Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

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Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by Gumby » Thu Jun 27, 2013 9:41 pm

So, I purchased this Universal Earthing Mat that you can both sleep on or work on.

http://amzn.com/B003RLOBOK

http://www.earthing.com/

It makes you "grounded" — having the same effect as sleeping or walking with bare skin on the Earth — the way every animal on the planet does and like our ancestors did for millions of years.

...and after two days of sleeping on it, I can say without a doubt that I notice a difference. Up until I started "Earthing" two days ago, I would always wake up feeling tired and sore. And, by the way, I always found that strange that sleeping could make you feel sore.

Today after my second night of "Earthing," I woke up feeling refreshed and had more energy throughout the day. I keep suspecting that this might be some kind of placebo effect, but all I can say is that this feels like way more than a placebo effect. I notice a real difference.

Turns out, there have been some studies that explain the feeling I've experienced. Here's one:

The Biologic Effects of Grounding the Human Body During Sleep as Measured by Cortisol Levels and Subjective Reporting of Sleep, Pain, and Stress MAURICE GHALY, M.D.,1 and DALE TEPLITZ, M.A.2

Now, obviously this study has its flaws and cannot be considered proof of anything (not double-blind, etc.). But, all I can say is that my experience has been similar to what was observed in the study (normalizing cortisol levels, excellent energy levels).

Additionally, many world class endurance athletes have started Earthing as well. Tour de France competitors have recently been using Earthing recovery bags to speed recovery in between Tour stages.

http://vimeo.com/50139284

I should point out that I opted not to ground through the outlet ground, but rather through a manufacturer-provided wire that goes directly from the mat to the ground (an additional piece). I also opted not to use the soft grounding cover, as the threads can tarnish and can lose some conductivity over time. So, I have the bare mat touching my legs for now.

In any case, I highly recommend "Earthing" despite its ridiculous-sounding claims. Either you can lay your feet or skin on the bare Earth for free, or you can use this handy little mat and do it in the comfort of your own bed.
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by Gumby » Fri Jun 28, 2013 8:00 am

Night #3 of Earthing: Went to sleep too late last night, and only got six hours of sleep, but I feel amazing. Full of energy. No soreness from sleeping. My mind feels crystal clear.

This morning I grabbed my HeartMath biofeedback, which measures HRV (Heart Rate Variability), and noticed that my scores were about 70% higher than what they had been at for the past week — and I was able to sustain those higher HRV scores for about 20 minutes straight. It's not easy to make such a drastic jump in HRV scores so quickly.

For those who aren't familiar with HeartMath, it trains your body to enter a state of coherence, which is marked by higher HRV. Since the 1990s high HRV has been shown by over 100 scientific studies to be a marker of health, longevity, emotional well being and proper Autonomic Nervous System balance. The discovery of HRV has even spawned a new field of research: neurocardiology, over the past two decades and has led to the discovery of a few million ganglia brain cells that reside in the heart itself.

Additionally, there was a study done which measured HRV while Earthing and had similar results to what I experienced:

Emotional Stress, Heart Rate Variability, Grounding, and Improved Autonomic Tone: Clinical Applications Gaétan Chevalier, PhD; Stephen T. Sinatra, MD, FACC, FACN, CNS

As crazy as it sounds, Earthing appears to not be placebo effect, as best as I can tell. Truly amazing.
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by Coffee » Fri Jun 28, 2013 9:42 am

???

Your post sounds like the very definition of "Placebo effect."  And I say that with all due respect: If you feel like it's working for you, then by all means: keep doing it! 

You're still in the honeymoon phase though, and judging by your affinity for other alternative remedies you're likely predisposed to believe it will work.
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by Gumby » Fri Jun 28, 2013 9:48 am

Coffee wrote: ???

Your post sounds like the very definition of "Placebo effect."  And I say that with all due respect: If you feel like it's working for you, then by all means: keep doing it! 

You're still in the honeymoon phase though, and judging by your affinity for other alternative remedies you're likely predisposed to believe it will work.
I agree that it sounds like that, and time will tell. But, if this is placebo effect, it is very strong.

Not only do I feel significantly different, but raising one's HRV so dramatically is no easy task. (And HRV is very well understood in mainstream cardiology and its surrounding research). Obviously the real question is whether or not I can sustain the higher HRV or not over the long term.

