Back fifty years ago or so, with the emergence of medical insurance plans, people expected they'd be taken care of when they got old and there would be a pill for every illness. Today, there is a pill for practically every illness, but the pills don't particularly cure anything or make us healthier.

The late John Knowles, M.D., head of the Ma.s.sachusetts General Hospital and the Rockefeller Foundation during the 1960s and 1970s, put it this way years ago: "People have been led to believe that national health insurance, more doctors, and greater use of high-cost, hospital-based technologies will improve health. Unfortunately, none of them will."

At the time, politicians and doctors had become increasingly concerned about the rising costs of health care. Sound familiar? Such costs were eating up about 8 percent of the domestic national product back then. Today, the percentage has more than doubled and is supposed to reach 20 percent in a few years! Politicians and doctors are still concerned, but concern hasn't helped much.

And the future?

Ouch! It hurts to look ahead.

HEALTH CARE CHANGE ... FROM THE GROUND UP.

Nearly 80 million American baby boomers will soon turn sixty-five, and as they do, there will obviously be more people with chronic diseases and higher medical care costs draining an already strained medical system. Without any significant changes, the surge may break the Medicare coffers-and predictions for that have already surfaced.

The Council of State Governments, a leading multi-branch organization forecasting policy trends, said in a 2006 alert on chronic disease that along with more forecasted disease among the older population, there is also the issue of more children entering their teen years, college, and adulthood with diabetes, high blood pressure, and other effects of overweight, physical inactivity, and unhealthful eating. "Some experts estimate that the generation growing up today will be the first to live a shorter life than their parents and grandparents. This will have a tremendous effect on public resources and the ability of public agencies to provide health care and social services, while draining a critical U.S. resource-the work force."

The status quo isn't working. The situation threatens the health of individuals, the family, and nations everywhere. Declining health is hardly an American monopoly. The health of all humanity is in crisis. The many ailments besetting the United States are symptomatic of a planetary catastrophe in the making before our eyes and headlined in the news every single day.

The a.n.a.logy of raising cows may be appropriate here. If humans were cows, they would have to be taken out and shot. Who could afford the vet bill?

Health care, as it operates today, is impotent, exorbitant, and ineffective. Chronic disorders are out of control, and the solution is really not in the hands of government or insurers. It is in our hands. Our health, or lack of it, is by and large the result of how we live.

"Self-care is the only effective way to ensure good health and a longer, fuller life," wrote Joseph D. Beasley, M.D., and Jerry J. Swift, M.A., in an epic 1989 Ford Foundation book, The Kellogg Report: The Impact of Nutrition, Environment & Lifestyle on the Health of Americans The Kellogg Report: The Impact of Nutrition, Environment & Lifestyle on the Health of Americans (Bard College). "While there is a crying need for reforms of the health care system, the most needed reform of all is in our own att.i.tudes-we patients must become activists for our own health." (Bard College). "While there is a crying need for reforms of the health care system, the most needed reform of all is in our own att.i.tudes-we patients must become activists for our own health."

These and many other similar admonitions have largely remained beyond the hearing range of most people, who persist in overeating unnatural food and avoiding physical activity. So we just become sicker and sicker.

Instead of focusing on health insurance, we need to emphasize health a.s.surance. We reach that greater level of protection by removing the major sources of stress and toxicity in our lives. In this book, we propose one surprisingly and utterly simple means of helping to reach that goal.

EARTHING'S PARADIGM-CHANGING HEALTH AND ECONOMIC POTENTIAL Earthing represents a discovery of the first magnitude, as potentially significant and globally sweeping as electricity, telephones, radio, television, and computers. Consider the changes that new technologies like these brought to society in their time. We are still riding the waves of innovation they generated in terms of jobs and economies. Earthing, like these concepts, is disruptive in that it changes how people live. It is something evolutionary and, at the same time, revolutionary.

We believe that Earthing can change the way medicine itself is practiced, adding major effectiveness in healing while lowering the cost of treatments for many diseases. Keep in mind that the physiology of the grounded person appears to be different-in a more efficient and healthier way-than that of an ungrounded person.

As more research rolls out, we envision Earthing units being installed in spas and the clinics of health pract.i.tioners. We envision patients being grounded in hospitals and nursing homes. Sophisticated electrically operated equipment and instrumentation are grounded in medical and health care facilities. The beds are grounded. Why not the patients in those beds?

Looking ahead, we believe that Earthing can generate a broad societal and economic overhaul.

Economies are based on businesses that create profits, jobs, and wealth. We think that Earthing offers a huge bonanza for business the world over. Earthing has the potential to benefit-and change-the world in many ways. It is equally available to the richest and the poorest, to both the industrialized and the developing world.

