“The ungrounded state is neither normal nor natural, nor the way that humans lived throughout most of history.” – Clint Ober
A few weeks ago, I was at a Brooklyn block party and I did something shocking.
I took off my shoes.
My friend side-eyed my bare toes and muttered something about uncleanliness. Looking around, I realized that I was the only person on the premises who was shoeless. While I stuck my feet in a nearby sprinkler, I realized with a jolt how GOOD I felt being barefoot.
And I wondered – how many of us daily touch the earth? If I feel this good from a few moments walking barefoot, what am I missing the rest of the days that I don’t?
Modernity = No Contact?
Ask yourself the last time you were barefoot outside. Was it last week, last month?
Picture for a moment your house, your apartment, or your office space. Think of how removed you are from the ground underneath your home or workspace – whether you’re in a high rise or a multi-story house. Now, try remembering the last time you pulled a vegetable out of the dirt or touched a leaf on a tree.
It's startling to think about, right?
Being in nature has now become a choice rather than an integral part of daily life – a choice few of us make. A study conducted by The Nature of Americans National Report in 2017 found that more than half of American adults spend 5 hours or less a week in nature – even though countless studies have proven that contact with nature improves mood, mental health, and physical wellbeing.
Human Beings are Live Wires
Perhaps it’s not surprising then that when Clinton Ober – the person credited with the discovery of grounding or “earthing” as it’s sometimes called – approached the scientific community in the late 1990’s to scientifically prove that the electrical pulse of the earth could induce natural healing, he was laughed out of every room.
Ober worked for decades in the television industry, grounding cable. He was very familiar with this process. The cables carrying the broadcast signal often need to be shielded in the earth to protect the signal from any extraneous electromagnetic interference that could upset the TV reception.
After building an extremely successful career in the television field, Ober withstood a serious liver disease which nearly took his life. During his long recovery process, he was one day watching a crowd of people walking around in Sedona when he realized that all of them were walking on rubber soles, with no direct contact to the ground. This led him to wonder whether a human, just like a television cable, needs to be grounded to have a healthy signal.
Clint went home and conducted an experiment. He first tested his EMF levels in various places around his home. EMF stands for electric and magnetic fields which are present wherever there is electricity. If too high in the human body, these levels can be extremely damaging. Ober discovered that his EMF levels were very high when he was lying in bed due to some hidden electrical wiring in the wall.
He covered the surface of his bed with metallized duct tape, connected a wire to a clip, attached the clip to the bed, and put the wire in the ground outside of his home. Laying on this duct tape bed, he measured his body’s EMF levels again and discovered that they were near zero.
He was now a grounded cable.
That night, Ober slept through the night without medication – something he had not been able to do for years due to chronic back pain. This set him on a mission to change the world through grounding.
Negatively Charged Healing
Earthing is grounded (pun intended!) in the premise that the body is electric, like a battery. And like a battery, it needs the correct charge.
Our bodies naturally create and absorb free radicals, unstable or “unhinged” positively charged atoms that are lacking an electron to complete their outer shell. When there is an electron gap, free radicals will attach to or steal electrons from other atoms in the body in an attempt to neutralize charge – a robbery which can lead to serious mutation and unhealth.
But the earth’s surface is a negatively charged electron mine! It’s there waiting to give us electrons that our bodies are craving. When you let your body contact the surface of the earth, you absorb its electrons which neutralize your free radicals thereby reducing inflammation, blood pressure, and improving mood as well as cell health.
Wild? No. Simple and scientifically proven.
Grounding & Blood Viscosity
One of the effects of grounding is the reduction of blood viscosity.
Blood pressure is the amount of force your blood cells routinely put on your vessel walls. Red blood cell surfaces hold a negative charge which helps them repel one another, allowing free blood flow. The amount of potential energy which these cells hold is called the zeta potential. The higher the zeta potential, the better the viscosity levels.
The first known study of grounding’s affect on blood pressure levels was conducted within a cardiologist practice. Ten hypertensive patients grounded themselves at home for a period of 12 weeks with personal weekly blood pressure measurements and monthly measures at a clinic. At the end of the study, patients’ systolic blood pressure had dropped by an average of 14.3%. Patients also reported an overall improvement in sleep and sense of calm, as well as a decrease in bodily pain.
Why did grounding help? It provided the electrons’ negative charge needed by the hypertensive patients’ red blood cells to more effectively repel each other, prevent clumping, and aid in free blood flow.
Success Stories of Grounding
Here is a list of some amazing study results our team found that truly made our jaws drop.
How Can I Ground?
The simplest way to ground is to get some direct contact between your skin and the earth. But there are many other ways available for you to easily ground yourself while wearing shoes, sleeping, and interacting with higher electrical signals in your day-to-day life.
Clint Ober’s Earthing company sells a myriad of earthing products such as bed mats with earthing cords, specialized footwear, conductive sheets, socks, and floor mats. In our research for this article, the NJIN team discovered testimonials from people who use earthing mats whenever they work on their computers which have significantly lowered their EMF exposure.
In whatever way you choose to ground – either through extended time outdoors contacting the earth or through an earthing product – we are excited for your journey! Let’s get grounded!
Special thanks to the Consciousness and Healing Initiative and Namuun who wrote a blog featuring grounding that was the jumping off point for this article. You can discover the CHI organization’s incredible work by visiting their website.
Comments