However, there is already some research to support the effects of grounding (including HRV improvement), so sooner or later you have to at least be willing to consider that it might not be a placebo effect. I mean, that's how discoveries are made — by having a hypothesis and testing it.
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by MediumTex » Fri Jun 28, 2013 10:06 am

Just because something sounds dumb doesn't mean it doesn't work (and vice versa).

It's not inconceivable that some sort of "grounding" to Mother Earth could have beneficial effects, even if it's just some genetic predisposition for people to feel more secure when touching the ground (or even perceive themselves to be touching the ground).

I seem to recall reading that the sound of distant flowing water is soothing to the human mind because in our evolutionary history the people/apes who survived best were those who lived near sources of flowing water, but not too close so that they weren't subject to flooding.  As this ideal proximity to water became an instinctive thing it had a soothing effect, which became self-reinforcing as those who most preferred the ideal proximity to flowing water became those who were most likely to survive, and thus produce more offspring.  Thus, if someone said that "humans are wired to enjoy the sound of distant flowing water and it confers a survival advantage" it might sound dumb, but on closer inspection it might actually not be a bad theory.

There is also the interesting feature of the human mind that often causes it to seek experiences of "oneness" with something outside the individual.  In the quest for these transcendent experiences, people often believe all sorts of goofy supernatural things, but these beliefs in imaginary things is still part of the pursuit of a state of mind with benefits that are very real.  This sort of thing is more complicated than just a placebo effect because it is actually conferring real benefits that are the result of a subtle need that we have for certain types of therapy/experiences/stimulus.  For a person who worships a statue and it gives him a sense of meaning and purpose in life, soothes his mind, and allows him to cope with his mortality in a productive way, is that a placebo effect or an effective (if not primitive) form of psychiatric self-treatment?
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by Gumby » Fri Jun 28, 2013 10:50 am

Makes sense, MT.

Really when I first heard about Earthing, it sounded ridiculous. But as I investigated it more, there is a scientific explanation for it.

The Earth is negatively charged and the atmosphere is positively charged. Up until 50 years ago, most people were grounded during the day because their shoes were made of leather and when your feet sweat, the leather has moisture and becomes conductive. 50 years ago there was a transition to rubber soles and now people hardly ever ground themselves for more than a few seconds here or there when they accidentally touch something. The modern rubber-soled shoe has literally changed our daily electrical charge as a species.

When people consume antioxidants, what they are doing is consuming a concentrated food or pill of negative ions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antioxidant

These negative ions pair up with the positive ions (or "free radicals") in our bodies. Excess free radicals (positive ions) are believed to be the source of all aging and modern diseases. This is known as the "Free Radical Theory of Aging" (a very mainstream theory, btw).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-radic ... y_of_aging

With Earthing, you are just absorbing the negative ions transdermally. It really shouldn't be that far fetched to consider that with highly conductive skin we should be able to absorb these antioxidants transdermally.

Interestingly, it might be my imagination, but my skin appears to look very good this morning (sort of like what you would expect from eating a lot of antioxidants). But, I completely admit that this could be my imagination.

While I wouldn't normally use Dr. Oz as a definitive resource for anything, he explored grounding on his show and despite the fact that he is a pretty mainstream doctor, even he was open-minded to the idea of grounding as a legitimate therapy.

See: http://youtu.be/gK2Dg3jlbBs

That and the fact that Tour de France athletes are using grounding in between their stages is certainly interesting to say the least.
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by moda0306 » Fri Jun 28, 2013 11:16 am

MediumTex wrote: Just because something sounds dumb doesn't mean it doesn't work (and vice versa).
You don't need to tell people on this board that.

:)



What you talk about in the rest of your post is real in sometimes very simple ways.  Things like exercising, grilling on my deck, or playing guitar, completely unwind me at the end of a day.  It's like my tangled mess of stress and thoughts about work get untangled, and not only do I stress less about those things, but when I go back to work the next day I'm thinking clearer and am working better.

The thing is, I don't need to think that something scientific or spiritual is happening.  I just know it works.  I have a little more trouble with worshiping statues and plugging myself in before I go to bed at night if there's no scientific benefit, but I have no doubt that a little "belief" can probably go a long way...

