FAQ's

Earth provides us with “electric nutrition,” through a limitless supply of electrons.  These electrons give the ground, lakes and oceans a natural negative electric charge.  potent painkilling, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and stress reducing properties.

Research demonstrates that direct contact with the earth (or ground) our bodies absorb the electrons through our skin and restores and stabilizes the bioelectrical circuitry that governs our body.  It recharges and thins our blood, enhances immune function, and powerfully and quickly knocks down inflammation, pain and stress.

Going barefoot ( i.e. sit, stand, walk, run) outside directly on the earth, or you can swim/paddle in the sea/lake/river, for 30 minutes or more each day. On land, conductive surfaces for being grounded/earthing include soil, grass, sand, gravel, and rock. Concrete is also conductive. Moist surfaces are more conductive than dry. You cannot ground yourself on asphalt, vinyl, and wooden surface; they are not conductive.

If your daily routine, the weather, or surface conditions don’t accommodate outdoor grounding, you can conveniently ground yourself indoors whilst at home or at work using the sleep mat, sleep pillow or the univeral earthing mat. The best opportunity to gain the many benefits of earthing indoors is to sleep grounded.

Most people begin to feel better straight away and experience a calming effect, and they sleep better too. Most experience more energy and less pain. If you are new to earthing then please check out this article from the official EARTHING site.

No, not a tall. in fact throughout history, humans have walked barefoot on the earth. They have sat and slept on conductive animal skins, and this ordinary activity has enabled our predecessors to absorb the natural healing energy.

Earthing research indicates that grounding represents a simple, natural, and powerful tool for reducing all sorts of pain conditions, inflammation-related diseases, insomnia and chronic fatigue.

James Oschman, Ph.D., who is an internationally-renowned expert on energy medicine and a member of the EARTHING board of advisors, describes the following:

“Earthing works fast. Anyone can try it. You don’t even have to believe it works. If you don’t feel well or have pain, for whatever reason, just put your bare feet on the ground – on grass, wet sand, gravel, or plain dirt − for a half-hour. See what happens. There is nothing that comes close to Earthing for quick relief. You can literally feel pain draining from your body the instant you touch the Earth.”

There is a big difference.

The Earth’s electrical field subtle ground energy) is mainly a continuous direct current (DC) producing field that has influenced life on the planet throughout time. Home wiring systems use alternating current (AC) and unless at a very low frequency and/or low power, AC is foreign to our biology. AC, and other forms of man-made electromagnetic fields (EMFs), are being researched as possible factors in a variety of stress-related responses. Many people are sensitive to EMFs and studies show an “association,” but not cause and effect, with some health issues.

There is no constant measurable current flow beyond the instant equalisation charge transferred to the body when a person makes bare skin contact with the ground or some type of Earthing product.

Once the body is grounded, the body will continue to absorb enough electrons needed to maintain the same electrical potential as the Earth and to restore what is lost as a result of metabolic processes. As long as a person continues to be grounded, the body can use the Earth as a natural reservoir/power-source from which to draw electrons to maintain a “topped up” homeostatic level that compensates for any loss of internal electrons.

Lightning is a massive natural phenomenon that is unpredictable and challenging to totally protect against. It is poorly understood. Homes are rarely hit by lightning. When this does happen, the lightning usually takes the path of least resistance to the ground, such as large conductive systems like the plumbing pipes, electrical wiring network, or telephone and cable TV lines, all of which are directly grounded to the Earth.

Whilst it is unlikely that you will be hit by lightning you should follow standard lightning safety guidelines and disconnect your Earthing device and don’t use it during lightning and thunderstorms.

Such individuals sometimes report feeling strange energy in the beginning and some even say they feel ill. The energy they feel when grounded is simply the Earth’s natural energy.

