How to Ground Yourself (Earthing)
You can ground yourself
(get electrically connected with Earth) for some part of the day
and/or during sleep using simple techniques discussed on this page. Most people
are able to find nearly all required materials and parts in their own household.
Note that soles of arms and feet are the most conductive areas on the surface of the human body.
Warning. Excessive grounding (for previously ungrounded and currently sick people or pregnant females) can trigger a cleansing reaction and is potentially very dangerous. Therefore, as for breathing retraining, grounding yourself requires a good knowledge of temporary restrictions and contraindications.
How to ground yourself during daytime
1. Barefoot walking or barefoot running is the easiest and cheapest option. If you are new to barefoot activities, use this method for some weeks only in the first part of the day (before 6 pm or even 2 pm) since excessive stimulation of nerve endings of the feet can cause problems with sleep.
If you can find soft grass, use it for up to 10 min, better in the early morning (wet grass is more conductive).
2. You can ground yourself using a simple device that is shown on the right. This particular homemade DIY device can be used only in the USA and Canada since it is made for a three prong US outlet. If you are located in a different country, study the details provided below.
In order to make this device, you need:
- an electrical cable
- 2 copper clad clamps (which can be found in hardware stores)
- a standard three prong plug
- electrical tape.
You can get electrically connected (or grounded) with Earth using a copper cable, which is easy to find in electrical and hardware stores. (Other electrical cables can be used too.)
Both electrodes (copper pieces of this device) can be kept on the soles of your feet (barefoot, or in your socks, or sandals) or on your waste (less preferable due to much better conductivity of soles).
The
pieces of copper can be attached to your K1 (Kidney 1) acupuncture points (see
the picture), which are probably the most conductive places on the skin of the
body. You can fix those flat copper pieces on K1 points using a surgical tape
for better connection.
This is one of the simplest and cheapest methods how to ground yourself to start with.
If you try to use a plug with a cable from old electrical appliances, keep in mind that the ground wire is located in the middle.
As you can see on the picture of the device, 2 upper prongs (flat prongs) of the plug are bent for safety reasons, while the round prong (for grounding) is left for use.
3. Feet bath with salty water. In your home, fill a wide basket (for feet) with 2-3 liters of water. Add 2-3 tablespoons of sea salt in this water and dissolve it. Keep one or both copper electrodes in water, while another end of the cable connected to Earth. If there are no contraindications, use it 2, 3 or more times per day. This last method provides nearly an ideal connection between Earth and the human body and provides the best grounding for feet.
How to ground yourself during sleep
Earthing during sleep is the suggested method especially for those people who have low results for the morning body-oxygenation test. One end of the grounding cable should be connected to Earth and the other one to an object that will be in contact with your body.
Where to attach the grounding end?
There are different options for grounding depending on your current location and availability of plumbing and heating tubes.
1.
If your sockets are connected with a ground (Earth) cable, this is the cable
that you can get connected to. The solution for the USA and Canada was
mentioned above. Here is an image of such a plug attached to a ground cable of a
socket (the left picture).
2. If you are located in the UK or Ireland, you can disassemble the plug (usually you need to unscrew one or more bolts), and get connected only with the lower prong connected to Earth. You can do the same in other countries that have ground cables connected to Earth.
3.
If you live in continental Europe or some other country, or if you live anywhere in the world, you can get connected
to plumbing or central heating tubes (see the left image). In this image, the
copper part of the cable was separated from a plastic coating (this can be done
with ordinary scissors), and then this end was fixed with electrical tape.
Other types of tape may also be used. The crucial thing is to achieve good
contact between metal parts. Also, make sure that your cable is attached to pure
metal that does not have paint (generally paints are nonconductive).
Devices and electrodes for body contact
1. A simple DIY device (see the picture above) with 2 copper pieces can be used to get connected with Earth during sleep. You can wear socks during sleep and keep the device electrodes in socks. Optionally, you can use a surgical tape for keeping the copper pieces attached to K1 points.
2.
It is possible to apply a conductive tape on your bed linen and get a
strip across the bed so that your body has contact with this metal strip
during sleep. However, such conductive tapes can be found only in special
electrical stores. Here is a similar solution how to ground yourself using
materials that can be found in many homes.
If you have (or can find) an ordinary aluminum foil (used for baking) and a wide
plastic tape (or duct tape, or blue tape), then you can easily make a grounding
metal strip from these materials.
How? Attach about 50-60 cm (20-24 inches) of aluminum foil to the sticky side of the tape. Then you need to fix this metal strip in the middle of your bed. The next image shows this metal strip located on a bed sheet.
Warning. Make sure that the uncovered metal part is facing up so that your body can touch it during sleep and you can get grounded yourself.
