Studies show that the Earth’s rich supply of free electrons can have multiple and systemic effects on several physiological functions.
Humans are inherently electrical beings. Electricity keeps our hearts beating, makes our muscles contract, and facilitates signals throughout our nervous systems that enable us to think, feel, move, and interact with the world around us.
Neurons in particular are highly electrical cells, although our energetic nature goes far beyond our brains. Understanding this electrical nature helps us understand different keys to health—and different factors contributing to disease.
Inside Our Bodies
Doctors rely on measuring our electrical activity to help diagnose different diseases. An EKG, or electrocardiogram, measures the electricity of the heart, for example. Electrical stimuli are generated in the heart’s upper right chamber called the sinus node, or sinoatrial node.Depending on variables such as age, fitness level, height, and weight, the heart produces electrical pulses 60 to 100 times every minute. This electrical energy powers the heart to contract and pump blood through our bodies.
Other ways the body uses electricity are still being discovered and explored.
Electrical patterns provide a kind of blueprint that guides embryonic development,
research led by Michael Levin, a professor of biology at Tufts University and a director of the Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology, has demonstrated. This research also suggests that understanding this phenomenon further could offer insights into
regrowing limbs and organs, healing wounds, and preventing cancer.
The body relies on small electrical impulses for countless functions. And what could be described as an electrical phenomenon is one of the most common contributors to disease. That phenomenon is the free radical, an atom or molecule that is short one electron, leaving it with a positive charge. This charge allows it to “steal” an electron from another atom or molecule. This instability is linked to countless disease processes in the body. Antioxidants found in foods are beneficial to the body specifically because they can provide an electron and neutralize this threat.
Outside the Body
But antioxidants aren’t the only way we can get extra electrons into our bodies. Humans are made up of mostly water and minerals such as calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur—making us excellent conductors. Our cells’ proper function depends on this quality and their ability to conduct electrical signals.Our inherent electrical nature and conductive quality allow us to acquire electrical energy from the world around us.
We also happen to live on an abundant source of electrical energy—our Earth. The Earth’s surface provides an unlimited and continuously renewed supply of free electrons that we can absorb into our bodies.
Interestingly, these electrons actually come from the sun, another example of our closest star’s effects on our well-being. Some of those electrons land directly on the Earth, and others get temporarily detained 60 miles above the Earth’s surface in the ionosphere. The ionosphere periodically releases these electrons through lightning that transfers the negatively charged particles to the surface of the Earth.
The Earth is electrically conductive and can pass these electrons to us—with one caveat. We have to be in direct contact with the planet to receive them. Just as the plastic insulation on an electrical wire keeps its electricity contained, so too does the plastic on the bottom of our shoes.
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The easiest way to absorb these free electrons is to walk barefoot on the ground, in the grass, on a beach—or to swim in a natural body of water. These acts literally ground us, allowing our bodies to settle an electron imbalance. Research has found that this process can have a wide range of physiological and psychological effects that include lowering inflammation, thinning the blood, preventing degenerative diseases, improving sleep, reducing pain, and enhancing many of the body’s biological processes.
Grounding or Earthing
This process of electron exchange with the Earth is called “grounding” or “earthing,” and a notable body of research demonstrates its beneficial physiological effects, according to a review of
available research that was conducted more than a decade ago. Published in The Journal of Environmental and Public Health, it called grounding “a surprisingly positive and overlooked environmental factor on health.”
“Mounting evidence suggests that the Earth’s negative potential can create a stable internal bioelectrical environment for the normal functioning of all body systems. Moreover, oscillations of the intensity of the Earth’s potential may be important for setting the biological clocks regulating diurnal [daily] body rhythms, such as cortisol secretion,” it reads.
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Connecting to the Earth has shown profound physiological effects, especially on the cardiovascular system and blood viscosity.
A small study, published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, investigated the effects of two hours of grounding on the electrical charge of red blood cells and the effects the charge had on the clumping of red blood cells. The study found that grounding increased the surface charge of the red blood cells, which decreased blood viscosity.
“Grounding appears to be one of the simplest and yet most profound interventions for helping reduce cardiovascular risk and cardiovascular events,” the authors reported.
Dr. Stephen Sinatra, a well-regarded cardiologist who passed away in 2022, integrated conventional medicine with complementary nutritional, mind–body, and lifestyle approaches. Dr. Sinatra was involved in much of the early research on the benefits of grounding.
“In the body, these electrons have an anti-inflammatory effect because they reduce the free-radical activity that causes
inflammation and chronic pain,” Dr. Sinatra wrote in an article on his website.
“The energy of the free electrons gained through grounding also helps keep your body’s innate electrical circuitry properly balanced. All of these effects of grounding are extremely beneficial to heart health.”
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“The two dozen or so completed studies on grounding have proven beyond any doubt that becoming grounded has significant positive effects on our physiology and heart health,” Dr. Sinatra wrote.
Grounding can ease or eliminate the symptoms of inflammation-related disorders, lower stress, moderate heart rate variability, improve nervous system activity, and lower stress hormone secretion, he wrote.
Other benefits include improved function of core systems: cardiovascular, respiratory, circulatory, and nervous.
For many people, there is also a reduction in chronic pain, Dr. Sinatra wrote.
Another study affirming these studies was published in the Journal of Inflammation Research in 2015. It examined the effects of grounding on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and the prevention and treatment of chronic and inflammatory autoimmune diseases.
“Grounding reduces pain and alters the number of circulating neutrophils and lymphocytes, and also affects various circulating chemical factors related to inflammation,” the researchers wrote.
A review article published in Explore in 2020 notes that earthing reduces pain, inflammation, and stress and improves blood flow, sleep, and vitality, and the article describes it as a “grossly overlooked factor in health and healing.”
A study published in 2022 even showed that connecting to the Earth improved outcomes for patients with COVID-19. Seventy-one patients with COVID-19 infection were instructed to have direct contact with the Earth or a connecting (grounding) apparatus for 15 minutes to 6 hours a day. The researchers concluded that earthing had significant curative and preventive effects and resulted in a shorter duration of the illness.
A particularly compelling
study published in Neonatology in 2017 involved 26 premature babies in a neonatal intensive care unit connected to grounding wires. The grounding caused the babies’ heart rates to stabilize. In addition, their vagal tone—considered a vital measure of infant health—increased by 67 percent when grounded.
Modern Lifestyle and Our Disconnect
Our ancestors spent much of their time outside and had frequent contact with the Earth, but most Americans go days, weeks, or months without meaningful direct contact with the Earth. Some hardly ever spend time outdoors.
Our footwear is also importantly different; leather soles became electrically conductive once they were moistened, by sweat or otherwise.
“Through this mechanism, every part of the body could equilibrate with the electrical potential of the Earth, thereby stabilizing the electrical environment of all organs, tissues, and cells,” the authors of the 2012 earthing study wrote.
Dr. Emily Splichal, a podiatrist, human movement specialist, and expert in barefoot science and rehabilitation, told The Epoch Times via email that going barefoot on the Earth has benefits beyond grounding.
“Being barefoot is a great way to support the natural function of the foot and body. Freedom of joint movement, sensory stimulation, and foot strengthening are all benefits of being barefoot. The skin in the bottom of the feet has thousands of nerves which play an important role in how we perceive our feet/posture, as well as control balance and movement.”
Final Thoughts
With all our health challenges, it’s incredible to think that something so simple and effective as grounding has yet to gain more attention in the mainstream. With our constant drive to push the boundaries of science and medicine to improve our lives, occasionally, it is wise to sit back and think about our core connection to the natural world. If we did, we might find that an important source of health and well-being is right beneath our feet.
