We should always make sure that there's evidence behind the things we do, especially when it comes to something as important and serious as our health. We've compiled some key studies to show why you should consider Grounding. Enjoy the read!
1. Clinical Earthing thermographic - 20 Case Studies
Publication: Medical Thermography Case Studies. Clinical Earthing Application in 20 Case Studies
Researcher: William Amalu, DC, DABCT, FIACT
Method : The case studies presented were performed out of an out-patient clinical treatment center in Redwood City, California. The subjects were randomly selected out of the treatment database as they presented for care. Each subject consented to inclusion in the study. Pain levels were assessed and followed using the standardized four point visual analogue pain scale. Thermal imaging of each subject was undertaken utilizing standardized pre-examination preparation protocols and strict image acquisition according to published guidelines. Some of the subjects were supplied with an earthing sleep system consisting of bedding containing conductive fibers, which was placed on top of the subject’s mattress and thereafter connected to the earth via a conductive ground cord and an earthed ground rod. Other subjects were given clinical earthing treatments, which entailed the use of conductive electrode adhesive patches that were attached to the skin at specific points and thereafter coupled to the earth via a conductive ground wire that was connected to an earthed ground rod. All of the subjects were followed over time and their results recorded and summarized. Use of high-resolution medical infrared imaging as an objective assessment of both inflammatory and neurophysiologic conditions demonstrated significant immediate changes in both acute and chronic inflammation related conditions. ETT is showing incredible promise as one of the most significant advances in the treatment of both acute and chronic inflammatory conditions.
Note : Throughout this document, the term Electron Transfer Technology (ETT), is used as another term for “earthing” – coupling the human body with the earth.
2. Pilot Study on the Effect of Grounding on Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness
Published in : THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE, Volume 16, Number 3, 2010, pp. 265–273
Author(s) :Dick Brown, Gaetan Chevalier, Michael Hill Date: 2010
Conclusion : The purpose of the study was to determine whether certain markers could differentiate between GRD and UNG subjects who had experienced DOMS and grounding or sham-grounding. Forty-eight (48) markers were measured. In 30 of these markers, a consistent pattern emerged; over the 3-day testing period, one or the other group was always above or below the other group. Of 144 data points, 52 (36.1%) showed differences of 10% or greater and 30 (20.8%) showed differences of 20% or greater. White blood cells, neutrophils, lymphocytes, bilirubin, creatine kinase, Pi=PCr ratios, GPC, PC and both a subjective and objective pain measurement had a strong, positive relationship with the grounded subjects. Grounding appears to be the first intervention with the potential to reduce the time of recovery and improve muscle function from DOMS. These findings suggest that grounding has enough of an effect on DOMS that a larger study is warranted.
3. The effects of Grounding (Earthing) on Massage Therapists.
Publication: Explore, the Journal of Science and healing, Vol. 15, Issue 3, p. 181-190
Researcher: Géatan Chevalier, Deepak Chopra, Sheila Patel, Lizabeth Weiss, Paul J. Mills
Date : May-june 2019
Conclusion: Grounding helped therapists who were experiencing higher stress to cope with those stressful situations by providing them with extra energy. Grounding also helped those therapists who were experiencing higher levels of pain to become more relaxed, with less anxiety and depression and improved sleep. These findings, combined with the results of a prior study indicating improvements in inflammatory biomarkers, blood viscosity and heart rate variability (HRV), suggest that grounding is beneficial for massage therapists in multiple domains relevant to their occupation, improving overall health and quality of life.
4. The effects of grounding on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.
Publication: Journal of Inflammation Research
Author(s ):Richard Brown, Gaétan Chevalier, Michael Hill
Date : 24-03-2015
Conclusion :Accumulating experiences and research on earthing, or grounding, point to the emergence of a simple, natural, and accessible health strategy against chronic inflammation, warranting the serious attention of clinicians and researchers. The living matrix (or ground regulation or tissue tensegrity-matrix system), the very fabric of the body, appears to serve as one of our primary antioxidant defense systems. As this report explains, it is a system requiring occasional recharging by conductive contact with the earth’s surface – the “battery” for all planetary life – to be optimally effective.
