Earthing and Electrical You- Part II
What is earthing? Does it work? Why I am a skeptic.
In Part I, I demonstrated definitively, I hope, how dependent our bodies and our health are on a healthy electrical milieu that extends from inside our individual cells to electrical fields on the surface of our skin. The big question is how do we apply the limited knowledge and admittedly poor understanding of this to help people lead healthier lives? I mentioned some common sense things we can do in Part I, which basically boil down to living a clean, healthy life. For many, however, that is just not enough. If it were so, doing these things would guarantee we would never get sick or, for that matter, taking this to its logical extreme, die.
Enter earthing.
Earthing at its simplest is the practice of getting people directly in touch with the earth, with nothing in between. It is the brainchild of Clinton Ober who “discovered” earthing one fine day in 1998 while sitting on a park bench and watching people walk by. Ober was not a physician, scientist, academician, or even an electrician. He was recently-retired from working in the cable TV industry and dealing with a mid-life crisis. His travels landed him in Sedona, AZ long a mecca for the unusual, including people, lifestyles, and ideas.
He was also an astute observor. Ober noticed something that apparently had escaped everyone else- all the people he saw were wearing some sort of footwear. Shoes! It was a true “Eureka!” moment. Of course! Shoes were the cause of the world’s ills and possibly the most dangerous human invention ever. Ober knew from his work in cable TV that electrical devices needed to be grounded to avoid damage from errant electrical signals. To him, it was an obvious leap to see that humans functioned the same way and needed to be “grounded” by direct contact with the earth, e.g. by eliminating shoes and going barefoot.
Of course, just walking around barefoot isn’t enough. Practically speaking, you can’t do this all day, every day. For one thing, you would be picking glass, splinters, rocks, nails, and other assorted sharp objects out of your feet constantly. It is also not a good look in a business suit on the job, even assuming your job is outdoors. You have to enter buildings, walk on streets and sidewalks, and eventually go home, which probably doesn’t have dirt floors so, once again, you will be insulated from mother earth. Unless you sleep on the floor, outdoors, you will be really insulated when in your bed for eight or more hours per day.
Ober has the solution for you. On his website he has a cornucopia of devices you can purchase to ground yourself anytime, anywhere. A number of these for your home plug into your wall outlet which, in turn, connects to the wiring of your home, which eventually goes to a ground into the earth. Voila! You can purchase all sorts of wall outlet adaptors, starting at $8, all the way up to a grounding throw blanket kit for $289. I was especially intrigued by the grounding pad for your car seat. Given that cars ride on rubber tires and have no other contact with the ground, I was truly mystified by how this one worked. According to the product information, it pulls static electricity off your body while you drive. Who knew this could be harmful? I think of all the times I have accumulated static electricity in my life and am happy to be alive.
OK. Maybe I am having a little too much fun knocking this, so I will back off and get serious for a moment. I practice allopathic medicine, which is held to very high standards of proof and evidence. Testimonials from happy patients are not enough to validate any practice, medication, or procedure. There has to be enough credible, hard evidence based on legitimate rigorous scientific studies that can be verified and reproduced for a physician to offer it to patients. And it must stand the test of time. Alternative medicine is somehow exempt from this. On Ober’s earthing website there are all sorts of claims using weasel words- words that sound great but mean nothing. Earthing “promotes” immune health. What does that mean, exactly? How does it do this? Neither is explained. Earthing claims on the one hand to reduce inflammation and on the other to boost the immune system. These are mutually exclusive. You can do one or the other. You can’t do both at the same time. Doctors and organized medicine are suspect because money changes hands and the bottom line is that doctors make a living from the ill health of their patients. Somehow, alternative medicine providers escape this criticism as though all are altruistic believers that work for free. By all accounts, Ober’s earthing is very successful and he has enviable positive reviews. I am sure the money pours in. Boiron, the French company that makes Oscillo, a homeopathic medication for flu that is basically plain water makes millions off its sales annually.
The saying “if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is probably a duck” applies here. Earthing sounds and reads like quackery. If someone resorts to earthing, is willing to pay the price for products, and believes these work, more power to them. I only object when alternative medicine can be harmful itself, or when someone suffers from delay in effective traditional medical care to try nostrums and alternative treatments. If I have cancer, I an going straight to an oncologist, not a homeopath. I do freely admit to pangs of jealousy, and some resentment, at how much these purveyors of alternative treatments rake in with very little blowback.
All of that said, do I feel there is a benefit to being outdoors and, at times, barefoot? Yes! Nature, sunshine, and the great outdoors are good for the soul and body. John Muir wrote extensively on the beneficial connection between ourselves and the world around us. Too many people never venture beyond their urban city limits. It feels wonderful to run on a grassy surface or sand on a beach, but to say we should do this all the time or seek weird, artificial, questionable ways to “connect” to the earth is just taking things too far.
On earthing, call me a skeptic. I just wish I had thought of this first…………
Richard T. Bosshardt, MD, FACS