Conduction and the use of grounding products
Are grounding products worth it
For most of the time humans have been around we have been connected to the earth’s electric field by our bare feet/skin on the ground or by use of shoes made out of natural materials. Only recently have we deviated from this constant.
The human body is largely comprised of water, which makes us exceptional at conducting electric currents. I believe that we evolved to be such a large percentage water in order to maintain an overall charge consistent with the earth’s surface. For all of our ancestry, being connected to the earth was a constant stimuli in our lives; however, this has suddenly decreased drastically. Most people in the US no longer prioritize grounding (aka earthing) and I believe the evidence of this manifests itself as the many many inflammation-based diseases that we see plaguing us.
Once I began to learn about the merit to grounding and why it is important, I have begun to believe that many of the present-day diseases and ailments so many of us are hindered by could be alleviated with consistent grounding. Do I have any sources to back this up? Nope.
While I don’t have any studies to provide, I can explain my thought process on this topic, and it has a lot to do with redox reactions.
Redox stands for Reduction-Oxidation; this is the process of electron transfer between two molecules or proteins.
Reduction means a reduction in the charge of a molecule, meaning its charge is decreasing relative to neutral and it is becoming more negative.
Oxidation is the loss of electrons, meaning the charge in increasing relative to neutral and becoming more positive. The reason this is called oxidation is because the number of bonds to oxygen usually increases during this process as it loses electrons (not important to know but I thought I would mention it).
Redox reactions are the essence of life. When you zoom-in to biochemistry as much as you can and you look at what is the foundation of life; it is the transfer of electrons. In order for life to proceed for an organism, non-spontaneous reactions must occur. Non-spontaneous reactions are anything that require a push to get started, usually an input of energy.
The big reactions that make life possible are non-spontaneous, energy requiring reactions. And since these reactions are so incredibly important, we have produced a way to regenerate the energy input for them; enter redox reaction proteins.
It’s not essential to go into all the details on these proteins, but essentially they have two confirmations: one where they are loaded with electrons and ready to react, an other right after the reaction took place where they are empty of electrons.
When the proteins have reacted and have given away their electrons they can be thought of as more positive, and they need to be reset back to their high energy confirmation in order to react again.
As we age and move through life we are becoming more and more positive because the ability of our cells to regenerate their redox proteins declines. This can be due to many factors, but once this fact is realized it is now a small leap to see why grounding is so important.
The earth’s surface is often described as a battery because it has a surplus of electrons from which we can pull. When we touch the ground with our highly conductive skin, the free electrons will follow their concentration gradient into our (slightly less negative) body. The electrons will continue to flow into us and into our cells specifically until we reach homeostasis with the current.
It is important to ground in the modern day because there are so many environmental blockages that hinder the mitochondria from functioning as well as it could. Mother Nature also had us evolve as conductive so that the earth can recharge our redox proteins into their negative state.
Moving through life, it is important to restore a net negative charge to our bodies and help the mitochondria make use of energy as efficiently as possible. If our redox ability declines, so does the efficiency of the mitochondria and the cell’s ability to live overall.
After realizing how important grounding is, I have prioritized it as much as I can in the mornings and evenings on weekdays and throughout the day on weekends. However, I wanted to increase this to as much as possible and have been using a grounding pillowcase at night.
Investing in something that allows you to ground while sleeping is well worth it. We spend roughly one third of our lifetime sleeping - might as well make the most of that time. I chose only a grounding pillow case and not additional sheets and comforters because the body is very conductive and the electrons will move throughout the body.
Grounding sleeping products will usually come with a long cord that can be ran out the window to the ground, or can be plugged into the grounding portion of an outlet. When plugging it into an outlet it is wise to do at least one (but preferably all) of the following:
Check that the outlet is grounded
Check that the A/C voltage on the product is zero (multimeter)
Check that there are no high levels of electric fields (trifield meter)
It is very important to check on these factors to ensure that you are not amplifying any non-natural electric fields and laying on them all night.
I highly recommend implementing some form of grounding into your daily life. Buying a product is not necessary, but I have watched products change people’s minds about grounding being voodoo or fringe, and seen them gain immense and rapid relief from it.
Thank you for reading!