Benefits to Going Barefoot - How to get Grounded with Earthing
/Throughout history, humans had direct contact with the earth. If they were not walking barefoot, they were wearing or sleeping on animal skins. We were almost always in constant contact with the earth.
Until now, in present time, we spend almost all of our time wearing shoes or inside buildings. We have almost completely disconnected ourselves from the earth. Can you recall the last time that you went outside barefoot and just enjoyed nature?
I'm guessing you either don’t remember a time when you did that or it was sooo long ago that you hardly remember it.
Just going barefoot to the earth could be a lifestyle shift that helps protect your body from stress and could even keep you healthy for longer.
How it Works
The human body produces free radicals as a response to stress, injury, or disease. These free radicals are positively charged and can be eliminated by anti-oxidants or free electrons. Our immune system produces free radicals to bind to negative electrons from damaged tissues or others pathogens that enter our body but because of the constant stresses from everyday life, these free radicals build up and can cause inflammation.
Because human bodies are electrical and conductive in nature, we can connect to already existing currents. The Earth has a negative potential and an abundance of free electrons. It is believed that by connecting the body to the Earth, it allows for free electrons to move into the body and bind with the free radicals. When the free radicals attach to the electrons they are neutralized and can no longer cause inflammation and damage to your tissues.
On a more light note(and a little less scientific) connecting with the earth allows you to synchronize with its energy. The earth is one of the best sources of life and energy(other than the sun which we also need to survive). Everything on this planet exists because of the earth and is reliant of it. Every single animal has direct contact with the ground and humans are the only ones to be disconnected from it.
So what happens when we make purposeful contact with the earth?
Benefits
Feelings of Well Being: Many people report that spending some time in their day to ground themselves, makes them feel healthier and happier. This could be the gratification of taking time to disconnect from stress and going out into nature. This could also be the result of the free radicals binding and no longer being active in the body. Nature has a natural calming effect and grounding is one way to take advantage of that.
Improved Sleep: Earthing has been found to improve sleep in cases where the study participant sleeps grounded throughout the night. However, just connecting with the earth can help to normalize the body’s biological rhythms. By resetting the day-night cortisol levels, grounding can help you to fall asleep quicker and stay asleep the whole night. This can be especially useful for reducing jetlag.
Lower Stress: Earthing helps to regulate cortisol which is responsible for the fight or flight network. By earthing on a regular basis, you can help keep your cortisol levels regulated, and in turn, feel calmer. As well, just getting outside is a natural stress relieving activity.
Pain Management: In individuals with chronic pain, earthing can be a great tool to reduce inflammation. Because of grounding’s effect on blood viscosity, muscle tension and headaches can also be reduced.
Muscle Recovery: It has been found that earthing reduces blood viscosity(thins blood) and in turn increases circulation. This can have an effect on the body’s ability to recover after an intense workout and can reduce DOMS(delayed onset muscle soreness). As well earthing reduces inflammation which can lead to faster healing in muscles.
Menstrual Symptoms: Women have been found to get even more benefits from earthing than men. Earthing can provide relief from both PMS symptoms(food cravings, irritability, emotional irregularities, etc) and menopausal symptoms(hot flashes, weight gain, chills, etc.). There is a lack of evidence showing why women have better success with earthing.
Weight Loss: Because of the connection between high cortisol levels and increased weight gain, earthing could have the ability to help you lose weight. Not only do you feel more relaxed and calm when earthing but it helps to mitigate stress and in turn help with weight loss.
Some afflictions earthing could have the potential to help: cardiovascular disease, allergies, arthritis, anemia, asthma, psoriasis, eczema, Alzheimers, diabetes, hypothyroidism, and many more.
How to
The best and safest way to practice earthing is by connecting with the actual ground. Find a park or an area that is relatively untouched by human electrical current and just go barefoot. Doing this for 20-40 minutes every day would be optimal. If all you could do was going out in your backyard daily, this would act to ground you as well.
Grass, sand, dirt, or concrete are all conductors, meaning that all you really need to do is touch these surfaces(assuming that they are connected to the earth) to ground yourself. Water is also a great way to practice earthing. Salt water is more conductive than fresh water so it could hold potentially greater power for its ability to ground you. Both fresh and salt water are good ways to ground yourself if you have access to them.
Avoid grounding mats of other technologies meant to ground you, as they may not be a reliable way in which to receive the benefits of grounding. In some cases, grounding mats can actually cause more issues than fix. Keeping it natural and simple is often the best way to go.
Issues with the Science of Earthing
Most studies are only performed on small sample sizes. This means that we don’t know for sure if earthing really has any benefits to the majority of society. Many of the studies that have been conducted have only been done on people with ongoing sleep or other issues. Because of this, it can be hard to say whether or not a person who does not experience any of these issues would receive the same kind of benefit.
Many of the studies regarding grounding use different methods. Some employ grounding mats, copper plates, or other technologies believed to ground you. Because there is such a wide variety of techniques used to ground, it is hard to say if each method has the same effect.
Most studies that exist today, are funded or completed by individuals or groups that have a preset view of grounding. Some of the conclusions made from these studies, are purely speculation and cannot prove definitively where the benefits come from.
Because of that, it is not taken into account that just being outside may have the ability to give the benefits we see from grounding. Just the act of being outside with no other things to focus on could be the reason some of these studies find benefits.
A lot of the evidence behind earthing can be touted as anecdotal or biased. Until more studies are completed, it is hard to say that grounding can really be a cure-all. It is important not to take everything you read as fact, but to try it and see the difference(or lack of) in your own life.
Earthing is a relatively new idea and although we do not have all the science to back it up, some people have found some great benefits. Whether you just try earthing for 20 minutes of quiet or just to see if you feel healthier, it is worth experimenting with to see how it can fit into your life.
