SAULT STE MARIA, ON --- June 20, 2011 ---- Have you ever walked barefoot on a sandy beach or 
a dewy field at dawn? Perhaps you felt some tingling or warmth in your feet? Perhaps a sense of well-being or calm? That sensation results from the skin of your conductive body making contact with the “skin” of the conductive Earth, the sensation of the electric energy from the ground rising up.
Doctors Pawel and Karol Sokal believe that the common denominator linking many of society’s chronic diseases is the interaction of the human body with the electrical charge of the earth. Through their research, the Sokals have concluded that a connection to the earth – often referred to as earthing or grounding – is essential for health.
Think about it: our modern lifestyle increasingly separates us from this connection. We wear insulated rubber or plastic soled shoes all the time that block the electrical flow. We no longer sleep on the ground as we once did in the past. When was the last time you walked barefoot on a natural surface like grass, sand or pebbles and how often do you do that?
Through well controlled double-blinded studies, the Sokals have discovered that earthing at night or while sleeping reduces the processes that take place that lead to osteoporosis, regulates blood glucose (diabetes reduction), regulates thyroid function and metabolism and increases our immune response.
Other research has shown that earthing stabilizes cortisol levels and improved the sleep of participants in the study.
Is this so surprising though? We know that surgical patients assigned to hospital rooms with windows looking out at a natural scene have quicker recoveries than patients in similar rooms without a view of nature. And we know that views of nature help children concentrate and have better behaviour in school. Areas in public housing that have trees and grass have lower violent crimes rates. As Henry David Thoreau wrote, “We need the tonic of wildness.”
The scientific validation of earthing began with Clint Ober in 1998. Clint was a pioneer in the cable TV installation industry. He knew that every home is grounded and shielded to prevent outside signals and electromagnetic fields from interfering with transmission carried through the cable. The shield is electrically connected to the earth – to a ground rod. Clint asked himself if this energy field could also protect the human body from dangerous electromagnetic fields (EMFs) and set out to experiment his hypothesis.
Ober rigged up a conductive grid to fit on his bed. He took an alligator clip and attached it to the grid, connected a wire to it, ran the wire out the window, and fastened it to a ground rod outside. He then lay down on the grid and measured the voltage on his body. He found that when he was "grounded," the EMFs on his body had disappeared. The voltage of his body was near zero, the same as the voltage, or potential in electrical terms, as the surface of the Earth. He also found that he experienced the best sleep he had had in a very long time.
Scientific validation may have begun relatively recently with Ober, but the practice of “geotherapy” dates back to the early 1800s with the Nature Cure doctors. For example, Sebastian Kneipp, one of the pioneers of Nature Cure and Naturopathy, commonly prescribed “dew walking” where patients would be instructed to walk barefooted on wet morning grass. This therapy is still commonly practiced at “Kneipp health resorts” in Europe.
Consider trying it out for yourself: One morning go to a place with clean grass (your backyard, perhaps), take your shoes off and walk barefoot into the dew for a few minutes. The perfect moment to do this is at dawn.
As Gary Schwartz, a professor of psychology and medicine at the University of Arizona, states, “Earthing may be as fundamental as sunlight, air, water and nutrients.”
For more information about earthing research, including the Sokals work, I invite you to visit the following link:
http://www.earthinginstitute.net/index.php/research
Natural Approach to Health
For Lake Superior News
Dr. Candice Esposito, ND
Candice@healingclinic.ca
Twitter: @CandiceND
Facebook.com/saultnaturopath
