What if we told you that by simply taking off your shoes and going for a walk outside barefoot helps you feel less stressed, improves your health and boosts your mood? There is proven science behind it, and it actually works!
According to many studies, including one by The National Library of Medicine, grounding, or as some people call it, earthing, not only has a beneficial impact on our immune system and mood — it also helps to reduce inflammation in our bodies.
"Inflammation is the base of so many of the chronic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis that we are experiencing in modern life," explains naturopathic doctor, Dr Catherine Clinton who has experienced huge benefits of grounding.
"Inflammation also impacts our mood because it distracts our gut function and that impacts our neurotransmitters, like serotonin, the hormone that makes us happy and dopamine, the hormone that makes us creative and energized.'
So how does grounding actually work?
"A good analogy for grounding is that the Earth is the socket and we are the plug," Catherine tells HELLO! "The Earth has a negative charge and it is lined with free electrons, and when we put our body in contact with the Earth or things that are embedded in the surface of the Earth, we can conduct the electrons that are lining our planet."
READ: How morning sunlight cured my chronic anxiety
Catherine's personal story is testament to the benefits of grounding — especially for her anxiety.
"I had two autoimmune diseases which cause inflammation in the body," she explains. "One that affects the thyroid and one that affects the gastrointestinal tract, and they left me very anxious and with panic attacks. They just became a regular and very unpleasant part of life. So when I started researching about grounding, I thought, okay, I'm going to go do this, and hopefully it'll help."
Catherine noticed the benefits of grounding almost straight away. "It was pretty immediate that I noticed a calming effect, and now it's become a daily practice. It's part of my morning routine to go out and be barefoot and to see the sun coming up in the morning and just have that moment."
Catherine also says that grounding makes her feel safe which in turn helps lessen her anxiety. "I think so many of us have mood issues because we have a lack of safety in our lives. We have a hard time finding safety in our relationships, in our family, in our workplace and society at large. And that lack of safety can further that feeling of anxiety or depression or whatever the mood issue is. But grounding allows you to form a relationship with the world around you, and that was particularly life changing for me."
The best thing about grounding is that we can all do it and easily make it a part of our everyday lives.
"You can ground by placing your bare feet or hands on the grass, the sand, rocks, the bare dirt — any open space of the Earth allows you to ground," Catherine explains. "You can also ground by touching things that are embedded in the earth, such as a tree or running your hands through."
There's even an option to ground with socks on if you don't want to get your feet dirty. "Conductive clothing like silk, cotton, linen, wool are conducive to grounding as those electrons from the earth can pass through them, just not as quickly," Catherine explains. "However, synthetic fibers like polyester block the conduction of electrons so it's really dependent on the type of clothing that you are wearing."
And how long should we ground for? "Any contact with Earth for any amount of time will see some benefits," Catherine explains. "Grounding can have an immediate regulation on the nervous system so that if we go outside and come in contact with the ground and are able to take some deep breaths, we can feel the difference almost immediately. It seems to work wonders."