Believe in the healing power of the earth and looking to bring your body back into balance?
Well then you really should check out Earthing, or grounding, to learn what benefits this profoundly simple approach to wellness has to offer.
ntpages caught up with Corrina Bonshek, co-founder of Better Earthing, to find out more and get ourselves educated.
First tell us about yourself & how you came across earthing?
I’m a natural health enthusiast from way back. I grew up in a yoga-loving, vegetarian household, and started meditating regularly in my 20s as a counterbalance to the long hours I spent getting my PhD in music. Working at ntpages (in marketing) really opened my eyes to the many different therapies and products around. I got introduced to earthing by an Ayurvedic consultant friend who suggested that my husband Peter try earthing to reduce pain and inflammation in his back.
What is earthing?
The best example of earthing is walking barefoot on the grass or at the beach. Something most of us love doing! The earth’s surface is full of free electrons that enter our body when we connect with the earth and act as powerful antioxidants – they neutralise free radicals and reduce inflammation. Doctors now think that chronic inflammation is the root cause of most major diseases today! In simple terms, when we’re in contact with earth we bring our body back into balance and help it heal itself.
Where did the concept of earthing originate?
There are many indigenous healing traditions that believe in the importance of connecting to the earth and its energy. I’m thinking here of Australian Aboriginal cultures, the Bushmen of Africa, and Native Americans. If you go back into naturopathy, one of the pioneers, Adolf Just, was a big believer in the healing power of walking barefoot.
Earthing products, like the ones we make, started to take off in the early 2000s. Clint Ober in the USA, an ex-cable television entrepreneur, was the first. What’s great about Clint is he’s a big believer in scientific evidence. He was so keen that he actually wrote the first research paper on the health benefits of earthing himself with some help from student scientists and got it published! Fast forward 20 odd years, and there have been 10 clinical trials published in scholarly peer reviewed journals by scientists in USA and Poland. Interestingly, Polish researchers (Karol Sokal and Pawel Sokal) did not know about Clint’s work and were researching earthing and its health benefits independently.
How do I benefit from earthing?
Physiologically, your body changes straight away – it’s returning to its natural bioelectrical state! Research using biofeedback equipment show our nervous system shifting from stressed (sympathetic mode) to calm (parasympathetic mode) while earthing. Just 30 minutes of earthing is enough to start improving your circulation and blood flow. Many people notice tingling or warmth initially.
When you earth regularly, people notice that their quality of sleep is better (they wake up less frequently, sleep is deeper, they feel more refreshed), pain is reduced, and inflammation decreases (which is great for people with joint stiffness and arthritis).
Right now there’s a clinical trial being done on earthing for high blood pressure by cardiologist Dr Stephen Sinatra and Dr Howard Elkin. I think we’re still discovering all the different ways earthing can help us.
What products are on the market?
There are mats that you can put under your feet on the floor, or on your computer desk, where you can rest your arms on it. There are different types of earthing sheets (or in our case an underlay or undersheet) that you can sleep on. Gradually we are seeing more types of products becoming available. The idea is that earthing is an easy addition to your current lifestyle, that you can get a good dose of earthing while you are living life as usual.
Are they safe?
Yes, earthing products are safe.
Firstly, if you are on blood thinning medications (like coumadin or warfarin), discuss earthing with your doctor first as earthing is a natural blood thinner.
Secondly, ensure that you use a specially constructed earthing adapter and lead. We manufacture these and include resistors in both the adapter and lead for additional peace of mind. And, you can have the power point turned off and our earthing products will still work just fine.
Where are they manufactured?
We made the decision early on to manufacture as much of our products as possible in Australia. We have great business partners who are real specialists at what they do and have very high standards of workmanship. We wanted to bring together skilled craftspeople, with high quality materials and clever designs. Our aim is to make earthing products that will give people many years of benefits.
Corrina Bonshek and Peter Griffiths (husband and wife team) are the founders of Better Earthing, the first Australian company to design and manufacture earthing products here in Australia.
