In the book: What is "Grounding" or "Earthing"?, Dr. Stephen Sinatra introduced the basics of “Earthing,” or “grounding”: the process of connecting with the earth’s primordial, healing energy to reduce inflammation and ultimately improve health by promoting electron balance in the body.

Earthing: Healing Power Beneath Your Feet

       During my many years in medical practice I have seen remarkable advances in technology that give physicians unprecedented ability to save lives. However, if you were to ask me about the most impressive breakthrough, I am positive my answer would surprise you. It has nothing to do with high-tech at all. It is the very Earth you live on. Literally, the ground beneath your feet.

Feeling Groovy: Electron Balance and Health

       The hippie wisdom in getting back in touch with our earthly roots just may have had something to do with grounding’s health benefits. Earthing can protect our bodies against chronic inflammation, which is, in part, caused by lack of electrons with which to neutralize positively-charged free radicals. As with antioxidant deficiency, electron deficiency due to insufficient contact with the earth’s electromagnetic surface, or “disconnect syndrome,” can result in excess oxidative damage.

       When we attune to the earth’s electric potential, we soak up negatively-charged electrons that neutralize free radicals in our bodies. Many of Earthing’s benefits, such as chronic pain relief and faster wound recovery, may simply result from reduction of free radical activity and inflammation, which frees up the immune system to perform other reparations. Other antioxidant benefits such as lowered blood pressure and better circulation may also result from the blood thinning effect of grounding. While reduced inflammation may also explain improved sleep and lessened menstrual symptoms, these benefits may also be due to Earthing’s favorable effect on the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which leads to greater overall hormonal balance.

The Autonomic Nervous System

       As a system which rapidly responds to emotional and environmental stimuli, the ANS controls a wide range of bodily functions. Cardiovascular, respiratory, gastrointestinal, hormonal, urinary, and other body systems are regulated by the ANS’s sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) branch prepares the body to deal with stressors, while the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) branch relaxes the body.

       When we are chronically stressed, we may experience symptoms like headaches, insomnia, muscular tension, back or neck pain, fatigue, gastrointestinal distress, and even cardiac problems. These symptoms generally indicate excess activity of the SNS branch, (release of stress hormones) and depression of the PNS branch. Continual SNS activity can lead to chronic elevation of cortisol levels, which leaves us in a perpetual “fight or flight” state. Excess cortisol can also promote inflammation in the body and negatively impact insulin levels.

Factors Contributing to Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) Activation

     Environmental and/or medical conditions: air pollution, congestive heart failure, depression, anxiety, hypertension, insulin resistance, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, sleep apnea.

     Psychosocial and behavioral conditions: chronic stress, anger, hostility, rage, abuse of stimulants, sleep deprivation, smoking, social isolation, loneliness, sedentary lifestyle, sugar-laden diet.

     Pharmaceutical drugs: beta-agonist bronchodilators, peripheral alpha blockers, short-acting calcium channel blockers.

       Chronic elevation of cortisol disrupts our circadian rhythms and affects our ability to sleep. It has also been linked to inflammatory pain and depression, and increases our risk of chronic conditions like hypertension and arrhythmias, and even sudden death. By encouraging parasympathetic branch activity, grounding helps people relax and reduce stress. Grounding’s balancing effect on the ANS, which may also be achieved through various mind-body practices, also leads to normalization of cortisol levels and improved heart rate variability.

       In a study (Ghaly) of 12 individuals with sleep disorders, pain and stress, sleeping on a grounding mattress pad for eight weeks restored the subjects’ day-night cortisol secretion to normal. The majority also reported better sleep as well as less fatigue, pain and emotional stress.

       In another controlled study (Chevalier 2006) of 58 healthy people, researchers discovered that grounding increases PNS activity and reduces stress levels and tensions. Using a biofeedback system to measure brain activity (using electroencephalography, or EEG), muscle tension (using electromyography, or EMG) and blood volume pulse activity, researchers found that even one half-hour of grounding could catalyze favorable effects on the ANS.

       In addition to using cortisol as a yardstick for chronic stress, cardiologists also examine our heart rate variability (HRV) to detect ANS imbalance and its impact on our heart function. HRV is a measure of the beat-to-beat alterations of heart rate. People whose heart rates do not vary much despite changes in external stimuli are said to have low HRV. They are less able to “go with the flow” when faced with stress and are more prone to stress-related disorders, especially cardiovascular events. Low HRV indicates that the ANS is imbalanced due to excess SNS activity. With its balancing effect on the ANS, grounding is a natural means of increasing HRV and promoting heart health.