Earthing will affect all society-literally from the ground up, starting with the shoe industry. The simple insertion of a few cents of conductive carbon or some other similar material in the soles of shoes can bring people into contact again with the Earth's healing energy. The shoe manufacturing industry hasn't acted in bad faith, but its innovations have contributed to the rise of chronic illness. Here's a golden opportunity for the shoe industry to redeem and reinvent itself in the name of health ... and expanded sales. What a glorious prospect! Every year a person buys at least one new pair of shoes. For a small investment on the part of the industry, so much good can be done in the marketplace. As a consumer, start asking about grounded shoes the next time you make a purchase. Create the demand.

Earthing has the potential to thoroughly revolutionize the bedding and mattress industry. Every eight years on average, people replace their mattresses in the United States. About 30 million are sold each year. And there is a mattress store for every 20,000 homes in America. Here is an industry that sells comfort in all forms: water, air, springs, foam, latex. But just by adding a few dollars' worth of conductive material to the mattress and connecting it to the Earth, it can improve the health of a society full of insomniacs while it sleeps. The new mattress bottom line will be: more comfort, better sleep, less pain, better health.

Imagine the rush to buy grounded mattresses!

Hotels have been spending billions on twenty-first century upgrades such as flat-screen TVs, wireless Internet, trendier bars, and fancier showers. Imagine the appeal of hotels offering weary travelers grounded mattresses to promote sleep and elimination of jet lag.

The shoe and mattress industry have blockbuster products to sell and, while they are at it, become a part of the health care industry. These are the best place to start the Earthing revolution. Is there any simpler kind of health reform than that? When you go out to purchase shoes and mattresses, you will simultaneously be buying better health for yourself.

There are innumerable business opportunities to bring the Earth's healing electrons up into our lives so that everyone lives grounded most of each and every day. Homes, offices, and schools need to be grounded. That includes floors, carpets, and furniture. Even cars can get a modified dose of grounding with a simple seat pad. All these basic parts of society's infrastructure can be inexpensively outfitted with conductive material, creating a whole Earthing industry to ground new and existing houses. Out of this will come whole new manufacturing, marketing, distributing, and installation industries, just like exists today with telephone or cable systems.

Think of how all this will impact the way we design our living and working environments. Can you imagine what effect all this will have on the health statistics we cited above? And on the economy of the world in terms of new jobs, careers, research, products, education, services, and even tax revenue for cash-strapped governments? For corporations, just think of what this will do to their own health insurance premiums and cost of doing business. Instead of a malignant cycle of bad health, we can create a benign cycle of good health that embraces and benefits both employers and employees alike.

Earthing is the future. Humanity needs to reconnect to the planet, to our natural electrical state, and to our natural state of good health.

It's so simple to do.

Our book is a bugle call. Wake up, people. Go out. Ground yourself. Reintroduce your bare feet to the ground. Sleep grounded, and, if you can, work grounded, play grounded, and watch TV grounded.

If you haven't done it by now, go sit or stand barefoot outside (weather permitting) for a half hour or so. If you have pain, see what difference it makes. Then ask yourself if reconnecting with the Earth might be the most amazing health discovery you you have ever made. have ever made.

We think that reconnecting with the Earth is amazing, and may, in fact, be the the most important health discovery ever. most important health discovery ever.

Appendices

APPENDIX A. Technical Notes on Grounding and Earthing Methods Physicists and electrical engineers have chosen the Earth as the most obvious "ground," or reference point, for all electrical power grids. The Earth provides a reference voltage, that is, the ground or zero potential against which all other voltages are established and measured. There is no absolute electric potential. What is measured is the difference in electric potential between two points-one being the Earth, the reference point.

What Exactly Is a Ground?

A ground is defined as a conductive object that makes a direct electrical connection to Earth and has the ability to absorb or dissipate an electrical charge, thereby maintaining a grounded object at the stable electrical potential of the Earth. Grounding is central to the safe and stable usage of electricity. A ground connection serves as an electrical "sink" that minimizes the susceptibility of electromagnetic interference in communication systems; reduces the risk of equipment damage due to lightning; eliminates electrostatic buildup, which can damage system components; and helps protect people who service and repair electrical, electronic, and computer equipment.

In effect, an electrical ground drains away any unwanted buildup of electrical charge. When a device or person is connected to an Earth ground, that device or person will equalize with, and maintain, the stable electrical potential of the Earth.

An "Earth ground" usually consists of a ground rod driven into the Earth. In a car, truck, aircraft, or a s.p.a.cecraft, there is no such thing as a true Earth ground. But if the ma.s.s of metal comprising the vehicle is substantial, that ma.s.s can simulate an Earth ground reasonably well.

