Grounding - a daily essential!

Here in Dubai, life is very much lived indoors for at least 60% of the year.

It’s coming up to summer here now and I was reflecting on how much time we spend connected to the earth in a week.

And you know what? I calculated that most days, we probably spend, on average, less than an hour a week.

How scary is that!

The rest of the time, we were in our highrise apartment, or we were sitting in our air-conditioned office, or walking around an air-conditioned mall or sitting in a restaurant. And when were outside, for the few minutes at a time that the weather permits, we were wearing rubber flipflops or rubber soled sneakers.

Talk about disconnected!

And we aren’t the only ones. Most people around the world no longer sleep on the ground. We rarely walk barefoot outdoors and when we do go out we’re wearing insulating synthetic soled shoes. I’m pretty sure life was not meant to be lived like this!

Health issues today Never before have there been so many people around the world suffering from the chronic illnesses we see today. Stress, anxiety, insomnia, chronic pain, inflammatory bowel disorders, rheumatoid arthritis – the list goes on.

There are lots of contributing factors of course, such as the food we’re eating now and lifestyle factors like lack of exercise and vitamin D. But I can’t help but think that the simple act of standing barefoot on the ground is completely overlooked as an essential part of just being a human on this planet!

The science behind it There is some science to what they term ‘grounding’ or ‘earthing’ of course. It’s not just some hippie idea that we should be dancing barefoot among the flowers and worshipping the sun. The earth is alive and vibrant – lightening strikes, solar radiation, atmospheric pressure, tides. These dynamics are constantly supplying water and land with a renewed supply of subatomic particles called free electrons, that give the Earth a natural, negative electric charge[1]. And it’s this charge that is essential for human health, balance and wellbeing. Humans are energetic beings. And the earth has a natural internal electrical environment which plays an important role in the health of both animals and plants – think of it as ‘electric nutrition’[2]. Since the first humans walked this earth, we have been connected to the earth one way or another. But as we have developed and changed our way of living, we’ve become more and more disconnected. And there have been studies done that show how bioelectrical, bioenergetics, and biochemical processes offer significant modulating effects on chronic illnesses and dysfunction.[3]

Grounding benefits And they have proven that grounding has some profound effects on the body. For example, the earth is our original great anti-inflammatory: nature's way to counteract inflammation. There are thermal imaging scans that show the decrease in inflammation in patient’s who have spent just 30mins on the ground.[4] Likewise, earthing during sleep provides huge benefits for muscle recovery and reducing inflammation as well.

Grounding also improves circulation and reduces the consistency of the blood, helping it flow better, reducing the likelihood of heart problems and circulatory issues.[5]

It also helps with reducing stress and changing your mood. It helps to normalize the autonomic nervous system and regulate that horrid stress hormone that too many of us have, cortisol.

So what to do about it?

It’s simple really.

Get your shoes off and get outside!

Or if that’s not an option because of your climate or location, then get some natural leather-soled shoes on and get outside. Or, there are some options including conductive chairs, floor mats, bed pads and patches you can buy as well. Aim for 30 mins at a time but anything is better than nothing.

Even though we may die of head exhaustion, I’m making more of an effort these days to make sure our whole family spends time connecting to the ground. I know when we haven’t for a while because I start feeling low, or my body starts doing strange things, or I get some weird stomach upset or sinus issue for no apparent reason.

Such a simple thing to do that requires no effort and yet makes such a difference to our very existence on this planet!

So let’s all get out there today! Do you practice regular grounding? I’d love any comments or thoughts on this one. [1] E. Williams, S. Heckman The local diurnal variation of cloud electrification and the global diurnal variation of negative charge on the Earth J Geophys Res, 98 (D3) (1993), pp. 5221-5234 [2] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1550830719305476 [3] K. Sokal, P. Sokal, Earthing the human body influences physiologic processes, J Altern Complement Med, 17 (4) (2011), pp. 301-308 [4] J. Oschman, G. Chevalier, R. 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, 8 (2015), pp. 83-96 [5] G. Chevalier, S.T. Sinatra, J.L. Oschman, R.M. Delany Earthing (grounding) the human body reduces blood viscosity—a major factor in cardiovascular disease J Altern Complement Med, 19 (2) (2013)