Earthing/grounding
Donnie 01 Apr 2011
I came across their research page and found it quite interesting. Makes sense in paleo terms. I can't comment much on the science though.
The normal inflammatory response is, in part, a burst of free radicals produced
by the immune system in response to an injury. This natural production of free
radicals occurs to prevent infection and to promote healing at a site of injury.
In simple terms, a free radical is an electrically charged particle. This electrical
charge occurs because the free radical is missing an electron. To become
stabilized, a free radical must "steal" its missing electron from another
molecule. When the electron is stolen from an invader (e.g., bacteria), the
invader's molecular structure is damaged, which leads to its death (as intended
by the immune system). When there are no invaders left to destroy and when
there is a lack of electrons available from antioxidants to stabilize excess free
radicals, free radicals then turn to the only other source from which they can
steal electrons - healthy cells. The resulting damage to and death of healthy
cells, from loss of electrons to free radicals, further signals the immune system
for additional help.
Shielding, via grounding, allows the body to have all of its electrons available to carry on their normal functions in the body, which include the
stabilization of excess free radicals.
Quotes from "Grounding the Human Body to Earth Reduces Chronic Inflammation and Related Chronic Pain"
More of their research here.
Sciolaro 02 Apr 2011
The science isn't well developed, but what studies (12 peer reviewed, I believe) have demonstrated is quite impressive (increasing cell's zeta potential, decreasing blood viscosity, normalizing cortisol).
JD. 09 Apr 2011
Still, I have heard some crazy stuff about outdoor exposure. Like in this article http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/17903349
I'm thinking this is all just due to psychological effects though.
Ambidestrian 09 Apr 2011
My BS detector is going off like crazy...
Still, I have heard some crazy stuff about outdoor exposure. Like in this article http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/17903349
I'm thinking this is all just due to psychological effects though.
Sciolaro 10 Apr 2011
ajnast4r 11 Apr 2011
There are double blind placebo trials confirming certain changes in cortisol levels (among other things). These are typically performed with earthing pads within the confines of a home. The results are not explained by outdoor exposure.
i'm interested in reading these studies if you can post them. also any theory on how and why it works.
Donnie 11 Apr 2011
i think the shoe industry will supress it
Why? Think about the sales potential for the first 'grounding shoe'.
Then double that number when they start selling it in pairs.
i'm interested in reading these studies if you can post them. also any theory on how and why it works.
You really should read the very first post of the thread
Edited by Donnie, 11 April 2011 - 07:17 PM.
Sciolaro 12 Apr 2011
There are double blind placebo trials confirming certain changes in cortisol levels (among other things). These are typically performed with earthing pads within the confines of a home. The results are not explained by outdoor exposure.
i'm interested in reading these studies if you can post them. also any theory on how and why it works.
The mechanism is explained here. It's surprisingly intuitive.
http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/18047442
I don't know that this was double-blind, but the results suggest causation independent of psychosomatic processes.
http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/15650465
This is cited for the proposition that it improves sleep, but I can't get the contents to display (and I don't recall the specifics).
http://www.ncbi.nlm....pubmed/15650460
FWIW, I consider myself a highly skeptical individual, and I've given into this. Although it's obviously within our adaptive capacity to be perpetually insulated from the earth's electricity, I can't help but believe that we do better if we regularly contact the earth.
There's a book on the subject (http://www.amazon.co...02572693&sr=8-1), but I don't recommend it unless you're desperate for more information. It's a bit repetitive and full of anecdotes.
Edited by Sciolaro, 12 April 2011 - 01:46 AM.
resveratrol 15 Apr 2011
My BS detector is going off like crazy...
Ditto. I'd bet a million bucks this is all due to the placebo effect.
Sciolaro 16 Apr 2011
My BS detector is going off like crazy...
Ditto. I'd bet a million bucks this is all due to the placebo effect.
Fair enough, but you really ought to review some of the purported evidence and proposed mechanisms. We didn't evolve in an insulated environment.