5. Earthing: Health implications of reconnecting the human body to the Earth's surface electrons.
Publication: Journal of Environmental and Public Health Volume 2012, Article ID 291541
Researcher: Gaetan Chevalier, Stephen T. Sinatra, James L. Oschman, Karol Sokal, Pawel Sokal
Date : 4-10-2011
Conclusion: De Flora wrote the following: “Since the late 20th century, chronic degenerative diseases have overcome infectious disease as the major causes of death in the 21st century, so an increase in human longevity will depend on finding an intervention that inhibits the development of these diseases and slows their progress” [33].
Could such an intervention be located right beneath our feet? Earthing research, observations, and related theories raise an intriguing possibility about the Earth’s surface electrons as an untapped health resource—the Earth as a “global treatment table.” Emerging evidence shows that contact with the Earth—whether being outside barefoot or indoors connected to grounded conductive systems—may be a simple, natural, and yet profoundly effective environmental strategy against chronic stress, ANS dysfunction, inflammation, pain, poor sleep, disturbed HRV, hypercoagulable blood, and many common health disorders, including cardiovascular disease. The research done to date supports the concept that grounding or earthing the human body may be an essential element in the health equation along with sunshine, clean air and water, nutritious food, and physical activity.
6. Chronic disease - are we missing something?
Published in: The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medecine, Volume 17, Number 4, 2011, pp. 283–285
Author :James L. Oschman, PhD
Date : 2011
Conclusion :Many chronic diseases are lifelong conditions, and impact the quality of life not only of those suffering from the diseases, but also of their family members, caregivers, and others. Stemming the growth in the enormous costs related to chronic disease has become a major policy priority, as the government, employers, and consumers increasingly struggle to keep up. ... Discovery of the underlying causes of the chronic diseases would be another milestone, and may now be within reach... With respect to chronic diseases, a plausible, testable, and refutable hypothesis is that all chronic diseases have a single underlying cause: the stresses that produce and maintain chronic inflammation. Such stresses include environmental factors of various kinds including those that disturb physiology and those whose absence is disruptive. In this editorial, both sunlight and contact with the earth have been mentioned as essential environmental requirements for health. A corollary to the hypothesis is that the thousands of so-called diseases that have been named may actually be an elaborate classification system of the various symptoms that can arise from a single underlying condition: inflammation.
7. Earthing the human body reduces blood viscosity, a major factor in Cardiovascular disease,
Published in: The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Vol. 19, Nr 2, 2013, pp. 102–110
Author(s) : Gaetan Chevalier, Stephen T. Sinatra, James L. Oschman, Richard M. Delany
Date : 2013
Conclusion : Increased blood viscosity in the general population may be a predictor of cardiovascular events because of its influences on hypertension, thrombogenesis, ischemia, and arthrogenesis. Unfortunately, blood viscosity has become a forgotten risk factor and is rarely measured in clinical practice. Interventions that reduce blood viscosity and RBC aggregation are important. Statins appear to be effective for modulating blood viscosity, but can have serious side-effects including death. Moreover, some patients have statin intolerance. The use of a safe effective anti-inflammatory strategy that is not dependent on isoprenoid inhibition is therefore desirable. Grounding or earthing the body is virtually harmless. To date, there has been no systematic study of the effects of grounding on BP. However, there are anecdotal reports that patients using blood-thinning drugs, such as warfarin (Coumadin), need to have their clotting time monitored when they begin to make more frequent conductive contact with the earth. When physicians recommend evidence based, harmless, and simple natural interventions, alleviation of human suffering and improved quality of life can be realized. The findings in this pilot study indicate that grounding has a safe and significant effect on zeta potential and that further study is warranted.
8. Differences in blood urea and creatinine concentrations in Earthed and Unearthed subjects during cycling exercise and recovery.
Published in: Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Vol. 2013, Art. ID 382643
Author(s):Pawel Sokal,Zbigniew Jastrzwbski, Ewelina Jaskulska, Karol Sokal, Maria Jastrzwbska, Aukasz Radziminski, Robert Dargiewicz, Piotr Zielinski
Date : 2013
Conclusion:Our study shows that blood urea concentrations are lower in subjects who are earthed (connected to the earth potential with the use of copper wire) during physical exercise and recovery compared with the same subjects who are not earthed during the same period of exercise and recovery. These results suggest that earthing during exercise inhibits hepatic protein catabolism or increases renal urea excretion. Earthing during exercise affects protein metabolism, resulting in a positive nitrogen balance. This phenomenon has fundamental importance in understanding human metabolic processes and may have implications in training programs for athletes.
