Earthing, Grounding, Walking barefoot - Is it just for dirty hippies? "The surprising health effects of grounding"

 

 

The surprising health effects of grounding.

What kind of effects it has on us? How should we apply this method in our everyday lives?

 

  

Introduction

Electricity is everywhere. Even our cells are specialized to conduct electrical currents. The nervous system works by sending electrical signals to the brain, heart, immune and endocrine systems throughout the rest of the body, making it possible for us to think, feel, move – to live. (Nelson et al., 2013; Sinatra et al., 2017, p.10.) Grounding means electrically conductive contact between the surface of Earth and a living being. Grounding has been a human practice since the dawn of man. Walking barefoot, swimming in natural bodies of water, and sleeping on the ground used to keep human bodies balanced and connected to the earth. Now life and to be more specific, the western lifestyle often gets in the way of that earthly connection and it is taking a toll on our health. This method is used but only in certain small groups for example Native American Indians have this rule to everyday stay in contact with Mother Earth. The coach of Russia’s Olympic team also makes the competitors ground before and after the training session. The realization that two drastically different worlds collide this way must rise curious eyebrows. Could it be true that one routine could help with almost all the chronic diseases, burnouts, and even make you tougher against viruses? It sounds too good to be true. Grounding or earthing already has tons of medical literature behind it and all the findings are spectacular, to say the least. The popularity of this knowledge is still in its infancy and needs to be widely known because of the effectiveness of this method. If there was a pill withholding the effects of grounding – it would be one of the bestselling drugs for sure.

 

Grounding effects on chronic inflammation

 

Most of the debilitating diseases, as well as the aging process itself, are caused by or associated with chronic inflammation and oxidative stress. Inflammation is defined as a localized response to trauma or infection that can separate damaged tissues until the immune system removes foreign matter, damaged cells, and bacteria. The quicker you manage this inflammation the better the results and overall health. (Sinatra et al., 2017. p.8.)

It is funny how the world governments consider a virus with a death toll of one million a pandemic while these before mentioned diseases are reaching epidemic proportions worldwide, accounting for approximately 40 million deaths annually. There is no need to worry: emerging research has revealed that direct physical contact with the surface of the planet generates a kind of electric nutrition, with surprisingly potent and rapid anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. (Sinatra et al., 2017. p.8.)

In this review article “Electric Nutrition: The Surprising Health and Healing Benefits of Biological Grounding (Earthing)” results were undeniable: “all studies discussed revealed significant physiological or clinical outcomes because of grounding”. The conclusion had a powerful message as it could change the way we view our modern health problems and solutions to them: “this body of research has demonstrated the potential of grounding to be a simple, natural, and accessible clinical strategy against the global epidemic of non-communicable, degenerative, inflammatory-related diseases”. (Sinatra et al., 2017. p.8.)

 

Grounding prevents burnout

 

Back in the 20^th century the word “burnout” was unknown but now it seems to be common knowledge around workplaces. According to the international classification of diseases "Burnout is a syndrome conceptualized as resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”. Avoiding burnout means recovering rate being higher than the stress rate. (WHO, 2020)

One group of professionals who tend to leave their job quite early on due to burnouts is massage therapists: the cumulative wear and tear both on the body and psyche becomes too demanding and makes continuing the clinic hours impossible. Could the stress and pain-relieving properties of grounding come to rescue? According to recent studies grounding massage therapists while they performed massages and at night reduces stress as indicated by heart rate, respiratory rate, and heart rate variability. Grounding also lowered blood viscosity meaning better blood circulation and it decreased all the inflammation markers (IFN-γ, TNF-α, and hsCRP) suggesting fast recovery. These findings suggest that grounding is beneficial for massage therapists in several domains relevant to health and wellbeing. Grounding helps with burnouts as it makes the recovery rate greater than the stress rate. (Chevalier et al., 2018).

  

Grounding reduces the replication of coronaviruses

 

The study called “Reduced Susceptibility of Coronavirus SARS Development After Earthing Due to Increased pH Values in the Respiratory Tract” and the findings should be on every news, but sadly free health solutions is a rare sight in media. According to the findings grounding supplies a negative charge to the body. In the respiratory tract, this negative charge results in alkalization of the pulmonary environment. In turn, this alkalization prevents the entry, fusion, and replication of viruses that have a low isoelectric point. A significant increase in pH value was observed after grounding. The pH value before earthing was 5.83 ± 0.43 and after earthing was 6.33 ± 0.43. As a result of grounding, the replication of viruses is reduced, and this could save lives in the COVID-19 pandemic. (Sokal et al.,2020. p.6)

 

 

Conclusion

This knowledge of the Earth´s healing powers goes back to ancient times when humans still had a symbiotic relationship with the earth unlike now. The health benefits of grounding are inconceivable, to say the least, and extremely easily reachable. Given this evidence, it can be said that this method should be used every day like taking a dose of daily vitamins.

 

 

 Joonas Jaatinen, D.N, Pt

 

 

 

 

Sources:

1. Sinatra, S. T., Oschman, J. L, Chevalier, G., & Sinatra, D. (2017). Electric Nutrition: The Surprising Health and Healing Benefits of Biological Grounding (Earthing). Alternative Therapies, Sep/Oct 2017 VOL. 23 NO. 5

2a. ICD-11 - Mortality and Morbidity Statistics. Updated 9/2020. Available at https://icd.who.int/browse11/l-m/en#/http://id.who.int/icd/entity/129180281. [Accessed 10 October 2020]

2b. Chevalier, G., Patel, S., Weiss, L., Pruitt, C., Henry, B., Chopra, D., & Mills, P. J. (2018).  Effects of Grounding (Earthing) on Massage Therapists: An Exploratory Study. Health, Vol.10 No.02(2018), Article ID:82706,23 pages 

3. Sokal, P., Sokal, K., Chevalier, G., Kieronska, S., & Sokal, J. (2020). Reduced Susceptibility of Coronavirus SARS Development After Earthing Due to Increased pH Values in the Respiratory Tract. Research Square. Available at https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-41899/v1.

4. Nelson, David L, and Michael M Cox. 2013. Lehninger Principles of Biochemistry 6th Ed. Book. 6th ed. New York: W.H. Freeman and Co. doi: 10.1016/j.jse.2011.03.016.