Grounding: why going baferoot on the earth is being called ‘electric nutrition’
Image: Unsplash / Daiga Ellaby Image: Unsplash / Daiga Ellaby
You can do it in the garden, you can do it on a mat and Elle Macpherson and Liz Earle do it every day. A GP explains why we all need to get grounding
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Grounding or ‘earthing’: the act of plugging your body into the earth to improve wellbeing – is a buzzword in the world of biohacking and health optimization right now. For GTG columnist Elle Macpherson it’s part of her daily wellbeing routine. “I’m usually up with the sun. I’ll then get outside and put my feet on the earth to ground,” she says.
The same goes for author and wellbeing expert Liz Earle, who steps outside barefoot every morning to recharge
“Just a few minutes barefoot on the grass or bare ground connects us to the earth’s powerful energy ” she posted on Instagram. “Get those negative ions surging!!” adding that she feels better for “doing this daily whenever possible.”
It’s not just a fair-weather activity. In winter you can still squelch around in the muddy bog that used to be your backyard or if you prefer indoors, trying a grounding mat.
There are several studies validating the therapeutic effects of grounding on sleep quality, mood and immunity. A study in the journal Psychological Reports noted that an hour in contact with the earth improved people’s mood more significantly than an hour of relaxation in a recliner while connected to a grounding pillow or pad. Getting out in nature seems to be the key. You may have to get grubby too, to reap the immune system benefits noted in a 2019 study from the journal Microbiology Open. This showed that the microorganisms in the earth can influence our own microbiota and enhance the resilience of our immune system by impacting our gut health.
It’s a practice that’s doctor-approved. GP Dr Gemma Newman calls it “electric nutrition” because “the earth’s electrons can have a positive impact on our bodies, ” in the same way as eating a bowl of antioxidant berries mops up free radicals, which have a positive electrical charge.
Grounding is one of the many free or cheap health-boosting tips included in Get Well Stay Well, £20, the latest book by GP Dr Gemma Newman. Gemma has worked in healthcare for two decades, and alongside traditional medicine has a keen interest in holistic therapies, nutrition and lifestyle medicine. This well-rounded approach to health means a book full of science-based, achievable, accessible advice that you definitely don’t need to be a biohacker to try.
Subtitled, “the six healing habits you need to know”, it uses an easy-to-remember acronym, GLOVES, to summarize Gemma’s key pillars of health optimization: gratitude, love, outside, vegetables, exercise and sleep. If you need a wellbeing boost, it might just be the inspiration you’re looking for.
In this exclusive extract from Get Well Stay Well, Gemma explains how grounding is believed to work, what exactly its benefits are and how you can give it a go.
“There is something special about the feeling of grass beneath your feet and between your toes. Grounding is as simple as walking barefoot outdoors or using inexpensive grounding equipment indoors, eg a ‘grounding mat’ while sleeping or sitting. But is this just mumbo-jumbo or is there actually something in it we could benefit from physiologically?
“Generations ago, people tended to spend more time outside. There were also fewer physical barriers between the human body and the earth’s natural surfaces. We did not have carpeted homes and offices. In the last hundred years or so, we also tend to wear rubber- or plastic-soled shoes.
“Both of these materials act as insulators, which means an electrical charge can’t flow through them. Why is this relevant? All modern electrical systems, from large power grids to small electrical appliances, are connected to the earth for stability and safety. Think about a plug; there is a copper earth wire connected to the case, which provides a low-resistance path to the ground. This protects you from an electric shock by providing a path for a fault current to flow to the earth. The surface of the earth is affected by lightning strikes, solar radiation, and other atmospheric dynamics. These charged environmental phenomena give the land and water a continuously renewed supply of electrons, which makes the earth a natural source of negative electrical charge.
“The theory behind grounding for humans is that the earth’s electrons can have a positive impact on our bodies. Compare it to the health benefits we get from berries, which contain electrons that mop up positively charged free radicals in our bodies and combat oxidative stress. Similarly, contact with the ground can be a form of ‘electric nutrition’.
“Research is still scant but the data shows correlations between practising grounding and the relief of various ailments. In one very small study, blood samples were taken before and after grounding, and researchers looked for changes in blood cell viscosity, or ‘stickiness’. Low viscosity is important for cardiovascular health because it helps to maintain a steady flow of blood cells in the vessels. The results showed that grounding significantly reduced viscosity and clustering of red blood cells. This is important as, long term, it could reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. Three of the subjects were also experiencing pain, and two of these reported that their pain was gone after two hours of grounding, with the third reporting that her pain had nearly gone.
“Another small study involved people suffering from sleep disturbances and chronic pain. Half slept on grounding mats (a mat that usually connects via a wire to the ground port of an electrical outlet in your home, which mimics the effect of lying directly on the ground), while the other half slept on placebo mats. Those who were grounded reported a reduction in pain, better sleep and relief from conditions including asthma, as well as rheumatoid arthritis, PMS, sleep apnoea, and hypertension.
“I see these findings as hopeful that grounding could be a simple and free treatment to help reduce pain and improve sleep, although these are very small studies so we need to know more.”
Dr Gemma Newman’s simple ways to try grounding
This is an edited extract from Get Well Stay Well (Ebury Press, £20) by Dr Gemma Newman
