Grounding / Earthing

[Brian1966]

I have seen a lot of ads for grounding (earthing) products such as mats, sheets, and mattress covers and they all make claims about helping a plethora of issues including improving immune system function. Out of curiosity, has anyone else incorporated grounding/earthing into their wellness routine?  If so, has it changed anything in your life or is it a bunch of snake oil?

Thanks

[Jim Allen]

Well If something helps someone sleep better it's great and better sleep is linked to better health outcomes. However, specific immune system claims or directly because of these products covers etc are snake oil sales stories, end of story.

Funny enough, sleep came up briefly on the monthly call, at night I put on the headset and listen to history channel or Mark Felton on YouTube about the Nazis and since doing so my sleep is so much better. However, I doubt claiming listing to war stories and killing Hitler improves your immune system would make good ads for companies...

(As per forum rules, i'll add links regarding better sleep and health outcomes when I get back to my laptop)

[Brian1966]

LOL at the listening to history about the Nazis.  I think it's just the same reason we all fell asleep in class with certain instructors, their voices just lured us off into dreamland.

[Jim Allen]

LOL at the listening to history about the Nazis.  I think it's just the same reason we all fell asleep in class with certain instructors, their voices just lured us off into dreamland.

🙂 Yup. Tonight I've got the bunker escape lined up, my east German partner eyes often roll at me. Anyhow, are you having sleep issues?

[leatherman]

(As per forum rules, i'll add links regarding better sleep and health outcomes when I get back to my laptop)

I had never heard of this grounding/earthing stuff and tried to find some quick reliable source so I could get an idea. I ended up on a clevelandclinic link (https://health.clevelandclinic.org/earthing).

the idea sounds all new-agey, which I had nothing against per se, but I was looking for more evidence. As I was reading all the things to do to ground or earth myself, I realized I reached a different conclusion. Instead of some sort of resonance with the earth coming from being in contact with the earth (ok, that is just too new-agey for me), I observed two different components: getting off your ass and taking a relaxing moment.

While there’s some evidence to suggest earthing is good for your health, these claims aren’t backed by high-quality research, but there’s a growing body of evidence suggesting that being outside (with or without touching the earth) benefits our physical and mental health

getting outside where the air is fresh. moving around getting your blood pumping. taking a moment to center yourself, your thoughts, and your emotions. That sounds like good advice. good, sound, healthy advice......without magnetic fields or physically touching the earth.

Speaking of touching the earth and thinking about all this I realized that people really don't touch the earth very often. Most of the time we are wearing shoes (and clothes)...or work/gardening gloves. As much time as I spend outside myself, except for an occasional dip in a creek on a hike in the mountains, or going from my house to the pool out in my backyard, my feet rarely touch the ground. My shoes do but not my feet. And except for when I forget them, I almost always use gloves when I'm cleaning yard debris or planting the garden. So all-in-all I don't touch the earth very much but I do enjoy my outside activities and fresh air.

Well all the outdoor activities excepting raking leaves. While it's a lot of fun at the first of fall (when the dogs and I play in the piles of raked up leaves); when it's late fall and I've been raking leaves for weeks and yet an oak and elm are still holding onto their leaves, this is when I hate the outside. But tomorrow I'll be outside raking, mowing, and dragging tarps full of leaves out to the street...... grounding myself and being happy about it. LOL

[Brian1966]

I’ve been a bit of an insomniac since I was around 14. I take ambien for when it’s needed. Usually I sleep fairly okay and I try for 7-8 hours every night.  My sleep doesn’t seem any better or worse now and I still have a get a couple of challenging nights every couple of weeks but my partner is usually jealous of how fast I can fall asleep if I’m not having one of the bad nights.

[Jim Allen]

(As per forum rules, i'll add links regarding better sleep and health outcomes when I get back to my laptop)

Prevalence and moderating factors of sleep disturbances in people living with HIV, a systematic review and meta-analysis
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-65713-x

Sleep deficiency among people living with human immunodeficiency virus: A growing challenge
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/hiv.13526

The effects of sleep disruption on metabolism, hunger, and satiety, and the influence of psychosocial stress and exercise
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/dmrr.3667

Sleep Deprivation and Deficiency
How Sleep Affects Your Health
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/sleep-deprivation/health-effects

[Jim Allen]

the idea sounds all new-agey, which I had nothing against per se, but I was looking for more evidence.

I observed two different components: getting off your ass and taking a relaxing moment.
getting outside where the air is fresh. moving around getting your blood pumping. taking a moment to center yourself, your thoughts, and your emotions. That sounds like good advice. good, sound, healthy advice......without magnetic fields or physically touching the earth.

Indeed, don't get me wrong, If something helps someone sleep better it's great, but there is no scientific evidence to support the new-agey magnetic field claims stuff and products being sold regarding this topic. As for getting out, nature, taking time for yourself, etc. I would agree, can't hurt.

Generally speaking, the Earth's magnetic field goes out about 39,768 miles into space, so I am sure I'm in contact with it regardless of the products I buy 

I’ve been a bit of an insomniac since I was around 14. I take ambien for when it’s needed. Usually I sleep fairly okay and I try for 7-8 hours every night.  My sleep doesn’t seem any better or worse now and I still have a get a couple of challenging nights every couple of weeks but my partner is usually jealous of how fast I can fall asleep if I’m not having one of the bad nights.

Sorry to hear that, and hopefully you will find something that will help you.

[leatherman]

Funny enough, sleep came up briefly on the monthly call

besides using a white noise machine (otherwise i hear EVERY little single sound in the house...and in my body...and can't sleep), I try tricking myself into thinking I've had good sleep.

I sleep 5-7 hours....whether I feel like I need more sleep or not. Since I clearly can't make myself sleep anymore time, I decided to change my attitude about it. I decided if my body was only going to sleep 5ish hours, then that must be all the sleep it needed. That may or may not be true, but who am I to disagree with the internal logic and machinations of my body and brain. Thinking that whatever sleep I got is what I needed helps me to at least pretend I'm happy and well rested instead of moping about all day whining about how miserable I feel. LOL

of course, I don't mention anything about a lack of sleep to my doctor. Telling him how little I sleep would only send him off on another diatribe about all the Coke I drink daily and all the candy I eat. LOL

my partner is usually jealous of how fast I can fall asleep

my other half can zonk out in 5 mins....even with the lights and tv on. As soon as he takes off his glasses and closes his eyes, sleep is within minutes. I lay there for another hour and a half reading. LOL I'm up by 5 and he's up at 8. LOL I swear every husband I've had has had "sleeping sickness" while I seem to not need sleep. 

[Brian1966]

Good information about sleep disorders, mine has been documented in my medical records since I was in my late twenties.  Other than my sleep cycle being very disrupted during my hospitalization and early recovery, I’ve been back to sleeping as normally as I have been in most of my adult life.

I have been dealing with it for decades. It’s just a fact of life for me and it’s actually more manageable now that I have a doctor who is not so opposed to prescription sleep medications.  None of the OTC stuff really helps much.  I know that I’m sleeping deeply enough to dream, even if my dreams are just a bunch of nonsense that I quickly forget after waking up.

Thanks again for the links.