And I'm not undermining Gumby's newfound discovery.  I question it, just as even he does, but I don't doubt that there's maybe some legit science behind this seemingly-ridiculous venture :).
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by Gumby » Fri Jun 28, 2013 12:00 pm

moda0306 wrote:Things like exercising, grilling on my deck, or playing guitar, completely unwind me at the end of a day.  It's like my tangled mess of stress and thoughts about work get untangled, and not only do I stress less about those things, but when I go back to work the next day I'm thinking clearer and am working better.

The thing is, I don't need to think that something scientific or spiritual is happening.  I just know it works.  I have a little more trouble with worshiping statues and plugging myself in before I go to bed at night if there's no scientific benefit, but I have no doubt that a little "belief" can probably go a long way...

And I'm not undermining Gumby's newfound discovery.  I question it, just as even he does, but I don't doubt that there's maybe some legit science behind this seemingly-ridiculous venture :).
It's funny, because if I told everyone that I started using a new pharmaceutical or herb that relieves pain, people are usually willing to believe it's possible to have that effect without really questioning it. We are already quite used to seeing a response from such a delivery. The logic is that because you ingest it, and it comes in a bottle, we can imagine how it might trigger a real response that isn't placebo or self-imagined. Same thing with transdermal creams that come in a bottle.

If I tell you that that sun's rays hitting our skin creates vitamin D and makes you secrete beneficial hormones, we also can believe that. The wavelengths vibrate and cause photochemical reactions in the skin, as well as exposing Melanopsin photoreceptors in the eye that govern our circadian rhythm. Makes sense and we believe it.

And yet, if a person suggests that touching the ground (something few people really ever do for extended periods) has a similar effect to those examples above, and scientific studies have even been done to show the mechanism in which that effect could work, people have a harder time believing that. It must be a placebo, they say. Why do you suppose that is?

All I can say is that I perceive this a very strong effect — similar to the strong kind of effect you would expect from a pharmaceutical-grade pill.
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by AdamA » Fri Jun 28, 2013 12:11 pm

Gumby wrote:
It's funny, because if I told everyone that I started a new pharmaceutical or herb that relieves pain, people are usually willing to believe it's possible to have that effect without really questioning it. We are already quite used to seeing a response from such a delivery. The logic is that because you ingest it, and it comes in a bottle, we can imagine how it might trigger a real response that isn't placebo or self-imagined. Same thing with transdermal creams that come in a bottle.
Not to mention all of the non-placebo side effects a lot of these pharmaceuticals have.

The risk benefit analysis on Earthing looks pretty favorable to me. 
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by Gumby » Fri Jun 28, 2013 12:30 pm

For those who are interested... here are some scientific (observational) studies that have been done on Earthing:

Earthing Studies:

Earthing (Grounding) the Human Body Reduces Blood Viscosity—a Major Factor in Cardiovascular Disease

Earthing: Health Implications of Reconnecting the Human Body to the Earth's Surface Electrons

Emotional Stress, Heart Rate Variability, Grounding, and Improved Autonomic Tone: Clinical Applications

Earthing the Human Body Influences Physiologic Processes

Chronic Disease: Are We Missing Something? (Editorial)

Pilot Study on the Effect of Grounding on Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness

Changes in Pulse Rate, Respiratory Rate, Blood Oxygenation, Perfusion Index, Skin Conductance, and Their Variability Induced During and After Grounding Human Subjects for 40 Minutes

The Effect Of Earthing On Human Physiology, Part 1

The Effect Of Earthing On Human Physiology, Part 2

The Effectiveness of a Conductive Patch and a Conductive Bed Pad in Reducing Induced Human Body Voltage Via the Application of Earth Ground
The Biologic Effects of Grounding the Human Body During Sleep as Measured by Cortisol Levels and Subjective Reporting of Sleep, Pain, and Stress Medical Thermography Case Studies

Medical Thermography Case Studies

Earthing Commentaries

Gaetan Chevalier, Ph.D., The Earth’s Electrical Surface Potential A summary of present understanding

James Oschman, Ph.D., Can Electrons Act as Antioxidants? A Review and Commentary

James Oschman, Ph.D., Charge transfer in the living matrix

James Oschman, Ph.D., Perspective: Assume a spherical cow: The role of free or mobile electrons in bodywork, energetic and movement therapies

I am aware that these studies have flaws and jump to conclusions too quickly (many are also by the same authors with biases). However, from what I can tell, it does seem there is something to it.

