Grounding can keep you happy, healthy, and calm
I love being barefoot.
When I lived in Aspen, Colorado, it was a bit impractical for much of the year (toes don’t like snow). But when I moved to Southern California, barefoot being became a reality—I can walk the dog barefoot! I can go to friends’ houses barefoot! I barely ever have shoes on.
As supportive as my mom is, she finds it dirty to put your bare feet all over the ground. But she relents! Recently, she sent me this:
Looks like there is scientific evidence of the benefits of your barefoot California lifestyle habit! Still grosses me out on the street, but I can handle the house, the beach, the grass.
What I’ve been doing is a practice called grounding. We’ve referenced it here and here before, but here’s a concrete defintion and explanation of the benefits.
Grounding or Earthing is defined as placing one’s bare feet on the ground, where you receive a surge of potent healing electrons from the ground. The earth has a slightly negative charge, so when you stand barefoot on that grass, dirt, sand, or concrete, electrons from the earth flow into your body, giving you a virtual “transfusion” of healing power.
Grounding effectively helps alleviate inflammation in your body… Research has demonstrated it takes about 80 minutes for the free electrons from the earth to reach your bloodstream and transform your blood cells.
Grounding also helps calm your sympathetic nervous system … Pain relief, improved sleep, and a generally enhanced sense of well-being are but a few of the health benefits.
Last but not least, when you are grounded to the earth, the negatively charged electrons you receive increase the structure of the water in your cells—just as water increases in structure when a negative charge is introduced by an electrode.
With all the benefits and the explicit ease of grounding, why not get yourself in balance with a little barefoot break?