Earthing, reconnecting to the earth.

I have been listening to a man, Clint Ober, who hypothesized that the real reason people are sick is because we became completely disconnected from the earth, back in the 50's and 60's when we started wearing shoes with plastic soles, using plastic carpets/floors, even wood floors.

We are using products and living in homes that insulate the energy of the earth from our bodies.

The earth provides us with negative charge as long as we are connected to it. When we disconnect from it, positive charge builds up causing inflammation which manifests in various ways depending on the biology of each individual. The negative charge of the earth pairs with the positive charge in our bodies and neutralizes it, or in "my opinion" puts it to good use building or taking out the trash.

I have not tested this fully yet but I am going barefoot more, tender-footed as I am. I have ordered his book. I have however seen his movie and another movie about this phenomena, Clint Ober's movie "The Earthing Movie": The Remarkable Science of Grounding (full documentary), and Steve Kroschel's film: "The Grounded Documentary Film about "Earthing" Steve Kroschel is a master filmmaker and it really is a well done film worth watching for it's artistic value as well.

I'm not sure about putting links in the thread so I hope I gave enough information for you to find it if you are interested. I am optimistic about Earthing.

Part of the reason I put this in here is because you build WOFATI's and I can't think of anything closer to the earth than "IN" a cave or a wofati. Even though the floors and things are insulated from the earth because they are wood; they don't have to be. We may not be as disconnected in a wofati as we are in conventional homes.

As I learn more I will try to update.

Well, there has been a lot of changes since that period of just about everything we touch, do or eat.
Inwould like to hear of the evidence of sickness and compare that with changes of our habits generally, only them may we see if wearing plastic footwear has created a situation/

Earthing is also known as Grounding.

Folks might enjoy this book:

https://permies.com/wiki/155737/Grounded-Gardener-Journey-Abundance-Sufficiency

Here are some threads of interest that folks might like:

https://permies.com/t/218725/forest-floor-bare-footing-suburban

https://permies.com/t/66783/purity/Shoeless-discussion-barefoot-living

https://permies.com/t/142754/Favorite-Plants-Grounding

I had the same question but being an electrician I am not sure how I feel about the theory.

I understand about earth grounding; being too much, not being enough, etc, even electrical field pollution, but what I cannot seem to fathom is why there is a 30 minute timer on grounding.

If I short a resistor to ground, it shorts out. It is instant. It’s why we ground substations to earth before we work on them.

So why does walking barefoot for 30 minutes do anything? Wouldn’t 1 second do the same thing?

But I do understand the importance of grounding stuff, and do know my contact with the earth is very dismal, so I am not opposed to the theory. I just don’t have enough information yet

When I first heard about this idea (from a book, but I don't remember the author or title) I tried some simple experiments.  I was working in an office with the whole works: artificial light, filtered air and water, completely isolated from the natural environment, but it was next to a wild marshy area.  So at lunchtime I would go find a patch of relatively bare earth and take off my shoes and socks and just stand there meditating for a few minutes.  Subjectively it very much did feel good: "grounding", relaxing and peaceful.

I figure there's something to it, but as Steve Zoma says, if it were just electrical grounding like in a circuit you'd expect it to be near-instantaneous.

However...

Check out the work of Michael Levin's lab in re: bioelectricity and cellular communication. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Levin_(biologist)

I can't do more than speculate, but like I said, I think there's something to it.

It does make you wonder.

At work, in about 150 feet we convert 125 volts DC into 34,500 volts AC with (4) breaks in the lines feeding the phases at 15 megawatts. That is a lot of stray current, and it makes you wonder how that affects a person, who like you noted, stays on concrete, in hard soled shoes, in an office environment a lot. Its scary how much I never actually touch bare earth.

When I worked in a boiler house making 31 megawatts, we had transformers that would connect tanks to earth, and thereby stop corrosion, which only used HALF an amp to get them to properly ground, so it does make you wonder if there is something to this? I mean we are basically human tanks made up of skin containing 80% water. But those anticorrosion tank minders operated continuously, and not done in pulses.

