"Earthing" for Protection from EMFs

[Wayne]

Hi All,

We get the health magazine Townsend Letter every month, and find it to be a remarkable resource for all kinds of progressive and alternative health concepts. The May issue had a fascinating article on "Earthing", and I thought I would pass it along.

My take is that the essence of earthing is that it drains various kinds of electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs) and static electricity from our bodies. The following article I'm pasting below describes some of the ways in which this can be done, the most simple being walking barefoot, or just having our feet on the ground for up to 30 minutes at a time.

I've been doing this regularly for the past few weeks now, and find it to be helpful. I've long had a feeling of having "static" in my body, especially in my brain. Doing this earthing regularly, while simultaneously doing some simple EFT tapping exercises, seems to have grounded my body and brain. I'm just able to relax and feel calmer since I started doing this.

At some point, I may take some further steps so as to ground myself while I'm asleep at night. The article below touches on it, but you have to go to a separate website to view various products that are available for purchase. I don't know where that website is right off hand.

I think earthing may be helpful for just about anybody, but especially those who have a sensitivity to EMFs. The price is right for those who may want to give it a try. $0.00 -- :Retro smile:

Best to All, Wayne
​

From the Townsend Letter
May 2010

​

​

Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?
by Martin Zucker​

The old people came literally to love the soil. They sat on the ground with the feeling of being close to a mothering power. It was good for the skin to touch the Earth, and the old people liked to remove their moccasins and walk with their bare feet on the sacred Earth. The soil was soothing, strengthening, cleansing, and healing.

Ota Kte (Luther Standing Bear)
Lakota Sioux writer, educator, and tribal leader​

Throughout evolution, humans walked barefoot and slept on the ground and received from the Earth a natural, nurturing, and gentle electric energy. You likely have experienced this form of energy yourself some time or another. Maybe while on vacation and walking barefoot on a sandy beach, you felt some tingling or some warmth in your feet. A sense of well-being. That sensation is the ground's electric energy rising up into your body, the result of the skin of your conductive body making contact with the "skin" of the conductive Earth.

Modern lifestyle has increasingly separated humans from this flow of subtle omnipresent surface energy. We wear insulative rubber or plastic soled shoes that block the flow. Obviously, we no longer sleep on the ground as we did in times past.

Research is now revealing that this energy creates a distinct and uplifting shift in the physiology. It promotes health, vitality, and better sleep; harmonizes and stabilizes the body's basic biological rhythms; knocks down (and even knocks out) chronic inflammation; and reduces and eliminates pain. The disconnect from this natural resource right under our feet may likely be a totally overlooked – and major– factor behind the alarming rise of chronic disease in recent decades, and inflammatory-related conditions in particular.

These revelations are central themes of a new book, Earthing (Basic Health Publications), that I have had the privilege to write. My coauthors are Stephen Sinatra, MD, the well-known integrative cardiologist, and Clint Ober, a most amazing individual who discovered the health benefits of reconnecting to the Earth. [See also Dr. Sinatra's article on page 76.]

Fig 11-1. The reproductions above represent darkfield microscope images of blood taken from three individuals in attendance at Dr. Sinatra house just before and after forty minutes of grounding. The before image is on the left side, the after on the right. The pictures clearly show a dramatic thinning and decoupling of blood cells.

Dr. Sinatra describes this discovery as the most exciting health breakthrough that he has encountered in his 30-plus years in medicine. He sees it as a profoundly simple, practical, effective, and cost-cutting way to combat common illnesses and pain problems, and make people healthier. In his own field of cardiology, he says it has great promise for improving arrhythmias, blood pressure, blood viscosity and flow, and energy production of heart cells. He recently completed a pilot study of the electrodynamics (zeta potential) of blood which indicates that Earthing improves viscosity and flow. The study was inspired by an informal experiment which he conducted utilizing darkfield microscopy that produced dramatic changes in blood cell aggregation after only 40 minutes of Earthing. The changes are seen in the images in Figure 1:
Here are some of the main points in our book:

• Earthing, or grounding, as we alternatively call it, refers to the discovery of significant health benefits resulting from contact with the Earth's natural surface electric energy. Contact is as simple as walking barefoot outside, or sitting, working, or sleeping indoors connected to conductive devices that transfer the outside ground energy inside to you.
• These indoor devices are connected via a wire to a properly grounded electrical outlet inside homes, offices, and clinics, or to a ground rod outside. They incorporate carbon or silver mesh to conduct the Earth's energy. The devices include special cotton sheets or pads allowing you to sleep "grounded" in your bed; floor or desk pads allowing you to work or relax grounded; and Velcro body bands and standard medical EKG patches, with a grounding connection, applied to body parts to address local pain and inflammation. The patches have been used repeatedly in Earthing research and have excellent potential for use in clinical settings.
• Thousands of people – adults and children – have benefited from these devices for more than a decade. Their experiences, as documented in the book, are extraordinary. Victorious American-sponsored cycling teams at recent Tour de France competitions used Earthing "sleeping bags" to recover dramatically faster than normal from injuries and grueling competition.
• We all live and function electrically on an electrical planet. We are each of us a collection of dynamic electrical circuits. In the living matrix of our complex bodies, trillions of cells constantly transmit and receive energy in the course of their programmed biochemical reactions. The movement of nutrients and water into the cells is regulated by electric fields, and each type of cell has a frequency range in which it operates. Your heart, brain, nervous system, muscles, and immune system are prime examples of electrical subsystems operating within your "bioelectrical" body. The fact is, all of your movements, behaviors, and actions are energized by electricity. Earthing research demonstrates that connection to the Earth initiates an immediate electrophysiological shift inside your body indicative of improved blood, nervous system, immune system, and muscular function (see sidebar, page 54, for a research summary).
• In electricity, all electrical systems are "grounded"; that is, stabilized by the electrical energy of the Earth's surface. Without a ground, appliances or sophisticated medical devices would not work properly. Similarly, when connected to the Earth, the body receives an electric signal that normalizes and stabilizes its many biological systems and mechanisms. This signal also appears to be the source of negatively charged free electrons, present in unlimited quantity on the surface of the Earth. The hypothesis put forward by scientists involved in Earthing research is that the transfer of electrons into the body quenches or neutralizes positively charged, electron-seeking free radicals that drive chronic inflammation activity at the core of many common diseases. We suggest that the mightiest anti-inflammatory on the planet may be the very planet itself! We further suggest that destructive chronic inflammation may be the result of an electron deficiency that is remedied by contact with the Earth's infinite reservoir of free electrons.
• Just as sunlight provides us with vitamin D, the Earth provides us with another essential ingredient. Call it vitamin G: G for ground. We regard it as an overlooked factor in disease causation – a missing link. Gary Schwartz, PhD, a professor of psychology and medicine at the University of Arizona, suggests that "Earthing may be as fundamental as sunlight, air, water, and nutrients."

Earthing's Fascinating Discovery

Throughout the history of civilization, cultures around the world honored connectedness to the Earth and described the energy of the Earth in different ways. Some may be familiar to you, such as Earth Qi in Traditional Chinese Medicine and Prana in Ayurveda.

Until now, however, the distinct health benefits of this energy have remained largely unknown. Thanks to the curiosity and persistence of Clint Ober, a pioneer of the cable TV industry, the benefits are surfacing. At one point, Ober headed the largest cable TV installation company in the US. In 1993, at the age of 49, at the height of success, he became deathly ill – the result of an abscess that nearly destroyed his liver. Ober recovered from the ordeal and decided to shed his possessions and look for a higher purpose in life. He traveled throughout the US for four years in an RV, looking for, as he put it, "my mission." He found it one day in Sedona, Arizona, on a park bench, while watching the passing tourist parade. He became aware that almost everybody wore synthetic soled shoes. He wondered if such footwear, which had increasingly replaced leather since the 1960s, could have an effect on health.

It occurred to him rather innocently that he and most everyone else around him were insulated from the electrical surface charge of the Earth. His thoughts went back to his years in television and cable. Before cable, you may remember, TV images were commonly afflicted with flecks, "snow," or disturbing lines from electromagnetic interference. In the cable industry, systems in every home are grounded and shielded to prevent outside signals and fields from interfering with the transmission carried through the cable. The cable consists of an inner copper conductor, an insulating layer, and an outer shield. The shield is electrically connected to the Earth – to a ground rod. This is the principle of grounding – connecting electrical systems in homes, buildings, and industry to the Earth's energy field in order to provide electrical stability and protect them from errant electrical charges.

