Getting Back To Our Roots: The Benefits of Grounding

Modern science has made incredible breakthroughs in improving mental health and wellness. Today, numerous medicines and supplements provide relief for depression, anxiety, and other mental disorders. In addition, with various alternative solutions like massage, aromatherapy cannabis, vitamin D, and Reiki, people are looking for alternatives from western medicine.

Connecting with the earth, also called grounding, has improved energy levels in people and provided relief from various mental health issues.

What is grounding?

Grounding is a technique that involves activities that ground or connect you to the earth. Some examples include walking barefoot, meditating on grass or sand, even swimming in a lake or ocean.

Diving deeper into what grounding is, looking at its science, physics, actually. The science in earthing explains how directly connecting to the earth can recharge our bodies. Negative ions from the planet rush into our bodies to discharge any free radicals or toxins we picked up from daily life. Free radicals or toxins are linked to disease, aging, and inflammation.

What are the benefits of grounding?

Grounding helps our physical and mental health.

In a 2013 study, The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found, "grounding reduces blood viscosity and clumping." As a result, grounding can work as a natural blood thinner, reducing cardiovascular disease and heart attacks.

It Slows the Aging Process

Grounding reduces toxins and free radicals we pick up in daily life, and it helps slow the aging process by getting rid of junk in our system connected to diseases. Grounding also reduces inflammation. Next time you swim in a lake or the ocean, you can call it the fountain of youth!

If you are still skeptical if grounding helps, try it! It’s free! I encourage everyone to touch their bare feet to the ground when seasonally appropriate. In the winter months, I try getting outside for a walk and get some sunshine and fresh air.

One of my favorite places in nature is at Five Rivers Educational Environment Center in Delmar, New York. I find the area rejuvenating to go to no matter what time of year. With various paths, benches, and small lakes, Five Rivers is full of spots to relax. As I wrote about in my last blog, upstate New York has plenty of sites to get away and be in nature. One reason why I enjoy living in upstate New York.