Watdh 17 Mar 2012
I put the grounding sheet on my bed. Really was not expecting the results I got- 1) After playing a 2 hour phyically demanding tennis match on hard courts the night before I got up the next day not sore at all, the next night I played mixed doubles & was definitly expecting a sore wrist, elbow & shoulder day but didn't have any of that. 2) I drink lots of water with my meds I take at night & no matter how active I've been I make at least 1 trip to the bathroom at night but sleeping grounded I haven't had to get up & go
It sounds crazy. Next week I'm going skiing & the grounding sheet is going with me! I know I won't be able to ground to the earth but hopefully Harrah's will have a grounded plug I can use!
niner 17 Mar 2012
In our modern environment, it is easy to build up large static charges. When your finger arcs to the ground screw on a light switch on a dry day, that is probably in the kilovolt range. On an average day when you aren't arcing left and right, you might have static charges of tens or hundreds of volts. Grounding eliminates this.
Our indoor environment is saturated with 60Hz EMF, and this induces charge displacements in our bodies. Grounding reduces them by orders of magnitude.
Because proteins typically have a lot of charged amino acids, they sometimes have astronomical dipole moments. Although these are greatly attenuated by nearby counterions, those counterions are solvent encased and mobile. The net result of this situation might be significant motion induced in some proteins in an electric field.
Voltage gated ion channels may behave differently in an external electric field.
We evolved over millions of years in a near-constant state of electrical connection to the Earth, which serves as an electron reservoir. Only in the relatively recent past have we achieved an almost constant state of isolation from ground as well as being subject to ever high static and dynamic electric fields. This is due to the recent introduction of sealed home construction, central heating and air conditioning, synthetic fibers, and insulating footware. All of these are phenomena of only the last 50-60 years, in terms of widespread adoption.
So here's an interesting review of this "Earthing" business. Abstract Free Full Text.
J Environ Public Health. 2012;2012:291541. Epub 2012 Jan 12.
Earthing: health implications of reconnecting the human body to the Earth's surface electrons.
Chevalier G, Sinatra ST, Oschman JL, Sokal K, Sokal P.
Developmental and Cell Biology Department, University of California at Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA. dlbogc@sbcglobal.net
Environmental medicine generally addresses environmental factors with a negative impact on human health. However, emerging scientific research has revealed a surprisingly positive and overlooked environmental factor on health: direct physical contact with the vast supply of electrons on the surface of the Earth. Modern lifestyle separates humans from such contact. The research suggests that this disconnect may be a major contributor to physiological dysfunction and unwellness. Reconnection with the Earth's electrons has been found to promote intriguing physiological changes and subjective reports of well-being. Earthing (or grounding) refers to the discovery of benefits-including better sleep and reduced pain-from walking barefoot outside or sitting, working, or sleeping indoors connected to conductive systems that transfer the Earth's electrons from the ground into the body. This paper reviews the earthing research and the potential of earthing as a simple and easily accessed global modality of significant clinical importance.
PMID: 22291721 PMCID: PMC3265077
Watdh 17 Mar 2012
This weekend I'm playing in a tennis tournament. If I play more than 2 matches tomorrow & I'm not sore Sunday I'll really be sold on grounding. It does make me feel "warm" like to the point of being hot & I had to turn the air down to be comfortable. I might add that the 1st night I didn't sleep well at all, maybe that's because I was hot & kicking off the covers. (once you get hot in a Temperpedic bed your toast, or roasted, if you know anything about them) The second night I slept better & the 3rd I slept really good. I've never had high blood pressure, blood sugar or arthritis so I can't really factor in any of those benefits.
If your curious enough you can rig up one of the homemade systems by attaching a copper wire to yourself attaching it to a copper pipe in some moist ground give it a try & see what you think. When I 1st checked mine to see if I was getting a ground I was running the wire outside a door that was near electrical stuff & about 35 yards from power lines & it never showed a ground. Then I ran the wire out another door to the front of the house away from anything electrical & got a ground. So if you do try the homemade system make sure your ground pipe is away from anything electrical. They put an emphasis on keeping the soil around the ground rod moist.