Earthing Methods and Considerations We expect that after reading this book many people will want to experiment with Earthing in order to experience the effects that Earthing may have on their health and sleep.

The easiest method, of course, is as simple as routinely going outdoors and placing your bare feet directly on the Earth for thirty minutes at a time. But being barefoot is not always an option.

We have described a variety of personal Earthing methods in the book that we call "barefoot subst.i.tutes." They involve use of a ground rod or a specially designed wall plug that can be connected to conductive floor mats, chair pads, sheets, mattresses, and common electrode patches to Earth individuals indoors while sleeping or sitting. We have even mentioned grounded shoes.

Few of these systems are now commercially available, but we expect more to become accessible in the near future. Keep in mind that most of these systems were developed primarily for use in proof-of-concept Earthing studies. Ways were needed to Earth people for study purposes when they were confined to one place during a testing period. From the start, many study partic.i.p.ants and researchers requested sample Earthing devices for friends and families, leading to further development and testing of various Earthing product forms for indoor home use. Some proved to be functional and effective. Others, less so.

The primary concern in developing these home/office systems was to ensure both effectiveness and safety. The systems used in the studies consisted of a ground rod placed directly in the Earth, along with a fuse-protected ground wire to connect the Earthing test device to the ground rod. (See Figure A-1.) When home grounding systems were given to individuals who requested sample devices, we recommended that an electrician or professional cable installer be employed to install the ground system, which included placing of the ground rod, running the ground wire, and mounting a permanent wall outlet for easy connection of Earthing devices.

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Figure A-1. Placing ground rod in Earth.

Most people just ran the ground wire out a window and set the ground rod themselves as a temporary installation until they could arrange a permanent installation. Some just left it there where it was initially placed without a problem. People were always cautioned to use a location where the rod and the wire would not present a tripping hazard.

In developing and testing home Earthing systems, the following facts have become clear: 1. The most effective Earthing system in the studies consisted of a ground rod placed directly in the Earth with a ground wire running into the home and connected directly to the Earthing device (sheet, floor pad, etc). Still, most people who use electrical ground systems (that is, plugged into a properly grounded wall outlet in their home or office) report similar health benefits to those using dedicated Earth ground systems. For best results, it is prudent to test the outlet for proper grounding or have a professional grounding technician/electrician check your electrical ground system before use as a method of personal Earthing.

2. For safety reasons, the ground wire must be insulated and contain an in-line 2mA fuse or current-limiting resistor of similar value for protection from an accidental electrical event. It is unlikely that such an event would occur in a typical home environment because all modern electrical appliances and devices are protected with polarized cords and are made to conform with UL (North American) and CE (European) safety standards.

3. Many individuals have experimented with common personal electrostatic discharge (ESD) grounding systems for Earthing. These systems are used in the electronics industry and are designed to prevent the buildup of static electricity on the body, which could otherwise damage the microchips and hardware that employees handle when building or repairing computers and electronic equipment. Such ESD grounding devices are generally connected to the third-p.r.o.ng ground port of an electrical outlet. In factories where employees use EDS grounding systems, an electrical engineer or electrician will test and verify that the electrical ground is in good working order before allowing employees to connect themselves to this system.

Our testing of ESD grounding systems failed to totally reproduce the same effects as in our studies where we used a direct Earth ground system. This difference was due to the dampening effect on the Earth ground signal by the in-line 1 megohm resistor that all ESD ground cords contain.

4. Many individuals who learn about the health effects of Earthing ask how they can make their own system for use at home. Some, and especially those who live in apartments and high-rise buildings, ask if they can use the electrical ground system in their building for Earthing. From our experience, the electrical ground system in a building-that is, the use of wall outlets-is the only option that most people living in multistory buildings will have, unless they can drop a long wire out the window and connect it to a ground rod in the Earth below. In general, a house or building electrical ground system will work for Earthing, as all electrical ground systems are connected directly to a ground rod driven into the Earth. However, there are certain problems that may exist with these systems: * *Most residential homes built in the United States before the 1960s do not have an electrical ground system. Many of these homes have recently been remodeled with the old-style outlets being replaced with newer fixtures containing a ground port. In appearance, it may look as if the home has an electrical ground system, but there is usually no ground wire connected to the newer ground port outlets. Often, there is no ground wire in the walls to connect to the ground port. Thus, in many older homes there is no ground system. In these cases, use of a dedicated Earth ground rod system is the only option.

*Some home electrical outlets are miswired. The most common wiring error is that of the ground and neutral being reversed. In order to verify that electrical ground outlets are correctly wired, inexpensive outlet-wiring checkers are available at all hardware and electrical retail outlets. Always check the outlet-wiring configuration before using an electrical ground for Earthing.