Could this energy field also protect the body from ubiquitous environmental electrical charges (EMFs) thought by many to be an insidious health hazard? Could it provide stability to the body? These were questions that Ober raised. He knew that the body is conductive; that is, it conducts electricity. So he performed a simple experiment on himself. He rigged up a crude conductive grid to fit on his bed. He took an alligator clip and attached it to the grid, connected a wire to it, ran the wire out the window, and fastened it to a ground rod outside. He then lay down on the grid and measured the voltage on his body. He found that when he was "grounded," the EMFs on his body had disappeared. The voltage of his body was near zero, the same as the voltage, or potential in electrical terms, as the surface of the Earth. The next thing Ober knew, it was morning. He had fallen asleep and slept soundly for the first time in years – and without a pill. This was a big deal for him. He suffered with constant back pain and disturbed sleep. He took painkillers to sleep at night and again in the morning to get through the day.

He repeated the experiment every night for a week. Same results. Moreover, he noticed that his pain had decreased significantly. He then decided to tell some friends about his little experiment. They asked if he would make them a grid for their beds. He did. They had similar results: better sleep and less pain.

Ober contacted university sleep researchers looking for an explanation. Nobody knew anything about this. Nobody was interested. So he decided to find out himself. Armed with tips he received from friendly undergraduate research students, he set off, a nonscientist, on a scientific odyssey. Twelve years later, he is still at it. He has inspired and brilliantly organized a dozen studies with scientific experts that have thoroughly validated his initial personal observations of better sleep and reduced pain. They clearly show that Earthing has a powerful influence on the delicate balance between health and illness, and the prospect of living longer and better. During this time, he continually developed and refined indoor Earthing systems for use in studies and to make available to interested individuals. He found that after someone experiences less pain and better sleep from sleeping grounded, they want all their relatives and friends to experience the same thing.

Earthing Triggers Physiological Normalization

For me, the concept of reconnecting to the Earth has revealed one of Nature's great healing secrets. On a personal note, I experienced an immediate cessation of annoying restless legs syndrome when I started sleeping grounded two years ago. I sleep grounded now whether I am at home or traveling. Over time, the also annoying need to get up at night to pee, typical of men my age (72), has substantially abated. Some nights I get up once. Others not at all. A couple of my friends have had the same results.

My wife has less pain from substantial musculoskeletal issues as a result of sleeping grounded and using grounded EKG patches during the day. One woman who transcribes for me wanted a conductive bedsheet after hearing and transcribing some of the interviews of doctors and patients that I did for the book. After she started sleeping grounded, she told me that she was "absolutely amazed." Not a single flare-up of her fibromyalgia pain.

To quickly experience Earthing yourself, just walk or sit barefoot on grass, sand, gravel, or unpainted concrete – ground surfaces that conduct energy. Wood, asphalt, and plastic do not conduct. Stay for at least a half hour or so and at the end of that time you will notice you are calmer, and if you had pain to begin with, it will be less, or maybe even gone.

Biophysicist James Oschman, PhD, a leading expert and author on energy medicine, sums up Earthing this way: "The moment your foot touches the Earth, or you connect to the Earth through a wire, your physiology changes. An immediate normalization begins. And an anti-inflammatory switch is turned on. People stay inflamed because they never connect with the Earth, the source of free electrons which can neutralize the free radicals in the body that cause disease and cellular destruction."

Please read the book to learn the full story, the research details, and the dramatic feedback from doctors and patients. There is much in the book that will interest sophisticated, open-minded practitioners and health-oriented readers of this publication. You will be amazed, as I was, by the primordial power and promise of this concept.

The Benefits of Earthing
For more than ten years, Earthing research and feedback from individuals who have grounded themselves, primarily while sleeping at night, demonstrate a multitude of benefits. Here is a short list of them:
• improvement or elimination of the symptoms of many inflammation-related disorders
• reduction or elimination of chronic pain
• better sleep and faster to sleep
• increased energy
• lowered stress, more calmness by cooling down the nervous system and stress hormones
• normalization of the body’s biological rhythms
• thinner blood, improved blood pressure and flow
• muscle tension and headache relief
• lessened hormonal and menstrual symptoms
• dramatically faster healing and reduction/prevention of bedsores
• reduction/elimination of jet lag
• protection against potentially health-disturbing environmental electromagnetic fields (EMFs)
• accelerated recovery from intense athletic activity
​

Earthing Research
The studies to date on Earthing provide proof of concept for the Earth’s surface energy having significant physiological and health benefits. They include the following:
Sleeping grounded normalizes cortisol level and improves sleep. Ghaly M, Teplitz D. J Alt Comp Med. 2004;10(5)767–776.
Cortisol Levels Before and After Grounding
In unstressed individuals, the normal 24-hour cortisol secretion profile follows a predictable pattern – lowest around 12 midnight and highest at 8 a.m. (Graph A). The pregrounding chart (Graph B) shows wide variation of patterns among 12 Earthing study participants. Graph C represents altered pattern after six weeks of Earthing, showing a significant stabilization of cortisol levels. (Data adapted from the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 2004.)

