Do you love fascinating health discoveries?
If so, you’re in for a treat.
There are so many intriguing things about Earthing (also called Grounding) from the nuances of how it works to how you do it. For example, did you know that if you’re earthed you can pass the earth’s free electrons to a friend by holding their hand! If you’re new to earthing – read our introductory article what is earthing first. Then discover 11 interesting things about Earthing below.
1.You Can Pass the Earth’s Free Electrons to a Friend by Holding Hands!
Your skin is like a freeway for the earth’s free electrons. If you hold hands with someone who isn’t earthing (and you are), the free electrons will flow from you to them so that both of you get benefits. Hugs work too! Try testing this at home with your multimeter.
2. Where do Free Electrons on the Earth’s Surface Come From?
In one word, thunderstorms! With around 5000 lightning strikes per minute happening around the world, it’s no wonder the earth has such a strong negative charge. Electrons on the earth’s surface – small particles containing negative charge – are constantly replenished by this lightning and other meteorological events. The earth’s atmosphere helps charge up the earth’s surface too. The ionosphere and the magnetosphere also contain many layers of electrically charged particles. The atmosphere and the earth’s surface influence one another creating a Global Electrical Circuit. For a more technical understanding see this research paper on The Earth’s Electric Surface Potential by Gaetan Chevalier.
3. Earthing Makes You Look Good, Really!
When you earth, the blood flow to your face increases according to a double-blind study with 40 people (27 earthed and 13 sham-earthed) published in the Journal of Cosmetics, Dermatological Sciences and Applications. More blood flow means more oxygen and nutrients to the skin as well as better resistance to oxidisation by those pesky free radicals that cause aging! Earthing may actually make your skin look younger.
4. Your foot, K1 acupuncture point, and Earthing
The foot has an acupuncture point called kidney 1 just below the ball of the foot. According to James Oschmann, when you earth that point, free electrons can travel up your meridian lines and through your body more quickly. Try it yourself and see how it feels.
5. Where do those free electrons go when they enter your body?
They either travel directly to the site of inflammation, where your body can use them to get rid of excess free radicals OR your body stores them in extracellular sugar biopolymers. These biopolymers act as reservoirs or storehouses for negative charge (free electrons) in your body. We need to connect to the earth regularly otherwise these reservoirs run down. Think of them like batteries that need a regular recharge.
6. Two Earthing products may be better than one when you’re recovering from an injury
When Dr Stephen Sinatra was recovering from hip surgery he placed an earthing patch a few inches away from his hip joint and another on the sole of his foot near the K1 acupuncture point. He told Dr Mercola about how he used earthing to bring down the swelling. Thanks to earthing he was pain-free by his third-day post-operation! A few of our customers have also been experimenting post-surgery with a new product we call an ‘earthing wrap‘. It’s a silver fibre fabric bandage that’s earthed to allow those valuable, anti-inflammatory free electrons to flow around the injured area. The wraps range in size from about 10 x 150 cm to 40 x 50 cm. They’ll be available in our shop in early February 2016.
Note: earthing is a natural blood thinner and is contraindicated if you take blood-thinning medication such as Coumadin or Warfarin. If you wish to try earthing and are on blood-thinning medication, consult with your doctor first so that they can monitor your dosage and decrease it if necessary.
7. There’s a small town in Alaska where everyone has been Earthing regularly, and the results have been amazing.
Steve Koschel made a documentary about his experiences of bringing earthing /grounding to his home town of Haines, Alaska (population 1,700). The film is packed with testimonials from town residents whose pain, arthritis or sleep problems stopped after they started earthing regularly. There are some great Alaskan landscape shots too! Watch the Grounding Movie on Youtube.
Koshcel just released his second documentary called Heal for Free.
8. The Stop Test
When people experience big benefits from earthing they sometimes wonder is earthing really doing this? It seems ‘too good to be true’. One way to be certain that earthing is truly helping your health is to stop for a few days (or a week if still in doubt). If those pesky health problems begin to return then you can be sure that earthing is responsible for keeping them away! You can also try this if you’ve been earthing for a while and have forgotten how you felt before you started.
9. Combat Jetlag
A great way to get rid of jetlag is to go for a barefoot walk on a beach or on moist green grass, if practical to do so, or use an indoor earthing product. This will help reset your body’s circadian rhythm to the new time zone. Your circadian rhythm is your internal body clock. It helps you feel alert when it’s light and sleepy at night when it’s dark. Sleeping while earthed will support time zone changes too. A 2004 study has shown that day/night cortisol rhythm is normalised with earthing overnight.
10. Earthing Mat Opens Tight Jar Lids
You may be wondering is this really an earthing thing? The answer is no, but it does relate to your Better Earthing mat. For a tough jar or bottle lid that won’t twist open, place your Better Earthing mat over the lid and twist it open much more easily. The rubber grips the lid, with less twist on your skin. Nothing to do with earthing, but another use for your earthing mat! You might recall seeing a clever Tupperware lid opener many moons ago that worked like this.
11. Feeling Good
After 12 months of earthing regularly, I can honestly say that I am generally calmer and better able to handle stress. There’s a sound physiological reason for this. Earthing switches the autonomic nervous system (ANS) into calming mode (parasympathetic), as opposed to flight or fight mode (sympathetic) according to 2010 research in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.
…grounding produces a rapid change in ANS function. These skin conductance changes suggest that grounding increases parasympathetic system function and/or reduces sympathetic system function. In that regard, the present results support previous studies reporting reduction in stress, and improved sleep and relaxation.
You can download the full study entitled ‘Changes in Pulse Rate, Respiratory Rate, Blood Oxygenation, Perfusion Index, Skin Conductance, and Their Variability Induced During and After Grounding Human Subjects for 40 Minutes’ from the Earthing Institute.
