Earthing: Why Connecting with the Earth is Essential
During my seminars at the Building Biology Institute, being acutely aware of my brain fog, I spent many breaks outside, trying to get on the grass as much as I could. Grounding every chance we had helped us through brutal jet-lag and lack of sleep, when this little one was still nursing. You can read about my journey here.
One of the most powerful practices we can do to increase our health is earthing.
Imagine the Earth as a gigantic battery that contains a natural, subtle electrical charge. It vibrates at a frequency that balances our energies and helps us to maintain our health. All living things on our planet are connected to the ground’s electric energy, except for most of us urbanites who walk in rubber shoes and live in high-rise and insulated homes that dis-connect to the earth’s field.
The power of connecting to the Earth
When we literally get in touch with the Earth, our body gets into electrically conductive contact with the surface of the Earth (grounding or earthing). We are taking in the vast supply of electrons on the surface of the Earth, which produces intriguing effects on physiology and health.
Earthing can reduce stress levels and uplift the spirit. It has also been shown to help reduce inflammation, healing and improvement in circulation, chronic pain, and better sleep. To connect with the energies of our planet, simply walk barefoot on bare ground - make sure you're doing it without your devices.
This article explains what grounding is, what the benefits are, and ways you (and your kids) can recharge and reap the benefits of mother nature. In time earthing will return to the mainstream as an essential wellness practice for its simplicity and its broad impacts.
Earthing vs Grounding
Both ‘earthing’ and ‘grounding’ have become popular as more and more aspects of our lifestyles have divorced us from Nature and its intrinsic rhythms.
‘Grounding’ tends to be used as a mental health strategy to calm anxiety, stress, and pain. For example, when we say someone is “grounded”, we tend to attribute these qualities: centered, solid, strong, balanced, Less tense or stressed. The act of grounding is a therapeutic technique that involves doing activities that “ground” or electrically reconnect you to the earth.
Earthing is another term commonly used to describe this, though it technically refers to using the earth’s natural charge to realign your own body’s electrical charge.
You can see the nuance in the difference of the two terms, as the latter, ‘earthing’, relates specifically to the electromagnetic exchange between the Earth and other objects, including humans.
I use the two terms interchangeably because both are about the process of putting your body into contact with the electrical impulses of the Earth’s surface.
Why we need to earth
We are bioelectrical beings living on an electrical planet. Your body operates electrically. All of your cells transmit multiple frequencies that run, for example, your heart, immune system, muscles, and nervous system.
In our daily modern lives, many of these functions are interrupted by the larger artificial EMF soup that we live in. Your body is unable to perform its cellular processes optimally leading to pain, poor sleep, illness and/or disease.
Healing Benefits of Grounding
Reducing inflammation
Improved blood circulation
Reducing chronic pain
Improving sleep
Increasing energy
Lowering stress and promoting calmness by reducing stress hormones
Normalizing biological rhythms including circadian rhythm
Normalizing blood pressure and blood flow
Relieving muscle tension and headache
Improving menstrual and female hormone symptoms
Speeds healing
Reducing jet lag
Protecting the body from effects of EMFs
Shortening recovery time from injury or athletic activity
Helping support adrenal health
How does grounding and earthing “work”?
The Earth's negative potential creates a stable bioelectrical environment for the function of all biological beings (including humans).
The natural rhythms of Earth's potential may be important for setting the biological clocks regulating diurnal body rhythms, such as cortisol secretion [3]
It is also well established that electrons from antioxidant molecules neutralize reactive oxygen species (ROS, or in popular terms, free radicals) involved in the body's immune and inflammatory responses.
How to physically earth and how to consciously earth
This can be done by touching the Earth’s surface directly (soil, sand, grass) or by coming into contact with a surface that can conduct the Earth’s electricity (water, concrete).
conductive surfaces: grass, soil, natural bodies of water, concrete
non-conductive surfaces: asphalt, vinyl, wood
Consciously earthing
As I explored different ways to earth, I found there;s a big difference if I make it a conscious habit versus just hopping out onto the grass for second or two.
