With summer arriving many of us will have the opportunity of walking on a beach in bare feet. It’s not just the sea air, water, and sunshine that makes this so fun. There is a powerful connection formed with the earth when your feet are in direct contact with the ground.
Anyone with small
children knows they want to try to ditch their shoes every chance they get –
but if you think about this a little you will probably realize that you feel
better when you can walk around barefoot. This is particularly true
when you can walk directly on the ground safely such as walking on the
beach. Researchers have begun to unravel why being barefoot directly on
the ground can in fact be very good for your health!
Your immune system
functions well when your body has an adequate supply of electrons, which are
easily and naturally obtained by barefoot contact with the Earth.
Research has shown
that electrons from the ground have measurable antioxidant effects that can
protect your body from inflammation. For
most of our time on this planet we have been in direct contact with the ground
without anything that would block the flow of electrons into our body – natural
animal hides do NOT interrupt the flow of electrons!
However in modern
time’s pavement, wood, rubber, plastics and many other forms of non-conductive
material are between our feet and ground blocking the natural flow of
electrons.
The surface of our
planet has a negative electrical potential. So when we are in direct contact
with it electrons flow to your body through a process called
“grounding”. Grounding cause positive physiological effects that
promote optimum health.
Specific researched
benefits include improvements in blood viscosity, heart rate variability,
inflammation, cortisol dynamics, sleep, autonomic nervous system (ANS) balance,
and reduced effects of stress.
When you connect
directly to the ground without any non-conducting material between you and the
electron field of the planet there is an improvement in the balance of two
sides of your autonomic nervous system: the sympathetic and
parasympathetic nervous systems.
How Shoes May be Impacting Your
Health
Materials like metals
are excellent conductors of electricity (aka electrons!). The human body is
also conductive because it contains a large number of charged ions (called
electrolytes) dissolved in water.
Other non-conductive
materials, such as plastic and rubber, have very few free or mobile electrons.
Traditionally shoes were made of leather, which is a good electrical conductor.
However almost all modern shoes contain rubber and plastic which block the flow
of electrons from the earth to your body.
The Health Benefits of
Grounding
Your immune system
body has evolved a method of destroying bacteria and viruses by generating
reactive oxygen species (ROS) that are delivered by immune cells. These ROS do
exactly what they are designed to do, but they can also cause extensive damage
to healthy tissues. ROS are usually positively charged molecules that need to
be neutralized immediately to prevent damage to the body after destroying
bacteria or viruses. This is one of the key functions of
anti-oxidants which are most important in immune cells to protect them from the
ROS they generate!
Anti-oxidants
essentially provide a supply of negative charges. Food based antioxidants (such
as Vitamins C and E) and anti-oxidants your body produces are critical but a
regular supply of electrons grounding can supply them as well.
Evolution facilitated
the process of grounding by providing conductive systems within your body that
deliver electrons from your feet to all parts of your body. This system has
been integral to human physiology for thousands of years. Negative electrons
are always available, thanks to the Earth, to prevent the inflammatory process
from damaging healthy tissues.
All of this was
interrupted when we started to wear shoes with rubber and plastic soles, and no
longer slept in direct contact with the ground. Several experiments have proven
that a person who is grounded is less stressed and more relaxed.
So have some fun,
kick your shoes off and get back to nature!
How to get the benefits of
Grounding
Grounding is simple
in warmer climates – simply spend time barefoot in direct contact with the
earth. Even better do this on a beach walking along the edge of the
water because the flow of negatively charged electrons will be highest here
because sea water is an ideal conductor of electrons! Any
amount of time will help but the more you can do it the better! Even
better spend some time laying on the beach or ground with your body in direct
contact with the ground without any artificial fabrics, rubber or plastic
between your skin and the ground.
For those of us who
do not live in warm climates staying grounded during colder months is a bit
more challenging but doable! There are actually shoes that are specifically designed to facilitate electron flow from the ground into your body like these:
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