Personally, I found the normalizing of cortisol levels in the sleep study, above to be one of the more interesting effects.

[align=center]Image[/align]

And this is pretty much what it felt like — a normalized cortisol pattern with proper energy and a refreshed cognitive state in the morning. Very, very noticeable.

Again, if I were showing the results of any pharmaceutical, or the effects of the sun, most people would be willing to believe it. But, because this effect is observed from simply touching our highly conductive skin to the Earth — which happens to be a massively negatively charged sphere — we are somehow in disbelief.
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by MediumTex » Sat Jun 29, 2013 12:37 am

How long would you need to walk barefoot on the ground to get similar benefits?
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by MediumTex » Sat Jun 29, 2013 12:51 am

Gumby wrote: The Earth is negatively charged and the atmosphere is positively charged. Up until 50 years ago, most people were grounded during the day because their shoes were made of leather and when your feet sweat, the leather has moisture and becomes conductive. 50 years ago there was a transition to rubber soles and now people hardly ever ground themselves for more than a few seconds here or there when they accidentally touch something. The modern rubber-soled shoe has literally changed our daily electrical charge as a species.
Wait a second, I've never had my feet sweat enough when wearing leather-soled shoes to cause the bottoms of the shoes to be moist enough to be conductive.

Unless I am not understanding the point, that seems really farfetched.

I would think of leather as a distinctly non-conductive material unless it was wet all the way through.

One interesting thing that comes to mind about this topic is the massive number of nerve endings on the bottoms of our feet.  Perhaps this concentration of nerve endings has something to do with the feet being our "terra touch point" from an evolutionary perspective.
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by deke99 » Sat Jun 29, 2013 12:13 pm

Gumby wrote: Makes sense, MT.

Really when I first heard about Earthing, it sounded ridiculous. But as I investigated it more, there is a scientific explanation for it.

The Earth is negatively charged and the atmosphere is positively charged. Up until 50 years ago, most people were grounded during the day because their shoes were made of leather and when your feet sweat, the leather has moisture and becomes conductive. 50 years ago there was a transition to rubber soles and now people hardly ever ground themselves for more than a few seconds here or there when they accidentally touch something. The modern rubber-soled shoe has literally changed our daily electrical charge as a species.
This is the standard template for most fringe health product marketing: "Everything was perfect up until five minutes ago, when some seemingly innocuous, ubiquitous thing (meat, bread, shoes, pillows, toothpaste, soap, etc.) ruined everything.  Fortunately, for only $19.95..."

Ballpark 300M people in the US. Ballpark 10% believe various crankist positions like the moon landing was fake.  If you can convince 10% of the people who believe the moon landing was fake to buy a product on which you make $1 profit, you just made $3M.  A lot of people would do or say just about anything for $3M.
Gumby wrote: When people consume antioxidants, what they are doing is consuming a concentrated food or pill of negative ions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antioxidant

These negative ions pair up with the positive ions (or "free radicals") in our bodies. Excess free radicals (positive ions) are believed to be the source of all aging and modern diseases. This is known as the "Free Radical Theory of Aging" (a very mainstream theory, btw).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-radic ... y_of_aging
The science here is just monkey-shit.  Free radicals aren't necessarily positively charged (the wiki you link to says the most comon ones are hydroxyl radical & superoxide, both negative, but that's not the point, the point is that what makes a free radical is an unpaired electron, not charge).  I'm not trying to be a dick, but clearly you don't understand the science yourself, and the people who are "explaining" it to you are selling you a dumbed-down lie.
Gumby wrote: With Earthing, you are just absorbing the negative ions transdermally. It really shouldn't be that far fetched to consider that with highly conductive skin we should be able to absorb these antioxidants transdermally.
Your skin isn't highly conductive (it's mostly lipids), and sleeping on a mat can't change that.
Gumby wrote: Interestingly, it might be my imagination, but my skin appears to look very good this morning (sort of like what you would expect from eating a lot of antioxidants). But, I completely admit that this could be my imagination.

While I wouldn't normally use Dr. Oz as a definitive resource for anything, he explored grounding on his show and despite the fact that he is a pretty mainstream doctor, even he was open-minded to the idea of grounding as a legitimate therapy.