Consciously being aware of the flow of energy within my body and in exchange with the earth, or “earthing”, allows you to connect to energy while getting rid of any idea of it being a chore, or “woo-woo (WTH am I doing?)” that could affect the ability to entrain in the flow of energy. To borrow an analogy, it’s the difference between being distracted doom-scrolling your phone during a massage and relaxing into the tactile and sensory relaxation of the experience.
By becoming more mindful of your own feelings and state of mind, you can gain greater joy in the process of earthing.
Sitting outside in the morning while drinking your morning tea or having breakfast
Going to your neighborhood park and walking or sitting in the grass
Walking on the beach and letting the waves lap your feet and legs
Swimming in the ocean or a lake
Why earthing works
Grounding works by providing a path for unwanted positive or negative charges to flow into the electrically neutral (that is, zero-voltage) Earth.
Our bodies build up a positive charge that is dispelled when we touch the earth. Earth itself has negatively charged electrons that balance the positive charge we accumulate when we’re disconnected, which happens because we are almost always electrically insulated from the surface of the planet. This paper describes the possible mechanisms for this electrical exchange with earth. Over time, this positive charge builds up, depletes our energy, and promotes inflammation and disease.
Formal research is limited. But we know we are electrically charged beings and the earth has its own electromagnetic field. The ground we walk on is full of ions that are negatively charged just waiting to realign your electrical energy.
My children definitely sleep sounder and longer on the days they play outdoors in the gardens, and better yet, barefoot in the dirt. They are definitely less “wired” and calmer after a good day outdoors (strolling down the shopping belt does not really count). If you’ve ever craved a good shower or bath, loved dipping your feet at the beach or pool, you are experiencing the power of earthing — a primordial exchange of energy between you and the earth.
The other side benefits of earthing, in particular, improves your body’s systems. Getting in contact with our natural environment and being exposed to dirt exposes us to a variety of bacteria and microorganisms/ This trains our immune system and reduces allergies.
Healing nature deficit disorders
The way we live is increasingly separated from this flow of Earth's electrons. For example, since the 1960s, we have increasingly worn insulating rubber or plastic soled shoes, instead of the traditional leather fashioned from hides.
Especially post-World War II, the rise in the use of insulating materials in shoes has separated us from the Earth's energy field. Obviously, we no longer sleep on the ground as we did in times past.
The science of Building Biology addresses this widening gap between our biological needs and manmade homes we have been building in the last century.
Richard Louv coined the term in 2005 with the publication of “Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder.” Aside from alienation from the natural environment, Louv shows the expanding body of scientific evidence suggests that nature-deficit disorder contributes to “a diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, conditions of obesity, and higher rates of emotional and physical illnesses”.
Can earthing heal eczema?
My second baby had a bad eczema flare in his first several weeks of life. (Later I found out the crock pot used to make my daily drinks was flaking enamel. Read more about heavy metals here.) It coincided with my own gastrointestinal flares and I figured I knew the diet triggers. But surely there was more to it: why did my/his body become overloaded so quickly, when it seemed I was doing everything right?
After sorting out the diet and sleep, I realised one thing I was doing abnormally — this was the time of the pandemic lockdowns and where I lived, the rules were so strict we could not leave the house! I was indoors all day, increasingly stressed in an already deprived state.
We know that prolonged anxiety — no matter if it's physical, mental, psychological, lifestyle-related or environmental—triggers some level of stress response. As well as contributing to inflammation throughout the body, stress hampers the skin's ability to repair.
Was this the main factor for my baby? I don’t know, but a few weeks after I began incorporating daily earthing while holding my baby, his eczema faded and never came back.
Is grounding effective?
Grounding does not always seem effective for everyone, or at least, not as dramatically as “earthing” can be,
If you are experiencing this, there are at least two factors to consider:
Is your space void of other harmful electromagnetic fields that may be conducted to you via grounding?
Is your body electromagnetically charged enough to reap grounding’s benefit?
This is as grounding is a magnetic effect and you can only capture this if you have enough electrons in your body from seafood and sunlight (which is another topic to discuss).