We regard these sensations generally as part of an adjustment/healing/detoxification process as the body normalizes and inflammation goes down. If the feeling is too uncomfortable, we recommend stopping Earthing. Try resuming at a later time but only with perhaps a half-hour or forty minutes, or even less, twice a day barefoot outside or in contact with an Earthing mat inside your home. Very slowly increase your exposure. In this way, you may often be able to work your way gradually to sleeping grounded for six to eight hours at night. Just go very slow and at your own pace. Some electro-sensitive people have found that they receive positive benefits just from minimum exposure to Earthing.

No. Most footwear today is made with plastic/rubber composite soles that do not conduct the Earth’s electric energy. You need leather/hide soles or specially designed conductive/electrostatic discharge shoes. Leather itself isn’t conductive, but the foot perspires and the moisture permits conduction of the energy from the Earth through the leather and up into the body. In addition, moisture from walking on damp ground or sidewalks could permeate up into the leather soled shoe. Thickness of the sole can also be a factor: a very thick leather sole may not allow the moisture through. Various shoe options can be seen by doing an Internet search for grounded footwear. It is important to note also that a grounded shoe will only provide grounding benefits on surfaces that are conductive, such as the ground outside and unsealed, unpainted concrete.

Pure water (distilled, snow), with no minerals or salts dissolved in it, is a poor conductor of electricity. When certain minerals, such as salt, are added to pure water, the water becomes conductive as a result of dissolution that breaks the salt into its components, electrically-positive sodium and negative chlorine. Ocean water is full of dissolved salts and minerals, and represents a superb conductive medium for grounding.

Lakes and rivers contain less minerals and salts than the ocean in general but they are still good conductors. Whether you are standing on the lake or river bottom, or floating or swimming on the surface, you will be no doubt grounded.

Mineral hot springs are famous for their healing and relaxing effects. This is believed to be due to the mineral content of the water. However, since the water is conductive, you are grounding when you soak in hot springs.

In your home, bathtubs and showers involve tap water that contains minerals and salts and so is conductive. If you take a bath and there is a metal part in contact with the water and that metal part is also in contact with some metal pipe going down into the ground, you are grounded! The same is true with showers. If the water you use to shower comes from metal pipes in contact with the earth, the water you shower with is grounded and will ground you.

Over the years, we have heard from many people who experienced relief and improvements from grounding and then they stopped Earthing. Their gains began eroding.

We advise people to make Earthing part of a healthy lifestyle routine and keep grounding. We all evolved connected to the Earth and in our experience, staying grounded often makes the difference between feeling good and feeling bad. Earthing is not just for regaining well-being, but also for maintaining it.

Throughout most of history we walked barefoot and slept on the ground. We were directly connected to the Earth almost 24 hours a day.

Our body knows exactly what to do with what the Earth provides to us. When we connect to the Earth the amount of the electrons we absorb is governed by the amount our body needs to balance the electrical charge of our body. It is always the perfect amount.

It uses up electrons in many metabolic processes, including the basic process of cellular energy production, so there is always an ongoing demand. If you are grounding yourself on a routine basis, you are, in a sense, topping up your tank. And if you ground yourself routinely for many, many hours each day then you will likely find that it is very hard to develop chronic inflammation, the cause of most common chronic disease.

Most people start to feel relief or more energy pretty quickly. But initially some people may feel temporary discomfort or even flu-like symptoms, cramps, or soreness. We believe these effects result from a more efficient physiology, including the body’s own self-healing and detoxification mechanisms. The discomfort could last a few days or even longer. As it fades away, you start feeling better and more energized. If too uncomfortable, just stop grounding and then begin again with shorter exposure. Gradually increase your exposure so your body becomes accustomed more slowly to the Earth’s energy.