PS.Yesterday on the way to my 99 year old aunts funeral we were discussing life w/o electricity & my 82 year old Dad talked about having to go outside and pour water on the ground rod they had hooked up to their battery powered radio so they could hear the radio better.
niner 17 Mar 2012
If your curious enough you can rig up one of the homemade systems by attaching a copper wire to yourself attaching it to a copper pipe in some moist ground give it a try & see what you think. When I 1st checked mine to see if I was getting a ground I was running the wire outside a door that was near electrical stuff & about 35 yards from power lines & it never showed a ground. Then I ran the wire out another door to the front of the house away from anything electrical & got a ground. So if you do try the homemade system make sure your ground pipe is away from anything electrical. They put an emphasis on keeping the soil around the ground rod moist.
PS.Yesterday on the way to my 99 year old aunts funeral we were discussing life w/o electricity & my 82 year old Dad talked about having to go outside and pour water on the ground rod they had hooked up to their battery powered radio so they could hear the radio better.
The electrical system in my house (like most houses) is hooked up to the cold water supply pipe. If everything is working right, then every electrical outlet should have a valid ground. It's that 'everything working right' part that worries me; what if it isn't, and the 'ground' turns into a hot line? But it should certainly be possible to get it right, and I'd like to give it a try. I'm pretty sure I have an outlet tester somewhere, so I should be able to figure out if I have a ground. My wife has paranoias about virtually everything that is even remotely related to something that could possibly be hazardous, so if she sees me with a ground strap on my arm and a wire stuck in an outlet, well, that's going to be amusing.
My 95 year old aunt once lived in a house with no electricity. My wife's grandparents once lived in a sod house with a dirt floor!
GhostBuster 17 Mar 2012
One of the most dramatic demonstrations of the benefits of grounding is the effect it has on the blood. On the right are darkfield microscope images of blood taken from three individuals just before and after forty minutes of grounding. The before images are on the left, the after on the right. The pictures clearly show a dramatic thinning and decoupling of the blood cells.
http://www.groundolo...ic_research.php
The Biologic Effects of Grounding the Human Body During Sleep as Measured by Cortisol Levels and Subjective Reporting
of Sleep, Pain, and StressObjectives: Diurnal cortisol secretion levels were measured and circadian cortisol profiles were evaluated
in a pilot study conducted to test the hypothesis that grounding the human body to earth* during sleep will result
in quantifiable changes in cortisol. It was also hypothesized that grounding the human body would result
in changes in sleep, pain, and stress (anxiety, depression, irritability), as measured by subjective reporting.
Subjects and Interventions: Twelve (12) subjects with complaints of sleep dysfunction, pain, and stress were
grounded to earth during sleep for 8 weeks in their own beds using a conductive mattress pad. Saliva tests were
administered to establish pregrounding baseline cortisol levels. Levels were obtained at 4-hour intervals for a
24-hour period to determine the circadian cortisol profile. Cortisol testing was repeated at week 6. Subjective
symptoms of sleep dysfunction, pain, and stress were reported daily throughout the 8-week test period.
Results: Measurable improvements in diurnal cortisol profiles were observed, with cortisol levels significantly
reduced during night-time sleep. Subjects’ 24-hour circadian cortisol profiles showed a trend toward normalization.
Subjectively reported symptoms, including sleep dysfunction, pain, and stress, were reduced or eliminated
in nearly all subjects.