For others reading this, it helps to understand that what you were taught about electricity was WRONG. We are educated to think that electricity comes from the house on wires that flows from some generation plant. That is not true. Every time the electricity is stepped up or down in voltage, it has a break in the wires called transformers, so electricity does not "flow" along wires, but rather swirls around the wires and is pulled along by frequency, thereby allowing it to jump air gaps. That is why your house is not even connected to the wires on the street, that white thing on the pole outside your house is a transformer, stepping the power down from 7500 volts to 220. There is a gap in the line. Any escaped electricity is called emf (electromagnetic frequency) or commonly known as stray voltage, or "dirty electricity", so it is everywhere.

The question is not if its there; it is all around us, it is how much we need to dissipate it to ground, if at all?

Steve Zoma wrote:I had the same question but being an electrician I am not sure how I feel about the theory.

I understand about earth grounding; being too much, not being enough, etc, even electrical field pollution, but what I cannot seem to fathom is why there is a 30 minute timer on grounding.

If I short a resistor to ground, it shorts out. It is instant. It’s why we ground substations to earth before we work on them.

So why does walking barefoot for 30 minutes do anything? Wouldn’t 1 second do the same thing?

But I do understand the importance of grounding stuff, and do know my contact with the earth is very dismal, so I am not opposed to the theory. I just don’t have enough information yet

30 minutes is just a good number to tell people to do, long enough that they will see it as important to do, short enough they might do it. The body is a more complex system than a current in a wire, and a simple ground short doesn't allow the resulting changes to affect many cells in a short time. The extended time allows more body processes to change a bit as the body uses the changed charge to repair long standing damage.

Steve Zoma wrote: The question is not if its there; it is all around us, it is how much we need to dissipate it to ground, if at all?

I vote "as much as we can." Modern life is not how bodies have lived for all of history, and our bodies are not adapted to this. I think the more we can negate any of the excess electrical inputs, the better our health has the chance to be.

The book I find most interesting for this stuff is The Invisible Rainbow - A history of Electricity and Life by Arthur Firstenberg.  Some people find it difficult reading, and the first chapter makes no sense to start with until you suddenly realize why he started there, then it falls into place and the reading gets MUCH easier. I find it absolutely fascinating reading.  I have seen a video, I don't recommend it. It turns out it's a bare bones Clif Notes version of it all, he quickly covers his conclusions, without the data that makes it understandable and rational. I looked up a lot of his data, he is accurate in his use of it, which is why I think it's important to hear that data, not just his conclusions, as they are a far step for most people. The book makes it a lot of little steps, not one big jump. I highly recommend the book.

Pearl, Thank you for the book idea. I've been looking for more information. I read "The Body Electric" a long time ago and was inspired to keep my distance from energy fields, and in school wrote an article for my creative writing class. All of which are a blur to me now. But the "Earthing" thing is bringing it all back in gut feelings and deeper truths than meet the eye. Sounded better in my head.

I ordered the book from Amazon and Audible as I am a multi media learner.

To update my original post, I made a rough grounding mat to sleep on from metal window screen material, speaker wire, and a cloths hanger, sanded to expose the bare metal poked into the ground outside.

Since it's only been a week, a highly stressful one at that, I've only noticed subtle changes, mostly that I'm not discarding it like I would if it was a bother. I like it and my cat likes it. So the test continues.

I love all the input, and still like the idea of an earthen floor, where grounding is just the way it is in my house, WOFATI or otherwise.

I love you guys. I’ve been thinking of getting a grounding mat, but hadn’t looked into it yet until I saw this thread just by chance today. Now I have a bunch of resources thanks to you all. I’ve been trying a bunch of new experiments in health after some health issues recently. A grounding mat can be pretty cheap compared light therapy stuff I’ve tried recently. I was looking at a Hooga mat that’s $25.

I read this thread a few hours ago and did a little searching. I will say, I feel I’m not finding the same quality or quantity of research on grounding/earthing as I did on light therapy.