*Many electrical ground systems are p.r.o.ne to carry induced high-frequency electrical "noise" emitted by electrical appliances and motors running in the home. The noise also radiates from appliances into the general living environment as electromagnetic fields (EMFs). To verify the level of electrical noise in your living environment or on your electrical ground system requires an electrical engineer or specially trained electrician to take measurements with an oscilloscope grounded to an independent Earth ground. Even with such electrical noise, use of an electrical ground system for Earthing is safe with the use of an Earthing system designed specifically for personal grounding. It is the potential disturbance that electrical noise may have on the nervous system of an electrically sensitive individual that is an issue with the use of home electrical ground systems. For such people, the best Earthing option is to bypa.s.s the electrical system inside the house and connect to a dedicated outside ground rod. Moreover, such systems have an in-line resistor that prevents any harmful flow of current, such as could occur from accidental contact with a live electrical wire or a shorted appliance.

Lightning One of the most common technical questions asked about Earthing is: Do I have to worry about lightning if I am grounded to the Earth?

Lightning is a ma.s.sive natural phenomenon that is unpredictable and challenging to totally protect against. It is poorly understood. The following will help you understand how and usually when lightning occurs and what is your likelihood of being hit when grounded to the Earth.

Most lightning strikes occur in the summer during the afternoon (70 percent between noon and 6:00p.m.). As the air temperature warms, evaporation increases. The warm moist air rises and forms fluffy c.u.mulus clouds. As the moisture acc.u.mulates, the clouds darken and change into c.u.mulonimbus or thunderstorm clouds with a flattened base and puffy top reaching as high as 40,000 feet. The upper portion of a thunderstorm cloud develops a positive electrical charge, and the bottom of the cloud develops a negative charge. Negative charges repel negative charges and attract positive charges. So, as the thundercloud pa.s.ses overhead, a concentration of positive charges acc.u.mulates in and on all conductive objects below the cloud. Since negative charges closer to the clouds are most efficiently repelled by the negative charges of the cloud, positive charges tend to acc.u.mulate at the top of the highest objects on the ground. In most cases that means high ground, trees, communication towers, and aerial power, telephone, and cable TV lines. It could also be you-if you are standing out in the open and are the tallest object in the area. Example: you are out playing golf and standing in the middle of the fairway.

Homes are rarely hit by lightning. When it does occur, the lightning most often takes the path of least resistance to the ground. Generally, the path of least resistance to ground in a home would include large conductive systems like the plumbing pipes, electrical wiring network, or telephone and cable TV lines, all of which are directly grounded to the Earth.

The National Safety Council reports that your odds of dying from a lightning strike in one year are 1 in 6 million (www.nsc.org/research/odds.aspx). To put this in perspective, your odds of being hit and killed by an automobile as a pedestrian in the same period are 1 in fifty thousand-a risk 120 times greater. This information suggests that being hit by lightning is rather unlikely. However, follow standard lightning safety guidelines as directed by National Weather Service To put this in perspective, your odds of being hit and killed by an automobile as a pedestrian in the same period are 1 in fifty thousand-a risk 120 times greater. This information suggests that being hit by lightning is rather unlikely. However, follow standard lightning safety guidelines as directed by National Weather Service (www.lightningsafety.noaa.gov) if you live in a lightning-p.r.o.ne area. Disconnect your Earthing device and don't use it during lightning and thunderstorms. if you live in a lightning-p.r.o.ne area. Disconnect your Earthing device and don't use it during lightning and thunderstorms.

APPENDIX B.

The Physics of Earthing: A Discussion on Current Understanding Gaetan Chevalier, Ph.D., Gaetan Chevalier, Ph.D., Visiting Scientist, Developmental and Cell Biology Department, University of California at Irvine Visiting Scientist, Developmental and Cell Biology Department, University of California at Irvine

The Earth is the most negatively charged ent.i.ty in the immediate human environment. As you lift off the surface and gain alt.i.tude, the electric potential increases by about 200 volts with every meter (200V/m). This is a little known but well-established scientific fact. At several kilometers of alt.i.tude, the vertical atmospheric voltage increase begins to slow. As you go higher, the increase shrinks to 150 and then 100 volts per meter. At around 100 kilometers, the increase stops.

In fair weather, when the sky is blue and there are little or no clouds, the electric potential difference is 250,000 to 500,000 volts between the upper part of the atmosphere (called the ionosphere because it is ionized and so conducting) and the Earth's surface. Visualize this system as two conductors, one at zero volts (the ground) and the other at 250,000 to 500,000 volts at an alt.i.tude of about 100 kilometers (62.5 miles).

