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