There’s this:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378297/

I know terry wahls has mentioned grounding and I like her. She mentioned a book by someone named Sinatra.

I really trust Dr. Rhonda Patrick to evaluate scientific research. I’ve been considering getting her monthly membership for just a month so I can run my DNA results through her software. At $15 it’s a lot cheaper than other services like 23andme, which I think wants $65 for their advanced analysis. Also I get a t-shirt!….anyway, she has a q&a where she addresses grounding which is for member only.

There’s also a podcast Ben Greenfield did with Clint Ober which looks interesting ….sorry, I’m in a sudden rush to finish this post. I might write more later.

I spent some time looking through the studies. Everything seemed to have a conflict of interest. I don’t dismiss grounding for that. Many new ideas start with low quality studies funded by advocates/companies that could benefit greatly. Then, interest builds and better quality independent studies are done. It often takes too long, and sick people don’t have the luxury of waiting around for research. I’m not waiting. I think I’ll get a cheap little grounding pad simply because enough people I respect like them(including some of you all here at permies).

I subscribed to Rhonda Patrick’s Found My Fitness membership and listened to her opinion on this. She is a former researcher who likes to dive deep into research papers and explain them to the public. Rhonda confirmed what I was finding: all the studies have a conflict of interest.. She emphasized “all”, and I believe she is a thorough gatherer of studies. She mentioned that a popular criticism of grounding is that the charge(not sure if this is the right word) of the body will change with everything that is touched whenever one is not grounded.

However, I’m listening to Ben Greenfield interview Clint Ober(mentioned by Evelyn). Looking through the show notes I see recommendations for duration of grounding therapy for several conditions. Minimum is 22 minutes, supposedly due to the time it takes blood to circulate. It seems to me that no one is claiming grounding works instantly. In fact, the show notes say MS patients stay grounded up to 12 hours. So I guess the argument Rhonda presented might be considered a straw man argument.

This, to me, is a clear indicator that these critics she mentions haven’t investigated what they’re criticizing—an all too common problem I come across in criticism of alternative practices. I’ve been criticized for many things I tried in the past to manage Crohn’s disease which now have much more evidence to back them up. Breathing exercises come to mind first and foremost.

So rather than dismiss grounding due to a lack of randomized, double blind, replicated studies with large groups—I’m just gonna try it. I am skeptical, but skepticism doesn’t stop me from trying new health practices. Also, Rhonda is open to the idea that it could work. As Chris Kresser likes to say, “lack of proof isn’t proof against”. She basically said if it makes you feel good, do it. It isn’t dangerous.

https://bengreenfieldlife.com/podcast/biohacking-podcasts/clint-ober-17-april-2021/

I fell asleep without my homemade mat last night, and wish I hadn't, but it's a good indicator of how it's helpful, to me at least.
I woke with a bothersome headache, but not severe and it is finally dissipating on it's own with movement.
I am listening to the book "The Invisible Rainbow" - A history of Electricity and Life by Arthur Firstenberg, on Audible to help me understand how electricity effects me. I'm finding a lot of information on how captured electricity and wires changed and in many cases damaged the human body, subtly at first, but chronically.
Kevin, when you turn on a light bulb does it immediately use up the fulfillment, no it is slightly damaged though and over a short  time it will fail from the cumulative damage.
A light bulb does not have the regenerative powers that a living body has, so the damage to the human body is constantly being repaired as best as the body can do with what it has to work with, and it has to do it while still being highly charged in the energy fields that are damaging it. Now take away that highly charged energy field for just a few minutes... how much repair can be accomplished? Not much. Take away that field for a half hour, well that's a little more helpful, but now where does the body put the damaged cells and debris from its half hour of repair? Into the lymphatic system to be carried to the elimination system and then expelled. This my friend is why time is involved. The systems used to clean out old cells and debris can become overwhelmed and make us feel sick and drained. Sort of like when you do a detox, actually it is the same thing as a detox, just not one chemically stimulated by a detox product.
I hope that helps.