Fair weather atmosphere is not a good conductor (especially close to the ground), but it is not a perfect insulating medium either. There is a very small current of electrons escaping the ground at a rate of about 1 microamp per square kilometer (approximately equivalent to a power loss of 1 microwatt per square meter). This is called the fair weather current, a component of an immense natural phenomenon known as the "global electrical circuit" (see Figure B-1).

The global circuit is primarily recharged by c.u.mulonimbus clouds. During an active thunderstorm, the collection of clouds in the storm generates an average current of about 1 amp down to the surface of the Earth. There are an estimated 1,000 to 2,000 thunderstorms happening globally at any one time, and collectively these storms produce as many as 5,000 lightning strikes per minute. Thus, an electrical current of 1,000 to 2,000 amps is continually transferring a negative charge to the surface of the Earth and an equal and opposite charge to the upper atmosphere. The electrical charge continually flowing into the ionosphere from the c.u.mulonimbus clouds maintains the fair weather current flowing to the surface.

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Figure B-1. Global electrical circuit. A current coming up from the ground at the location of lightning (depositing electrons into the earth) and returning to the ground elsewhere. Source: NASA/MSFC (Dooling) Suppose a dust particle floats in the atmosphere at about two meters above ground (about six foot five, the height of a tall human). The electric potential at that level is 400 volts. The particle will acquire a positive electric charge (from collisions with surrounding atmospheric particles) and maintain its electric potential at 400 volts. If the particle rises to four meters it will acquire an electric charge that maintains its electric potential at 800 volts. Whatever the height, the electrical charge of the particle adopts the potential existing at that specific level.

Imagine yourself as that tall individual and you are wearing running shoes. Your feet will be less than an inch above ground and your head would be located at an atmospheric level with an electric potential of about 400 volts. Since you are a conductor, your electric potential will be an average of the electric potential at the ground level and that at 2 meters: about 200 volts (with a current continuously flowing on the surface of your body from head to foot). If you live on the second floor of an apartment complex at about 4 meters above ground, even if not wearing your running shoes but on a wooden floor, then your feet are now planted at an atmospheric level where the electric potential is 800 volts and your head at an electric potential of 1,200 volts, an average electric potential of 1,000 volts on your body! That's not a small level. The higher you live off the ground, the higher your electric potential compared to the ground.

"The High Life"-A Voltage/Grounding/Health Connection?

Is it possible to relate the "high life"-in alt.i.tude terms-to a health risk? Is our health being compromised by living and working in high rises?

One recent study conducted at the University of Iowa monitored seniors over a twelve-year period and found a surprising 40 percent higher risk of stroke among those living in multi-story residences compared to ground-floor houses. The revelation was the most striking among a handful of more conventional a.s.sociations linked to stroke risks in an elderly population following hospitalization for a variety of health issues. The researchers suggested that multi-story living could be related to "greater physical, social and psychological burdens faced by older adults in these settings." We wonder if living at a higher electrical potential of several hundred or more volts, along with the lack of immediate ground, might create a significant electron deficiency in the body and have a p.r.o.nounced effect on health. Something to think about.

Something else to think about is a recently published a.n.a.lysis in the journal Cancer Cancer indicating that people living in urban areas are more likely to develop late-stage cancer than those residing in suburban and rural areas. The researchers, using data from the Illinois State Cancer Registry, set out to investigate the rural and urban differences in late-stage diagnoses of breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate tumors-the four major types of cancer. They found that for colorectal and prostate cancers, and to a lesser extent breast cancer, the disparities stemmed from a higher concentration of more vulnerable and economically disadvantaged populations in Chicago and its suburbs. A lower rate of late-stage diagnosis in rural areas reflected a greater prevalence of elderly patients who frequent doctors more often and undergo more age-related cancer screenings. However, these differences could not explain the geographic disparity for lung cancer. In the cities and high-rise buildings, the electrically sensitive lungs breathe in more positively charged air particles. The lungs are not only a target in terms of conventional pollution, but in the presence of an electron deficiency (lack of grounding) the higher density of positively charged particles may create more oxidative stress and free radicals than down at the first-story level. indicating that people living in urban areas are more likely to develop late-stage cancer than those residing in suburban and rural areas. The researchers, using data from the Illinois State Cancer Registry, set out to investigate the rural and urban differences in late-stage diagnoses of breast, colorectal, lung, and prostate tumors-the four major types of cancer. They found that for colorectal and prostate cancers, and to a lesser extent breast cancer, the disparities stemmed from a higher concentration of more vulnerable and economically disadvantaged populations in Chicago and its suburbs. A lower rate of late-stage diagnosis in rural areas reflected a greater prevalence of elderly patients who frequent doctors more often and undergo more age-related cancer screenings. However, these differences could not explain the geographic disparity for lung cancer. In the cities and high-rise buildings, the electrically sensitive lungs breathe in more positively charged air particles. The lungs are not only a target in terms of conventional pollution, but in the presence of an electron deficiency (lack of grounding) the higher density of positively charged particles may create more oxidative stress and free radicals than down at the first-story level.

