How Connecting to the Earth Might Improve Health

ABSTRACT: Grounding or earthing is not a new concept, but it’s newly coming into the allopathic and natural holistic healing mainstream as a means for improving quality of life and certain medical conditions.

My frustration with modern medicine has been building since 2007, when I was hospitalized with a super-infection that required a certain medication to combat it that we now think was responsible for blowing out the proper function of my HPA-axis, resulting in a multitude of health problems from that point forward.

I’ve struggled with the conventional medical establishment for too many years, so about a year ago, I turned to a more natural, holistic approach to healthcare. Don’t get me wrong, I still see traditional medical doctors, and I do still take traditional Western pharmaceuticals, but where appropriate, where it doesn’t interfere with my treatment, I seek healing through a more natural means these days.

In my studies of holistic healing, one philosophical healing technique that has been around for centuries is the concept of ‘grounding’ or ‘earthing’, and it kept popping up all over in my research. Even Dr. Mercola’s website discusses grounding or earthing and the health benefits that may be associated with it.

What is Grounding or Earthing?

It’s a very simple concept. Grounding or earthing is, simply put, going outside barefoot and standing on bare ground with your bare feet. The theory behind this is that our bodies are conductors of electricity, electrical impulses, and that the earth is a conductor of these as well. When our bodies are out of synch with the electrical impulses of the earth, of the world, we are ‘ill’ and when we are more in synch, more in tune with these impulses, we are less ill or even well.

How to Do Grounding or Earthing Properly

There’s really no way to get this wrong. It’s super easy: simply go barefoot and be in contact with the ground through your skin, particularly the soles of the feet, for at least 15-minutes each day, and more if you can. The reason for the soles of the feet is because all the nerve impulses for the entire body at some point meet in the feet, so the feet alone is a good way to get that electrical energy into the body and have it have an impact. However, some proponents for grounding will tell you to place as much of your body against the earth as possible. I say, whatever makes you feel the best, do that.

Dr. Mercola’s website suggested that since water is a good conductor of electrical impulses, one might even consider going to the beach and walking barefoot in the sand or lying in the wet sand.

In the modern world, we wear shoes that prevent us from connecting with the earth, shoes that block and do not conduct electrical impulses. Rarely do we wear the soft leather soled shoes these days, and going barefoot is sometimes even dangerous. But that doesn’t mean you can’t take a few moments every day to take off your shoes, step outside in your own front yard, and connect to the ground.

What are the Health Benefits of Grounding or Earthing?

This is the best part. Real, clinical research is actually showing the list of health benefits that are achieved from grounding or earthing. First, just being outside in the sunshine for a short period of time is great, because it’s going to help with vitamin D production in the body, which is so crucial to health. Secondly, though, grounding itself directly has been shown in multiple studies to help: improve immune function

• improve recovering after exercise or injury
• improve blood sugar regulation
• improve sleep
• improve anxiety, stress, depression, emotional disorders
• improve blood circulation
• thin thickened blood
• reduce inflammation
• balance the bodies electricity impulses

Not to mention that getting outside in the fresh air and sunshine is always good for you, as long as you don’t overdo anything. It will lift your spirits, fill you up, and energize you-and according to the studies, it’s not just a psychological manifestation but a real physical and medical change that can be measured.

But even if it did absolutely nothing to help you, there’s very little that simply standing outside in the bare grass or ground with bare feet or walking barefoot on the beach can do to harm you. Why not try it? See if it helps. I’ve been doing it every morning for a week now, and I have to say, I’ve been more productive, feeling happier and feeling like I have more energy. Maybe there’s something to it, but even if it’s all in my head, I’ll take any amount of feeling better the universe can give me, so I’m sticking with it.