I was talking with a friend last week about feeling tired despite eating well and sleeping enough. It just seems impossible to feel refreshed in the morning, especially with all that is going on in the world.
She reminded me of the healing benefits of “earthing” or grounding, which literally means to reconnect with the earth to restore our health and our energy. In modern day, most of us have lost our physical connection to the earth from spending so much time indoors and absorbing energy from unnatural sources like computers, cell phones, and WiFi.
Omnipresent throughout the environment is a surprisingly beneficial, yet overlooked global resource for health maintenance, disease prevention, and clinical therapy: the surface of the Earth itself.
J Environ Public Health. 2012; 2012: 291541 – view article here.
What is earthing good for?
I looked it up, and there have indeed been scientific studies proving the healing effects of the vast surface of the earth. Reconnecting with the earth can help us to start mitigating some of the detrimental effects of our modern lives. People have reported to heal from all kinds of inflammatory conditions (even rheumatoid arthritis), sleep disorders, chronic back and joint pain, muscle stiffness and pain, and more.
Earthing resources
If you’d like to read up on the topic, there’s a fascinating review article called Earthing: Health Implications of Reconnecting the Human Body to the Earth’s Surface Electrons and a 2010 book called Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever!
Throughout history, humans mostly walked barefoot or with footwear made of animal skins. They slept on the ground or on skins. Through direct contact or through perspiration-moistened animal skins used as footwear or sleeping mats, the ground’s abundant free electrons were able to enter the body, which is electrically conductive. Through this mechanism, every part of the body could equilibrate with the electrical potential of the Earth, thereby stabilizing the electrical environment of all organs, tissues, and cells.
J Environ Public Health. 2012; 2012: 291541 – view article here.
Does this give you some new insight into why you feel so good when you’re out camping? Think about it… you might be sleeping outside close to the ground, eating food prepared over a fire, and spending the day walking around breathing fresh air.
Easy ways to reconnect with the earth
But even if you’re not on a camping trip, there are some easy ways to connect with the earth on a daily basis.
- Gardening–see if there’s a community garden in your area if you don’t have a yard
- Walking barefoot in the grass or on beach
- Laying down outside, under a tree
- Leaning up against a tree trunk (just go ahead and hug that tree!)
- Playing with your pets or children outside
- Sleeping indoors on a conductive mat that transfers the energy from the ground into the body
I have yet to try the grounding mat, but I am intrigued. So far, I’m doing the free options and patting myself on the back for laying on the ground instead of going for a run on the hard pavement.
Mounting evidence suggests that the Earth’s negative potential can create a stable internal bioelectrical environment for the normal functioning of all body systems. Moreover, oscillations of the intensity of the Earth’s potential may be important for setting the biological clocks regulating diurnal body rhythms, such as cortisol secretion.
J Environ Public Health. 2012; 2012: 291541 – view article here.
Give it a try
So whether you believe in the benefits of earthing or not, why not try it? See for yourself if reconnecting more with the earth makes you feel better. It’s free, and you’ll probably discover some new things you like when spending more time outside, like watching the birds, the clouds, the trees, and listening to all the sounds of nature.
Read more about natural healing in these articles from my blog.