Yet another factor to ponder here is the combination of a lack of grounding and increased positive charge in the air as an unrecognized cause of the so-called sick building syndrome. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), "sick buildings" refer to situations in which building occupants experience acute health and discomfort effects that appear "linked to time spent in a building, but no specific illness or cause can be identified. The complaints may be localized in a particular room or zone, or may be widespread throughout the building."

Experts don't know the causes. They suggest concerns such as inadequate ventilation, chemical contaminants from indoor and outdoor sources, and biological contaminants. "These elements may act in combination, and may supplement other complaints such as inadequate temperature, humidity, or lighting. Even after a building investigation, however, the specific causes of the complaints may remain unknown."

The possibility of an Earthing connection should be investigated. As was discussed in Chapter 7, experts have raised the issue of health risks from man-made electromagnetic environments in office settings and cited lack of grounding as a contributing factor, referring to evidence produced by Earthing research. When you add to this the element of increased positive charge density with height, we may be dealing indeed with a powerful combination of unheralded issues conspiring to undermine health, energy, and performance. Keep in mind that electromagnetic fields (EMFs) are AC (they vary with time). They are composed of electric and magnetic fields artificially produced by humans. The 200 V/m is a DC (static) electric field only and a natural phenomenon that has existed for eons. EMF and 200 V/m are separate ent.i.ties and should not be confused with each other.

The EMF Connection Now imagine that you are grounded. If your body is somehow coupled to the Earth, no matter where you are, you are at the electric potential of the ground. That means all of you, from head to foot. Your electric potential is zero and no positive charge can charge you up. You are a part of the ground. You are shielded from whatever happens in the atmosphere. If positive charges are present in your environment and "stick to you," the Earth will provide the electrons to cancel the positive charges and maintain your electric potential at the same level as it is: zero volts. If EMFs. .h.i.t your body, their effect is cancelled by the electrons within your body supplied by the ground. Nothing can change your electric potential, except uncoupling yourself from the Earth.

Being grounded means your body's internal organs are shielded from any electrostatic or electromagnetic interference in the atmosphere. This provides for a very quiet electrical "milieu" inside the body where no external electric or magnetic fields can disrupt the internal functions maintaining homeostasis and health. This includes digestion, internal repairs, wound healing, and all metabolic activities. Keep in mind that all chemical or biochemical reactions are electrical in nature and so are susceptible to being disturbed by external electric and magnetic fields. Grounding prevents these disturbances. This is how living beings evolved on the Earth!

Grounding also provides a reference point for all electrical activities of the body. Any electrical appliance needs a ground, a reference point, to define the values of the voltages inside its electronic circuits. Even sophisticated equipment such as digital-storage oscilloscopes cannot function properly without a clear reference point. Without it, all the voltages inside the appliance are ill defined and the electronic circuits, which are designed to work based on a reference point, cannot operate correctly. They give random voltage values. This situation can damage expensive equipment.

The human body is by far the most complex piece of "equipment" on the planet. It has evolved in contact with the Earth. All its internal processes are just like electronic circuits. They are all based on bioelectrical processes that need a defined ground to operate well. The body, being so complex, has developed internal mechanisms to help it cope with a temporary disconnect from the Earth, but in the long run the lack of connection takes its toll. Eventually, the body will lose its reference point (even the one that it made for itself temporarily). This results in internal functions becoming increasingly out of sync not only with the Earth but also with each other. For example, the body loses the ability to recognize what is "self" and what is "not self," and thus starts an autoimmune attack on its own cells.

EMFs are ubiquitous, and we live immersed in the invisible traffic of these chaotic fields. Their potential for creating internal interference in the body, as was noted earlier in the book, varies from person to person and in different locations, depending on the intensity and frequencies of the fields.

