Monday, August 30, 2010

EARTHING : The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?


EARTHING
Authors: Clinton Ober, Stephen Sinatra MD., Martin Zucker


Sometimes the simplest ideas are the most profound. If the revolutionary concepts and research presented in the book "Earthing" prove to be consistently true, through further research, clinical experience and personal testimony, we may be one step further towards understanding, preventing and alleviating chronic illness.

The more technologically advanced our society becomes, the further we separate ourselves from the rythmns and sustenance of nature. The authors of "Earthing" reveal one of the most fundamental ways that we can reconnect with the environment which our bodies were designed to interact with.

The authors' hypothesis states that the more time we spend outdoors with our bare feet planted firmly on stone, earth, grass, sand or cement, the healthier we will be. The ground is one of the main sources of negative electrons which neutralize free radicals. A free supply of negative electrons is essential for optimal health. A quote from page 92 elaborates on this idea. " The living matrix, as one of its main biological functions, is set up to protect tissues from free radical damage. It represents a natural built-in antioxidant defense system. The matrix is all-pervasive, reaching into every corner of the body. If your matrix functions properly, and if you are connected to the earth, any free radical formed anywhere in the body will be neutralized by mobile electrons from the Earth. This idea alone should motivate anyone to connect with the Earth as much as possible, day and night. By understanding that the living matrix is a conductive fabric extending throughout the body, and that grounding connects this system to the Earth and an infinite supply of free electrons, one could see that Earthing could prove to have far-reaching anti-aging, antioxidant, and anti-inflamm-aging effects. Longterm, controlled animal studies will enable us to verify or refute this profound hypothesis."

The authors tell about several different types of studies which have been conducted, that show the benefits of earthing or grounding to the earth's electrical matrix. Microphotographs and thermography images are also included. They have found that direct connection to the earth's negative electrons changes thick sludgey blood to blood that is more the consistency of wine. The explanation given is that the conductance of negative electrons into the body re-establishes the zeta potential of the blood cells and this "zeta potential" helps to keep the blood cells at a healthy distance from each other.

Another documented benefit is the lessening of inflammation. Infrared imaging shows the vast differences in the degree of inflammation when comparing a patient's inflammation before grounding and after grounding.

A study done by Dr. Maurice Ghaly and published in the 2004 issue of The Journal of Alternative and Complimentary Medicine, concluded that "Earthing during sleep resynchronizes cortisol secretion more in alignment with its natural normal rythmn....highest at 8:00 AM and lowest at midnight. Subjectively, the participants reported improved sleep along with reduced pain and stress. Even more impressive was the fact that the improvements often occurred within the very first days of sleeping grounded." Other improvements reported by the participants were ...falling asleep faster, waking fewer times during the night, feeling more refreshed and less fatigued in the morning, reduction in depression, anxiety and irritability. Some participants reported improvements in gastrointestinal health, PMS, hot flashes and TMJ.

It is the contention of the authors that because of our modern living, we have almost totally insulated ourselves from the earth's healing energies. We don't have to be "New Age" disciples to understand that we are electrical beings which were created to live in harmony and balance with the energies around us. Cell phone towers and other sources of electromagnetic frequencies may be causing havoc with our human electrical systems. The book Earthing claims that by connecting to the earth through walking barefoot or by using simple technology, we can shield ourselves from this possibly harmful sea of electromagnetic frequencies that surrounds us. One of the main offenders which insulates us from the protective negative ions of the earth......are our rubber or plastic soled shoes. The authors feel that while walking barefoot is most likely best...that leather soles or some other yet to be invented shoe technology could help to reconnect us with these negative electrons. There is grounding technology currently in use in the electronics world which prevents a person with too much static electricity from charging or shocking and thereby damaging the electronics they are working with. One of the authors of the book, Clinton Ober, has develped some useful technology to help people reconnect or ground to the earth even while sleeping, working at their computor, etc. These inventions are described in the book and are pictured in the sidebar of this blog. They are available from Amazon or from http://www.earthing.com/ 

Athletes in the Tour De France successfully used this technology to help recover from injuries and the physical stress they encoutered in this grueling race. While the authors feel that Earthing is a groundbreaking concept, they realize the need for more study into this area. This morning I was made aware of another study which is described in the video below. The basic idea is that the massive amount of electromagnetic frequencies in our atmosphere is actually increasing the growth of harmful bacteria and mold. Could this be a piece of the puzzle concerning our growing pandemic of infectious and mold related diseases? Could grounding or "Earthing" help us to offset the effects of this electromagnetic pollution?

For more information....there are several interesting videos about Grounding here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=te4WPdIsBtQ " The book Earthing is very interesting and easy to understand, with several personal testimonies included. We may think that the idea of acquiring health benefits from grounding to the earth, is a bit far fetched but the explanations and scientific evidence presented in the book sound very reasonable. It has convinced me to walk around barefoot outside...and it does feel wonderful. Its too soon to notice any longterm benefits but I will report any further interesting experiences in future posts. I may be a sucker but I have ordered one of the grounding sheets so that I can sleep connected to the earth. Time will tell if my sleep and overall health improves.

