logotype
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • OUR OBJECTIVES
    • OUR ACTIVITIES
  • PROJECTS
    • IFAKO 2016
    • LAPOSTECH
    • VICTORIA ISLAND SECONDARY SCHOOL 2016
    • WAHAB FOLAWIYO HIGH SCHOOL 2016
    • BADAGRY 2011
    • FIIRO 2O14
    • ALAUSA
    • ONIKAN 1999
    • ISOLO GAS DISTRIBUTION PROJECT
    • Y-FOTE
    • WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2013
  • PARTNERSHIP
  • GALLERY
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT
logotype
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • OUR OBJECTIVES
    • OUR ACTIVITIES
  • PROJECTS
    • IFAKO 2016
    • LAPOSTECH
    • VICTORIA ISLAND SECONDARY SCHOOL 2016
    • WAHAB FOLAWIYO HIGH SCHOOL 2016
    • BADAGRY 2011
    • FIIRO 2O14
    • ALAUSA
    • ONIKAN 1999
    • ISOLO GAS DISTRIBUTION PROJECT
    • Y-FOTE
    • WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2013
  • PARTNERSHIP
  • GALLERY
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT
logotype
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • OUR OBJECTIVES
    • OUR ACTIVITIES
  • PROJECTS
    • IFAKO 2016
    • LAPOSTECH
    • VICTORIA ISLAND SECONDARY SCHOOL 2016
    • WAHAB FOLAWIYO HIGH SCHOOL 2016
    • BADAGRY 2011
    • FIIRO 2O14
    • ALAUSA
    • ONIKAN 1999
    • ISOLO GAS DISTRIBUTION PROJECT
    • Y-FOTE
    • WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2013
  • PARTNERSHIP
  • GALLERY
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT
logotype
  • HOME
  • ABOUT US
    • OUR OBJECTIVES
    • OUR ACTIVITIES
  • PROJECTS
    • IFAKO 2016
    • LAPOSTECH
    • VICTORIA ISLAND SECONDARY SCHOOL 2016
    • WAHAB FOLAWIYO HIGH SCHOOL 2016
    • BADAGRY 2011
    • FIIRO 2O14
    • ALAUSA
    • ONIKAN 1999
    • ISOLO GAS DISTRIBUTION PROJECT
    • Y-FOTE
    • WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY 2013
  • PARTNERSHIP
  • GALLERY
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT
Energy ConservationEnvironmental NewsPollutionTraining

WHAT IS EARTHING?

By tochukwuJanuary 10, 20190 Comments

Can getting in touch with the Earth’s electrons improve your well-being? We look at the science.

 

The concepts are ones that we all can understand. Celebrating nature. Improving health. Getting a good night’s sleep. Strengthening the primordial bond between humans and the planet on which we live.

The science of it all? Well, that’s a little harder to grasp. Which is why earthing — the practice of physically getting in touch with Mother Earth to better your health — remains fact for some and fiction for others.

 

In Defense Of Earthing

Backers of the practice of earthing — also known as grounding — often point to a 2012 study in the Journal of Environmental and Public Heath entitled “Earthing: Health Implications of Reconnecting the Human Body to the Earth’s Surface Electrons” to prove their point. (There are other studies, too, that earthing proponents tout, but the JEPH one is their touchstone.)

The article concludes that, “Emerging evidence shows that contact with the Earth — whether being outside barefoot or indoors connected to grounded conductive systems — may be a simple, natural, and yet profoundly effective environmental strategy against chronic stress, [autonomic nervous system] dysfunction, inflammation, pain, poor sleep, disturbed [heart rate variability], hypercoagulable blood and many common health disorders, including cardiovascular disease.”

Picture by Pixabay

How does one “earth?” Well, it can be as simple as the act of walking barefoot outdoors. There, with bare skin on bare earth — this, again from the JEPH article — “Reconnection with the Earth’s electrons has been found to promote intriguing physiological changes and subjective reports of well-being.”

It is, earthing proponents state, all in the electrons. The Earth’s surface is electrically conductive, enabling free-ranging electrons to jump into the human body. That is, providing nothing else — say, that pair or rubberized sneakers — gets in the way.

Once at one with the body, the electrons “rebalance” the electrical state of the body and create, according to the article by Gaétan Chevalier, Stephen T. Sinatra, James L. Oschman, Karol Sokal and Pawel Sokal, “a stable internal bioelectrical environment for the normal functioning of all body systems.”

Photo by Pixabay

OK. But what about indoors, sleeping or working or eating? Can you get your electrons on indoors?

Many earthing products — sheets, pillowcases, mats for the floor, etc. — are sold (red flag! red flag!) so that you can get all that good earth energy with a roof over your head. The products all have some kind of energy conductive material — metal strips of some kind — woven into the product. The product is plugged into the grounding hole of any electrical outlet. That ground, of course, should have a direct line to the earth.

