Positive Health Online

Take off your Shoes and Dance Barefoot on the Earth

Recent studies show that doing this for as little as 30 minutes a day can radically improve your health. Look at these two images. They are of the same face taken with a Speckle Contrast Laser Imager and show the difference in blood supply to a woman’s face before and after grounding or earthing. 

The picture above represents improved facial circulation (right image) after 20 minutes of grounding as documented by a Speckle Contrast Laser Imager (dark blur= lowest circulation; dark red = highest circulation ) Image Source: Scientific Research Publishing[3]

When I looked at the images above, I realized that a picture truly does speak a thousand words. It answers the questions: Why do we feel energized by walking barefoot on the sand by the sea? Or padding on soft green turf?

The difference in the blood supply happens simply by dancing, walking, running, lying or sitting on the earth, provided the contact is directly with the skin. But the increase in blood supply is not the only benefit. Read on to lean more. Even more interesting is that similar effects were noted where people relaxed indoors, connected to a grounded conductive system that simply plugged into an electricity socket. (Note: The electricity supply was NOT switched on. The purpose is to ground through the earthing mechanism of the electricity circuit.)

Our Natural State of Connection

Why are we (or at least I) surprised at this finding? Doesn’t every other mammal walk barefoot on the earth? Isn’t it the most natural thing in the world to walk barefoot and sleep on the earth’s surface? Practically all indigenous cultures do this.

After all, only a few generations ago most people would have walked barefoot more often than not. Houses used to have earthen floors, or floors of tiles laid directly onto the earth. Then, as a mainly agricultural society, we lived close to the earth, as do most other cultures even now.

I was lucky to spend part of my early childhood in Pakistan and India. I remember that my ayah’s bare feet used to peep out from under her sari. Fascinated, I noticed that the soles of her feet were broad, the skin thickened but not hard. Sometimes she wore a gold anklet smothered in little bells, but usually she padded around almost silently, unlike my mother, whose high heeled shoes clicked loudly on the marble floors.

When I asked my ayah why she didn’t wear shoes she just laughed.

            “Why wear shoes? How can you feel the earth?” she asked.

            “I can feel the earth through my shoes,” I said, but she just giggled some more, wobbling her head.

She slept on the floor on a thin mat. No bed or mattress for her. Chairs were only for Europeans, everyone else rested by squatting on their haunches.

I remember, too, that in 1950s Sierra Leone in Africa, most Africans went barefoot. And the village huts had mud floors. The garden boy built an ‘African’ hut for me on the lawn. I loved the coolness of the earth beneath my feet and even then, I think, I was aware of the energy coming up into my soles.

Of course, it is several decades years since people in our civilized country went barefoot because they could not afford shoes, and since the floors of our buildings were simply pounded earth. Before rubber or plastic soles became ubiquitous, feet were protected with organic material: rags, leather, wool, silk. Now soles of plastic, rubber and man-made materials insulate us from the natural energy of the earth’s surface - and thus from a healthy supply of negatively-charged electrons.

The Science

The intense negative charge carried by the Earth supplies essential antioxidants and free-radical destroying electrons. These electrons are absorbed in large quantities through the soles of our feet, thus ensuring that our bodies maintain the same negatively-charged electrical potential as the Earth.

This potential was first documented and proved by German physicist Professor WO Schumann of the Technical University of Munich, who, together with another scientist Herbert König established as long ago as 1954 that the Earth pulses at a specific frequency, namely 7.8 hertz. This ‘heart-beat’ of the Earth has since been tested and confirmed by several other scientists and is known as the Schumann Resonance.

König went on to discover that the frequency of the Earth was an exact match with the frequency of the human brain. He also established that there was a clear link between Schumann Resonances and brain rhythms. Other scientists, including E Jacobi of the University of Dusseldorf, showed that the absence of Schumann waves creates mental and physical health problems in the human body.

It is not surprising then, that by absorbing these frequencies many such problems may be ameliorated. But it is surprising that this research was not done earlier and that has not received a huge fanfare for its propensity for restoring health.

Studies showing the Benefits of Earthing

Many benefits of this skin contact with the earth have been shown in recent studies.

1. Earthing: Health Implications of connecting the Human Body to the Earth’s Surface Electrons[1] published a few years ago in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health. This study shows that: “Emerging scientific research has revealed a surprisingly positive and overlooked environmental factor on health: direct physical contact with the vast supply of electrons on the surface of the Earth. Modern lifestyle separates humans from such contact. The research suggests that this disconnect may be a major contributor to physiological dysfunction and unwellness. Reconnection with the Earth's electrons has been found to promote intriguing physiological changes and subjective reports of well-being.”

