Your body is capable of generating electricity, and this
ability is actually a key part of your achieving health.
Electricity allows your nervous system to send signals to your
brain. These signals are actually electrical charges that are
delivered from cell to cell, allowing for nearly instantaneous
communication.
The messages conducted via electrical signals in your body
are responsible for controlling the rhythm of your heartbeat,
the movement of blood around your body, and much more.
Your biological clock even uses electrical activity in order
to help keep your circadian rhythms in order.1
You are, quite simply, an electrical being. If electrical
activity stops in your body, you cannot survive. But how,
exactly, does this electrical activity take place?
How Does Your Body Produce Electricity?
The video above, from The Medicine Journal,2
gives a concise explanation of the complex process your body
uses to generate electricity. Inside your body are atoms that
are made up of positively charged protons, negatively charged
electrons, and neutrons (which are neutral).
An atom with unbalanced charges will become either positively
or negatively charged, and the switch from one charge to the
other allows electrons to flow from one atom to another. This is
what is referred to as electricity.3
Your cells generate electrical charges via electrolytes like
sodium and potassium using a mechanism known as the
"sodium-potassium gate." As Discovery Health explained:4
"When your body needs to send a message from one
point to another, it opens the gate. When the membrane gate
opens, sodium and potassium ions move freely into and out of
the cell.
Negatively charged potassium ions leave the cell,
attracted to the positivity outside the membrane, and
positively charged sodium ions enter it, moving toward the
negative charge. The result is a switch in the
concentrations of the two types of ions -- and rapid switch
in charge.
…this flip between positive and negative generates an
electrical impulse. This impulse triggers the gate on the
next cell to open, creating another charge, and so on. In
this way, an electrical impulse moves from a nerve in your
stubbed toe to the part of your brain that senses pain."
It is because of your body's electrical activity that
defibrillators, which deliver an electric shock to your heart,
may work to restore heart rhythm and why receiving the wrong
type of shock, like an electric shock or
lightning strike, can essentially "fry" your body's
electrical system. The opposite also holds true in that you can
actually harness the electrical charge of the Earth to
positively influence your health in numerous ways.
Your Body Can Absorb Free Electrons from the Earth
The Earth carries an enormous negative charge. It's always
electron-rich and can serve as a powerful and abundant supply of
antioxidant and free-radical-busting electrons.
Your body is finely tuned to "work" with the Earth in the
sense that there's a constant flow of energy between your body
and the Earth. When you put your feet on the ground, you absorb
large amounts of negative electrons through the soles of your
feet.
The effect is sufficient to maintain your body at the same
negatively charged electrical potential as the Earth. This
simple process is called "grounding" or "earthing," and its
effect is one of the most potent antioxidants we know of.
Grounding has been shown to relieve pain, reduce
inflammation, improve sleep, enhance wellbeing, and much, much
more. When you wear rubber- or plastic-soled shoes, however, you
are effectively shielding yourself from this beneficial influx
of electrons from the Earth.
Why It's So Important to Stay Grounded
Grounding's potent antioxidant effect helps alleviate
inflammation throughout your body, a potentially life-saving
benefit since inflammation is at the root of most diseases,
including heart disease.
According to Dr. Stephen Sinatra, a prominent cardiologist,
inflammation thrives when your blood is thick and you have a lot
of free radical stress, and a lot of positive charges in your
body. Grounding effectively alleviates inflammation because it
thins your blood and infuses you with negatively charged ions
through the soles of your feet.
Grounding helps thin your blood by improving its zeta
potential, which means it improves the energy between your red
blood cells. Research has demonstrated it takes about 80 minutes
for the free electrons from the earth to reach your bloodstream
and transform your blood.
Hypercoagulable (thick, slow-moving) blood contributes to
chronic inflammation, because when your blood does not flow
well, oxygen can't get to your tissues. Grounding's effect on
blood thinning is so profound that if you are taking blood
thinners, you must work with your health care provider to lower
your dose otherwise you may overdose on the medication. You can
see my interview with Dr. Sinatra below.
Interestingly, grounding research has now discovered that if
you place your feet on the ground after an injury (or on a
grounded sheet, or place grounding patches on the balls of your
feet), electrons will migrate into your body and spread through
your tissues. Any free radicals that leak into the healthy
tissue will immediately be electrically neutralized. This occurs
because the electrons are negative, while the free radicals are
positive, so they cancel each other out. As noted by
Dr. James Oschman, an expert in the field of energy
medicine:
"So really what is happening with grounding or
earthing is that you're protecting your body from -- I call
it, collateral damage… Damage that was not intended to take
place but does take place because we have disconnected
ourselves from the Earth by putting rubber and plastic on
the bottoms of our shoes."
Free radical stress from exposure to pollution, cigarettes,
insecticides, pesticides, trans fats, and radiation, just to
name a few, continually deplete your body of electrons. Simply
by getting outside, barefoot, touching the Earth, and allowing
the excess charge in your body to discharge into the Earth, you
can alleviate some of the stress continually put on your system.
Walking barefoot can help ameliorate the constant assault of
electromagnetic fields and other types of radiation from cell
phones, computers, and Wi-Fi. It's also thought that grounding
may actually facilitate the formation of
structured water in your body.
Furthermore, grounding also calms your sympathetic nervous
system, which supports your heart rate variability. And, when
you support heart rate variability, this promotes homeostasis,
or balance, in your autonomic nervous system. This is important
because anytime you improve your heart rate variability, you're
improving your entire body and all its functions. If you want to
learn more, check out the
Grounded documentary (in which I actually appear).
You'll hear first-hand accounts from residents of Haines, Alaska
who have overcome chronic pain, sleep apnea, and much more
simply by getting grounded.
How to Reconnect with the Earth's Electrical Charge
Many Americans spend most of their waking hours wearing shoes
with rubber or plastic soles. These materials are very effective
insulators, which is precisely why they're used to insulate
electrical wires. Yet, they also effectively disconnect you from
the Earth's natural electron flow. Wearing leather-soled shoes
will allow you to stay grounded with the Earth, as will walking
barefoot, but you'll need to do so on the proper surface. Good
grounding surfaces include:
Sand (beach)
Grass (preferably moist)
Bare soil
Concrete and brick (as long as it's not painted or
sealed)
Ceramic tile
The following surfaces will NOT ground you:
Asphalt
Wood
Rubber and plastic
Vinyl
Tar or tarmac
Like eating right, exercising, and sleeping, grounding can be
described as yet another lifestyle habit that supports optimal
health by supporting your body's "electrical" connection with
the Earth. It's supported and backed by prominent medical
doctors, scientists including
Dr. David Suzuki, NASA astronauts, and was used by ancient
civilizations who placed strong value on their relationship to
the Earth.
As mentioned, simply taking off your shoes as much as you can
when you're outdoors will help you take advantage of natural
grounding opportunities. When indoors, using a grounding pad or
sheet is an excellent way to stay grounded while you're working
or sleeping. (For frequent travelers, I typically bring a
grounding pad with me when I fly, too.)
Copyright 1997- 2014 Dr. Joseph Mercola. All Rights Reserved.