Bioelectric balance and health of the body
The simplest things can have the most incredible health benefits. When was the last time you walked on the ground barefoot? Or do you believe it is more convenient to wear shoes everywhere to avoid getting dirty? Unfortunately, the modern way of life has disconnected us from our natural environment, the land we live and which feeds us. Our children are no longer allowed to play in the dirt but are instead housed in concrete apartments. We are even further away from the earth's surface if we live in a block of flats on higher floors, and when we finally "land," we are constantly wearing synthetic shoes without even thinking about how much imbalance there is in our body.
In his already classical work, "Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?" [1], Dr. Stephen Sinatra, along with Clinton Ober and Martin Zucker, argues that throughout history, people walk more and more seldom barefoot on the ground, much less to sleep directly on the earth, lacking its therapeutic properties. Barefoot walking, morning walking in the dewy grass, exercise at the beach or outdoors have beneficial effects on health. Just as the sun and the air we are breathing provide us with energy and vitamins, the soil we tread or the water we swim in is a source of energy that helps maintain optimal health.
Clint Ober, a former CEO of a television company, was sitting on a park bench in his hometown in 1998. Looking around, he noticed that everyone, including himself, was wearing shoes with rubber or plastic soles, which are poor conductors of electricity, and he wondered whether this affects our health. He got the idea from his work, where he used to insulate the cables because all the electrical systems in our homes are stabilized and protected by earthing. Ober was aware that the earth's surface is an infinite and continuous source of negatively charged electrons, the potential of which is maintained by the atmosphere's global electrical circuit [2]. These electrons are beneficial to health because of their ability to reduce the positive charges in our bodies, i.e., unpaired positive ions, also known as "free radicals." These dreaded free radicals are wreaking havoc on our body's healthy cells in search of the one thing they don't have: an electron. When a free radical finds its missing electron, it is satisfied and no longer contributes to cellular inflammation. However, most of us who live in the modern world suffer from an "electron deficiency," which causes the inflammatory response to be disproportionate, negatively impacting our health.
Fortunately, direct contact with the earth - also known as "grounding" - restores our body's electrical balance. Negative ions from the earth's surface enter our bodies to balance out the mismatched positive ions accumulated due to the body's reaction to the aggressions and anomalies of an unnatural environment, full of pollution and electromagnetic fields (EMF) and incompatible with the body's bioelectric balance. Furthermore, oscillations in the intensity of the earth's electric potential are critical in adjusting our biological clock because the power of the electric potential varies day and night. These variations signal to the body the passage into another time interval, with its specificity: active during the day, passive during the night [3].
Free radicals are neutralized when your skin directly contacts the earth, grass, or water because the body re-synchronizes with the earth's electric field. Thus, despite ground science being a relatively new field, increasing scientific evidence suggests that saturating the body with negative electrons has immediate health benefits such as synchronizing hormone cycles, balancing energy levels, and establishing appropriate physiological rhythms.
Inflammation
The effects of grounding on the inflammatory response, which has been linked to nearly 80 chronic diseases, including cancer, immune disorders, and type B diabetes, have piqued the interest of medical professionals. Inflammation, according to Dr. William Meggs of the University of East Carolina, "may prove to be the Holy Grail of medicine, the phenomenon that holds the key to our disease and our health."
The immune system immediately responds to even the slightest discoloration by releasing white blood cells (neutrophils) at the site of impact. Neutrophils secrete reactive oxygen species (ROS), which are unpaired positive ions with the mission of eradicating harmful factors. If you have damaged cells, free radicals will destroy them, leaving space for healthy cells to move in and repair the tissues. However, during this process, some free radicals can enter the surrounding healthy tissues and cause damage to them. The inflammatory response is triggered as a result of the phenomenon.
According to earthing research, if you leave your feet bare on the ground after striking or injuring yourself, free electrons from the earth will migrate into your body and spread to the tissues. As a result, any free radical entering healthy tissue is immediately electrically neutralized. In addition, because electrons are negatively charged and free radicals are positively charged, they cancel each other out.
Advantages for Health
In the 1960s and 1970s, researchers at Germany's Max Plank Institute conducted a study in which volunteers were placed in underground chambers isolated from the Earth's electric field. All participants in the study developed abnormal physiological reactions when they were not exposed to this electric field, including chaotic hormone production, sleep disturbances, and a general disruption of body function. According to the same study, earthing has various health benefits, including improved sleep, reduced pain and inflammation, reduced stress, and relief of gastrointestinal symptoms.
Numerous studies [4] have been conducted to attest to the health benefits of earthing, including:
1. Enhanced cardiovascular function
Dr. Stephen T. Sinatra, a well-known American cardiologist, specializing in integrative medicine, collaborated with Dr. Oschman's team on an experiment [5] that measured blood viscosity using the "Zeta Potential" method. The "Zeta Potential" determines the potential of red blood cells in blood by determining the speed at which they migrate in an electric field. When earthing occurs, the "Zeta Potential" appears to rapidly increase, indicating that the red blood cells have a more significant charge on their surface and thus move away from each other. This process thins and lightens the blood. As a result, blood pressure falls significantly as well. Another implication is that thinning red blood cells has a lower risk of blood clots forming, which do not have to be very large to cause a fatal pulmonary embolism.
2. Stress, depression, and anxiety decrease
Another study [6] discovered that earthing improves heart rate variability, which benefits the cardiovascular system and reduces stress, anxiety, and depression. In addition, low-stress levels can result in fewer headaches and even the recovery of adrenal fatigue.
