Excerpted & edited from Conducting Health: Our Electrical Connection to the Earth and Sun by Emma Suttie
Doctors rely on measuring our electrical activity to help diagnose different diseases. An EKG, or electrocardiogram, measures the electricity of the heart, for example. Electrical stimuli are generated in the heart's upper right chamber called the sinus node, or sinoatrial node. This electrical energy stimulates the heart muscles to contract and pump blood through our bodies.
The body relies on small electrical impulses for countless other functions. And what could be described as an electrical phenomenon is one of the most common contributors to disease. That phenomenon is the free radical, an atom or molecule that is short one electron, leaving it with a positive charge. This charge allows it to "steal" an electron from another atom or molecule. This instability is linked to countless disease processes in the body. Antioxidants found in foods are beneficial to the body specifically because they can provide an electron and neutralize this threat.
Our inherent electrical nature and conductive quality also allows us to acquire electrical energy from the world around us. For we happen to live on an abundant source of electrical energy—our Earth. The Earth’s surface provides an unlimited and continuously renewed supply of free electrons that we can absorb into our bodies.
The Earth is electrically conductive and can pass these electrons to us—with one caveat. We have to be in direct contact with the planet to receive them. Just as the plastic insulation on an electrical wire keeps its electricity contained, so too does the plastic on the bottom of our shoes insulate us from the grounding of the Earth.
This process of electron exchange with the Earth is called “grounding” or “earthing,” and a notable body of research demonstrates its beneficial physiological effects, according to a review of available research that was conducted more than a decade ago. Published in The Journal of Environmental and Public Health, it called grounding "a surprisingly positive and overlooked environmental factor on health."
“Mounting evidence suggests that the Earth’s negative potential can create a stable internal bioelectrical environment for the normal functioning of all body systems. A small study, published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, investigated the effects of two hours of grounding on the electrical charge of red blood cells and the effects the charge had on the clumping of red blood cells. The study found that grounding increased the surface charge of the red blood cells, which decreased blood viscosity.
“In the body, these electrons have an anti-inflammatory effect because they reduce the free-radical activity that causes inflammation and chronic pain." Dr. Sinatra wrote in an article on his website, "the energy of the free electrons gained through grounding also helps keep your body’s innate electrical circuitry properly balanced. All of these effects of grounding are extremely beneficial to heart health.”
“The two dozen or so completed studies on grounding have proven beyond any doubt that becoming grounded has significant positive effects on our physiology and heart health," Dr. Sinatra wrote. Grounding can ease or eliminate the symptoms of inflammation-related disorders, lower stress, moderate heart rate variability, improve nervous system activity, and lower stress hormone secretion.
Another study affirming these studies was published in the Journal of Inflammation Research in 2015. It examined the effects of grounding on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and the prevention and treatment of chronic and inflammatory autoimmune diseases. “Grounding reduces pain and alters the number of circulating neutrophils and lymphocytes, and also affects various circulating chemical factors related to inflammation,” the researchers wrote.
A review article published in Explore in 2020 notes that earthing reduces pain, inflammation, and stress and improves blood flow, sleep, and vitality, and the article describes it as a “grossly overlooked factor in health and healing.” A study published in 2022 even showed that connecting to the Earth improved outcomes. Seventy-one patients with COVID-19 infection were instructed to have direct contact with the Earth or a connecting (grounding) apparatus for 15 minutes to 6 hours a day. The researchers concluded that earthing had significant curative and preventive effects and resulted in a shorter duration of the illness.
A particularly compelling study published in Neonatology in 2017 involved 26 premature babies in a neonatal intensive care unit connected to grounding wires. The grounding allowed the babies' heart rates to stabilize. In addition, their vagal tone—considered a vital measure of infant health—increased by 67 percent when grounded.
