Earthing: The Joy and Health Benefits of Sleeping Outside

Earthing may sound like a hippy, new age movement but being connected to the earth has many positive health benefits. Being outside in nature reduces stress, aids healing, improves immune health, and greatly improves sleep quality.  

earthing permits negatively charged antioxidant electrons from the earth to enter the body and neutralize positively charged free radicals

What is Earthing? 

Earthing is spending time in nature, walking bare feet on the earth or sand, swimming in a cool lake or warm ocean, connecting with mother earth as our ancestors did. There was a time when humans slept on the bare ground or animal skin, feeling the earth under their feet. Connecting with nature is an essential component of a healthy life.

Connecting with nature reduces stress and greatly improves sleep quality

Research suggests earthing permits negatively charged antioxidant electrons from the earth to enter the body and neutralize positively charged free radicals to reduce inflammation in the body. If you walked barefoot on the ground, the electrons from the earth have a healing ability to reduce pain, increase immune response, decrease blood pressure, and aid chronic pain.  

Health Benefits of Grounding

Feel Connected to Nature

Connecting with nature reduces stress and greatly improves sleep quality. Our modern lifestyle can keep us indoors, working on a computer, enduring endless hours of zoom calls, and forgetting to enjoy some fresh air. Humans are natural creatures and the earth is our habitat, to enjoy contact with the earth is a bridge to your primal self. Human immune systems rely on fresh air, good quality food, clean water, and love and affection to maintain health.  

Sleep Better and Boost Immune System

Fresh air is an essential component to improving sleep. When you walk outside (barefoot or not) surrounded by the sights and sounds of nature, your immune system gets a major boost, helping you heal from illness and sleeping better. 

Reduce Stress

The benefit of grounding apart from better health and better sleep is a reduction in stress and anxiety. Stress is all too pervasive in our society, it can lead to serious illnesses such as heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and sleep disorders. When cortisol levels are high, stress takes over and you may feel lightheaded, weak, unable to concentrate or think straight, and enter the fight, flight, or freeze mode.

Panic attacks put enormous strain on your body and feelings of exhaustion are common after an anxiety attack. To reduce stress, spend as much time in nature as you can. You do not necessarily need to walk in your bare feet on the earth (although that will help) a simple walk in the park will clear your head and make you feel grounded again.     

How to Start Earthing

• Camping
• Walking Barefoot on Earth or Sand
• Walking in the Rain 
• Swimming in the Sea, Ocean, Lake, or River
• Making Snow Angels (fully clothed, of course, you don’t want to freeze!)

Conclusion

Choose outdoor activities depending on your climate, walking barefoot on a warm sandy beach is glorious if you live in a hot climate but you can enjoy earthing benefits when living in a cold climate too. Making snow angels, building a snowman, or ice fishing grounds you and connects you to our shared human history.

Doing any outdoor activity, rock climbing, camping, swimming, fishing, or simply kicking a ball around a soccer pitch can boost feel-good hormones, improving health, immune response, and sleep quality.   

What is Earthing?

Earthing is spending time in nature, walking with bare feet on the earth or sand, swimming in a cool lake or warm ocean, connecting with mother earth. Camping, ice fishing, building a snowman, or walking in your local park can be enough to make you feel grounded to the earth. Earthing reduces stress, improves immune response, and improves sleep quality. 

Does Grounding Work?

The electrons from the earth have a healing ability to reduce pain, increase immune response, decrease blood pressure, and aid chronic pain if you walked barefoot on the ground. Surrounding yourself with nature can be as simple as filling your home with indoor plants, installing a bird feeder, growing herbs, or walking in the park enjoying the fresh air.  

How Long Does Earthing Take to Work?

Earthing can be done on bare feet or earthing mats (grounded mats). The benefits of grounding are instantly felt, breathing fresh air, the sights and sounds of nature, feeling the breeze on your skin, and the earth under your feet is instantly calming. Anxiety instantly melts away, uplifting your mood, boosting your immune system, and helping you sleep better.