So, from ground to your king-sized bed on the second floor — you’re earthed. All you need are a couple grounding products, sold on several websites. These sites, it must be pointed out, have direct ties to some of the the authors of the aforementioned study (red flag!).

 

Speaking Out Against Earthing

Picture by Pixabay

Dr. David Gorski, on the blog Science-Based Medicine, leaves no earth unscorched in his assessment of the practice.

“Basically, it’s the overlaying of ‘science-y’-sounding terminology to earth worship, where the power of the earth somehow maintains and protects us, and the cause of all illness is because of man’s ‘disconnectedness’ from the earth,” writes Gorski, a surgical oncologist at the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University in Detroit. He’s also chairman of the board of directors for the Society for Science-Based Medicine, a group which is dedicated to promoting good science in medicine and opposing pseudoscience in medicine.

“Basically,” Gorski writes, “it’s magical thinking on par with homeopathy.”

The Wall Street Journal did a look into earthing in a 2014 article entitled, “Will Getting Grounded Help You Sleep Better and Ease Pain?” and found it lacking in credibility, too. Author Laura Johannes interviewed professors and electrical engineers who confirmed that, yes, walking barefoot outdoors, or inside on a grounded mat, can cause the body to absorb electrons.

But, they point out, that happens all the time. Plus, they say, nothing is special about the Earth’’ electrons.

Johannes writes that there is “little credible proof of health benefits,” according to the experts the Journal interviewed.

Dr. Andrew Weil is the founder, professor and director of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona in Tucson. He’s also a best-selling author of books on holistic health.

In a 2013 article on his site, DrWeil.com, he addresses the controversies surrounding earthing.

“We’ll need additional studies of better design and with more participants before we can know whether it is really possible to derive health benefits from earthing,” Weil wrote. “While the studies done so far are intriguing, some of the hype for earthing is over-the-top.”

In the end, there are proponents of earthing who are steadfast in their belief that it works, and that the science-based community (along with some journalists and other unsavory characters) are out to get them. And there are hard-nosed skeptics who look at earthing as a scam, as a bunch of scientific hooey and, at worst, as a capitalistic enterprise designed to take money from sick people.

As Weil suggests, more studies are never a bad thing. Until then, though, most would probably agree that a little barefoot walk in the park now and again can’t hurt.

 

barefeet Earthing mother earth save the earth
12 Likes
10 Ways To Make Your Community Healthier

10 Ways To Make Your Community Healthier

December 19, 2018

How nature can help us heal from grief

January 17, 2019
How nature can help us heal from grief

Related Posts

Perfect source for recycling
Environmental NewsfeaturedUncategorized
August 5, 2021

Olympic Gold Medals For The Environmentally Conscious

By Oluchukwu
Environmental News
July 12, 2017

FLOODING – Effect of Blocked Drainage Systems on the Environment ‘Using Lagos State as a Case Study’

By Lola

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Stakeholders Forum
  • How to keep the Environment Clean
  • The Ozone layer
  • Flooding in Nigeria
  • Nigeria And Carbon Credit

Recent Comments

  1. Eburnate on Get TUITION-FREE STUDIES in Brazil
  2. Fashion Styles on Horticulture and The Environment
  3. Harry Olson on Patterned Cotton Tablecloth
  4. David Parker on Patterned Cotton Tablecloth
  5. Harry Olson on Round Jute Floor Mat

Archives

  • March 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2015
  • July 2015

Categories

  • Awards
  • CSR
  • Energy Conservation
  • Environmental News
  • featured
  • Innovation
  • Pollution
  • Training
  • Uncategorized

Larry king

About Author

Hi! I am an author of this blog. Follow me. be in trend.

Categories
  • Awards(1)
  • CSR(13)
  • Energy Conservation(29)
  • Environmental News(78)
  • featured(19)
  • Innovation(10)
  • Pollution(25)
  • Training(7)
  • Uncategorized(7)
Related Posts
No posts were found.
Tags
#health #healthy #environment #goodliving Abuja agriculture barefeet Beach better livelihood Carbon Footprint clean environment clean up csr digital library Earthing energy conservation energy saving Environmental hazards exercise featured FOTE good health Grass greenhouse Heal Healthy living huawei hunger ict IDPs jide idris lasg LPG Microplatics ministry of health mother earth Mrs. Joanna Maduka Nature pollution save the earth SDG SDG 5 slow cooking UNDP wahab folawiyo Women discrimination Zenith Bank Zero Hunger

Make Kids Happy

GET IN TOUGHT
logotype

 FOTE’s primary goal as an NGO, is to initiate and undertake programmes and activities that address the needs of identified groups that impact on the environment.

Contacts

P.O.Box 10627, Lagos, Nigeria

info@fote.org.ng

+234-01-453-2526

TwitterFacebook-f

COMPANY

Home About Us Partnership Blog Reach Us

QUICK LINKS

Objectives Activities Us Partnership Blog