Below is a summary from an article recently posted by Dr. Mercola.
Earthing, a.k.a Grounding
Also look for the documentary Grounded
Earthing, aka Grounding, which can be achieved by walking barefoot on the Earth, transfers free electrons from the Earth’s surface into your body that spread throughout your tissues.
The effect is sufficient to maintain your body at the same negatively charged electrical potential as the Earth. This simple process called ‘grounding,’ and its effect is one of the most potent antioxidants we know of. Grounding has been shown to relieve pain, reduce inflammation, improve sleep, enhance well-being and much, much more.
Poking holes in the soles of your shoes and inserting a grounding rod can allow you to stay grounded, as can special grounding shoes that are now available (sporadically).
Leather-soled shoes will also allow you to stay grounded with the Earth.
Walking barefoot is one of the easiest and best ways to stay grounded, but you’ll need to do so on the proper surface. Good grounding surfaces include:
· Sand (beach)
· Grass (preferably moist)
· Bare soil
· Concrete and brick (as long as it’s not painted or sealed)
· Ceramic tile
The following surfaces will NOT ground you:
· Asphalt
· Wood
· Rubber and plastic
· Vinyl
· Tar or tarmac
In today’s world, this is more important than ever, yet fewer people than ever actually connect with the Earth in this way anymore. Free radical stress from exposure to mercury pollution, cigarettes, insecticides, pesticides, trans fats, and radiation, just to name a few, continually deplete your body of electrons.
Simply by getting outside, barefoot, touching the Earth, and allowing the excess charge in your body to discharge into the Earth, you can alleviate some of the stress continually put on your system by electromagnetic fields and other types of radiation from cell phones, computers and Wi-Fi.
As mentioned above, grounding is one of the best antioxidants known, which in turn reduces inflammation, among other things. This in itself is groundbreaking, since inflammation is at the root of most diseases, including heart disease. Dr. Stephen Sinatra is a prominent cardiologist featured in Grounded.
According to Dr. Sinatra, inflammation thrives when your blood is thick and you have a lot of free radical stress, and a lot of positive charges in your body. Grounding effectively alleviates inflammation because it thins your blood and infuses you with negatively charged ions through the soles of your feet.
Grounding helps thin your blood by improving its zeta potential, which means it improves the energy between your red blood cells. Research has demonstrated it takes about 80 minutes for the free electrons from the earth to reach your bloodstream and transform your blood.
Hypercoagulable (thick, slow-moving) blood contributes to chronic inflammation, because when your blood does not flow well, oxygen can’t get to your tissues. Grounding’s effect on blood thinning is so profound that if you are taking blood thinners you must work with your health care provider to lower your dose otherwise you may overdose on the medication. You can see an example of grounding’s effect on blood cells in Grounded, as well.
However a newer theory is that grounding may actually facilitate the formation of structured water in your body. (Dr. Gerald Pollock). Dr. Sinatra agrees that it made sense and was going to revise his theory on how grounding actually works.
Grounding is supported and backed by other prominent medical doctors and scientists including Dr. David Suzuki, NASA astronauts, and, of course, it was used by ancient civilizations who placed strong value on their relationship to the Earth.
The Tarahumara people of northwestern Mexico are one of the few modern-day cultures that still embrace barefoot living and, famously, barefoot running. The tribes are among the most skilled runners in the world, running up to 200 miles over a two-day period. Notably, they run barefoot and this has been suggested as the reason for their remarkable athletic prowess.
But even if that doesn’t impress you, the anecdotal accounts of residents of Haines, Alaska featured in the film Grounded are hard to ignore.
The beneficial impacts on their pain levels, sleep, stress and more were near miraculous. One woman even gave her grounding kit back because she didn’t want to get too well and then lose her disability benefits! And at one of the town’s motels – the first in the US to offer a grounded room to guests – travelers keep coming back because their pain significantly improved after spending just one night in the grounded room.
Grounding also calms your sympathetic nervous system, which supports your heart rate variability. And, when you support heart rate variability, this promotes homeostasis, or balance, in your autonomic nervous system. This is important because anytime you improve your heart rate variability, you’re improving your entire body and all its functions.
“In other words, we’re there — we’re in a health mode, as opposed to disease mode. Grounding does that,” Dr. Sinatra explains.
Did ancient cultures know something about this that we don’t? It appears so, as many Gothic cathedrals are built on energy hotspots on the Earth, and are actually designed to channel Earth’s energy to flow strategically through them.
Exercising barefoot outdoors is one of the most wonderful, inexpensive and powerful ways of incorporating grounding into your daily life. You can also simply take off your shoes as much as you can when you’re outdoors to take advantage of these natural grounding opportunities.
When indoors, using a grounding pad or sheet is an excellent way to stay grounded while you’re working, sleeping, or even flying. By the way, One little trick from Dr. Sinatra is to remove a shoe when flying and put your foot (bare or with a sock) on the metal support frame on the seat in front of me. Doing this will ground you to the airplane frame and help mitigate damage from radiation at 35,000 feet.
So…go outside…Barefoot…and enjoy!!