People sometimes report feeling a tingling sensation in their body when they start grounding. It is typically not an unpleasant feeling. You are simply feeling and equalizing with the Earth’s natural, healing energy entering your body. The tingling accompanies an initial re-energizing, re-synchronizing, and normalizing effect, and the impact of this on inflammation and inflammatory damage in the body. Earthing reduces inflammation and inflammatory damage.
A similar tingling effect is sometimes felt by people when walking barefoot on the wet sand at the beach.
The sensation usually diminishes and goes away after 15-30 minutes or so during the initial Earthing session, and then generally decreases in time with subsequent grounding. It may be felt again once you resume Earthing after stopping for some time. Everyone is different so you may feel some variation.
And don’t worry: you are not being electrocuted! See our article on the safety of Earthing indoors here.
Continued tingling could mean a person is electro-hypersensitive and/or has a significant level of electromagnetic fields (EMFs) in the room where he/she is grounding.
Such individuals sometimes report feeling strange energy in the beginning and some even say they feel ill. The energy they feel when grounded is simply the Earth’s natural energy.
These sensations may also be part of an adjustment/healing/detoxification process as the body normalizes and inflammation goes down. If the feeling is too uncomfortable, we recommend decreasing the Earthing time. Resume at a later time but only with perhaps a half hour, or even less, twice a day barefoot outside or in contact with an Earthing mat or band inside your home. Very slowly increase your exposure. In this way, you may often be able to work your way gradually to sleeping grounded. Just go very slow and at your own pace. Some electro-hypersensitive people have found that they receive positive benefits just from minimum grounding.

Yes. Feet naturally sweat and will hydrate socks, particularly thinner sock, thus facilitating the ability of the Earth’s energy to rise up into the body.

There is no evidence that grounding interferes with the function of these devices. Still, if you are considering grounding it is important to discuss it first with your doctor and decide together what is best for you. Grounding indoors is the same as walking barefoot outside. Many people have used grounding products and experienced the benefits of both their medical devices and grounding. To our knowledge, no one with a pacemaker or defibrillator or stents has been advised not to walk barefoot outdoors.

Pacemakers and defibrillators are devices implanted in the chest or abdomen and help control abnormal heart rhythms called arrhythmias. Defibrillators are used against life-threatening arrhythmias. Contemporary devices typically function as both pacemaker and defibrillator. Because of the sophistication of these newer devices, it is essential to consult with your physician before starting grounding. Moreover, doctors will often prescribe anticoagulants (blood thinners) to patients. Grounding has a beneficial blood thinning effect, which is likely not known to most doctors. The combination of grounding and anticoagulant medication may possibly create excess blood thinning. Thus, the importance of speaking to your doctor first.

For individuals with pacemakers/defibrillators who ground themselves by walking barefoot outdoors routinely for some hours, it would be wise to consult with your physician, even though such grounding exposure is likely to have less impact than for someone grounding more hours indoors during sleep.

Barefoot is indeed the natural way to go. And also to sleep on the ground. Or use conductive footwear and bedding made from animal skins. Such practices were part of the ordinary way of life throughout history. No longer. We rarely go outside barefoot, except as kids romping during the summer, or on beach holidays. We wear insulating shoes and we sleep on elevated beds.

Earthing products were created to address the issue of comfort, convenience, reality, and practicality. The products are essentially “extension cords” that bring the Earth’s energy outside into the office and home inside – simulating being barefoot outside. They were developed to accommodate the research process and to satisfy a continually growing demand of people wanting to sleep, work, or relax grounded for all the reasons we present in the Earthing book.

We recommend you have a conversation with your doctor first. They may not know anything about Earthing. Earthing makes the physiology function more efficiently, and this improvement has the potential to affect medication dosages. We know that Earthing has a blood thinning effect, and may improve thyroid function, blood sugar, and blood pressure, and therefore the dosages of medication may need to be closely monitored and adjusted. However, such interactions have not been measured in studies. For that reason, we strongly advise informing your doctor and following their guidance.

Grounding often generates warmth in the extremities and body as a result of better circulation. We have seen people quickly develop a rosier color in their skin.