Blood Viscosity (Zeta Potential)

       One of the most profound effects researchers have observed in people who ground is thinner blood, or reduced blood viscosity. Thin blood circulates faster to deliver oxygen and nutrients to cells all over the body, as well as remove toxins from them. Thick, sticky blood, on the other hand, tends to clot, which places people at greater risk of cardiovascular events. Blood may thicken due to advancing age, smoking, and conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes/metabolic syndrome, or hyperlipidemia. Cholesterol also can play a role in blood viscosity: elevated LDL levels contribute to viscous blood, while higher HDL levels are associated with thinner blood.

       On a cellular level, blood becomes thicker when red blood cells clump together, or aggregate. Cells stick together when they lack enough negative surface charge with which to repel each other.

Zeta potential describes the relative surface charge of red blood cells. Increased zeta potential indicates thinner blood and greater negative charge of red blood cells. As electrons are negatively charged, absorbing them by Earthing may increase the negative surface charge of our red blood cells, and thus decrease blood viscosity and increase zeta potential.

       In a recent pilot study2on zeta potential, researchers sampled blood from 10 healthy subjects before and after 2 hours of grounding with an Earthing device. They then examined the relative movement of red blood cells using a video camera that had been mounted on a dark-field microscope, and found that Earthing lowers blood viscosity and improves blood flow.

       The pictures show a person’s red blood cells before and after 2 hours of grounding. The cells clearly demonstrate increased zeta potential and decreased blood viscosity. Such significant changes in blood after only 2 hours of grounding indicates that walking barefoot on the earth’s surface for at least 2 hours a day (alternately, using an Earthing device) may protect against cardiovascular events like heart attacks or strokes. It follows, that sleeping at night while grounded provides the greatest opportunity for blood thinning effects.

Earthing as the Ultimate Anti-Aging Strategy?

       Besides keeping chronic inflammation at bay, Earthing may also keep us healthy by enhancing ATP production / recycling in our bodies, the same principle underlying metabolic cardiology. ATP, or adenosine triphosphate, is our bodies’ primary energy source. To recycle ATP, our bodies take electrons from fatty acids. By absorbing negative free electrons from the earth’s surface, our bodies may more easily recycle ATP. Although scientific research is necessary to validate this, it’s possible that, by facilitating ATP production, Earthing improves cardiovascular and immune system function and ultimately slow down the process of aging.

       Improved heart rate variability, autonomic nervous system balance and greater zeta potential all reflect the power of Earthing to keep us “feeling groovy.” Barefoot hippies knew something about the healing powers of peaceful, loving (relaxed) vibes, even if clinical results had not yet proved it.

       Check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XumPQLTzPWI

     These are the questions that science writer David Ewing Duncan asks in the new TED ebook, When I’m 164: The New Science of Radical Life Extension, and What Happens If It Succeeds. The following is a condensation of his answers on these questions.

     In terms of life extension, what is reasonable to expect in the next few decades? How many years can we add to the average life?

     To answer this, let’s first consider that human lifespan at least in the west has nearly doubled since the late nineteenth century, from under 40 years old to nearly 80 years old. This is due primarily to better hygiene and nutrition, but also to a more than a century of extraordinary advances in bioscience and medical technology — everything from antibiotics and heart bypass surgery to new targeted drugs for cancer. According to the United Nations, within a century the average life expectancy in the west will jump to nearly 100 years. Filipinos in particular are now expected to live 72 years on average.

     Added to this steady upward tilt in aging is a range of new technologies – genetics, stem cell therapies that regenerate tissue, and bionics – that may provide an even bigger boost more quickly. How big a boost is open to debate, with serious scientists giving ranges from a few years to a few decades.

What breakthroughs are most important to these developments?

     The book describes four main areas —

     Healthy living already has increased lifespans and prevented death for literally billions of people over the past 150 years, but we could still do more, especially to combat lifestyle conditions and diseases like obesity and diabetes, which prematurely kill millions of people a year.

     For genetics, mainstream scientists for 30 years have been studying and trying to better understand the process of aging at the genetic and cellular level, as well as in entire organisms. They have succeeded in manipulating genes and proteins that seem to regulate lifespan in worms, flies, mice and other creatures — sometimes upping lifespan by many times. More importantly perhaps, they slow the aging process by delaying or preventing diseases of aging like heart disease and diabetes. Several drug companies are developing drugs for conditions like diabetes and inflammation that activate enzymes linked to increased lifespans in mice and other animals, and may work in bumping up lifespans for humans, too. At least one of these pills, a compound that treats inflammation being tested by GlaxoSmithKline, is in Phase II human testing. If successful, it could be on the market in under 5 years.

