electrical environment as measured at three positions: left breast, abdomen and left thigh. This is what I've tested many times on myself. The patch and sheet that were used in the study reduced the ambient voltage by "a highly significant factor of about 70 on average."
Other studies reviewed in this article include those on heart rate variability (participants had statistically significant improvements in HRV that went beyond basic relaxation results), delayed onset muscle soreness (ungrounded subjects expressed the perception of greater pain), and altered blood electrodynamics (grounding increased the zeta potential and decreased red blood cell aggregation, thereby reducing blood viscosity).
I'll take less viscous blood, if I have a choice. And it appears that I do.