Conclusions: Results indicate that grounding the human body to earth (“earthing”) during sleep reduces
night-time levels of cortisol and resynchronizes cortisol hormone secretion more in alignment with the natural
24-hour circadian rhythm profile. Changes were most apparent in females. Furthermore, subjective reporting
indicates that grounding the human body to earth during sleep improves sleep and reduces pain and stress.http://www.earthingi..._study_2004.pdf
Mind 17 Mar 2012
The large static shocks are usually transient and occur mostly in very dry climates or in the winter. Most of us are well grounded most of the time even when wearing shoes. Still, I would be willing to try anything in order to get better sleep, even if it is just placebo. I wouldn't buy an expensive pad, probably just hook myself up to the (electrical) ground of my house somehow.
8bitmore 17 Mar 2012
I wouldn't buy an expensive pad, probably just hook myself up to the (electrical) ground of my house somehow.
I can see a lot of people electrocuting themselves using this idea, it would be a VERY good/prudent idea to have some sort of safety mechanism/box to stop a short circuit from short circuiting one's heart along with the fuses on the main system. Best of all would be if this box could also check whether the ground wire is actually earthed correctly (in quite a few houses this is not the case). The manual way to test this would be to acquire a so-called pig-tail electrical tester - do not wire copper into ground outlet and wrap around (argh!) wrist without testing this stuff first!!
niner 18 Mar 2012
That's what I used to think. When I built a new computer a while back, I learned a little more about this. Static charges are bigger problem than the ones that arc to ground. We spend a lot of time with lower levels of static charge that aren't enough to arc but are still significant, like say a hundred volts.The large static shocks are usually transient and occur mostly in very dry climates or in the winter.
Most of us are well grounded most of the time even when wearing shoes.
How does that work? Where is the path to ground? Maybe in a steamy bathroom, but if you are wearing insulating shoes, as most are these days, I just don't see how we could be well grounded.
GhostBuster 18 Mar 2012
I particularly like "about the mechanisms of effect" part (p. 26 - >) of the following slide show
Voltage Transients and Health - Is There a Connection?
http://www.slideshar...nection-3605746
The effect of earthing (grounding) on human physiology
Abstract
Previous research (12) showed that connecting the human body to the earth during sleep normalizes circadian cortisol profiles and reduces or eliminates various subjectively reported symptoms, including sleep dysfunction, pain and stress. We therefore hypothesized that earthing might also influence other aspects of physiology. Fifty-eight healthy adult subjects (30 controls) participated in a double blind pilot study. Earthing was accomplished with a conductive adhesive patch placed on the sole of each foot. An earthing cord led outdoors to a rod driven into the earth. A biofeedback system recorded electrophysiological and physiological parameters. Upon earthing, about half the experimental subjects showed an abrupt, almost instantaneous change in root mean square (rms) values of electroencephalograms (EEG) from the left hemisphere (but not the right hemisphere) and all of them presented an abrupt change in rms values of surface electromyograms (SEMGs) from right and left upper trapezius muscles. Signal variance in rms muscle potentials also increased significantly. Earthing decreased blood volume pulse (BVP) in 19 of 22 experimental subjects (p < 0.001) and in 8 of 30 controls (p ≅ 0.1, not significant); heart rate (HR) was not affected. From these results, it appears that earthing the human body has significant effects on electrophysiological properties of the brain and musculature, on the blood volume pulse, and on the noise and stability of electrophysiological recordings. Taken together, the changes in EEG, EMG, and BVP suggest reductions in overall stress levels and tensions, and a shift in autonomic balance upon earthing. The results therefore extend theconclusions of the previous study.
http://www.earthingi...gy_2006_pt1.pdf
Edited by GhostBuster, 18 March 2012 - 08:51 AM.
GhostBuster 18 Mar 2012
I wouldn't buy an expensive pad, probably just hook myself up to the (electrical) ground of my house somehow.
I can see a lot of people electrocuting themselves using this idea, it would be a VERY good/prudent idea to have some sort of safety mechanism/box to stop a short circuit from short circuiting one's heart along with the fuses on the main system. Best of all would be if this box could also check whether the ground wire is actually earthed correctly (in quite a few houses this is not the case). The manual way to test this would be to acquire a so-called pig-tail electrical tester - do not wire copper into ground outlet and wrap around (argh!) wrist without testing this stuff first!!
