Paula, mother of two, used to feel awful waking up her 14-year-old daughter Ella for school. At 6AM, her daughter looked as tired as when she went to bed the night before. Paula felt terrible having to drag her child out of bed each day.
‘It was hard to get her ready for school. I’d wake her up in the morning and she would sleep for at least another half and hour. It was an effort and struggle just to get her out of bed.’
‘Once out of bed, Ella was grumpy and tired. She didn’t even enjoy the thought of the exciting things she would do that day.’
‘The lack of quality sleep had a huge effect on Ella’s emotions and her energy for the day. She just wasn’t able to cope with her day to day routine and what was expected of a young girl at school.’
Ella’s poor sleep wasn’t a recent thing.
‘Ella was always a really bad sleeper, even as a baby. She would sleep all day and then be awake all night. She would go to bed really late and wake up really late in the morning.’
Earthing For Better Sleep
When Paula heard about earthing and how it could improve sleep, she decided to set up Ella’s bed with an earthing undersheet.
After one night of sleeping earthed, Paula noticed a big difference in Ella’s energy.
‘Literally the next morning she woke and looked at me and said ‘oh hi mum!’ And I actually got her out of her bed and started doing all the routine things she is meant to do in the morning. She got dressed and came downstairs chatty and ready for breakfast. She wasn’t this half asleep zombie-like child. This was really cool because as a mum I have a tight deadline in the morning to get my kids fed and dressed and out door by 7AM.’
Five weeks on, Ella continues to sleep well and has much more energy during the day.
‘She isn’t tossing and turning or waking up throughout the night and then trying to get settled again.’
‘It’s just phenomenal the difference it makes in her getting through her school day, which is a big day.’
‘Her energy levels used to be around a three or four out of ten (with ten being very energetic). Now she is at least a seven or even a nine.’
‘The last few afternoons she’s been doing soccer for sports. When she gets home at 5:30pm in the afternoon, she’s insisting on playing a full hour of soccer with her Dad and he’s exhausted! But she just won’t slow down. She’s full of energy. So yeah a huge difference.’
Earthing for Babies
Dr Laura Koniver, an integrative doctor and earthing advocate has also witnessed the transformational effects of earthing first-hand with her own daughter, who had severe colic as a baby.
Dr Koniver noticed that the only time her baby daughter was pain-free and able to snooze was when she was in conductive contact with the earth. Held in her mother’s bare arms, the free electrons from the earth’s surface travelled through her mother’s bare feet and body into her baby’s body, where the earth’s free electrons acted like anti-inflammatories.
In the short documentary Down to Earth, Dr Koniver says:
‘Every time we were outside she relaxed. I noticed that every time she was in a stroller or we were in the car, she was still in pain and uncomfortable. This is no placebo effect. She had no idea of whether I was wearing shoes or not, I was holding her either way. I came to realise this child can only settle and be soothed when I was holding her against my skin and standing barefoot on the earth.’
We now know from research studies that earthing puts out the fires of inflammation, measurably decreasing the number of circulating white blood cells, which in turn reduces pain.
Research has shown that grounding your body to the earth during sleep can normalise sleep patterns and the body’s day-night wake cycle (which impacts how alert you feel when you wake up and your energy during the day).
So get your kids to kick off their shoes and take a barefoot walk on the earth. It feels good and you may notice an improvement in their energy, mood, health or wellbeing.
References:
Ghaly M, Teplitz D. 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;10(5):767–776.
Oschman, James L, Chevalier G, Brown R. The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune disease. Journal of Inflammation Research. 2015. March 24.