How to ground, everyday
It is difficult to do formal studies on exactly how much positive benefit can come from grounding. But evidence show that just 20 minutes a day is a good benchmark for full effect. One interesting study is how just 1-week of camping lowered stress hormones, including cortisol, for months after the trip.
Time can be a premium for those of us in urban environments, so try to stack in these habits to your daily lifestyle. Do them with your child — and soon he or she will get into the habit of getting into direct contact with Nature too.
Walk barefoot.
Whether it is the grass, sand, or dirt, the important thing is to touch your skin to the natural ground. The feet are extremely sensitive with more nerve receptors so the longer, the better and direct is best. If you know there are buried electrical lines. choose another area like a park or forest preserve instead.
Go for a swim.
In the sea, standing in a riverbed, taking a dip in a hot spring, or wading in a lake or a pond woulwork. Wet sand is the best conductor of energy from the earth. There’s limited formal research on bathtubs and showers.
Have a favourite sitting spot outdoors.
This simple practice frees up time and trouble — just head to your spot and slake the calm of being plugged in and recharged.
Forest bathing, or shinrin-yoku
Literally means taking in the forest atmosphere. This paper assesses the available research on the ancient practice, documenting its effects including: remarkably improving cardiovascular function, neuroendocrine metabolism, immunity and inflammatory indexes, antioxidant indexes, and electrophysiological indexes; significantly enhancing people’s emotional state, attitude, and feelings towards things, physical and psychological recovery, and adaptive behaviours; and obvious alleviation of anxiety and depression.
Many alternatives exist, including grounding mats, shoes, socks, and patches. Be aware that just as you may not want to lie in a spot with buried cables, be aware that you are also in contact with other artificial frequencies if you head out to, say, an urban city.
References & Suggested Further Reading
Grounding after moderate eccentric contractions reduces muscle damage.
Brown R, Chevalier G, Hill M.
Open Access J Sports Med. 2015 Sep 21;6:305-17. doi: 10.2147/OAJSM.S87970.The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
Oschman JL, Chevalier G, Brown R.J Inflamm Res. 2015 Mar 24;8:83-96. doi: 10.2147/JIR.S69656.Oschman JL. Perspective: assume a spherical cow: the role of free or mobile electrons in bodywork, energetic and movement therapies. Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies. 2008;12(1):40–57. [PubMed] [Google Scholar] [Ref list]
The effect of grounding the human body on mood. Chevalier G.Psychol Rep. 2015 Apr;116(2):534-42. doi: 10.2466/06.PR0.116k21w5.
Earthing (grounding) the human body reduces blood viscosity-a major factor in cardiovascular disease. Chevalier G, Sinatra ST, Oschman JL, Delany RM.J Altern Complement Med. 2013 Feb;19(2):102-10. doi: 10.1089/acm.2011.0820.
Earthing: health implications of reconnecting the human body to the Earth's surface electrons. Chevalier G, Sinatra ST, Oschman JL, Sokal K, Sokal P.J Environ Public Health. 2012;2012:291541. doi: 10.1155/2012/291541. Review.
Where the Wild Things Should Be: Healing Nature Deficit Disorder through the Schoolyard. GEAGHAN-BREINER C. https://digfir-published.macmillanusa.com/everythingsanargument7e/everythingsanargument7e_ch17_4.html
The biologic effects of grounding the human body during sleep as measured by cortisol levels and subjective reporting of sleep, pain, and stress. Ghaly M, Teplitz D.J Altern Complement Med. 2004 Oct;10(5):767-76.
Oschman JL, 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 diseases. J Inflamm Res. 2015 Mar 24;8:83-96. doi: 10.2147/JIR.S69656. PMID: 25848315; PMCID: PMC4378297.
Chevalier G, Sinatra ST, Oschman JL, Sokal K, Sokal P. Earthing: health implications of reconnecting the human body to the Earth's surface electrons. J Environ Public Health. 2012;2012:291541. doi: 10.1155/2012/291541. Epub 2012 Jan 12. PMID: 22291721; PMCID: PMC3265077.