See: http://youtu.be/gK2Dg3jlbBs

That and the fact that Tour de France athletes are using grounding in between their stages is certainly interesting to say the least.
This sounds like a "deer-antler spray" phenomenon.  I.e., "In case somebody notices something unusual about my performance and tries to attribute it to the illegal PEDs I'm (not-so) secretly using, I'll create a paper trail about some pseudoscientific monkey-shit -- but legal -- OTHER thing I'm doing, and attribute my unusual performance to that."
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by WildAboutHarry » Sat Jun 29, 2013 12:42 pm

Here is another form of "earthing".
Wikipedia wrote:Geophagy is the practice of eating earthy or soil-like substances such as clay, and chalk. It exists in animals in the wild and also in humans, most often in rural or preindustrial societies among children and pregnant women. Human geophagy may be related to pica, a classified eating disorder in the DSM-IV characterized by abnormal cravings for nonfood items.
I think I can understand the potential mechanism of this better than a need to discharge human capacitance.

The "earthing mat" sounds something like the "chicken stick" of electronics fame, used to bleed large capacitors to avoid severe shocks.

I vote for the placebo effect.
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by Gumby » Sat Jun 29, 2013 1:38 pm

WildAboutHarry wrote:I think I can understand the potential mechanism of this better than a need to discharge human capacitance.
It's not a need to discharge capacitance. It appears to be a need to receive a steady supply of negative ions.
MediumTex wrote:Wait a second, I've never had my feet sweat enough when wearing leather-soled shoes to cause the bottoms of the shoes to be moist enough to be conductive.

Unless I am not understanding the point, that seems really farfetched.
We are talking about relatively thin, single-hide, leather soles. It's really hard to find real leather soled shoes these days. Almost nobody has them. There is archaeological evidence of single-hide shoes that were worn for millennia (Pampooties, Moccasins, or the Areni-1 shoe, for instance).
All About Circuits wrote: Research conducted on contact resistance between parts of the human body and points of contact (such as the ground) shows a wide range of figures (see end of chapter for information on the source of this data):

Hand or foot contact, insulated with rubber: 20 M-ohm typical.
Foot contact through leather shoe sole (dry): 100 k-ohm to 500 k-ohm
Foot contact through leather shoe sole (wet): 5 k-ohm to 20 k-ohm

As you can see, not only is rubber a far better insulating material than leather, but the presence of water in a porous substance such as leather greatly reduces electrical resistance.


Source: http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/3.html
Don't use wet leather as an electrical insulator. It doesn't work that well.
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by Gumby » Sat Jun 29, 2013 7:31 pm

MediumTex wrote:One interesting thing that comes to mind about this topic is the massive number of nerve endings on the bottoms of our feet.  Perhaps this concentration of nerve endings has something to do with the feet being our "terra touch point" from an evolutionary perspective.
The feet also have a very high concentration of sweat glands (250,000 between both feet) — producing salty sweat, which increases conductivity of those touch points.
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by WiseOne » Sun Jun 30, 2013 8:46 am

Gumby, let us know if the effect persists.  I'm skeptical but keeping an open mind on this one.

The idea that "earthing" is like sleeping on the ground doesn't really make sense, as dirt is not the best conductor.  Remember the advice about lying flat on the ground and away from rocks during lightning storms?  However, I could see that an earth mat might help channel off increased electromagnetic activity from all the devices and power connections that we live with constantly. 
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by MediumTex » Sun Jun 30, 2013 1:42 pm

Maybe it's like acupuncture where the actual mechanism and true therapeutic effects are not well understood, even though it seems effective for many people.
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by Gumby » Sun Jun 30, 2013 8:19 pm

WiseOne wrote:The idea that "earthing" is like sleeping on the ground doesn't really make sense, as dirt is not the best conductor.
True. Dry dirt is not the best conductor. However...
All About Circuits wrote:Dirt is not a very good conductor (at least not when its dry!). It is too poor of a conductor to support continuous current for powering a load. However, as we will see in the next section, it takes very little current to injure or kill a human being, so even the poor conductivity of dirt is enough to provide a path for deadly current when there is sufficient voltage available, as there usually is in power systems.

