Earthing: What Is It and What Are The Benefits?

The traditionally core components of alternative, lifestyle, and preventive medicine include nutrition, exercise, stress management, and relationships. One key component that is missing from this overall formula is the practice of Earthing, which is commonly referred to as grounding. 

The simplicity and the multitude of benefits provided by Earthing are not understood by many people.

Before we proceed any further, let’s examine exactly what Earthing means. 

Earthing simply means reconnecting the conductive human body to the Earth’s natural and subtle surface electric charge, an effortless lifestyle activity that systematically influences the basic bioelectrical function of the body.

Implementation of this simple lifestyle change surprisingly stabilizes the physiology, reduces inflammation, pain, and stress, enhances sleep, blood flow, and lymphatic/venous return to the heart, and produces greater well-being.

People report very positive effects from a regular schedule of Earthing.

They report that they feel and look healthier and younger. Those suffering from pain state that they feel less pain and their mood improves⁽¹⁾.

Earthing is quite simple to implement and often achieves rapid results, particularly for individuals with chronic health disorders.

So, how does Earthing work?

Essentially, there are two basic ways of Earthing:

1. Indoors, incorporating inexpensive Earthing systems (conductive mats, pads, body bands, or patches) while sitting or sleeping.
2. In its most natural form, and free, by spending time barefoot outdoors in contact with natural conductive surfaces, like grass, soil, gravel, stone and sand.

Just as vitamin D in our body is produced by energy and frequencies generated from the sun, 93 million miles away, the Earth right under our feet offers unique energy and frequencies that directly influence our body.

Due to current human lifestyle, this primordial electric connection to the Earth has been lost.

Earthing restores this connection and provides an array of benefits.  Interestingly, Earthing appears to correct what is referred to as an “electron deficiency syndrome,”⁽²⁾ an overlooked and likely significant cause of multiple health disorders⁽³⁾.

The rise in global illness has brought with it a chronic pain epidemic engulfing perhaps as many as 20% of adults⁽⁴⁾ which has also potentiated an alarming spike in painkilling medication usage, side effects, and addiction.

This problem has been recognized by the U.S. Government and is also growing worldwide.

Earthing offers a powerful health and healing tool for prevention and therapy alike, a tool that can be used by itself or in conjunction with clinical treatments to address not just symptoms but root causes of symptoms and dysfunction that begin at the deep bioelectrical levels of the physiology.

Our lost connection to the Earth

The Earth has long been recognized and utilized by the electrical industry as an essential source of stability and safety. All modern electrical systems, from large grids and power stations to homes, buildings, and factories, and the machinery and appliances powered by electricity, are all connected to the Earth for stability and safety.

Essentially, electrical systems are “healthier” precisely because of their connection to the Earth.

It is now time for the medical world to start recognizing that a body connected to the ground – a grounded body – is similarly more stable and healthier. It functions more naturally, a state lost over time because humans have become largely disconnected from the Earth.

We obviously no longer sleep on the ground, rarely walk barefoot outdoors, and, for more than a half century, almost exclusively wear insulating synthetic soled shoes instead of traditional and conductive leather footwear.

We live and work, and spend much or most of our time disconnected, often far above ground in high rises.

This disconnection with the Earth may contribute to electrical imbalances, a build-up of disruptive static electricity (positive charges), and an unknown electron deficiency in the body, and with it, susceptibility to dysfunction, disorder, and disease⁽³⁾.

The electrical charge provided by Earth and its limitless supply of electrons and their diurnal frequencies, provides a form of “electric nutrition” so to speak⁽³⁾.

Research supports the hypothesis that Earthing facilitates a significant transfer of free electrons into the body, a transfer resulting in rapid, sometimes instant, physiological changes.

Earthing restores and maintains a natural internal electrical environment. Research indicates that Earthing the human body represents a “universal regulating factor in Nature” strongly influencing bioelectrical, bioenergetics, and biochemical processes and appears to offer a significant modulating effect on chronic illnesses and dysfunction⁽⁵⁾.

Earth - The original anti-inflammatory

One of the most prevailing effects of Earthing, as documented over nearly 20 years of research, along with feedback from thousands of individuals around the world, is reduction and even elimination of chronic inflammation, a common cause or aggravating factor for chronic and aging-related diseases, as well as pain.

This finding suggests that the planet we live on is the original painkiller, the original anti-inflammatory: nature's way to counteract inflammation.

Briefly, the hypothesis for this effect is as follows: Free radicals (also known as reactive oxygen species, ROS) are positively charged molecules produced normally, that strip electrons from healthy tissue, resulting in damage. Every cell produces billions of free radicals every day.

Earthing allows huge numbers of free electrons to enter the body where they are believed to neutralize free radicals.