Please watch the video below which talks about an experiment which shows that bacteria and mold increase in numbers when exposed to ambient electromagnetic frequencies.

3 comments:

  1. I checked those bed sheets--average $140
    they say this:
    Earthing-Barefoot Connections Sheet (also known as a bedpad) is placed at foot end of bed, over the bottom fitted sheet, and tucked around and under mattress. Placing your bare feet or any part of your body on the sheet grounds your body to the Earth during sleep. The sheet connects to the Earth with a ground cord. One end of the cord snaps onto the sheet. The prong end of the cord inserts into the ground port of an electrical outlet or connects to a ground rod which is included with this product. This product is the most current generation and includes an outlet checker and ground rod.

    they have a wire that PLUGS into a WALL OUTLET, which concerns me since all the so called EMF in house wires can find their way back as well!!

    Now I DO believe that earth is healing and Ive found myself feeling better after gardening or even walking barefoot on sand, soil etc ( BUT CEMENT--seriously?? thats totally man made)

    this blog claims to speak about the SCIENCE and politics re Lyme and other illnesses and already its off base--"grounding" electrically via a household electrical outlet isnt the same as "grounding" as in contacting the Earth directly

    feeling and touching the GROUND aka dirt/sand/rocky base of Mother Earth is NOT = to plugging wires into the "grounding" wire of an outlet

    2 kinds of and 2 definitions of "grounding"

    I prefer the natural way and that means actually contacting skin to Mother Earth and NOT having my bedsheets or my body connected to the very electrical wiring that many say is bad for us!!




    this is a way to sell things having zero basis and trying to make it look like its something to do with a possibly valid theory.

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  2. I am wondering if the poster above has read the book "Earthing"? In the book it explains that the grounding plug is totally separate from the wiring for the electricity.... at least it is on a correctly wired outlet. That is why the grounding sheet comes with a "ground checker" that shows whether or not your outlet is wired correctly with a separate "ground" plug.

    I agree with you that walking, sitting and lying on the ground outside must have a greater value to the body than connecting to the ground from indoors, however, we can't be barefoot all winter long outside so I think it is good to look for alternatives and to learn more about them.

    I have the half sheet on my bed and I seem to wake up less often at night. I was getting severe leg cramps but have not had them since I got the sheet. Lyme symptoms do go in cycles tho....so I am still waiting to see if the cramps ever come back.

    I bought a trifield meter, which I have pictured in the sidebar...and have been having fun measuring everything in my house. I have changed several lightbulbs from flourescent to xenon...due to the very high electromagnetic frequencies from the flourescent bulbs. I will be changing our electric radio alarm clock to a battery alarm clock as the electric ones measure very high in emfs. I also am placing floor lamps a bit farther away from my head...acording to the measurements I take.

    As far as the cement being conductive goes......I read that as long as it isn't painted and as long as it doesn't have the newer polymer like substances in it...then it does seem to be conductive....and gives off negative ions.

    It might be good to read a bit more on this subject before dismissing the technology. The electronics industry has solid science using grounding shoes and grounding "products" (via ground outlets) to protect their equipment from our accumulated static.

    We do need more research on how emfs effect us and how this technology may be able to protect us

    I measured my computor mouse, keyboard and screen for emfs and they were 1, 2 and one half, and 3 milligauss respectively. When I put on the conductive arm bracelet that is attached to the ground outlet nearby, the guage now measures 0 when I place the meter on these items.

    I'm not sure exactly what this means. I have more studying to do in this area. Does it mean that I am protecting the computor and that the emfs are now going through me? Or does it mean that...like the earthing book says....that the negative ions from the grounding bracelet is cancelling out the positive ions being created from the computor equipment?

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  3. It's possible that a residual hum bleeds into the house ground wiring from the adjacent live wires causing a mildly faint 50/60Hz in any Earthing appliance plugged into a properly wired outlet. I have always found that it is mildly better to ground to either a grounding rod separate from the house wiring, or even better is a bare iron nail hammered into a living tree. The reason why I bring this up at all is that I have been doing experiments with inserting a small homemade transformer inline with my Earthing bedsheet's connection to the wall outlet's grounding port and I have discovered that - not only is my Earthing experience amplified in a pleasant way (provided that I connect the coils on the transformer in a correct manner; see link at end of comment for reference) - but I have also discovered that the transformer amplified the 60Hz hum in both a mildly pleasant and non-pleasant manner prompting me to unplug my Earthing bedsheet from the wall outlet's grounding port and reconnect to a tree approximately fifty feet away from the house to try and minimize any influence emanating from the house wiring's ground possibly bleeding into my own independent Earth ground via this big massive living conifer situated nearby.

    www.EarthingLife.info

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