Is that equivalent to earthing outlet checkers, for example this:
http://www.waterfall...cker_p/0024.htm
Edited by GhostBuster, 18 March 2012 - 09:01 AM.
Mind 18 Mar 2012
That's what I used to think. When I built a new computer a while back, I learned a little more about this. Static charges are bigger problem than the ones that arc to ground. We spend a lot of time with lower levels of static charge that aren't enough to arc but are still significant, like say a hundred volts.The large static shocks are usually transient and occur mostly in very dry climates or in the winter.
Most of us are well grounded most of the time even when wearing shoes.
How does that work? Where is the path to ground? Maybe in a steamy bathroom, but if you are wearing insulating shoes, as most are these days, I just don't see how we could be well grounded.
I don't generally wear shoes in the shower.
We ground ourselves by touching things constantly. Humid air also reduces some of the extreme charges. I am not a total skeptic here, because we are not as grounded as our caveman ancestors, but people have been wearing shoes and living in houses for centuries yet life span keeps increasing, so one wouldn't figure it to be a MAJOR health problem.
maxwatt 18 Mar 2012
Related topics for research:
- low amperage DC current speeds bone healing.
- Sleeping aligned withthe earth's magnetic field.
- Living in close proximity to high voltage electric power lines is associated with increased mortality, higher cancer rate.
Dergin G, Aktas M, Gürsoy B, Kürkçü M, Devecioğlu Y, Benlidayı E.
J Oral Implantol. 2011 Nov 21. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 22103684
Augmentation of antibiotic activity by low-frequency electric and electromagnetic fields examining Staphylococcus aureus in broth media.
Matl FD, Obermeier A, Zlotnyk J, Friess W, Stemberger A, Burgkart R.
Bioelectromagnetics. 2011 Jul;32(5):367-77. doi: 10.1002/bem.20667. Epub 2011 Mar 24.
Effects of direct current electrical stimulation on gene expression of osteopromotive factors in a posterolateral spinal fusion model.
Fredericks DC, Smucker J, Petersen EB, Bobst JA, Gan JC, Simon BJ, Glazer P.
Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2007 Jan 15;32(2):174-81.
PMID: 17224811
Direct current stimulation for spine fusion in a nicotine exposure model.
France JC, Norman TL, Buchanan MM, Scheel M, Veale M, Ackerman ES, Clovis NB, Kish VL, Simon B.Spine J. 2006 Jan-Feb;6(1):7-13.
PMID: 16413441
Phantom pain reduction by low-frequency and low-intensity electromagnetic fields.
Bókkon I, Till A, Grass F, Erdöfi Szabó A.
Electromagn Biol Med. 2011 Sep;30(3):115-27. doi: 10.3109/15368378.2011.596246.
PMID: 21861690
Rapoport SI, Breus TK.
Klin Med (Mosk). 2011;89(3):9-14. Review. Russian.
PMID: 21861395
Rubin GJ, Hillert L, Nieto-Hernandez R, van Rongen E, Oftedal G.
Bioelectromagnetics. 2011 Dec;32(8):593-609. doi: 10.1002/bem.20690. Epub 2011 Jul 18. Review.
PMID:
21769898
Sohrabi MR, Tarjoman T, Abadi A, Yavari P.
Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. 2010;11(2):423-7.
PMID: 20843128
[Mortality of people residing near electric power supply line with voltage of 500 kV].
Gurvich EB, Novokhatskaia EA, Rubtsova NB.Med Tr Prom Ekol. 1996;(9):23-7. Russian.
PMID: 9019327
Edited by maxwatt, 18 March 2012 - 01:11 PM.
niner 18 Mar 2012
I don't generally wear shoes in the shower.