3. Sleep management
According to a study published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine [7], when subjects slept in their beds on grounded conductive sheets, cortisol levels decreased during the night, and hormone secretion resynchronized with the natural circadian rhythm. Subjects also reported better sleep and less pain than before the study. Women's changes were more pronounced. On the other hand, better sleep means more energy throughout the day.
4. Decreased risk of osteoporosis
The Journal of Environmental and Public Health [8] discussed earthing to reduce the risk of osteoporosis. Mineral loss has been linked to the development of osteoporosis, but slowing or even stopping this loss can do wonders for bone health. According to the study, Earthing overnight resulted in significant changes in the concentrations of minerals and electrolytes in the blood, including iron, ionized calcium, inorganic phosphorus, sodium, potassium, and magnesium. In addition, significant calcium and phosphorus reductions have also been observed in blood and urine, which have been linked to osteoporosis.
5. Delaying the aging process
When it comes to aging, free radicals are among our greatest enemies [9]. If the earth neutralizes them, restoring the electrical balance in the body, will slow the aging process.
What is the procedure for earthing?
There is no one way to ground yourself that is "correct." It is the most natural thing in the world, though it may appear extremely strange at first. Take off your shoes, walk on the grass, dirt, sand, or rocks, lie on the floor, and sunbathe! Remove your gloves and shoes if you are working in the garden, planting, digging, or watering. Even a few minutes in contact with the ground can do wonders, but make sure you do it regularly to maintain the benefits.
The beach, near or in the water, is an ideal location for barefoot walking because seawater is an excellent conductor of electricity. So, for the most part, our body contains water and thus creates a good connection. Grass, particularly dew-covered grass, is another recommended medium. When we take a shower, we are also in contact with the earth's electricity via the water flowing through the pipes buried in the ground, which is one of the reasons we feel so good in the shower. Even 20-30 minutes on Ground Day can make a significant difference in your health.
To adapt the earthing to the needs of modern man, specialists have discovered ways to bring the earth's electricity directly into people's homes. Thus, electric sheets connect people to the ground while sleeping, computer mats that allow you to work barefoot, and slippers with a connecting material between the body and the earth in the sole.
As a result, establishing and maintaining natural electrical contact between the human body and the earth is profoundly therapeutic. Free electrons on the earth's surface act as natural antioxidants, reducing the inflammatory response. The loss of direct contact with the earth, on the other hand, causes another type of adaptive stress known as "electron deficiency," which weakens the immune system by slowing the resolution of inflammatory responses.
Ana Gheorghiu
[1] Clinton Ober, Stephen Sinatra, Martin Zucker, Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?, Basic Health Publications, 2020.
[2] E. Williams and S. Heckman, "The local diurnal variation of cloud electrification and the global diurnal variation of negative charge on the Earth,” Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 98, no. 3, pp. 5221–5234, 1993. S. Anisimov, E. Mareev, and S. Bakastov, "On the generation and evolution of aeroelectric structures in the surface layer”, Journal of Geophysical Research D, vol. 104, no. 12, pp. 14359–14367, 1999.
[3] J. L. Oschman, "Perspective: assume a spherical cow: the role of free or mobile electrons in bodywork, energetic and movement therapies,” Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 40–57, 2008.
[4] K. Sokal and P. Sokal, "Earthing the human body influences physiologic processes,” Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 301–308, 2011; Gaétan Chevalier, Stephen T. Sinatra, James L. Oschman, Karol Sokal, and Pawel Sokal, "Earthing: Health Implications of Reconnecting the Human Body to the Earth’s Surface Electrons”, Hindawi Publishing Corporation, Journal of Environmental and Public Health, vol. 2012, Article ID 291541, 8 pp. doi:10.1155/2012/291541
[5] Gaétan Chevalier, Stephen T. Sinatra, James L. Oschman and Richard M. Delany, "Earthing (Grounding) the Human Body Reduces Blood Viscosity—a Major Factor in Cardiovascular Disease”, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, vol. 19, Number 2, 2013, pp. 102–110.
[6] Gaétan Chevalier, Stephen T. Sinatra,"Emotional Stress, Heart Rate Variability, Grounding, and Improved Autonomic Tone: Clinical Applications”, http://imjournal.com/pdfarticles/IMCJ10_3_p16_24chevalier.pdf
[7] James L. Oschman, Ph.D., "Can Electrons Act as Antioxidants? A Review and Commentary”, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, vol. 13, number 9, 2007, pp. 955–967. Vezi și: C. Ober, "Grounding the human body to neutralize bioelectrical stress from static electricity and EMFs”, ESD Journal, http://www.esdjournal.com/articles/cober/ground.htm, January 2000; Maurice Ghaly, Dale Teplitz, "The biologic effects of grounding the human body during sleep as measured by cortisol levels and subjective reporting of sleep, pain, and stress”, Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 2004 Oct;10(5):767-76, doi: 10.1089/acm.2004.10.767.
[8] Gaétan Chevalier, Stephen T. Sinatra, James L. Oschman, Karol Sokal, and Pawel Sokal, "Earthing: Health Implications of Reconnecting the Human Body to the Earth’s Surface Electrons”, Hindawi Publishing Corporation, Journal of Environmental and Public Health, vol. 2012, Article ID 291541, 8 pp. doi:10.1155/2012/291541
[9] Gustavo Barja, "Free radicals and aging”, Trends Neuroscience Journal, 2004 Oct;27(10):595-600. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2004.07.005.