 And concludes that ‘grounding could serve as a natural and profoundly effective environmental strategy’ against

• Chronic stress;
• Inflammation;
• Pain;
• Poor sleep;
• Disturbed heart rhythms;
• Disorders of the autonomic nervous system;
• Cardio-vascular disease;
• Other common health disorders.

2. Grounding the Human Body Improves Facial Blood Flow Regulation: Results of a Randomized, Placebo Controlled Pilot Study [2]

Conclusion: “The very Earth we live on possesses a form of easily accessible and beneficial natural electric energy that has been found to positively influence human physiology in various ways.”

3. One-Hour Contact with the Earth’s Surface (Grounding) Improves Inflammation and Blood Flow: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Pilot Study [3]

Conclusion: “The Earth possesses a form of easily accessible beneficial natural energy that has been demonstrated previously to influence positively human physiology and health. The results of this innovative study demonstrate, for the first time, that even one-hour contact with the surface of the earth appears to promote significant increase in blood flow regulation and … may enhance skin tissue repair, health, and vitality. Thermal imaging showed clearly improved fluids movements in the abdomen as well as improved blood circulation of the face and throughout the torso, which in turn, may translate into better health.”

4. Earthing: Health Implications of Reconnecting the Human Body to the Earth's Surface Electrons [4]

“Modern lifestyle has increasingly separated humans from the primordial flow of Earth's electrons. For example, since the 1960s, we have increasingly worn insulating rubber or plastic soled shoes, instead of the traditional leather fashioned from hides. Obviously, we no longer sleep on the ground as we did in times past.

“During recent decades, chronic illness, immune disorders, and inflammatory diseases have increased dramatically, and some researchers have cited environmental factors as the cause. However, the possibility of modern disconnection with the Earth's surface as a cause has not been considered.”

Conclusion: De Flora et al. wrote the following: “Since the late 20th century, chronic degenerative diseases have overcome infectious disease as the major causes of death in the 21st century, so an increase in human longevity will depend on finding an intervention that inhibits the development of these diseases and slows their progress.”

5. Can electrons act as antioxidants? A review and commentary.  Oschman JL.[5]

Conclusion: “A direct earth connection enables both diurnal electrical rhythms and free electrons to flow from the earth to the body. It is proposed that the earth's diurnal electrical rhythms set the biological clocks for hormones that regulate sleep and activity. It is also suggested that free electrons from the earth neutralize the positively charged free radicals that are the hallmark of chronic inflammation … free or mobile electrons from the earth can resolve chronic inflammation by serving as natural antioxidants.”

6. The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. James L Oschman, Gaétan Chevalier, and Richard Brown [6]

Conclusion: Grounding reduces pain and alters the numbers of circulating neutrophils and lymphocytes, and also affects various circulating chemical factors related to inflammation.

7. Charge transfer in the living matrix. Oschman JL.[7]

Conclusion: “Barefoot contact with the earth as well as hands-on and hands-off therapies facilitate healing by stimulating the migration of charges into sites of acute or chronic inflammation. One hypothesis to explain the effects of earthing is that charges from the ground substance reservoir prevent ‘collateral damage’ to healthy tissues in the vicinity of an injury. A second hypothesis is that earthing allows electrons to replenish charge in the ground substance reservoirs, making electrons available throughout the body.”

8. Earthing (grounding) the human body reduces blood viscosity — a major factor in cardiovascular disease. Chevalier G, Sinatra ST, Oschman JL, Delany RM.[8]

Conclusion : “Grounding increases the surface charge on RBCs and thereby reduces blood viscosity and clumping. Grounding appears to be one of the simplest and yet most profound interventions for helping reduce cardiovascular risk and cardiovascular events.”

9. Chronic Disease: Are We Missing Something? James L. Oschman, PhD [9]

“Two physicians, Pawel and Karol Sokal point out that our preoccupation with treating symptoms may have distracted us from noticing that there is a common denominator to many diseases: Our contemporary civilization may be depriving us of something our bodies require if we are to be healthy. They concluded that interaction of the human body with the electrical charge of the earth is such a factor, and they present evidence that a connection to the earth (sometimes referred to as Earthing or grounding) is essential for normal physiology. 