9. The biologic effects of grounding the human body during sleep as measured by cortisol levels and subjective reporting of sleep, pain, and stress.
Published in: The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Volume 10, Number 5, 2004, pp. 767–776
Author(s):Maurice Ghaly and Dale Teplitz
Date : 21-09-2015
Effects of grounding: Effects of grounding: Electrically grounding the human body refers to maintaining the body at the natural electrical potential (voltage) of the earth. The voltage of the earth is a measure of the free electrons that reside on the earth’s surface (Gish, 1936). Grounding the human body by close coupling it with a ground plane in the form of a conductive mattress pad, placed under a bed sheet and connected directly to the earth, significantly reduces the 60 Hz electric field–induced body voltage by offsetting the attraction of a 60 Hz electric field from the body (which is small) to the earth (which is large). This creates a stabilizing effect on the electrons of the body that were previously disturbed by the attraction of the 60 Hz electric field to the body.
Conclusion: Results indicate that grounding the human body to earth during sleep reduces night-time levels of cortisol and resynchronizes hormone cortisol secretion more in alignment with the natural 24-hour circadian rhythm profile. Changes were most apparent in females. Furthermore, subjective reporting indicates that grounding the human body to earth during sleep improves sleep and reduces pain and stress.
10. The effect of grounding on delayed-onset muscle soreness.
Published in: THE JOURNAL OF ALTERNATIVE AND COMPLEMENTARY MEDICINE, Volume 16, Number 3, 2010, pp. 265–273
Author(s):Dick Brown, Gaetan Chevalier, Michael Hill
Date : 2010
Conclusion:The purpose of the study was to determine whether certain markers could differentiate between GRD and UNG subjects who had experienced DOMS and grounding or sham-grounding. Forty-eight (48) markers were measured. In 30 of these markers, a consistent pattern emerged; over the 3-day testing period, one or the other group was always above or below the other group. Of 144 data points, 52 (36.1%) showed differences of 10% or greater and 30 (20.8%) showed differences of 20% or greater. White blood cells, neutrophils, lymphocytes, bilirubin, creatine kinase, Pi=PCr ratios, GPC, PC and both a subjective and objective pain measurement had a strong, positive relationship with the grounded subjects. Grounding appears to be the first intervention with the potential to reduce the time of recovery and improve muscle function from DOMS. These findings suggest that grounding has enough of an effect on DOMS that a larger study is warranted.
11. Grounding after moderate eccentric contractions reduces muscle damage.
Published in: Open Access Journal of Sports Medicine
By:Richard Brown, Gaétan Chevalier, Michael Hill
Date : 21-09-2015
Conclusion:The study demonstrated that grounding after moderate eccentric contractions resulted in differences in certain markers between and/or within groups. The grounded group, on various days, had significantly higher neutrophils and platelets. Practical significance with respect to neutrophils and grounding should be further investigated because of 1) the important role of neutrophils in both pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory responses, and 2) the tendency of neutrophils in three previous studies to approach statistical significance. Platelet increase may be important due to their recently discovered participation in the immune inflammatory responses. The sham-grounded group had significantly higher CK on day 2 while the grounded subjects did not experience an increase in CK. This is an important result because CK due to eccentric contractions usually increases significantly in both groups. Grounding reduced the loss of CK from the injured muscle cells, indicating a healing effect.
12. Earthing the human organism influences bioelectrical processes.
Published in: The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, Volume 18, Number 3, 2012, pp. 229–234
Author(s):Karol Sokal, Pawel Sokal
Date : 2012
Conclusion:Results of this study indicate that up-and-down movement and the elimination of potentials in the electrical environment of the human organism by the Earth’s mass may play a fundamental role in regulation of bioelectrical and bioenergetical processes. The Earth’s electromagnetohydrodynamic potential may be responsible for this phenomenon.
13. The effectiveness of a conductive patch and a conductive bed pad in reducing induced human body voltage via the application of earth ground.