I meant to mention Pearl Sutton, for mentioning the book, "The Invisible Rainbow" - A history of Electricity and Life by Arthur Firstenberg

Thank you Pearl, just the thing to help me put the pieces together.

Evelyn, I’m glad to find someone who has taken such a strong interest in this topic. I recognize some of your description of the process by which grounding may work from listening to that podcast with Clint last night. Several resources have been mentioned and you seem to be familiar with many of them. Where would you recommend I start?

I know you are just beginning ‘The Invisible Rainbow’, so you might need time to form an opinion on that one. Would you recommend I start with one of these books or the documentary?

I was so skeptical when I first heard about grounding but my sister said she was sleeping better using grounding sheets and she convinced me to give it a go. I did lots of research and found heaps of good articles about how grounding helps with menopause, such as this one: https://premiumgrounding.au/blogs/news/how-to-reduce-menopause-symptoms-with-grounding And Wow! I used to struggle to get to sleep and wake up during the night, often laying awake for 2-3 hours with hot flashes from menopause. Since using grounding sheets, I feel like a new person! I recommend them to everyone and haven't heard anyone who's actually used them say a bad word.

I just did a Southern Ute sweat lodge ceremony and I definitely feel grounded.

Since I heard of grounding, aka walking barefoot, I have actually made it a point to make the 50 foot trip out to the garage without boots when I think about it. If it is just electrical grounding, it wouldn't take more than a split second to discharge, eh?

I almost think it's real. Not quite convinced. But also, I think it's real. To a point. Maybe.

I like grounding through my hands, handling juicy vigorous grounded goods. It changes from season to season, mostly sprouting broccoli, parsnips, potatoes and blackberries currently

Funny, it commonly gives me a head rush going from squatting/kneeling to standing while picking blackberries.  If I'm not touching anything I don't get head rushes, unless I haven't eaten for 3 or more days. Going barefoot doesn't do it, and blackberries can otherwise be observed as electricity active here, probably acting the part of glass to wooly dry fibrous pappus drifting in the air (but only at a certain stage of ripeness.)

Dunno what it means apart from that the plant maintains a greater electric potential at that boundary that seems to have some kind of psychoactive effect on me occasionally 🤣

"Grounding" is confusing in reference to the Earth as it has an established meaning in the field of electromagnetism separate from biology.  The ground can also be dusty dry and non conductive at the surface and a shoe won't make much difference.

It was that bit in the documentary with the girl running across the country barefoot that rested her feet on sunflower stalks that got me to notice, I'm touching blackberries a lot, and I can see they are electrically charged.  Wait, do I regularly get a headrush when I start a blackberry picking session....yes

Head rushes are fun but for all I know it means I'm about to have a stroke 🤣 In any case the concept of subtle bioelectromagnetic effects coming from astronomical bodies is interesting.

I'm curious -- if I am separated from direct earth grounding due to six months of winter, will my health will affected?

I watched the Earthing Movie recently. They explain the science behind the grounding that Earthing involves. It's a game changer for me!

Douglas,

I am pretty sure if you lie horizontally, and of course naked, in a snow bank you will discharge just fine.

To me, to “feel grounded” is to feel present in your body and connected with the earth, time, and place.

You don't have to go anywhere. Just step out of the door or open up a window. Notice the surrounding, breathe in the air, and ask yourself ...

There are other benefits to touching earth. Good, healthy soil is bursting with life which can make it's way into and onto us as we come in contact through our skin. This could, logically be any part of us, not just our feet. I remember reading about the value of having good living soil on your doormat. Country made doormats were being soil, impregnated with country soil and found beneficial. Handling and eating some soil, for I stance going barefoot into the garden, picking a carrot. Then wiping it off and eating it was touted as health producing because you were absorbing and eating some good healthy soil. As I read this thread I think of me, sitting in the house last night, after supper mixing soil. Then potting barefoot strawberries. May be this kind of activity has .multiple benefits, especially in my northern location where we can't comfortably  go barefoot outside year round.

We are energetic beings we are negative and the Earth is positive, of course going barefoot is very good for us, in the winter you can hug trees and place your hands on the trunk or the branches and still get grounded.

