This is how "earthing" can change your life.
As anxiety, fear and mental health issues increasingly affect our societies, it feels like we are forgetting the most readily, inexpensive remedy we have available: connecting with the Earth. Here are some interesting ideas and the science behind it.
“Earthing restores your body's natural internal electrical stability and rhythms. It shifts the nervous system from a stress-dominated mode to one of calmness” - Clint Ober
While our societies and lifestyles accelerate into the future, our distance from Nature increases. Not only our minds are less and less connected, but so are our bodies. This, from a physiological perspective can negatively affect us and our health.
The Amazing story of Clint Ober
We know shoes, insulation, the world we live in provides us with comfortable ways to protect us from harsh weather conditions. This however has also represented a major shift in the way we interact with the outside world: our feet are now insulated and so are our bodies.
I knew grounding is important, because I noticed the beneficial effects walking on grass barefoot had on my body, my levels of stress and generally my wellbeing. I was however curious to learn more about this connection, to understand why I was feeling so much better when walking barefoot. This is how I discovered the amazing story of Clint Ober. Growing up with Native American communities, he learned about the importance of being grounded. As he observed people increasingly wearing insulated shoes, he begun to wonder what consequences this might have for the human body. One day he was working on a computer unit which kept crushing. He knew it was static electricity, so he put a piece of metallic tape across his desk and grounded it. This is when the idea struck him: is it possible that "we are no longer naturally grounded?". After a life time of research and tens of studies on the subject, here is what Clint has discovered about earthing.
We know the earth surface is a giant negatively charged surface. We rarely think of our body´s electrical properties. Our heartbeat and our nervous system rely on electrical impulses.
When earthing we discharge. When we walk barefoot our skin comes in contact with the earth, free electrons are taken up into the body. These electrons act as antioxidants and help to neutralise negative damaging excess free radicals that can lead to inflammation and disease in the body.
Inflammation is the origin of most modern diseases and earthing can help eliminate them and tackle insomnia, stress, it helps calm the body and the mind by cooling down the nervous system and stress hormones.
If you are feeling anxious or overwhelmed, try to put your naked feet on the ground for at least 20/30 minutes, note down how you feel before and after. You will see, the more you do it the better you will feel...it's addictive!