     For regeneration, scientists have succeeded in using stem cells – the special cells that replace dying cells in different organs – to regrow or repair hearts, livers and other tissue in animals. They have some success in regenerating tissue in humans, but only for simple organs like a bladder or bone marrow. Using stem cells to regrow, say, cells in the heart or brain still remain years in the future, say scientists.

     For machine solutions, humans have long fused machines or engineered devices and tools to their biology to improve or treat conditions or maladies. These include everything from eyeglasses to pacemakers and joint replacements. More recently, inventions and breakthroughs are already linking devices to the brain to help patients with Parkinson’s Disease control tremors and to help some people who are deaf to hear again. Other experimental machine-brain interfaces may soon allow the paralyzed to operate computers using thought.

     For the past 3 or 4 years, the author has been asking a question at the start of most of his talks: “How long do you want to live? I’ve kept track of the show of hands and over time have polled some 30,000 people. I asked people to vote on one of four answers: 80 years; 120 years; 150 years; or forever. It was a surprise to me that 60 percent of the people want to live the current average life expectancy of about 80 years. Other results: 30 percent want to live to age 120; less than 10 percent to age 150; and less than one percent forever.”

What are the upsides and downsides to living much longer?

     For the book the author asked hundreds of people why they voted the way they did in the “how long do you want to live” survey. Here are the eight primary reasons people voted to live to the ages of 80 or 120, and not longer:

     Fear of prolonged frailty

     Money: how to pay for an extended life

     Life is hard

     Wars, plagues and poverty

     Overpopulation, resource depletion and the environment

     Love and relationships

     Boredom

     We would cease to be human

     As for those respondents who said they want to live to 150 years or beyond, their stated reasons for wanting to live radically longer than current human life expectancy fell into five broad categories:

     More time with loved ones

     Geniuses would still be alive

     Want to know the future

     More to do and accomplish in life

     Avoiding the frailty of old age

     As you can see, prolonging life can be both a blessing and a burden. But few doubt that we are at the cusp of an age that will see humans able to live much longer lives.

     On a personal note, I would like to live just long enough to see the Philippines to finally start emerging from widespread feudalism to attain Utopian democracy. Hopefully in a few years.

     It should be our generation’s final duty to initiate moves TO ELIMINATE FEUDALISM – THE SINGULAR AND GREATEST STUMBLING BLOCK TO OUR DEVELOPMENT AS A FREE AND PROUD NATION. Otherwise, we continue to be branded as a “country of slaves” by our neighbors – an apt tag while there is an overwhelming dominance of the very small feudal minority over the very great majority of “slaves”.

My salute to your editorial entitled Weak Regulation.

Allow me to add my sangkusing on this issue, using the following blog that I sent to Mr. Rey D. Gamboa a few months ago.

It is heartening to read your column of May 9, 2013 which dealt on a wish-list of laws that you believe needs to be urgently enacted by the incoming Congress to sustain the country’s economic growth. Especially noteworthy is the proposal on economic labor zones with its gain-sharing scheme – a move that will perk up manufacturing activities and thus increase employment opportunities.

Another proposal that caught my attention was the splitting of DOTC, which is currently dancing the slow-drag. Transportation covers land, air and water transport systems, which, if brought up to 21^st century standards, would efficiently carry passengers, tourists and cargo to their destinations at a cheaper and faster rate. Admittedly hi-tech communications and information technology should be a separate department that will handle communications, bandwidth allocation, radio TV licensing, railroad and utility post/tower, right of ways among others.

In addition to the above, let me present a novel idea that the new upgraded legislators should seriously consider - to give prominence to the role of the non-profit sector in nation-building.

It is now acknowledged that most of the country’s new-found impressive economic gains have been going to the elite. Inequality has risen as globalization deepened. The rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer and the middle class fast disappearing.

I do believe that this proposal can move the great mass of our humanity forward. 

I was involved in the operation of a health care foundation for a couple of years, but it was a total exercise in futility. Because of the prevailing suspicion that foundations are being used as tax shields and for tax avoidance without doing service to the country or its avowed beneficiaries, the old Finance Department discouraged NGOs to take on quasi for-profit operations, such as selling services and goods at discounted rates, even if the “profit” generated was earmarked to the support the foundation’s just cause. Also, non-profit organizations are legally limited to use only 30% of all receipts and donations received on all administrative requirements, which, of course, includes salaries, advertising, marketing, as well as all contracted services.