Some ground surfaces are better insulators than others. Asphalt, for instance, being oil-based, has a much greater resistance than most forms of dirt or rock. Concrete, on the other hand, tends to have fairly low resistance due to its intrinsic water and electrolyte (conductive chemical) content


Source: http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_3/3.html
Seems like we aren't talking about much current passing through our bodies when it comes to grounding. As this two-part video shows, it doesn't take much to ground yourself:

http://youtu.be/GnZjY_q2WQk
http://youtu.be/EVDSzu9M9hw
WiseOne wrote:Gumby, let us know if the effect persists.  I'm skeptical but keeping an open mind on this one.
Well, I had to stop overnight Earthing after the third night. By the afternoon I went from feeling great to feeling lightheaded, a little stressed and having a little nausea. The Earthing book that comes with the mat says that some people can have flu-like detox reactions and need to start slowly.

I happen to be fighting an eukaryote infection at the moment — a systemic infection I've apparently had for three decades — and the reaction I had to Earthing was eerily similar to the Herxheimer reaction I got from taking too much of the medication I take. Turns out Lyme patients are also seeing similar Herxheimer reactions if they go too fast.

Earthing for Lyme Patients: Go Slow!

Another post suggests that those taking medications (as I am to treat my infection) may have to go very slow, as Earthing may improve the body in a way that changes the appropriate doses of medications.

Earthing and Multiple Medications

I admit, this is all a bit strange. But, all I've done is take an Earthing mat and stick its cord into the ground. Totally weird.

For the moment, I've cut back Earthing to a few minutes per day and will try to work up to a few hours, slowly, before trying another overnight.
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by Gumby » Sun Jun 30, 2013 8:23 pm

MediumTex wrote: Maybe it's like acupuncture where the actual mechanism and true therapeutic effects are not well understood, even though it seems effective for many people.
I think you've hit the nail on the head. The Earthing book is too vague on the scientific explanation, and yet, the studies and the anecdotal reviews of the products (including my own) all suggest something dramatic is happening. It's a very potent effect for many, and benign effects for a smaller minority. (You'd think it would be the other way around.)

I can't help but wonder if the mats are amplifying the Earthing effects somehow. I mean, it doesn't seem likely that I would have had these intense reactions from sleeping with some bare skin on the grass for three nights in a row. But, then again, who does that? I'm certainly not going to sleep outside on the ground to find out. :)
Last edited by Gumby on Sun Jun 30, 2013 8:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by MediumTex » Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:41 am

Gumby wrote: For the moment, I've cut back Earthing to a few minutes per day and will try to work up to a few hours, slowly, before trying another overnight.
Are you going to also be careful to only go outside wearing rubber soled shoes for a while?

I see your later post suggesting that the earthing mat could be magnifying the effects, but that seems strange to me.

I remember a few years ago I installed a ground rod on the side of my house and I learned that for a ground rod to be effective it has to go something like 7 feet into the ground.  Have you read anything about why it might take less depth for the earthing mat's ground rod to be effective?
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by Gumby » Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:08 am

MediumTex wrote:Are you going to also be careful to only go outside wearing rubber soled shoes for a while?
Well, I rarely ever grounded myself prior to Earthing, so it won't be difficult to avoid the ground. Keep in mind that I went from rarely ever touching the ground to grounding myself for about 22 hours over the span of 3 days. So, it was a large jump that would ordinarily be difficult for me to obtain without a grounding mat.
MediumTex wrote:I see your later post suggesting that the earthing mat could be magnifying the effects, but that seems strange to me.
I agree. I don't know. But, I can't help but wonder if the ~20 foot cord going out my window is doubling as a radio antenna while it grounds me. Earthing enthusiasts say it shouldn't make a difference — since we are all exposed to radio waves constantly and the grounding is believed to be protective of EMF anyhow.

Having read about some grounding experiences, I don't think the negative reactions I encountered were only from grounding. One of the articles I linked to above suggests that, by improving circulation, the Earthing may have lowered the appropriate dose for the medication I was taking to fight the infection (i.e. my body was utilizing the medication better). This explanation makes sense since I encountered the same symptoms I previously experienced when taking too much of that same medication — despite the fact that I didn't raise the dose this time. It's difficult for me to believe that reaction was from some kind of placebo effect — especially since I didn't figure out the whole medication/dose connection until after the fact.