Published in: European Biology and Bioelectromagnetics 2005, 1: 23–40
Author(s):Roger Applewhite
Date : 29-04-2004
Conclusion:The testing performed confirms that the Conductive Patch and the Conductive Bed Pad are both effective in reducing the mains induced body voltage by a considerable amount. The test also provided evidence that the electric network model of the body used in this study generally explains the phenomenon demonstrated in the test.
14. Emotional stress, heart rate variability, grounding, and improved autonomic tone: clinical applications.
Published in: Integrative Medicine, Vol. 10, No. 3
Author(s):Gaétan Chevalier, Stephen T. Sinatra
Date : 6-7/2011
Conclusion: When one grounds to the electron-enriched earth, an improved balance of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system occurs. Previous investigations reported a marked change in biological parameters after about 20 to 30 minutes, others in several days, and a few others show a drastic change immediately at grounding (<2 sec). Skin conductance and electroencephalographic and electromyographic recordings showed the most immediate and profound changes.6,8 This study showed a positive trend in HRV that kept improving all the way to the end of the 40-minute period of grounding, suggesting a greater benefit with time.
In patients who experience anxiety, emotional stress, panic, fear, and/or symptoms of autonomic dystonia, including headaches, cardiac palpitations, and dizziness, grounding could be a very realistic therapy. These patients may see positive effects most likely within 20 to 30 minutes and in almost all cases in 40 minutes.
Negative emotions such as panic, depression, anxiety, and hostility have all demonstrated reduced HRV. Grounding has the potential to help support HRV, reduce excessive sympathetic overdrive, balance the ANS, and, thus, attenuate the stress response. This has important prognostic considerations especially because an association between depression and increased risk of cardiovascular events has been repeatedly observed in both the healthy population and patients with established cardiovascular disease. Future studies are warranted in utilizing grounding to help assuage the chronically over-stimulated sympathetic nervous system in patients with cardiovascular disorders. Such prospective studies should also include subjective measurements of perception of anxiety, depression, obsessive ruminations related to distressors, and perceived levels of stress. In the setting of acute or chronic sympathetic overdrive, grounding the body to nature, as well as employing conventional medical care when appropriate, is a logical and ethical integrative intervention that will help to support positive clinical response and possibly outcome as well.
15. Grounding the human body improves facial blood flow regulation: results of a randomized, placebo controlled pilot study.
Published in: Journal of Cosmetics, Dermatological Sciences and Applications, 2014, 4, 293-308
Author(s):Gaétan Chevalier
Date : 12-2014
Conclusion:The very Earth we live on possesses a form of easily accessible and beneficial natural electric energy that has been found to positively influence human physiology in various ways. Previous studies have indicated improved cardiovascular and rheological (blood viscosity) dynamics, including autonomic nervous system regulation.
In this study, the Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging camera further supports those findings by documenting a clear improvement in autonomic nervous system regulation of facial blood flow in grounded subjects but not in sham-grounded subjects. The results demonstrate, for the first time, that even one-hour contact with the Earth restores blood flow regulation to the face that may enhance skin tissue repair, health and vitality, and optimize facial appearance, which may also have broad implications for overall cardiovascular function and health. Further studies, using larger comparison groups, longer monitoring times and more measuring methods, are warranted in order to confirm the novel influence of the Earth as a protector of skin health and appearance.
16. Grounding the human body during yoga exercise with a grounded yoga mat reduces blood viscosity.
Published in: Open Journal of Preventive Medicine, 2015, 5, 159-168
Author(s):Richard Brown, Gaétan Chevalier
Date : 04-2015
Conclusion:Blood viscosity may be an early predictor of chronic disease. Since equipment is now available to reliably measure this parameter, more investigations should be undertaken. Habits, as well as certain medications, can lower blood viscosity. But medications are often expensive and present unwanted side effects. A potential treatment that presents no downside is grounding the body to the earth. In this study it was shown that, despite mild exercise that can raise blood viscosity temporarily, blood viscosity was lowered at both the systolic and diastolic ends of the cardiac cycle in subjects using grounded yoga mats. Earthing has the ability to affect exercise-induced inflammation by reducing blood viscosity.
17. Changes in pulse rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygenation, perfusion index, skin conductance, and their variability induced during and after grounding.
