Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever? [ペーパーバック]

Another reviewer complained that the positive reviews here are more about the results achieved with earthing products than the book itself. I'll plead guilty to that. So far I've only read the first third of the book, covering the history of Clint Ober's idea and the initial research done showing its results. But I look forward to reading the rest of the book because I've been sleeping grounded for a week now and the benefits have been far greater than I expected.

I have sticky blood, caused by hereditary high levels of Lipoprotein (a). I've had two aneurysms surgically repaired. Both my parents died of aneurysms. Six months ago, following a four-hour plane trip, I got a blood clot in my leg. After six months on Warfarin, the pain in both legs was only getting worse during long periods working at a computer, and my feet were going numb. Intense exercise helped, but not the short breaks I could take while working. I was about to spend $1500 on an electronically controlled sit-stand computer desk so that I could work standing part of the time. Sitting barefoot on the patio in the evening hadn't helped, so I wasn't expecting much when my Barefoot Connections sheet and mat arrived last week. One night of sleeping grounded, however, took me--overnight--from my worst day in six months nearly back to normal. The pain and tingling haven't returned.

I heard about earthing from the newsletter of Dr. Sinatra, a coauthor of this book. I was skeptical. But when I read that sleeping grounded can so effectively thin the blood that it should be done by those on Warfarin only with frequent INR/PT testing, I had to try it. My six months on Warfarin were coming to an end, and I clearly needed to do what I could to thin my blood and promote good circulation in my legs. Earthing has not only nearly eliminated my leg pain, but my blood pressure is now normal without medication for the first time in a decade, something diet and exercise alone never achieved.

If most reviewers here learned of earthing before the book was available, so what? What could possibly be wrong with learning about this inexpensive, healthful practice by reading the book?

An exciting, revolutionary piece of the health puzzle is connecting to the earth by walking barefoot or using "grounding" devices. Clint Ober was a cable guy without even a high school diploma. He observed that people walked with shoes that had insulating materials, such as rubber. They were not grounded. Through experimentation, he discovered that people sleep better, have far less pain, and are calmer if they are grounded. Together with health writer Martin Zucker and Stephen Sinatra, MD, Clint wrote the first book ever written that explains the importance of Mother Earth's natural "vibes" in keeping us healthy.

The authors state, "Exposure to sunlight produces vitamin D in the body. It's needed for health. Exposure to the ground provides an electrical `nutrient' in the form of electrons. Think of these electrons as vitamin G--G for ground. Just like vitamin D, you need vitamin G for your health as well."

The Earth is full of electrons and these electrons work like antioxidants, disarming the free radicals that age us. Some of the benefits of "earthing" include weight loss, diminishing pain, healing of injuries, eliminating jet lag, reduction of muscle loss with aging, enhanced immune system and reduced risk of metabolic syndrome.

The book is divided into four parts: part 1 gives the description of the problem and why grounding is needed; part 2 includes the history of discovering the importance of grounding and doctors who endorse this; part 3 includes scientific studies on earthing; and part 4 discusses the earthing revolution and various products that are used, such as grounding shoes, a grounding bed pad, and a computer pad. There is even a product for pets. This section also has lots of testimonials from people who have been helped by earthing. People have found relief from or improvement in pain, arthritis, inflammation, anxiety, insomnia, wound healing , fibromyalgia, M.S. and many more ailments. Even children with autism improve in behavior, school work and social skills. Athletes have also improved their performance via grounding. For those interested in the science and technical aspects of grounding, appendices A and B offer interesting information.

Historically, people slept on the ground or in caves. Modern life has kept us from connecting to the Earth. When reading this book, you can't wait to go out and walk barefoot! Within as little as 20 minutes, you can feel the difference. Even walking barefoot on concrete helps you connect.

I started using the grounding bed sheet about 2 months ago. I have had Lupus probably for the last 10 years and even went to the Mayo clinic to try to get some relief. It started with my kidneys and over time some of the markers for lupus showed up in my blood work. This last year has been extremely stressful having to sell my house in a bad economy etc and so my condition became extremely aggravated. Signs of swelling in my face and constant fatigue kept increasing over the fall and into the new year. I felt desperate since the drugs I was taking gave me only temporary relief and then I had to deal with unwanted side effects. When I started sleeping on the grounding sheet I was hopeful both because of the clinical research studies and because of the logical explanation of how it can reduce inflammation by neutralizing the positive charge stuck in an ungrounded body. After 6 weeks I noticed I was feeling quite a bit better and finally was scheduled to go to my doctor for a checkup. When he looked at the report he said " Very Good! This is the first time I have seen your blood work come out normal. You no longer have any signs of Lupus." That confirmed my inner felling that the grounding therapy was indeed having a profound effect, way out of proportion to the simplicity of grounding and the relatively negligible cost for the sheet. I would like to thank the authors of this book for alerting me to such an effective yet simple way to dramatically improve my health! A Very Big Thank You!!!!

Kathleen McGuinness
Santa Ynez, Ca 93460