Warning. Do not use foils from potato chips and similar food wrappings. Both sides of such foils are usually covered with a thin (invisible) layer of plastic that prevents electrical current and flow of electrons.
After this, you should connect this metal strip with another end of the copper wire. You can achieve that using a simple tape (better an electrical tape since such tapes are more sticky).
There are many other options, both simple and more difficult ones, of how to ground
yourself. Which methods are better? One of the effects of grounding is that
generally sick and severely sick people have stronger perspiration with higher
conductivity of their skin. As a result, they get more electrons during
grounding. As about the methods themselves, their efficiency depends on:
- surface area of grounding
- skin conductivity of this area (or resistance)
- duration of grounding.
Warning. Do not use grounding during thunderstorms due to presence of lightning. In a long run, personal safety can be increased with application of resistors and blow-up fuses to prevent even miniscule chances of electrocution.
Warning. People with serious health problems, those taking certain types of hormones and other medical drugs, pregnant women and people with transplants, need to be aware about temporary restrictions and contraindications.
Other methods to ground yourself
If you find Earthing beneficial, you can either investigate more on this topic or purchase Earthing products using this link (for Canada and the USA customers only): Earthing. Note that while the site and business are located in Canada, they have some stock in the USA and offer about the same (or usual) prices for Earthing products with free shipping on orders over $150 in the USA.
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The image on the right side is a link to the most popular book on Earthing which has the title "Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?". You can choose this book in paper back, Kindle or MP3 audio format. There are more detail about effects of grounding (Earthing) on inflammatory response and chronic inflammation. For review of clinical studies related to effects of Earthing click here: Earthing benefits. I plan to write a detailed manual "Earthing: How to Ground Yourself" that will be available on this and Earthing pages. |
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Reference pages: Breathing norms and medical facts:
-
Breathing
norms: Parameters, graph, and description of the normal
breathing pattern
- 6 breathing myths: Myths and superstitions about breathing
and body oxygenation (prevalence: over 90%)
- Hyperventilation: Definitions of
hyperventilation: their advantages and weak points
- Hyperventilation syndrome:
Western scientific evidence about prevalence of chronic hyperventilation in patients with chronic conditions
(37 medical studies)
- Normal minute ventilation: Small and
slow
breathing at rest is enjoyed by healthy subjects (14 studies)
- Hyperventilation prevalence: Present in
over 90% of
normal people (24 medical studies)
- HV and hypoxia:
How and why deep breathing reduces oxygenation of cells and tissues of
all vital organs
- Body-oxygen test (CP test)
: How to measure your own breathing and body oxygenation (two in one) using a simple DIY test
- Body oxygen in healthy:
Results for the body-oxygen test for healthy people (27 medical
studies)
- Body oxygen in sick
: Results for the body-oxygen test for sick people (14 medical studies)
- Buteyko
Table of Health Zones: Clinical description and ranges for breathing zones:
from the critically ill (severely sick) up to super healthy people
with maximum possible body oxygenation
- Morning hyperventilation: Why people feel
worse and critically ill people are most
likely to die during early morning hours
References: pages about CO2 effect:
- Vasodilation: CO2 expands arteries and arterioles facilitating perfusion
(or blood supply) to all vital organs
- The Bohr effect:
How and why oxygen is released by red blood cells in tissues
- Cell oxygen levels: How alveolar CO2 influences
oxygen transport
- Oxygen transport: O2 transport is controlled by
vasoconstriction-vasodilation and the Bohr effects, both of which rely on CO2
- Free radical generation:
Reactive oxygen species are produced within cells due to anaerobic cell respiration caused by cell hypoxia
- Inflammatory response: Chronic inflammation
in fueled by the hypoxia-inducible factor 1, while normal breathing reduces
and eliminates inflammation
- Nerve stabilization: People remain calm due to calmative or
sedative effects of carbon dioxide in neurons or nerve cells
- Muscle relaxation: Relaxation of muscle cells
is normal at high CO2, while hypocapnia causes muscular tension, poor posture
and, sometimes, aggression and violence
- Bronchodilation: Dilation of
airways (bronchi and bronchioles) is caused by carbon dioxide, and their constriction
by hypocapnia (low CO2)
- Blood
pH: Regulation of blood pH due to breathing and regulation of other bodily fluids
- CO2: lung damage: Elevated carbon
dioxide prevents lung injury and promotes healing of lung tissues
- CO2: Topical carbon dioxide can heal skin and tissues
- Synthesis of glutamine
in the brain, CO2 fixation, and other chemical reactions
- Deep breathing myth:
Ignorant and naive people promote the idea that deep breathing and breathing
more air at rest is beneficial for health
- Breathing control: How is our
breathing regulated? Why hypocapnia makes breathing uneven, irregular and erratic.
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