GROUNDING.
What I’m about to tell you you may already know or it’s going to blow your mind. One or the other.
I’m about to tell you how to cure hangovers, get more energy, fight anxiety, help with depression, decrease inflammation & seriously, SO MUCH MORE.
And it’s all free.
Grounding, or ‘earthing,’ whatever you want to call it, has absolutely changed the game for me.
First, let’s start off with this question: when was the last time you let your bare feet touch the actual earth? Not your marble or hardwood floor, or your carpet. I’m not even talking about your balcony. The actual earth- the grass, the sand, the beach. 99% of people can’t even remember.
Grounding just WORKS. Trust me, I know because one morning at 8 am, after a night of too many tequila limes, I dragged Michael to the beach ( even though we were both so hungover ). We both instantly felt better after putting our feet in the sand. Grounding is something I discovered after jaw surgery– ANYTHING to heal faster.
Basically the grounding theory is that our body is supposed to have contact with the earth as much as possible ( like with no shoes ). Electrons in free radical form ( yuck- from wifi ) accumulate in us & direct contact with the earth balances this out with the opposite effect. Back in the day this would happen naturally because we weren’t wearing shoes…now we need to make it happen… But let’s dive deep.
What is Grounding or Earthing?
“There’s a basic premise of physics that helps it all make more sense: you, and all people, animals, plants, and inanimate objects are electrical beings living in an electrical world. Everything that’s made of atoms (so…everything) has a net charge that’s either positive, negative, or neutral.
Every chemical reaction, any rearrangement of molecules that happens anywhere ever, involves electrical charges, attraction, and repulsion. Without atoms’ strong attraction to each other through energetic bonds, you and the device you’re using to read this would dissipate into particles.
So, when your body’s overall charge is off, chemical reactions happen that shouldn’t, and reactions fail to happen when they should. A growing body of evidence shows that disruption of the body’s charge is a health concern, and doctors should start paying attention.[1]“ ( via )
Let’s put our lab coats on for a minute & get super sciencey:
“Environmental medicine generally addresses environmental factors with a negative impact on human health. However, emerging scientific research has revealed a surprisingly positive and overlooked environmental factor on health: direct physical contact with the vast supply of electrons on the surface of the Earth. Modern lifestyle separates humans from such contact. The research suggests that this disconnect may be a major contributor to physiological dysfunction and unwellness. Reconnection with the Earth’s electrons has been found to promote intriguing physiological changes and subjective reports of well-being. Earthing (or grounding) refers to the discovery of benefits—including better sleep and reduced pain—from walking barefoot outside or sitting, working, or sleeping indoors connected to conductive systems that transfer the Earth’s electrons from the ground into the body.” ( via )
So essentially, it’s allowing your skin to touch the ions of the earth. My absolute favorite way to do this is by putting my feet in the sand. You should know that I even do this with Zaza. I’ll take her little feet & hands and make sure they touch the earth as often as I can.
How To Ground:
♡ Go outside & get your feet in some grass, sand or dirt.
♡ You can even use the ceramic tile or concrete floor in your basement if you have one. There just shouldn’t be any kind of material between it & your feet ( ex. carpet, hardwood, etc. ).
♡ Earthing sheet. “Every house has a network of grounding wires that connects the electrical source to the ground. This helps complete the circuit using the ground instead of your body, so you can touch your TVs and blenders and whatnot without getting a zap.
An earthing sheet plugs into a normal outlet and connects to the grounding wires in your home’s wiring (not the electrical source, so don’t worry about plugging in all night). Since it conducts energy all the way into the ground, you can get in a full night of earthing in without sleeping in the grass. It’s usually made of cotton and fine silver thread for conductivity, so the sheet will deliver negative electrons from the earth to your body and neutralize the positive charges.” ( via )
♡ Earthing shoes actually exist. They are shoes that have some kind of conductive material built into them so you can ground all day while you get your steps in. In fact, it seems like there are a lot of moccasin style shoes that are ‘earthing’ out there.
Just remember, these are special shoes & if there’s rubber on your shoes, that means they are NOT grounding you.