The active mechanisms of electron transportation to a site of inflammation may encompass the nervous, meridian, and circulatory systems. It is indicated that the influx of free electrons absorbed into the body serves as a powerful anti-inflammatory reinforcement for the immune system.

Earthing typically reverses both acute and chronic inflammation, and does so rapidly⁽²⁾.  

Interestingly, three studies based on a sports medicine research model called delayed onset muscular soreness (DOMS) documented clear evidence of pain relief and reduced inflammation from Earthing. DOMS refers to the pain, tenderness, and stiffness felt in muscles several hours to days after unaccustomed or strenuous exercise. The pain arises in affected muscles from temporary damage (micro trauma) to muscle fibers, usually increases in intensity in the first 24 h after exercise, and peaking from 24 to 72 h.

Earthing significantly reduced the degree and duration of DOMS soreness and inflammation^(6-8). Earthing may represent a simple technique to enhance acute and long-term recovery after intensive exercise.

Earthing enhances blood flow

Another major documented benefit of Earthing is enhanced blood flow. Zeta potential, which relates to the strength of the negative charge on the surface of red blood cells, increased an average of 270% following Earthing.  The greater the charge (i.e., Zeta potential), the greater the potential of the cells to repel each other (less clumping), the lower the viscosity of the blood, and the better the flow. This implies a natural blood thinning effect and has been indicated to help reduce cardiovascular risk and cardiovascular events⁽⁸⁾.

Other major benefits of Earthing are stress reduction and mood improvement, through a normalizing effect on the autonomic nervous system (as measured by improved heart rate variability and vagal tone) and the stress hormone cortisol⁽¹⁾.

In addition, the synergistic effects of Earthing also improve blood pressure in hypertensive patients⁽¹⁰⁾.

Promoting a healthy lifestyle which includes eating a better diet and exercising often presents a challenge for many doctors because patients frequently can’t change unhealthy behavior⁽¹¹⁾. 

This is where Earthing can be implemented quite easily and people can ground themselves conveniently while sitting or sleeping. This enhances compliance levels and the rapid results seen from Earthing can motivate patients to implement other lifestyle recommendations (e.g., exercise, meditation, yoga, dietary changes).  

The figure below is a culmination of Earthing’s effects in the body, based on both research and a large volume of anecdotal reports.

Fig: Systemic benefits of Earthing⁽³⁾

Summary

One of the huge advantages of Earthing is in the simplicity of application.

Walking barefoot outdoors is obviously the most natural way. A grassy park, yard, or sandy beach are ideal locations. For other natural terrain, as well as concrete surfaces, Earthing footwear can be purchased to protect the feet.

Ongoing research indicates that Earthing enhances the physiology's infrastructure from the ground up. As the burden of global disease and pain conditions grow increasingly larger, it is crucial to promote effective prevention and lifestyle practices which should include Earthing.

Earth's healing properties has great potential to both prevent and treat common disorders afflicting modern society.


References:
1.    Chevalier, G., The effect of grounding the human body on mood. Psychol Rep, 2015. 116(2): p. 534-42.
2.    Oschman, J.L., G. Chevalier, and 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, 2015. 8: p. 83-96.
3.    Menigoz, W., et al., Integrative and lifestyle medicine strategies should include Earthing (grounding): Review of research evidence and clinical observations. Explore (NY), 2020. 16(3): p. 152-160.
4.    Goldberg, D.S. and S.J. McGee, Pain as a global public health priority. BMC Public Health, 2011. 11: p. 770.
5.    Sokal, K. and P. Sokal, Earthing the human body influences physiologic processes. J Altern Complement Med, 2011. 17(4): p. 301-8.
6.    Brown, D., G. Chevalier, and M. Hill, Pilot study on the effect of grounding on delayed-onset muscle soreness. J Altern Complement Med, 2010. 16(3): p. 265-73.
7.    Brown, R., G. Chevalier, and M. Hill, Grounding after moderate eccentric contractions reduces muscle damage. Open Access J Sports Med, 2015. 6: p. 305-17.
8.    Muller, E., et al., Effectiveness of Grounded Sleeping on Recovery After Intensive Eccentric Muscle Loading. Front Physiol, 2019. 10: p. 35.
9.    Chevalier, G., et al., Earthing (grounding) the human body reduces blood viscosity-a major factor in cardiovascular disease. J Altern Complement Med, 2013. 19(2): p. 102-10.
10.    Elkin, H.K. and A. Winter, Grounding Patients With Hypertension Improves Blood Pressure: A Case History Series Study. Altern Ther Health Med, 2018. 24(6): p. 46-50.
11.    McAndrews, J.A., S. McMullen, and S.L. Wilson, Four strategies for promoting healthy lifestyles in your practice. Fam Pract Manag, 2011. 18(2): p. 16-20.