I have read enough so believe that homes and, well, virtually everywhere are full of EMF. I wish there were not 12 or more of the neighbors' wifi signals in my mothers condo home, not to mention other EMF sources. If I sleep on a grounding mat am I not making myself the conduit for all these electrical sources? I think about standing on wet soil when there is lightning: very bad idea.  Is there a way to ground EMF in a home and even out on my farm without making me the conduit?  While I want to discharge any amount of electricity that is excess in my body, I don't want to invite more to pass through.

Does this make sense to anyone else?

Barbara Kochan wrote:I have read enough so believe that homes and, well, virtually everywhere are full of EMF. I wish there were not 12 or more of the neighbors' wifi signals in my mothers condo home, not to mention other EMF sources. If I sleep on a grounding mat am I not making myself the conduit for all these electrical sources? I think about standing on wet soil when there is lightning: very bad idea.  Is there a way to ground EMF in a home and even out on my farm without making me the conduit?  While I want to discharge any amount of electricity that is excess in my body, I don't want to invite more to pass through.

Does this make sense to anyone else?

I hesitate to say anything, but a Faraday cage stops that.  That said, having sources all around us would make for a challenge.  If I were going to go that far, I'd consider a way of building a Faraday cage around my bed since that is the place I spend the most time in a single spot.  

Understanding enough about EM (and having forgotten more than most people learn), I always shake my heads when I see ads for pendants that purportedly stop the EMFs.

I was introduced to Earthing by a friend about 13 months ago. She came to visit and shared a grounding mat with me for the few days she was here. I was skeptical but tried it. I'm 75 years old and have always worked physical jobs vs. office jobs. While in college, I paid my way cleaning homes during days and when school was out, office buildings and picked up some extra cleaning jobs. I ran my own company that did everything, including removing wood storm windows from 3rd floor homes, bringing them down ladders and then installing the screens. I washed third floor windows on a ladder which I set up. In fall, I reversed the process. I ran a painting company for many years. We did historic restoration, sometimes installing staging upwards to 45 feet high. I have managed a wood lot of 155 acres, cut cords of wood, split, loaded and delivered on my stake bed pick up truck. I built the stake bed. I am a master gardener. Now, my body is complaining about how badly I have mistreated my body! I have arthritis in my spine, hands, neck, hips and probably everywhere else.

After my friend left, I looked into Earthing. I purchased a mattress cover, grounding leads, patches and an earthing pad in a "bundle". I will say that I feel so much better since Earthing. I live in the northeast where winters are too cold to go barefoot. I can say that after a day of heavy gardening, I go to bed grounded on the mattress and with the patches attached to a grounding cord and wake up feeling pretty good.

Since all the medical profession offers me is Ibuprofen and other dangerous drugs to counter the pain, Earthing is so much better! NO drugs or side effects. I hooked my friend up to an Earthing patch system one day. After 3 hours he went home. In 2020, he had shingles and had been suffering from the residual pain. After 3 hours of Earthing, his shingles pain was gone.

Some don't find it helpful. Some do. It is a one time investment that might prove to work for you.

That's my two cents on this matter.

You might enjoy watching this Documentary.......https://www.magellantv.com/video/the-nature-effect

Evelyn Mitchell wrote:I have been listening to a man, Clint Ober, who hypothesized that the real reason people are sick is because we became completely disconnected from the earth, back in the 50's and 60's when we started wearing shoes with plastic soles, using plastic carpets/floors, even wood floors.

We are using products and living in homes that insulate the energy of the earth from our bodies.

The earth provides us with negative charge as long as we are connected to it. When we disconnect from it, positive charge builds up causing inflammation which manifests in various ways depending on the biology of each individual. The negative charge of the earth pairs with the positive charge in our bodies and neutralizes it, or in "my opinion" puts it to good use building or taking out the trash.