♡ Grounding mat. This would be a great thing to use while you work to kind of cancel out the electromagnetic field from your computer, phone, or tablet. You can even get grounding mats for your bed so you can get all the benefits while you sleep. Speaking of benefits, let’s get into it.
Benefits of Grounding or Earthing. ( There are a ton !! ):
♡ Regulates cortisol.
Cortisol is your body’s stress hormone & I’m all about lowering it. You may have heard me talk about this 1 or 50 times. When your cortisol is regulated it means that a stressful situation won’t affect you as long. You can recover easily & not feel anxiety for too long after.
♡ Gets rid of free radicals.
You’ve probably heard all about free radicals before & how antioxidants neutralize them. Well, grounding also neutralizes them which means they won’t be around to damage the cells in our body.
♡ No more fight-or-flight.
Grounding helps your body go from the stressed out fight-or-flight feeling to a more restorative state.
More benefits….
♡ Reduces inflammation.
♡ Improves sleep.
♡ Improves immunity.
♡ Reduces some factors of cardiovascular disease.
♡ Reduces pain.
♡ Speeds healing time.
♡ Helps with period cramps.
♡ Reduces electric fields induced on the body.
♡ Improves glucose regulation.
♡ Reduces indicators of osteoporosis.
♡ Reduces anxiety & depression.
♡ Supports adrenal health.
♡ & like I said, can really cure a hangover.
The only technique I’ve ever tried is putting my bare feet on the ground- the beach is my favorite. But I’d love to try a grounding mat soon.
Anyway, after reading this post I hope you rip off your high heels & ground your feet into the earth. It’s so important during this world pandemic. We’re inside more than ever. Vitamin D is so important but so is letting your body touch the earth. I just love a free, efficient, accessible wellness practice like this.
Do you guys consciously ground yourselves?
x, lauryn
+ if you’re into grounding, you’ll love reading about red light therapy.
++ scope why you need toe stretchers.
I honestly can’t remember the last time I put my feet down on the earth, and to think I’m down here in Nigeria where the earth sand is right outside my doors.
I need to try this asap and give you a feedback!! Amazing post, Lauren and the whole TSC team!!!
Love to Zaza and Papaaaaa Micheal, lol
Thank you for sharing it
Definitely needed this post. Thanks so much for sharing!!
-Kate
https://daysofkate.com/
thanks for reading !
I have a quick question.. I am in Vegas. In quite literally the desert lol! For daily grounding, is cement okay? All I have in my backyard and around my house is rock, and cement ! Thank you! Love this post! So crazy you posted this because i had been researching it due to these health issues I’ve been experiencing! Loved this!
hmm maybe the dirt would be better than the cement !
Also.. what’s the recommended time frame? Every day? For 30 mins? Or? ☺️
every day !!
Very interested in trying this! I have TERRIBLE ANXIETY, even with medication. I get severe panic attacks and am trying to look for a more holistic approach or something as simple as this. Definitely going to try this and if you have any other tips on severe anxiety/panic attacks, I’d love to hear your input 🙂
let us know if it helps
Earthing calms the nervous system and studies with evidence of that effect, as well as a normalization of the stress hormone cortisol. Check out our testimonials under “A” for anxiety at the Earthing Institute website. Mother Earth is the original tranquilizer…among other things. Humans just need to reconnect. Cheers. Martin Zucker, co-author of the Earthing book
ty for the info!!!
This is quite a revelation! I remember when I was younger, somebody told me and in fact lots of people around me believed that walking on grass early morning when it is wet with dew, is good for our eyesight. Though never got to know that if this was true or not but you have explained so well through science and logic that it has begun to make lot of sense that there is some benefit in walking bare feet on grass, sand or dirt.
Glad that you liked it!
Wow! What a cool post to read! I can tell you’ve done your research. I will definitely be ‘grounding’ more often!
ty for checking it out
I have to ground myself. I feel like I can breath deeply. The ocean waves hitting my feet. The sand. I feel alive again.
LOVE
I love this! My whole crew is going to start trying this and I am going to implement this in my first grade classroom. Thank you!
Are detox symptoms common with this? I used a metal rod jabbed in the dirt on my lawn with metal tape on floor for 2 hours and got got allergy/flu like symptoms and shortness of breath and also got nightmares that same night