The whole idea of intentionally walking barefoot was always foreign to me.
Growing up in conservative Free State, South Africa, I always thought it was weird seeing people (especially grownups) walking around town barefoot. It also doesn't help that I once got a shard of glass lodged in my foot - with the scar to prove it! Not to mention I got embarrassed once when a school crush saw my bare crusty feet. Suffice it to say, I was not a fan of walking barefoot!
Recently though, quite a lot of research with evidence has gone into the health benefits of walking barefoot on the ground, otherwise known as grounding or earthing.
In this post, we look at what grounding is and the health benefits it can have on your life.
Let's take a walk, shall we?
What is Grounding or Earthing?
The term "grounding" usually refers to the movement of electric charge (electrons) in a circuit to the ground to prevent a shock. For instance, the ground wire in an appliance plug directs extra charge - say from a lightning strike - to the ground pin outside the home. The amazing fact is that everything, including you, a tree and a car has a charge - either positive, negative or neutral. The human body is a good conductor and we are all electric beings. Charge, therefore, can flow in and around our bodies with dramatic effects on chemical reactions that affect our health. More on that later.
The type of grounding I mentioned earlier has something to do with feet on the ground right? Well, the earth acts like a huge collection of negative charge which get transferred to a person's body when they contact the ground - provided they are not wearing rubber shoes or standing on an insulating surface like wood, tile or asphalt. The image below is modified from the famous lectures of physicist and Nobel winner Richard Feynman, showing the electrical potential between the earth and the top of the head. Mr. Barefoot on the right is "grounded" now sharing the 0 volts with the earth and forming a protective "umbrella" electric field. This sharing of negative charge with the earth is what reaps tremendous benefits for the body. We touch on this in the next section.
The benefits of grounding
Walking around barefoot in contact with the earth actually offers a myriad of benefits for your health. Here are some proven effects that grounding has on the body.
- Reduces pain and accelerates recovery [2]
- Increases concentration of white blood cells and other molecules involved in the inflammatory response. [3]
- Improves mood and sleep quality [2]
- Anti-aging [1][3]
- Stress reduction [5]
- Reduces cardiovascular risk and events [1]
- Other observed effects include feeling a sense of being centered or energetically grounded.
The negative effects of shoes
You can imagine that closing your feet off to the earth may have the opposite effect to the above-mentioned benefits and you'd be right. Wearing shoes, especially rubber soled ones, electrically insulate you from the flow of charge that your body needs. This has reverse effects on your health like [3]:
- increasing inflammatory chronic diseases
- chronic fatigue
- auto-immune conditions
- reduced recovery rate
Walk the talk
With all these benefits to grounding, you might be wondering: "How do I integrate this in my life?". In this section, we discuss the practical steps (pun intended) that you can take to make the most of walking barefoot in your environment.
Step 1: Ease into it
- Take a walk barefoot outside for a few minutes a day. Embrace the natural foot on the ground.
Step 2: Combine activities outside
- Try integrate your routine with the outside. Having lunch, playing with the kids or meditaing can be also be done barefoot outside. Mindfully walking is a great form of meditation. This also helps connect with nature and center your mind.
Step 3: Grounding mat
- Think about getting a grounding mat. Or better yet, make one yourself for the office or bedtime. Instructive video here.
Step 4: Grounding shoes
- If you want to always be connected with the earth without showing your feet, you can get grounding shoes with a conductive plate. Again, you can also make these yourself with some conductive tape and little bit of creativity.
Final Steps
It seems humanity has lost its connection with mother nature and we are worse off for it.
Applying these grounding techniques in the modern world will not only boost your health, but will re-establish that connection with ourselves and the earth.
Thank you for taking this walk with me and may you have a wonderful journey ahead!
References
[1] Biophysics of Earthing (Grounding) the Human Body
[3] Oschman JL, Chevalier G, Brown R. The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. J Inflamm Res. 2015 Mar 24;8:83-96. doi: 10.2147/JIR.S69656. PMID: 25848315; PMCID: PMC4378297.
[4] What is Earthing? Dave Aspery
[5] Earthing: Health Implications