So, I'm probably in a unique situation. For now, I will stick to smaller doses of Earthing and eventually work up to an overnight. I really liked the feeling it originally gave me, so it's something I want to replicate again if I can.
MediumTex wrote:I remember a few years ago I installed a ground rod on the side of my house and I learned that for a ground rod to be effective it has to go something like 7 feet into the ground.  Have you read anything about why it might take less depth for the earthing mat's ground rod to be effective?
I get the feeling like that may be a reference to dry Texas earth. Dry dirt isn't a good conductor, but the water and minerals are a good conductor. So, the 1 foot earthing rod really needs to go into moist dirt. Perhaps a 7-foot rod would be needed to hit the a guaranteed moisture level (for building codes in Texas?).

In terms of dry earth grounding, during WWII, a grounding technique was invented for dry earth situations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ufer_ground
Wikipedia.org wrote:The Ufer Ground is an electrical earth grounding method developed during World War II. It uses a concrete-encased electrode to improve grounding in dry areas.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ufer_ground
In any case, it looks like it's easy to confirm if you're really grounded or not by using a multimeter. I was able to confirm the drop in voltage when I touched the mat that was plugged into the grounding stake.
Last edited by Gumby on Mon Jul 01, 2013 9:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by MediumTex » Mon Jul 01, 2013 10:21 am

Gumby wrote: In terms of dry earth grounding, during WWII, a grounding technique was invented for dry earth situations:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ufer_ground
Wikipedia.org wrote:The Ufer Ground is an electrical earth grounding method developed during World War II. It uses a concrete-encased electrode to improve grounding in dry areas.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ufer_ground
In any case, it looks like it's easy to confirm if you're really grounded or not by using a multimeter. I was able to confirm the drop in voltage when I touched the mat that was plugged into the grounding stake.
Installing a ground rod is pretty easy.  You can buy the rods at a home improvement store and you will need a 5 pound sledgehammer to drive it into the ground. 

For an earthing mat enthusiast, it wouldn't be a big deal to put a ground rod wherever you needed it to go to attach to your mat.

This does, however, raise the interesting question of whether people in warmer climates may not be grounding themselves as well as those in cooler climates even when they do spend a lot of time walking barefoot or wallowing on the ground.

It also might explain part of why hanging out at the beach is so much fun.  I can't imagine a better place for your feet to form a good connection to the earth than a wet beach saturated with salt water.  Getting into the saltwater ocean would be even better.  That would be like a continuous and total completion of the circuit with Mother Earth.

Imagine the following: A 3'x3' brass or copper plate supported on the corners by 4 ground rods.  You could just stand barefooted on the plate and let the energy flow!
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by Gumby » Mon Jul 01, 2013 10:55 am

MediumTex wrote:This does, however, raise the interesting question of whether people in warmer climates may not be grounding themselves as well as those in cooler climates even when they do spend a lot of time walking barefoot or wallowing on the ground.
Yes, "as well" being the key phrase. I think you are still pretty much "grounded" whenever you touch Earth — even it is dry. I mean, you can still receive a shock on dry soil (even though the shock would be worse on moist soil).
MediumTex wrote:It also might explain part of why hanging out at the beach is so much fun.  I can't imagine a better place for your feet to form a good connection to the earth than a wet beach saturated with salt water.  Getting into the saltwater ocean would be even better.  That would be like a continuous and total completion of the circuit with Mother Earth.
Yes, Earthing enthusiasts say that is exactly why the beach is so rewarding and relaxing to us.
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Re: Earthing : Perhaps one of the greatest discoveries, ever

Post by MediumTex » Mon Jul 01, 2013 11:09 am

Part of the declining cortisol levels suggests that earthing is soothing to us, whatever the electrical story may be.

It goes back to my comment about the sound of distant flowing water being soothing to people.  There may be some subtle evolutionary benefit to people who find that experience soothing and this preference may have created a survival advantage. 

There might be some similar survival advantage conferred by remaining in contact with the ground, and thus natural selection might have favored those who found contact with the earth soothing.  As we sit here today, we would mostly be made up of people who are descended from caveman who liked walking barefooted and sleeping on the ground, as opposed to, for example, those who preferred trees and were otherwise more inclined to have less contact with the ground.

The idea above may sound like a bit of a reach, but think about all of the other bizarre things that led us all to be sitting here today in front of computer monitors rather than hiding in the grass with spears trying to catch some lunch.

The electrical discharge theory might actually just be the explanation offered by a civilization accustomed to such technical explanations when the truth is more subtle and harder to quantify.
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