Earthing
Earthing is a therapeutic technique that involves “grounding” or electrically reconnecting to the earth. Basically, it's putting your body in direct contact with the earth.
In The Earthing Movie: the Remarkable Science of Grounding, Clinton Ober, the founder of Earthing tells a story.
“One of my friend’s sister, a little Indian girl, had scarlet fever. She'd been to the doctors and all that kind of stuff and she wasn't getting well. They brought her home and there was nothing they could do for her. Everybody was really traumatized by it.
Then one of the elders, they dug a pit and put a little bit of straw in it, and they put her in the ground. They built a fire there and just sat with her for days and then next thing we knew she was up running around she was okay. It was just awesome, just totally awesome.”
There are two reasons why I started with this quote. Firstly, the little girl recovered, so it shows that earthing works. And it works for serious conditions. Secondly, and more importantly, the girl spent a few days in the pit. Nothing is easy
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Stand outside during a thunderstorm and you'll witness one of nature's greatest electrical displays. Within the clouds, tiny collisions between ice crystals and water droplets separate electrical charges until billions of volts build up. Eventually, the imbalance becomes so great that a bolt of lightning races between cloud and Earth.
We think of the Earth as solid ground beneath our feet, but it is also part of a vast electrical system. Every day, thunderstorms occurring around the world continually recharge the atmosphere, maintaining a small but measurable electrical difference between the Earth's surface and the air above it. We rarely notice this invisible electrical environment, yet every living creature exists within it.
Stand outside during a thunderstorm and you'll witness one of nature's greatest electrical displays. Within the clouds, tiny collisions between ice crystals and water droplets separate electrical charges until billions of volts build up. Eventually, the imbalance becomes so great that a bolt of lightning races between cloud and Earth.
We think of the Earth as solid ground beneath our feet, but it is also part of a vast electrical system. Every day, thunderstorms occurring around the world continually recharge the atmosphere, maintaining a small but measurable electrical difference between the Earth's surface and the air above it. We rarely notice this invisible electrical environment, yet every living creature exists within it.
This raises an intriguing question. If life evolved while immersed in the Earth's natural electrical field, could direct contact with the ground have biological effects? This idea forms the basis of earthing, also known as grounding. Proponents suggest that walking barefoot on grass, sand, or soil allows the body to reconnect with the Earth's electrical potential. Others point to the minerals, microbes, and organic richness of the soil itself as equally important contributors to health.
Perhaps these ideas need not compete. The Earth is more than a source of minerals or a conductor of electricity. It is a living environment that interacts with us in many ways—chemically, biologically, thermally, psychologically, and perhaps electrically as well. In this article, we'll explore the evidence behind one of the most intriguing of these connections: the possibility that the simple act of placing our bare feet on the ground may influence our health.
This means that skin needs to touch soil, sand, water, or a conductive surface that is in contact with the earth. From a scientific perspective, the idea is that the earth has a mild negative charge to it.
What the Science Says
Grounding is a relatively new field of research so there is a small but growing body of scientific research on the topic. One study examined the role of grounding on post-exercise muscle damage. Researchers used both grounding patches and mats and measured creatine kinase, white blood cell count, and pain levels before and after grounding. Blood work indicated that grounding reduced muscle damage and pain in participants. This suggests that grounding may influence healing abilities.
This research is supported by a recent study on grounding for pain reduction and mood improvement. Sixteen massage therapists alternated between periods of grounding and no grounding.
Ways to ground yourself
There are many ways you can reconnecting to the earth. This can be done through either direct or indirect contact with the earth.
Walking barefoot. One of the easiest ways to ground yourself to the earth is simply to walk barefoot. You can do this on grass, sand, or even mud, allowing your skin to touch the natural ground can provide you with grounding energy.
Lying on the ground. You can increase your skin-to-earth contact by lying on the ground. You can do it in the grass by the park or on the sand at the beach.
Submersing in water. Water may be used to ground in the same way the physical earth is used for grounding. Swim or wade in a lake, river or the ocean. Be sure to stay safe when swimming, especially in murky or deep waters.
Grounding equipment. If going outside to ground yourself isn’t an option, there are alternatives. One method of earthing involves connecting a metal rod to the ground outside and then connecting the rod to your body through a wire. Another method is to use grounding equipment such as grounding mats, grounding sheets or blankets, or grounding bands and patches?
Why use grounding?
There’s not much research on the benefits of grounding. However, people have reported improvement for conditions such as:
Chronic fatigue. In the studyTrusted Source on massage therapists, many reported a decrease in their fatigue levels after four weeks of treatment with grounding mats.
Chronic pain. The studyTrusted Source on grounding for exercise recovery found that those who used grounding patches reported lower pain levels.
Anxiety and depression. In one small studyTrusted Source, it was shown that even 1 hour of grounding therapy can significantly improve mood.
Sleep disorders. The massage therapists also experienced an improvement in sleep length and reduce sleep disturbances with grounding therapy.
Cardiovascular disease. Results of one treatment study found that long-term self-administered grounding therapy helped to reduce blood pressure levels in participants with hypertension.
The Earthing Movie
I’m Dr. Rodger Douglas, DMH, a South African-born homeopath now based in Osaka, Japan. With a psychology degree from Nelson Mandela University and a diploma from the Hahnemann College of Heilkunst, I specialize in holistic care for fibromyalgia. I serve clients by phone or video across the US, Canada, the UK, and beyond, shipping remedies directly from Japan.