Mental and physical health benefits associated with the practice of grounding.

Intro

Every day we wake up and get ready to take on whatever life throws at us. The vast majority of us go through our day-to-day lives with a determined focus to get through the task at hand so we can move on to the next one. We rarely take a moment just to stop and breathe and think. As we move through the hectic aspects of our lives, our connection with the Earth is something that most of us take for granted. The feel of the sand between our toes or the sun on our skin is nice, but who really has time for that daily? When would it make sense for us to pull over and really, truly ground ourselves in nature? Surprisingly, it might be worth doing so more often than you think. It turns out that building this real connection with the Earth can be a powerful means of transforming both your mental and physical health. This connection could be the turning point we all need to really feel alive in the things that we do every day.

 

Fundamentals

Before jumping into the nuances of earthing and its many health benefits, let’s first cover the fundamentals. The human foot is made up of 26 bones, 33 joints, and 20 muscles. There are also 8,000 nerves in the feet – more than anywhere else in the body. This complex system in the foot is designed to control movement and ensure balance while standing. The average person walks about 5,000 steps per day. This amounts to millions of steps (over 100,000 miles) in a lifetime. This begs the question: how does modern footwear affect the human body? 

 

Earth grounding (then and now)

For most of human history, people lived in direct barefoot skin contact with the Earth’s surface. This means that we evolved without wearing footwear. However, humans today mainly wear closed toe shoes, which restrict the full range of motion and other functional abilities of our feet. Today’s shoes are more about comfort and aesthetic than good foot health. When you’re walking barefoot versus in shoes, expect there to be significant differences in foot structure, mobility, pressure, and muscle tone. For instance, barefoot walkers tend to have shorter and lighter strides and increased cadence when compared to those who wear shoes. Moreover, shoes with cushions around the arch alter the way we naturally walk. This affects the way our feet, legs, core, and spine all interact with one another. Over many years of wearing shoes, the physiology of our feet changes, leading to increased pressure in certain areas of the body. In some cases, this can even lead to chronic pain, which is especially true for women who wear high heels. For thousands of years, humans from all cultures and walks of life have understood the benefits of grounding barefoot. It was only recently, however, that Western science set out to demystify the profound effects of grounding on our physical and psychological well being. Now, let’s learn about all the amazing ways that grounding affects our mental and physical health.

 

What is grounding?

Grounding, also called earthing, is a therapeutic technique that involves doing activities that “ground” or electrically reconnect you to the earth. This practice relies on earthing science and grounding physics to explain how electrical charges from the earth can have positive effects on your body. The term ‘grounding’ means direct skin contact with the surface of the Earth. This is achieved through walking barefoot on the Earth – whether it be dirt, grass, or sand. When walking barefoot, our body absorbs free ions from the Earth’s surface, which act as antioxidants. These antioxidants enhance our health and lead to positive feelings in the body. Unfortunately, most people today spend the majority of their lives wearing shoes, thus failing to exploit the benefits of grounding. Grounding offers many health benefits, including improved sleep, reduced inflammation, improved tissue and cell repair, enhanced blood flow, increased heart rate variability, and improved electrical activity in the brain. In addition, walking barefoot on the ground releases endorphins. This can improve our mood and counteract mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety. Walking barefoot also reconnects us with nature, which boosts our mental and physical states in other ways. As such, Earth’s natural healing energy should never be overlooked!

 

What the science says

Grounding is currently an under-researched topic and there are very few scientific studies on the benefits. However, the most recent scientific research has explored grounding for inflammation, cardiovascular disease, muscle damage, chronic pain, and mood. Grounding affects the living matrix, which is the central connector between living cells. Electrical conductivity exists within the matrix that functions as an immune system defense, similar to antioxidants. They believe that through grounding, the natural defenses of the body can be restored. Grounding reduces muscle damage and pain. This suggests that grounding may influence healing abilities.

 

The Power of Grounding

In its most simple form, grounding can be walking around barefoot or lying in the grass outside your house. The positive charges naturally built up in your body interact with the negative charges naturally produced by the Earth. This neutralisation of charges can help with improving sleep patterns, which is a chronic health issue for millions of people. Some studies even suggest that grounding can be one of many other beneficial ways to improve your circulation. Better circulation has many cumulative impacts such as reducing the risk of certain cardiovascular problems, improving sleep, and limiting the number of varicose veins that crop up.

 

Types of grounding or earthing

There are many types of grounding. All of them focus on reconnecting yourself to the earth. This can be done through either direct or indirect contact with the earth.

 

Walking barefoot: Have you ever been outside on a warm summer day and felt the urge to run barefoot in the grass? One of the easiest ways to ground yourself to the earth is to walk barefoot. Whether this is on grass, sand, or even mud, allowing your skin to touch the natural ground can provide you with grounding energy.

 

Lying on the ground: You can increase your skin-to-earth contact by lying on the ground. You can do it in the grass by the park or on the sand at the beach.

 

Submersing in water: water may be used to ground in the same way the physical earth is used for grounding. Simply wading in a clear lake or swimming in the ocean as a way to ground yourself. As always, be sure to stay safe when swimming, especially in murky or deep waters.

 

Why use grounding?

As mentioned above, walking barefoot on the Earth has vast benefits that affect our mental and physical wellbeing. Across different cultures and civilizations, it’s been considered one of the best natural medicines for healing. Though walking barefoot has countless benefits, here are the top benefits of earthing that you should know about.

 

Making a Mental Health Connection

We’ve heard time and time again that nature has the power to soothe a troubled mind or that spending time in nature is one of the best means of improving your mental health. This works in several ways. For instance, regular sun exposure increases vitamin D uptake, which is important in mood regulation. Likewise, natural settings have been proven to have a calming effect on the brain which can reduce feelings of anxiety and depression. Some experts believe that grounding and deliberately making a connection with the Earth can be one of the powerful means of spending time in nature. Something as simple as sitting or standing barefoot in a grassy park and practicing mindfulness for 20 minutes a couple of times a week could significantly improve mental health. As previously mentioned, nature and mindfulness can improve sleep, which has long been linked to mental health status. Time spent outside can help in numerous simple ways. Grounding, for example, can rebalance electrical signals in the body. And breathing outdoors can help the body absorb some of the positive chemicals naturally released by trees. All of this can work together to strengthen mental health with no negative side effects.

 

Conclusion

There are significant mental and physical health benefits associated with the practice of grounding. Even something as small as walking around barefoot or lying in a park for 30 minutes a couple of times a week can have a substantial impact on health outcomes. The power of nature in our lives should never be taken for granted. Grounding or earthing is a therapeutic technique that focuses on realigning your electrical energy by reconnecting to the earth. There’s little research behind grounding but smaller studies have reported benefits for inflammation, pain, mood, and more. Grounding can be performed inside or outside, with or without grounding equipment. No matter how you choose to perform grounding, make sure that you’re always aware of your surroundings outside and use earthing equipment safely to reduce risks.

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