Published in: The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medecine, Volume 16, Number 1, 2010, pp. 1–7
Author(s):Gaetan Chevalier
Date : 2010
Conclusion:The findings presented in this article support previous findings regarding stress reduction and improved sleep. This warrants more research to understand first the physiologic and electrophysiologic changes happening during grounding and, on a longer term, the implications and ramifications of grounding for health maintenance and=or disease prevention. This could be an important result that can lead to methods for improving people’s health naturally and to cut health care costs by preventing a host of problems and diseases related to stress.
18. Effectiveness of grounded sleeping on recovery after intensive eccentric muscle loading.
Publication: Frontiers in Physiology, 2019
Author(s):Erich Müller, Patrick Pröller, Fatima Ferreira-Briza, Lorenz Aglas and Thomas Stöggl
Date : 28 january 2019
Conclusion:Taken together, grounded sleeping was shown to result in faster recovery and/or less pronounced markers of muscle damage and inflammation. Our preliminary results with respect to the detailed blood analysis strongly support the view that grounded sleeping modulates key events in the early stages of muscle regeneration at both cellular and molecular levels. Based on the investigated immunological parameters, the modulatory effects of grounded sleeping seem to dampen inflammatory responses triggered by EIMD. GRD might be seen as a simple methodology to enhance acute and long-term recovery after intensive exercises within the training process or following intensive competitions.
Based on the results of the pilot study, more research is necessary to clearly point out the mechanisms behind possible effects of grounded sleeping on the cellular and molecular levels.
Additionally, the magnitude of being grounded, that is how many “mobile” electrons migrate into the body while GRD vs. UGD sleeping, needs to be investigated further. Finally, whether or not grounded sleeping affects sleep patterns (e.g., sleep quality) also needs to be addressed in future studies. An improvement in the sleeping quality by grounded sleeping might result in alterations in performance and changes in stress markers in athletes.
19. Electrical grounding improves vagal tone in preform infants.
Publication: Neonatology, 2017
Author(s) : Rohit Passi, Kim K. Doheny, Yuri Gordin, Hans Hinssen, Charles Palmer
Date : 27 february 2017
Conclusion:Low vagal tone (VT) is a marker of vulnerability to stress and the risk of developing necrotizing enterocolitis in preterm infants. Electric fields produced by equipment in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) induce an electric potential measurable on the skin in reference to ground. An electrical connection to ground reduces the skin potential and improves VT in adults.
With EG, the skin voltage dropped by about 95%. Pre-grounding VT was inversely correlated with the skin potential. VT increased by 67% with EG.
After grounding, the VT fell to the pre-grounding level.
Conclusion: The electrical environment affects autonomic balance. EG improves VT and may improve resilience to stress and lower the risk of neonatal morbidity in preterm infants.
20. Practical applications of grounding to support health.
Publication: Biomedical Journal, 2023
Author(s) : Laura Koniver
Date : 5 December, 2022
An ever expanding body of research over the past several decades suggest that directly touching the earth, a practice known as grounding, puts the body into a healing state. The natural universe conducts an energy current known as a direct current (DC). This DC circuit of energy flows through everything on our planet, including plants, animals, human beings, and the surface of our entire globe, creating a global electrical circuit. DC energy is also what the living human body uses to function, as everything from the beating of our heart to the movement of our muscles to our brain's ability to think operates using DC energy. The earth's DC energy flows continuously across the earth's crust, and anything conductive that touches the earth becomes part of this natural circuit. Our human bodies, which are highly conductive, join this global electrical circuit whenever we make direct contact with the earth, a practice known as grounding. Medical studies are revealing that by becoming a part of the global electrical circuit, through grounding, the human body enters a profound healing state. As our understanding of the health benefits of grounding continue to deepen, we can begin to use grounding as an intentional healing tool in clinical medicine. Grounding may play a role in not only improving the body's natural ability to function, but may also play a role in the healing of disease and the prevention of disease development in the first place. Studies so far suggest that becoming a part of the earth's global DC circuit enhances our conductive health, which has far reaching implications to all our organ systems that utilize DC energy and conductivity to work, including but not limited to: our central and peripheral nervous system, our musculoskeletal system, and our cardiovascular system. Further research into the healing properties of grounding will help clinicians tailor suggestions for specific health issues, and will help us understand the role of our body's conductivity in the presence of our global electrical circuit.
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