“The Sokals found that Earthing the human body during rest and physical activity has a direct, beneficial effect on the regulation of blood glucose … diabetes currently accounts for 10% of all health care expenditures in the United States.

“The Sokals also discovered that thyroid function is influenced by Earthing, as documented by a significant decrease of free tri-iodothyronine and an increase of free thyroxin and thyroid stimulating hormone. Through a series of feedback regulations, thyroid hormones affect almost every physiologic process in the body, including growth and development, metabolism, body temperature, and heart rate.”

10. Article: The Effects of Grounding – Dr Joseph Mercola

“Earthing may be one of the most important overlooked factors in public health. When grounding is restored, many people report significant improvement in a wide range of ailments, including chronic fatigue. These changes are rapid and often occur within 30 minutes… It can be said without any equivocation that the human body evolved in contact with the Earth and needs to maintain this natural contact in order to function properly.”[10]  

How to Ground Yourself

DO:

Wear leather-soled shoes (vegan leather, felt and wool are okay too) or walk barefoot on

• rock
• sand,
• grass,
• soil,
• concrete,
• or ceramic tile.

DON’T:

wear rubber or plastic-soled shoes, or footwear fashioned from man-made materials; walk (even barefoot) on

• asphalt
• wood
• rubber
• plastic
• vinyl,
• tar
• tarmac

If you spend a lot of time indoors or find that you always wear shoes with soles of rubber, plastic, or man-made-material, conductive systems are available that ground you while you sleep, work (especially at a computer), or play. These are both convenient and easy to use. And they can have a magnificent effect on your general health.

Just think what the cost-saving implications are for the National Health Service - and the personal benefits too.

So the next time you are outside, take off your shoes and your socks. Happy dancing!

References

1.         Gaétan Chevalier, Stephen T. Sinatra, James L. Oschman, Karol Sokal, Pawel Sokal Earthing: Health Implications of connecting the Human Body to the Earth’s Surface Electrons J Environ Public Health. 2012; 2012: 291541. . doi: 10.1155/2012/291541 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3265077/  Published online 12 Jan 2012.

2.         Chevalier, G. Grounding the Human Body Improves Facial Blood Flow Regulation: Results of a Randomized, Placebo Controlled Pilot Study.  Journal of Cosmetics, Dermatological Sciences and Applications, 4, 293-308. 2014. http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/jcdsa.2014.45039

3.         Gaétan Chevalier, Gregory Melvin, Tiffany Barsotti. One-Hour Contact with the Earth’s Surface (Grounding) Improves Inflammation and Blood Flow—A Randomized, Double-Blind, Pilot Study. Health,07,1022-1059. doi: 10.4236/health.2015.78119 http://file.scirp.org/Html/14-8203393_58836.htm 2015.

4.         Gaétan Chevalier, Stephen T. Sinatra, James L. Oschman, Karol Sokal, Pawel Sokal Earthing: Health Implications of Reconnecting the Human Body to the Earth's Surface Electrons J Environ Public Health. 2012; 2012: 291541. Published online 2012 Jan 12. doi: 10.1155/2012/291541. PMCID: PMC3265077 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3265077/

5.         Oschman James L.. Can electrons act as antioxidants? A review and commentary. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine., 13(9): 955-967. November 2007 .https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2007.7048 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18047442

6.         James L Oschman, Gaétan Chevalier, Richard Brown The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases J Inflamm Res. 2015; 8: 83–96. doi: 10.2147/JIR.S69656 PMCID: PMC4378297.  Published online Mar 24 2015. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25848315

7.         Oschman JL. Charge transfer in the living matrix. J Bodyw Mov Ther. 2009 Jul;13(3):215-28. doi: 10.1016/j.jbmt.2008.06.005. Epub Jul 30 2008. Review. PubMed PMID: 19524846. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19524846

8 .        Gaétan Chevalier, Stephen T. Sinatra, James L. Oschman, Richard M. Delany  Earthing (grounding) the human body reduces blood viscosity — a major factor in cardiovascular disease J Altern Complement Med. Feb; 19 2013 (2): 102–110. doi: 10.1089/acm.2011.0820 PMCID: PMC3576907 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22757749

9.         James L. Oschman Chronic Disease: Are We Missing Something? J Altern Complement Med. Apr; 17  2011 (4): 283–285. doi: 10.1089/acm.2011.0101 PMCID: PMC3151462  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3151462/

10.       Dr Joseph Mercola  Article: The Effects of Grounding  https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2015/11/21/grounding-effects.aspx