This practice follows two rulebooks. We have one for the non-profit sector and one for the rest of the economic world. It is an apartheid that discriminates against non-profit organization in five different areas that need to be corrected.

Our legislators should find ways to allow NGOs to put the following five things together:

At this point, there are 2 things that should be considered.

Evidently, our new legislators can create a law expanding the role of PCNC to allow the non-profit sector to absorb a bigger share of the new-found economic pie. As we now find out, the empowered NGO watchdog should be able to prevent the criminal diversion of scarce funds intended to uplift poverty by pseudo-fundraisers and other NGOs. This move should be able to do a better job at lifting the majority from poverty than the CCT dole-outs.

Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Nutrition are innovative programs that involve the engineering of living cells, tissues and organs to preserve and enhance organ function and improve the quality of life.  Proponents of these treatments say that they can be used to prevent disease and maintain wellness, as well as restore organ function lost or impaired due to disease, injury or aging. They are procedures that allow the patient to, quite literally, be his own healer.  

The key lies in stem cells, which have the ability to grow into any one of the body's numerous cell types to attack diseased cells, including malignant tumors.  A very recent announcement is that of Harvard University’s research team successfully treating 2 HIV patients by stem cell therapy. Stem cells can replicate themselves many times over and theoretically, do so without limit, so long as the person is alive.

Regenerative Medicine

Herein lays the power of the treatment.  "Instead of relying on toxic chemicals to combat disease or donated organs to restore lost function, we're using the patients' own cells to combat their cancers or regenerate their own organs," explains Dr. Samuel Bernal, consultant adviser on Regenerative Medicine Program for The Medical City.

The unique properties of stem cells have spurred worldwide interest in research on possible treatment for disease such as cancer, kidney failure, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, spinal cord injury, stroke, burns, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.  With stem cell therapy, healthy unspecific or undifferentiated cells are extracted from the patient and, under complex laboratory conditions, induced to transform into cells with highly specialized functions. The transformed stem cells are injected back to the patient.

"But the purpose of Regenerative Medicine is not only to treat patients who are already ill but also prevent disease," he added. 

Thus, preventive, wellness and aesthetic applications of Regenerative Medicine can also be availed of.

But this very positive development in health care has obvious adverse effects hindering universal use. The treatment program in its infancy is still very expensive, said to exceed P2 million per treatment.

Fortunately an affordable alternative has also become available.

Stem Cell Nutrition is the best health-promotive system ever known and is now as simple as a daily supplement in capsule form. It is readily available and affordable for every person who wants to enjoy optimal health, performance and fitness. It is particularly helpful for elite athletes, anyone with health challenges, or simply those who wish to maintain excellent health.

Christian Drapeau, its founder, in the article “stem cells – the building blocks of the body” describes how stem cells travel to different damaged organs and becomes cells of those organs to repair them - similar to the bricks in a house – but he wonders: “what if there was a brick that could fix a problem with the side walk, the foundation, a broken window etc. - wouldn’t we laugh at this concept.................. and yet that is exactly what we have with stem cell nutrition.” 

“I’m sure you will find the following not only informative, but extremely exciting in what could be described as the greatest health discovery of our time”.

The following ingredients in capsule form support synergistic stem cell release:

 Recent scientific developments have revealed that stem cells derived from the bone marrow, travel throughout the body and act to support optimal organ and tissue function. Stem cell enhancers are products that support the natural role of adult stem cells. As you age, the number and quality of stem cells that circulate in your body gradually decrease, leaving your body more susceptible to injury and other age-related health challenges. Just as antioxidants are important to protect your cells from “free radical” damage, stem cell enhancers are equally important to support your stem cells in maintaining proper organ and tissue functioning in your body.

Stem cell nutrition is the concept of consuming nutritional substances that have been shown to support the release and activity of your body's own adult stem cells. It has nothing to do with the highly controversial topic of embryonic stem cells. Embryonic stem cells are stem cells that exist in an embryo before birth. After birth, these cells (even in children) are known as adult stem cells. Adult stem cells still retain the capacity to divide, but they become quiescent until needed, rather than actively and rapidly dividing as embryonic stem cells do. The possibility exists for embryonic stem cells to cause abnormal cell growth and cause cancer. As much as what is known from research to date, this possibility does not exist for adult stem cells. To date, all conditions for which stem cell therapy has proven therapeutic have been from adult stem cells.