I have not tested this fully yet but I am going barefoot more, tender-footed as I am. I have ordered his book. I have however seen his movie and another movie about this phenomena, Clint Ober's movie "The Earthing Movie": The Remarkable Science of Grounding (full documentary), and Steve Kroschel's film: "The Grounded Documentary Film about "Earthing" Steve Kroschel is a master filmmaker and it really is a well done film worth watching for it's artistic value as well.

I'm not sure about putting links in the thread so I hope I gave enough information for you to find it if you are interested. I am optimistic about Earthing.

Part of the reason I put this in here is because you build WOFATI's and I can't think of anything closer to the earth than "IN" a cave or a wofati. Even though the floors and things are insulated from the earth because they are wood; they don't have to be. We may not be as disconnected in a wofati as we are in conventional homes.

As I learn more I will try to update.

Amazing that nature heals and science is seeing it, proving it!!!

Opal-Lia Palmer wrote:You might enjoy watching this Documentary.......https://www.magellantv.com/video/the-nature-effect

Evelyn Mitchell wrote:I have been listening to a man, Clint Ober, who hypothesized that the real reason people are sick is because we became completely disconnected from the earth, back in the 50's and 60's when we started wearing shoes with plastic soles, using plastic carpets/floors, even wood floors.

We are using products and living in homes that insulate the energy of the earth from our bodies.

The earth provides us with negative charge as long as we are connected to it. When we disconnect from it, positive charge builds up causing inflammation which manifests in various ways depending on the biology of each individual. The negative charge of the earth pairs with the positive charge in our bodies and neutralizes it, or in "my opinion" puts it to good use building or taking out the trash.

I have not tested this fully yet but I am going barefoot more, tender-footed as I am. I have ordered his book. I have however seen his movie and another movie about this phenomena, Clint Ober's movie "The Earthing Movie": The Remarkable Science of Grounding (full documentary), and Steve Kroschel's film: "The Grounded Documentary Film about "Earthing" Steve Kroschel is a master filmmaker and it really is a well done film worth watching for it's artistic value as well.

I'm not sure about putting links in the thread so I hope I gave enough information for you to find it if you are interested. I am optimistic about Earthing.

Part of the reason I put this in here is because you build WOFATI's and I can't think of anything closer to the earth than "IN" a cave or a wofati. Even though the floors and things are insulated from the earth because they are wood; they don't have to be. We may not be as disconnected in a wofati as we are in conventional homes.

As I learn more I will try to update.

Hi. Considering that the telephone cables are connected to ground, would it be possible to connect an earthing device to a disused telephone terminal? Cable television terminal?

Sebastian, welcome to the forum.

What kind of earthing device would be hooked up to what you are describing?

I have heard of sheets and mats, though those do not need to be hooked up to anything.

I am a fan of Mother Nature's way of earthing.

Hi Ann,

I am referring precisely to those products such as sheets or mattresses that can generally be connected directly to the garden (if you have one) or to the ground connection of your power outlet. I was wondering if they could be grounded using phone or video cables (some people don't trust their outlet connections)

Anne Miller wrote:Sebastian, welcome to the forum.

What kind of earthing device would be hooked up to what you are describing?

I have heard of sheets and mats, though those do not need to be hooked up to anything.

I am a fan of Mother Nature's way of earthing.

Fear of electrocution? No, thank you ...

Lightning strikes, etc.

Back in the olden days lightning rods were grounded that way to take lightning strikes.

Also sounds like opening up the house to bugs and mice crawling along the wire into the house and then into the bed, oh no ...

Both phone and video lines, if properly installed, are grounded through a home's electrical grounding wire so I would see no benefit of using those over the ground plug in an outlet. The downside of either of those lines is that they do not have a dedicated grounding wire you can attach your mat to so it seems the grounding would be less effective if not even working backwards. My most startling shock ever came from a phone line some decades back.

While I have seen positive and negative wires switched in some outlets I've never seen that of the grounding wire (I think an outlet would not even work if hooked up that way, the breaker would keep tripping). Sometimes people put in a 3 prong outlet where there is no ground wire attached (in old homes without ground wire system, and it is a code violation), but I don't know otherwise of any down side of using that for a grounding mat.