We ground ourselves by touching things constantly. Humid air also reduces some of the extreme charges. I am not a total skeptic here, because we are not as grounded as our caveman ancestors, but people have been wearing shoes and living in houses for centuries yet life span keeps increasing, so one wouldn't figure it to be a MAJOR health problem.
We're grounded occasionally, but the research seems to indicate that that isn't often enough; that longer periods are required. Shoes made of natural materials in the past were more conductive than modern shoes, and houses in the past were more open to the environment and had higher levels of relative humidity due to lack of modern HVAC. Life span increases for a lot of reasons, like improved plumbing and antibiotics, but the chronic disease burden seems to be increasing as well. A lot of the changes in our built environments that resulted in us experiencing higher fields on a regular basis have occurred in parallel with anti-evolutionary changes in out diet. I wonder how much of the modern illness that we ascribe to diet might also be affected by electric fields? Obviously, this isn't a MAJOR health problem, but how much of what we concern ourselves with is MAJOR?
Watdh 19 Mar 2012
Remember I didn't buy this thing expecting any results like this. It was for my "electrical hypersensitivity". When I dove off into all of this I had a constant headache, frequent nosebleeds, & no energy at all. When you can sit around all day & do nothing after taking Adipex & Provigil you've got problems! I read an article saying that constant EMF exposure had the same side effects as altitude sickness & it could be combated with L-arginine & Methelyne Blue.
Mind, on 18 March 2012 - 06:24 AM, said:
I don't generally wear shoes in the shower.
We ground ourselves by touching things constantly. Humid air also reduces some of the extreme charges. I am not a total skeptic here, because we are not as grounded as our caveman ancestors, but people have been wearing shoes and living in houses for centuries yet life span keeps increasing, so one wouldn't figure it to be a MAJOR health problem.
-------------------------
The florescent light in my bathroom was giving off a great deal of EMF's & when it was on so was the ceramic floor, wall tiles & bathtub. I no longer use it!
EMF's isn't a major health concern, yet. As more & more EMF are present in our enviroment I think eventually it will be come one. 30 years from now are we going to look back, just like we do now with cigarettes, at our situation & say "what were they thinking, it's radiation pure & simple". Some schools have even pulled wifi & hard wired everything because of it's effects on children, their skulls are thinner & have more water surrounding them, making them more susceptible to EMF. Teachers say the kids are much less ADD without it.
We can't run & hide from EMF's but we certainly need to limit our exposure. I didn't have any problems until the electric company put a smart meter on my house, within 3 months I was a zombie. Over the past few months I've got quite an education on EMF & it's effects. It's mind boggling when you get into cell phone stuides, scientist who admit they were paid to lie, why China's exposure levels for EMF's are 10 X LESS than what the limits are here & how big cell phone companies do there best to hide truths.
I'm just happy that I'm not really sore today!
ps. 3rd place doubles, 1st mixed doubles
Edited by Watdh, 19 March 2012 - 05:52 PM.
Luminosity 25 Mar 2012
Edited by Luminosity, 25 March 2012 - 06:43 AM.
kevinseven11 02 Apr 2012
Gerald W. Gaston 05 Feb 2013
And on that note here is ummm "something" different to consider:
http://www.sleeponcommand.com
http://www.sleeponco...m/research.html
"Our Pulsed Magnetic Sleep Machines Efficiently 'Tune' Brain Toward Deep Delta-rhythm Sleep; while sleeping, our technology tunes cells' power generation system to improve body's utilization of oxygen and other nutrients."
Just looking at their website and I swear I hear my old USRobotics modem dialing up.
Logic 05 Feb 2013
Any small leaks (inevitable somewhere in th line) in those pipes will improve grounding...
As long as the pipes are metal and paint etc free where the bare wire is attached; they should provide an excelent earth for those scared to 'plug in' to the electrical earth.
How does a grounding sheet work/made off and where do you get them?
This gets one thinking about air ionizers...
Breathing air with extra electrons happens naturaly near the sea where everyone wants/likes to live...