You're grounded! (It's a good thing.)

Wellthy adjective - characterized by focusing on good habits to make it easier to make healthy choices to have a balanced, healthy life that includes enjoying simple pleasures without guilt.

Ever since I was a kid, I never liked walking around barefoot outside. It’s one thing to walk in the grass, where the most you have to worry about is a stick or some dog poop. But walking on gravel or the sidewalk or out in the street—no thanks! I have reacted with mild disgust when I see kids running around barefoot outside seemingly without a care in the world.

First of all, it hurts my feet to step on pebbles or anything on the ground. Anyone who has ever stepped on a Lego or matchbox car knows the feeling. Then, you have to wash your feet when you come inside the house, and as long as you’re going to do that might as well take a shower. It becomes a whole event.

I guess the joke is on me because walking and standing barefoot outside, referred to as “earthing” or “grounding,” is actually good for us. Maybe those kids are onto something after all.

The science of grounding

The Earth is like a gigantic battery that contains a natural electrical charge—a special kind of energy present in the ground. For safety and stability, almost everything in the electrical world is connected to it. This is what the term “grounded” means.

We are bioelectrical beings living on an electrical planet. Our bodies operate electrically. Our cells transmit multiple frequencies that run our hearts, muscles, immune, and nervous systems.

The human body is electrical first and chemical second. —Clint Ober

When we make direct contact with the earth, two things happen. One, any excess electrical charge leaves our bodies. We’ve all figured out how to generate static electricity and then find an unsuspecting loved one or pet and give them a surprise shock. For pets, the nose works great because they are usually angling their muzzle toward your finger anyway to detect a goodie you might have, and you get a great reaction. Two, negatively charged free electrons transfer to our bodies, balancing out the excess positive charge we accumulate over time. That’s the science, but what are the benefits of grounding?

The benefits of grounding¹

• Chronic fatigue. In a study with massage therapists, many reported a decrease in their fatigue levels after four weeks of treatment with grounding mats.

• Chronic pain. This study on grounding for exercise recovery found those who used grounding patches reported lower pain levels.

• Stress. One study concluded that grounding for eight weeks normalized cortisol, leading to better sleep and less stress.

• Anxiety and depression. One small study showed that even one hour of grounding therapy could significantly improve mood.

• Sleep disorders. The massage therapists also experienced an improvement in sleep length and reduced sleep disturbances with grounding therapy.

• Cardiovascular disease. One treatment study found that long-term self-administered grounding therapy helped reduce blood pressure levels in participants with hypertension. Another small study used blood measurements taken before and after grounding to determine red blood cell fluidity changes. The results indicated significantly less red blood cell clumping after grounding, which suggests benefits for cardiovascular health.

Get grounded

From an evolutionary perspective, our ancestors were grounded all the time. They walked around without shoes and maintained constant contact with the earth. Nowadays, we wear footwear outside most of the time, and we spend a lot of time indoors and not grounded. The more grounding, the better. Most recommendations I’ve seen state at least 30 minutes of grounding every day.

To ground yourself, go outside and put your bare feet on any of the following:

• Grass, sand, dirt, and soil

• Plants and living trees (especially with wet bark)

• Gravel and rock (that is touching the earth)

• Unsealed concrete (or coated with a water-based sealant)

• Unsealed brick (or coated with a water-based sealant)

• Bodies of water (oceans, lakes, streams)

It’s free. It’s easy. You get a bonus of sun exposure. But we all have obligations, and who has the time to go outside and be grounded for 30 minutes every day? That’s where technology comes to the rescue.

Grounding solutions inside the home

My goal with creating habits is to build them into my routine, so they become automatic. In Arizona, it will reach a high of 118 degrees F this week. Sometimes being outside for extended periods of time is not an option. Luckily, I found some gadgets to help me stay grounded during the day and when I sleep. Note: Some links below are affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

I purchased this grounding mat on Amazon. It fits nicely under my desk. There is a cord that connects the grounding mat to an outlet. You plug the end into the third hole on the bottom of any electrical outlet. This is the ground connection. I plopped my bare feet on it and *drum roll* nothing. I didn’t feel any different. I didn’t even know it was working. Then I touched my MacBook Air, which was on the desk charging, and I felt a buzz from the aluminum frame that almost felt like it was going to shock me. I took my feet off the mat and touched the MacBook Air again, and the buzz was gone. Without grounding, there is no place for the current to go. That was proof enough that this mat is grounding me.

I’m always looking for any techniques to improve sleep, and I decided to incorporate grounding into my bedtime routine. They make grounding mats that cover the mattress, but I have an Ooler and didn’t want to mess with that. I opted for a grounding pillowcase. It plugs in the same way as the mat, and the cord is long enough that I can tuck it away, so I don’t get tangled up in it while having a lucid dream. Has my sleep improved? I have noticed the last several days that I’ve had fewer wake-ups during the night. I regularly get sleep scores above 90 on my Oura ring anyway.

Is the science settled? Unfortunately, there are only small studies that have scratched the surface of the benefits of grounding. Anything we can do in the modern world that supports our evolutionary history is a good thing. There isn’t any harm in standing on the ground. The technology of grounding products is safe. Many of the studies showed improvement after several weeks.

Grounding isn’t a quick fix or a magical cure, but isn’t it worth a try to see if it helps you? If you are interested in learning more, take a look at this earthing website. If you try it out, let me know how it works for you.

When is the last time you walked around barefoot outside?

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1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378297/