EMFs occupy such a vast spectrum of frequencies (from 0 to 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000Hz or 1021Hz) that they need to be grouped in different frequency bands in order to determine their health effects on humans. One such grouping of frequencies has been created by the European Commission's independent Scientific Committee on Emerging and Newly Identified Health Risks (SCENIHR). This committee divided the spectrum into four frequency bands: 1. 1.Radio frequency (RF) (100kHz < f="" 300ghz="" 2.intermediate="" frequency="" (if)="" (300hz="">< f="" 100khz)="" 3.extremely="" low="" frequency="" (elf)="" (0="">< f="" 300hz)="" 4.static="" (0hz)="">

Frequencies higher than 300GHz were not considered by the commission because their mechanisms for affecting human beings are well known and entirely different from lower frequency bands. These higher frequency bands include (in order of increasing frequencies): infrared light (IR), visible light, ultraviolet (UV) light, x-rays, and gamma (gamma) rays. I will limit the discussion here to the extremely low frequency, or ELF, band, the most studied band and with the most commonly encountered frequencies.

In 2007, SCENIHR reported finding no clear evidence of an effect in bands other than the ELF band for lack of good epidemiological studies. The committee's report concluded that ELF magnetic fields are possibly carcinogenic, chiefly based on childhood leukemia data. There is, how ever, no generally accepted mechanism to explain how ELF magnetic field exposure may cause leukemia. For breast cancer and cardiovascular disease, recent research has indicated that an a.s.sociation is unlikely, while for neurodegenerative diseases and brain tumors, the link to ELF fields remains uncertain. A relation between ELF fields and symptoms (sometimes referred to as electromagnetic hypersensitivity) has not been demonstrated.

Electromagnetic fields, as the name implies, are comprised of electric and magnetic fields. These fields are related but have very different effects. Electric fields are generated by electric charges (protons and electrons) even when there is no motion. Magnetic fields exist only when charges are in motion. For example, the magnetic field of a magnet is generated by the electrons of the magnetic metal spinning around the nucleus of their atom in the same way and in the same direction. They are all aligned. Their correlated rotational movement around their respective nucleus creates a magnetic field. Any electron spinning around any atom produces a magnetic field but in many substances-wood, plastic, rubber, and all insulating materials-they are not aligned. Their alignment is random due to other internal forces and so there is no net magnetic field that we can feel. If an electric charge is at rest in a magnetic field, the magnetic field will have no effect on the charge. When the charge is in motion, the magnetic field will make it rotate around an imaginary point. An electric field, in contrast, will always make electrical charges move in the direction of the field (for positive charges) or in the direction opposite to the field (for negative charges). In all materials, positive charges are in the nucleus. The nucleus cannot move or the substance would be destroyed. So in most practical applications, it is the electrons that move.

If you have followed this discussion closely you have probably deduced that since a change in motion implies an electric field that is changing, we have to conclude that a changing electric field will produce a magnetic field. The opposite is also true; a varying magnetic field produces an electric field, and that is why an electromagnetic field can propagate in s.p.a.ce. The varying electric field produces a magnetic field, which produces an electric field, which produces a magnetic field, and this process repeats and goes on indefinitely in s.p.a.ce and time. Motors work on the same principle that a current (electric charges in motion) produces a magnetic field, which acts on magnets placed on the rotor, which in turn makes the motor rotate.

Within an ungrounded body, electrons and other charged particles react mainly to the electric field component of the electromagnetic fields present in the immediate environment. Because their movement within the body is very slow, they do not respond well to magnetic fields. Internal electrons close to the surface of the skin are the most susceptible to perturbation, and EMFs at 60Hz (and its harmonics, 120Hz, 180Hz, 240Hz, and higher multiples of 60Hz) are believed to have very little penetration power into the skin. The electric field is stopped by surface charges. However, the magnetic field penetrates the body very deeply and will produce electric fields inside the body. At 60Hz, EMF energy is 10 billion times smaller than that needed to break even the weakest chemical bond. Still, there are known mechanisms by which 60Hz electric and magnetic fields could produce biological effects without breaking chemical bonds. The 60Hz electric fields can exert forces on charged and uncharged molecules or cellular structures within tissues. These forces can cause movement of charged particles, orient or deform cellular structures, orient dipolar molecules, or induce voltages across cell membranes. The magnetic fields at 60Hz can exert forces on cellular structures, but since biological materials are largely nonmagnetic (they do not have a net magnetic field like a magnet has) these forces are usually very weak.

The present understanding of the scientific community on power-frequency (60Hz) fields can summarized as follows: * *Exposure to these fields cannot be proven to be absolutely safe.

*A relationship has been established between residential and occupational exposure to these fields and human health hazards (including cancer).

*If there is a human health hazard, it is very small or it is restricted to small subgroups (such as young people and leukemia); the possibility of a large and general hazard has been ruled out.