Stem cells are not being introduced into the body. Their release is simply being triggered from the bone marrow. This has been occurring since birth and is responsible for the renewal and repair of tissues in our body. Stem cell nutrition has a number of anti-tumor mechanisms including phycocyanin, which has been shown to have anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic (programmed cell death inducing) properties. It also contains chlorophyll, which likewise has demonstrated anti-tumor activity. In addition to stimulating the release of additional stem cells from the bone marrow, stem cell nutrition also stimulates the release of natural killer cells; immune system cells that help our bodies rid themselves of infected and abnormally proliferating (cancerous) cells.

Stem cells are "master cells" which have the ability to replace any sick, damaged or worn out cells - they can become virtually any type of cell in your body - heart cells, liver cells, pancreatic cells, muscle cells, brain cells..... even the cells in the eyes, the joints and more. Serving as a regeneration system, they divide without limit and travel throughout your body to support organ and tissue renewal. Many scientific studies indicate that increasing the number of circulating adult stem cells is probably the single most important thing you can do to maintain optimal health. Also, if you look at the New England Journal of Medicine, you’ll find that the number one indicator of a healthy heart is the number of stem cells circulating in the body.

Stem cell nutrition is the organic and all-natural way to stimulate the bone marrow to release adult stem cells into the blood stream. The number of stem cells in the bone marrow remains constant at around 150 million. These stem cells are subject to asymmetrical division whereby a copy is made. The original remains in the bone marrow, while the copy moves into the bloodstream. Stem cell nutrition triggers a 25-30% release, which amounts to around 3 million stem cells for the average person.

Just think of all the potential benefits of releasing more stem cells into your bloodstream - the ramifications are astounding. The power of adult stem cells to support the body's natural renewal system is poised to become one of the breakthrough discoveries of our time. 

Skeptics of stem cell nutrition insisted it worked by “placebo effect” - until researches actually conducted a triple-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, clinical study. Half the participants were given stem cell nutrition, while the others got dummy pills. Researchers drew blood from each patient before and after they took the formula.  Flowcytometry and data analyses were done blindly. The results were unmistakable. Nothing happened to those who took the placebo. But those who took the extract boosted their supply of circulating stem cells dramatically, by 25 to 30 percent - in just 60 minutes.

Arguably the most exciting, promising and controversial medical research being performed today explores the potential of stem cells, unique cells that, when dividing, can produce either more cells like themselves or other specialized cells, such as heart cells, skin cells and neurons. Stem cells research is bringing the promise of regenerative medicine and miracle cures for such conditions as multiple sclerosis, blindness, heart damage, male pattern baldness and HIV. Blood Stem cells: 25 Trillion blood cells exist in the blood and every second 2 million blood cells die and are replaced.

Stem cell nutrition products restore the availability of your own adult stem cells. What could be simpler than to enable the body to release its own adult stem cells and sit back and enjoy the amazing benefits that can result for optimum health, fitness and performance and to fight the effects of ageing and injury.

For a number of reasons, stress and poor diet may hinder your body's ability to renew itself. Now there is a Natural Supplement that comes in capsules and when taken orally helps to Increase the number of circulating Adult Stem Cells in the body by 3 to 4 million (30%) within an hour of ingestion.

This exciting information was discovered so recently that most people-- even many doctors-- don't know about it yet!

In summary, here's what happens when a need develops in your body:

The tissue or organ in need sends chemical messages into the bloodstream. These chemical messages prompt the release of stem cells from the bone marrow. A second set of chemical messages sent by the tissue in need prompts the circulating stem cells to migrate into the tissue; proliferate and transform themselves into healthy cells of that tissue!

For those of us just wanting to be proactive and maintain optimum health or fight the effects of ageing, injury and day to day wear and tear, a similar but steady release of our existing Stem Cells into the blood stream can produce considerable health benefits.

When Stem Cell Enhancers are used as a daily supplement over time, the stimulation of the billions of additional Stem Cells in the blood stream could be one of the safest and most efficient methods for maintaining optimum health that science has yet discovered.

Adult Stem Cells- the best anti aging-system ever known
Knowing what Adult Stem Cells do to the human body, does it not then make sense that having more of them in the blood stream will undoubtedly have profound effects on your health, well-being and provide a resource for mitigating the effects of ageing?

ADULT STEM CELLS – YOUR AFFORDABLE KEY TO OPTIMAL HEALTH