Using nature to improve your mood and wellbeing is something that comes naturally to most of us. Who doesn’t enjoy a walk at the beach, listening to birdsong, or having a picnic in the great outdoors?
Mother Earth impacts our health too. We know how crucial clean air, pure water, and sunshine are. So what about the earth itself?
Growing research suggests that free electrons in the earth’s surface may also play an important role in regulating and rebalancing our body’s many systems.
Electrons are the smallest unit of negative charge. They are everywhere, in the earth, and in all living things including us. When you make conductive contact with the earth, its electrons flow into your body. The benefits are widespread and have been documented in over 20 published studies.
Earthing is the process of bringing free electrons from the earth’s surface into your body. You can do it by walking barefoot outside on grass or inside with a conductive earthing product such as a fabric grounding mat or earthing underlay for your bed. Find out more about grounding and how it works.
This mother’s day consider honouring your mother with a health and wellbeing boost from Mother Nature in the form of earthing.
Here are 9 ways earthing can boost your mum’s health and wellbeing:
1. Stay Healthy Longer
As we age, low-grade inflammation builds up in our bodies. This increases the risk of disease.
Preliminary research shows earthing alters the amount of circulating neutrophils and lymphocytes produced by the body’s immune system during inflammation, and helps inflammation resolve quicker.
Encouraging your mum to make earthing part of a healthy lifestyle could help her quality of life into the future. It may be as simple as gardening without gloves, or sitting on an indoor earthing mat when she reads a book.
2. Better Sleep
Is your mum overworked and busy? Or has her sleep quality deteriorated over the years?
Getting enough quality sleep is a common problem for women and men, especially from mid 40s or 50s when chronic stress and worry can interfere with sleep.
Earthing can help improve sleep according to a study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that earthing reduces abnormally high levels of cortisol levels at night.
Cortisol is responsible for keeping you awake and energised during the day. Your body produces less cortisol at night to help you fall and stay asleep, and more in the morning to give you get-up-and-go. When the normal production of cortisol is disrupted, its levels remain high even in the evenings, which leads to sleep disturbances.
After six weeks of earthing, nine of the 12 subjects noticed improvements in their sleep at night and energy levels at day. All 12 subjects woke fewer times during the night.
3. Improved Blood Circulation
Blood is essential to the body as it carries oxygen, cells and many other substances to keep your body in tiptop shape. High blood viscosity makes blood flow more sluggish, which leads to poor oxygenation and circulation, and may contribute to high blood pressure.
Researchers who looked at earthing and its impact on the blood’s electrodynamics found that using earthing products reduces viscosity in the blood. In other words, earthing helps thin the blood naturally creating an improvement in overall blood circulation.
Good blood circulation can slow down or eliminate any life-threatening diseases, like high blood pressure, leg ulcers, stroke, and organ damage. Good circulation can also reduce the symptoms of varicose veins, dizziness, muscle cramps and numbness.
4. Better Pain Management
Aches and pains are the most common complaints as we age. One of the first studies on earthing found a marked reduction of pain in subjects after earthing. Similar results were also seen in other studies, which concluded that earthing can offer relief from pain even in the absence of pain medication.
If you are fed up of constant aches or pains or are dependent on pain relievers, you may want to consider earthing even just for 10 minutes a day. Some people have told us that they have been able to reduce their overnight pain medication after sleeping while earthed for several nights. Read our case studies on earthing and pain management here.
5. Fast Immune Response
A strong immune system is less prone to infection and inflammation and has a fast recovery time. However, ageing and poor lifestyle habits can weaken the immune system.
A well-balanced diet, regular exercise and a healthy lifestyle strengthen the immune system so there is an acceleration in healing and recovery from surgery and/or traumatic injuries.
Earthing can make a great addition to a healthy diet and an active lifestyle. A pilot study even concluded that grounding the body to the earth alters measures of immune system activity and pain.
6. Reduced Stress
Stress affects everyone, and especially mothers whose unconditional love for their children can mean putting themselves last.
Earthing helps reduce high levels of cortisol, which is a stress hormone. With reduced stress, there is also a decrease in anxiety, depression, headache, and adrenal fatigue.
7. Improved Bone Health
Osteoporosis is a common disease that affects us as we age, particularly women. It is a disease characterised by poor bone mass and decreased bone tissue that results in weak bones.
Individuals with osteoporosis have a higher risk of fractured bones, especially in the hips, spine, and wrists.
Cardiologist and neurosurgeon K. Sokal and P. Sokal conducted an experiment with earthing using a copper conductor to see how it affects the physiological processes. The study showed reduced levels of calcium and phosphorus in the subjects’ urine, suggesting that earthing may reduce the chances of developing osteoporosis.
8. Lessened Hormonal Symptoms
Mood swings, hot flashes, night sweats, vaginal dryness, fatigue, thinning or hair loss are just some of the unpleasant symptoms of menopause. When left uncontrolled, these symptoms can leave elderly women feeling irritable, lethargic, and depressed.
Women who have been earthing experienced not only relief from sleep disorders and pain but also in their menopausal symptoms. Here is a case where one woman experienced fewer episodes of hot flushes after earthing for two months. Although the effects of earthing on hormonal symptoms still need further studies, there is anecdotal evidence that warrants a study.
9. Helps with Weight Management
One of the major factors that contribute to weight gain is stress, which has links to increased cortisol levels. If you consider yourself to be a comfort eater, then earthing may help as it can reduce stress and decrease cortisol levels. When you are less stressed, you are more likely to control unhealthy cravings.
Earthing and your Mum’s Lifestyle
A great way to start earthing is with a barefoot walk on the grass or at the beach. Swimming in the ocean or gardening without gloves are also ways to earth outside.
If these don’t suit your mum’s lifestyle, it may be easier and more convenient to use an indoor earthing product.
A fabric earthing mat can be used while sitting on a couch reading or watching TV. An earthing underlay or pillowcase is a great option for earthing while sleeping in bed.
To help resolve a health problem, you’ll see faster results when earthing at least 30 minutes daily. This is easier to achieve with an indoor product that you can set up and forget about while going about your normal life.
If your mum is taking pain blood-thinning medications, do consult with a doctor first as earthing is a natural blood-thinner, and the doctor may wish to monitor and adjust her medication dosage.
Earthing is a smart move for healthy ageing. May your mum be blessed with good health and happiness.