Pain, disease, and other disturbances are often caused by chronic inflammation. Such inflammation is, in turn, caused by positively charged molecules called free radicals. When you make direct contact with the Earth, either by being barefoot outside or using an Earthing product indoors, electrons from the Earth enter your body and reduce the free radicals and inflammation. At this point, the concept is theoretical, but supported by our research and feedback from thousands of people who use Earthing products.
The effect of Earthing is significant because medical research has found that many of the chronic and debilitating diseases of our time have the same cause: chronic inflammation. Scientists now realize that pain and disease arise in our bodies where an inflammatory response has taken place, but the inflammation has not completely stopped after the healing process. A low level of chronic inflammation can continue for years, damaging normal tissues and wasting energy.
The human immune system evolved over a long span of time during which we were in virtually constant skin contact with the Earth. In our modern society, humans no longer walk barefoot. We wear shoes that insulate us from the Earth’s energy. In recent decades the incidence of chronic diseases, allergies, auto-immune conditions, and insomnia has soared. One overlooked possibility for this alarming increase is that the immune system is functioning less efficiently as most humans today live ungrounded.

We have repeatedly observed Earthing producing beneficial effects quickly. Keep in mind that the body is a good conductor of free electrons. We have seen that when people are grounded in experiments with the use, for instance, of conductive patches placed on the bottom of the feet (simulating standing barefoot on the Earth), they sometimes feel a tingling sensation moving up the legs. We associate this with the movement of electrons from the Earth up into the body. People say they often feel the same sensation when walking barefoot along the wet sand at the beach.

In our research, we have “clocked” the speed of this activity. It takes about 20 to 30 minutes to reach sites of pain and inflammation, such as a shoulder. A painful knee would respond faster as it is closer to the grounded feet. When a study participant says that pain has started to ease we regard this as a sign that the electrons have arrived at the pain site and are “going to work.”

The influx of electrons gives a powerful boost to the body’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory defenses. Like reinforcements, we believe they rapidly neutralize free radical molecules that create chronic inflammation, arresting the destructive action on healthy tissues, and leading to a reduction of pain.

Medical thermal imaging has shown decreased inflammation in minutes after people are grounded. You can see examples of such decreased inflammation in several thermal imaging studies on Earthing. Here, here, and here.

There is an instant and natural shift in your body when you become grounded. We have measured the changes in the laboratory and they clearly indicate that the body is functioning better. People with pain often feel relief in varying degrees − from a little to a lot, and to even disappearance of the pain − just by planting their bare feet on the ground outside for a half hour or forty minutes. Sleeping grounded through the night produces many beneficial results, such as better and deeper sleep, more energy during the day, and less pain. Again, the degree of benefits vary from slight to dramatic, from immediate to gradual.

Everyone is different. Symptoms are different. Causes are different.

Some chronically ill people benefit from additional grounding hours during the day, such as by being barefoot or using an Earthing mat or body band. From the thousands of cases that Clint Ober and others have observed for years, the more severe the health problem the more dramatic the improvement seen with grounding in general. Even in end-of-life situations associated with pain, it has been reported that individuals generally have less pain.

We have had many reports of improved sleep and decreased stress after only one or two nights of sleeping grounded. If the cause of sleep difficulties is long-term insomnia with underlying health issues, improvement may stretch out. In a study conducted by the California Institute for Human Science, instantaneous changes in brain waves and muscle tension were documented with grounding.

Clearly, lasting changes in stress, sleep, pain, and body rhythms occur when we ground ourselves routinely.

Earthing does not cure anything. It restores a natural electrical balance in the body and reduces stress and inflammation. Earthing can thus have both short-term and long-term effects.

The body is most receptive to healing during sleep, so this is the most beneficial time for grounding.

But just as you can’t direct healthy food, air, or water to create specific effects in one function or part of your body, grounding allows your body to receive the natural energy of the Earth and then uses it as needed. You may experience benefits for certain issues you were not even expecting improvements in and there may be no change in other areas. Generally, the longer you continue to ground yourself, the more benefits and vitality you can expect to see.

Primarily, by reducing inflammation. The Earth has analgesic properties. Go outside and stand, sit, or walk on the ground barefoot for at least a half hour. In that time you will likely notice that your pain is less. There are also Earthing products you can use indoors while sleeping or sitting. Think of them as extension cords connecting you in your house or office to the Earth outside.

Yes. Using Earthing products is equivalent to being barefoot outdoors.