It is my belief that the last consensus statement will be proven wrong scientifically through Earthing research and other future research. Even though no study has been conclusive so far, we have seen that some individuals are indeed ultra-sensitive and can be severely affected. "Electrical hypersensitivity" cannot be explained by any known mechanisms, as the threshold for known interactions are at least fifty times higher than actual exposures levels. Nevertheless, this hypersensitivity is a real phenomenon (two such cases were described in Chapter 10) and may develop as a result of loss of connection to the Earth.

The Body's Internal Clock For any organism to function properly, it must control the timing of its biological functions. That is why all higher organisms, from plants to insects, reptiles, birds and mammals, and even some lower unicellular forms of life such as bacteria, have developed an internal biological clock over millions of years. In humans, the master clock of all the body's biological clocks is located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus, as we have already mentioned. The alternating day and night mode of Earth's cycle is so reliable that living beings adjust their behavior and physiology according to its rhythm. The timing of many daily processes such as foraging, feeding, or rest can be determined or modulated by the endogenous circadian clock. Scientists consider that the major zeitgeber zeitgeber (German for time-giver or synchronizer) of the internal clock is the light from the periodically occurring light-dark cycle. Earthing experiments have shown that it is not the only zeitgeber. People who travel great distances have repeatedly reported that grounding for half an hour after arrival significantly reduces, if not completely eliminates, jet lag. This phenomenon is best explained by the body sensing different frequencies from the electrons of the Earth and receiving "local cues" from these vibrating electrons as to time of day. Further research is needed to prove this effect, but anecdotal evidences acc.u.mulated over the years are strong enough for this effect to deserve mention. (German for time-giver or synchronizer) of the internal clock is the light from the periodically occurring light-dark cycle. Earthing experiments have shown that it is not the only zeitgeber. People who travel great distances have repeatedly reported that grounding for half an hour after arrival significantly reduces, if not completely eliminates, jet lag. This phenomenon is best explained by the body sensing different frequencies from the electrons of the Earth and receiving "local cues" from these vibrating electrons as to time of day. Further research is needed to prove this effect, but anecdotal evidences acc.u.mulated over the years are strong enough for this effect to deserve mention.

Ground as a Biological Power Source These fluctuating electrons also carry energy. The energy is provided by the global electrical circuit, a complex system involving the Earth, the atmosphere, and the sun. The Earthing experiments and anecdotal experiences suggest there might be a power component to being grounded. Just like an appliance receives power when plugged into a power outlet, the human body may receive power from the Earth when grounded. Testimonials presented in this book suggest that people feel "energized" when grounded. Earthing studies suggest that the body starts a healing process after twenty to thirty minutes or so of grounding, an indication the body feels that it has more energy.

Earthing, Inflammation, and Healing Observations and feedback from many Earthers over the years suggest a mechanism by which the "electron infusion" from Earthing helps the body stay healthy, recover from illnesses, or, if an illness is too far advanced, at least alleviate pain in a substantial way. The testimonials presented in this book have shown this clearly. Since the body is a conductor in general (unless the skin is very dry), I would like to take a moment to describe how electrons move in a conductor.

Let's take first the example of a 9-volt battery. Take a copper wire, fit a resistor on to it, and connect the ends to the positive and negative terminals of the battery. The current starts flowing from the positive terminal to the negative terminal of the battery. Positive charges are what make the copper material itself and so they cannot move. But the electrons move. They leave the negative terminal and flow to the positive terminal through the wire. Their motion is regulated by the resistor. Without it, all electrons in the battery would travel to the positive terminal at the same time, melting the copper wire. If you touched the wire, you would get burned. In this complex situation, the current is thought by many people to be the positive charges flowing from the positive terminal to the negative terminal. However, it is the electrons that are moving from the negative negative terminal to the terminal to the positive positive terminal that produce the current. The misconception dates back to dear old Benjamin Franklin who, through his experiments with kites and not knowing the exact nature of electricity, thought that a positively charged electric "fluid" was flowing into the wire. We know now that electrons are always the flowing ent.i.ties when there is a current in a conducting wire. The velocity of electrons moving into the wire is very slow. For a copper wire of radius 1 millimeter (mm) carrying a steady current of 10 amps, the drift velocity is only about 0.24 mm/sec-a quarter of a mm per second! And yet the current flows extremely fast. terminal that produce the current. The misconception dates back to dear old Benjamin Franklin who, through his experiments with kites and not knowing the exact nature of electricity, thought that a positively charged electric "fluid" was flowing into the wire. We know now that electrons are always the flowing ent.i.ties when there is a current in a conducting wire. The velocity of electrons moving into the wire is very slow. For a copper wire of radius 1 millimeter (mm) carrying a steady current of 10 amps, the drift velocity is only about 0.24 mm/sec-a quarter of a mm per second! And yet the current flows extremely fast.