When Chris heard of earthing, he immediately thought of his 11-year old son Thomas who has autism and sleep issues from an early age.
Thomas experienced dramatic improvements in sleep, social interaction and communication after earthing overnight for 6-months and using a new nutritional supplement.
Thomas’ father Chris explains his son’s sleep patterns before earthing as follows:
“Thomas would wake up at random times 5 out of 7 nights. He would wake up at say midnight or 2 am and be excited and very vocal. He would go on his iPad, not in his bedroom but in the lounge room and show no symptoms of actually slowing down.”
Thomas’ happy excited sounds would wake up the whole family.
Chris decided to invest in earthing products as a sleep aid. He chose an underlay for him and his wife, an underlay for Thomas and a smaller pad for his older son. Earthing worked remarkably well, even for the first night.
Chris says: “I know my eldest son, the first time he slept on it, he woke up but then he fell back to sleep straight away and then throughout the night. Now he sleeps through the night. I am getting benefits too. I can sleep right through the night.”
Thomas has experienced other big changes.
Initially, Chris noticed that Thomas, instead of leaving his room when he woke up during the night, would self-soothe in bed and go back to sleep.
“Thomas does ‘stimming’ [repetitive self-stimulating behaviour]. He lays on his tummy and pounds his head on the mattress. With the earthing underlay, I noticed that he would be doing that stimming and then he would not get up because the earthing would get him so relaxed that he would just go back to sleep.”
There have been further improvements in the last three months.
“Now Thomas regularly wakes up around 5:30 or 6am and he doesn’t get out of bed straight away. Before he would have gotten up as soon as he woke up, and gone and found the iPad. With the earthing underlay, when we give him the iPad he now gives it straight back to us. He doesn’t need to go on the iPad straight away.”
Other changes to Thomas’ behaviour include better language skills and ability to concentrate.
“At school he is more interactive. He is more “switched on”. He is saying sentences rather than just words and he is responding to questions. For example, last week he said, ‘Tummy sore, tummy grumbling’. At school, they were quite surprised to hear him say that in a sentence form.”
“We went to Thomas’ 6-monthly visit to the paediatrician and he told us that he could see a change from 6months ago in Thomas’ behaviour right there in his office. He is more attentive than he was the prior visit.”
Thomas’ teacher has also noticed a difference. She even asked Chris’s wife “what are you guys doing”.
“My wife gave her a brochure on earthing and the teacher said it must be working because Thomas sits down in lessons and he is more focused on what the lessons are all about.”
This is a dramatic change. As Chris says:
“6months earlier Thomas had more anxiety and he didn’t want to go to school. It was always a chore. Now he is more than happy to go.”
Interestingly, Thomas seems to seek out earthing when he is feeling overwhelmed.
“If he is in the lounge room on the iPad and the internet drops out, he might have a meltdown. While we are trying to get the internet reconnected, Thomas actually goes back to his room to calm down by stimming on the bed. We think it’s because he knows the benefits.”
Chris and his wife also attribute the changes in Thomas to better nutrition.
“My wife purchased a particular formula which is for autistic children. It basically has all the vitamins and minerals that they need. We think this is also benefiting and that the combo of sleeping well and getting good nutrition is helping.”
Thomas began taking this formula around the same time as he started earthing.
As yet there are no studies on earthing and autism. However, there is growing anecdotal evidence. You might be interested to watch the following interview with teachers who have offered grounding in school to help students with ADHD and autism. This is an excerpt from The Earthing Movie, a feature length documentary on earthing that you can watch for free in its entirety online.
To find out more about the research on earthing see our short summaries of published studies. Or browse our online shop to see our unique Australian-made earthing products for sleep or daytime use.