Applewhite R. Electrons move from the Earth to the body when the body is grounded and grounding powerfully reduces EMFs on the body. Euro Biol Bioelectromag. 2005;1:23–40.
Chevalier G et al. Earthing produces unique electrical function in brain and muscles. Euro Biol Bioelectromag. 2006;600–621.
Chevalier G et al. "Expressways" of electron transfer from the Earth into the body run through highly conductive water-control meridians (involving K-1 and UB). Subtle Energy & Energy Med. 2007;18(3):11–34.
Chevalier G. Electrophysiological measurements indicating more efficient cardiovascular, respiratory, and nervous system function. J Alt Comp Med. 2010;16(1):81–87.
Brown R et al.Less inflammation, faster recovery from exercise-induced delayed onset muscle soreness. J Alt Comp Med. March 2010.
Preliminary results from in progress animal study show significant improvement of biochemical factors associated with metabolic syndrome in humans.
For a scientific description of electron transfer in the body, see Oschman JL. Can electrons act as antioxidants? a review and commentary. J Alt Comp Med 2007;13(9):955–967.
For additional information, refer to Earthing (the book) and visit the website
www.earthinginstitute.net.

Martin Zucker has written or coauthored fifteen books, including Earthing, Move Yourself (Wiley), Reverse Heart Disease Now (Wiley),and Natural Hormone Balance for Women (Atria/Pocket Books). He is a former Associated Press newsman.

 

[caledonia]

Interesting. My dad always said if you walked barefoot in the dew on the grass in the morning, it was good for you.

 

[Sing]

Thank you, Wayne! This is so appropriate for me and I feel it is truthful. This summer I've known that I ought to be out at night sleeping in my tent, but I haven't had the energy to get it set up yet. Sleeping on the ground in years past, I could release my jangled energy into the ground and then receive from the earth good, nurturing energy. I felt as though I were in relationship with the Mother then. It was the beginning of knowing how my body, in fact all of me, belongs to Mother Earth.

Two months ago I had a hip replacement operation then rehab. Now home, I've been extra tired and my sleep poorer than before. What would be helpful would be if I put my tent up and went out there at 9 or 9:30, instead of staying up to 11 as I always do. Then, when dawn comes, I'd have had the chance to have slept long enough.

To add another idea, going swimming in a pond, lake, river or ocean also gives such relief too--not only to the aching body but with that jangled feeling too. Water is a conductor of energy but a great soothing one, as it is the energy of nature or life, to which one belongs.

 

[Chris]

Wayne, thank you! I shall subscribe to the Townsend Letter, and this stuff on EMF fits right in with my interest in both reducing EMF exposure (recently installed Stetzer filters, with major improvement recorded on a Stetzer meter rented for the purpose, and also in the MSR 2000 and Bemer 3000 PEMF mats, which seem able to undo some of the damage done by our insulation from the earth, and our exposure to RF and other damaging forms of electromagnetic energy. But going back to the earth while living in a northern city is a problem!
Best, Chris

 

[Wayne]

Vestu Magnetic Strips

Thank you, Wayne! This is so appropriate for me and I feel it is truthful. This summer I've known that I ought to be out at night sleeping in my tent, but I haven't had the energy to get it set up yet. Sleeping on the ground in years past, I could release my jangled energy into the ground and then receive from the earth good, nurturing energy. I felt as though I were in relationship with the Mother then. It was the beginning of knowing how my body, in fact all of me, belongs to Mother Earth.

Two months ago I had a hip replacement operation then rehab. Now home, I've been extra tired and my sleep poorer than before. What would be helpful would be if I put my tent up and went out there at 9 or 9:30, instead of staying up to 11 as I always do. Then, when dawn comes, I'd have had the chance to have slept long enough.

To add another idea, going swimming in a pond, lake, river or ocean also gives such relief too--not only to the aching body but with that jangled feeling too. Water is a conductor of energy but a great soothing one, as it is the energy of nature or life, to which one belongs.

Hi Caledonia, Sing, Chris,

Sing, thanks much for your warm and friendly note this morning. I relate to much of what you mention. I feel I've been somewhat negligent in attending to EMF protection for quite some time now, but feel I'm now ready to make some important strides as I go forward.

I recently had a friend visit who brought with him some metal stripping (Company name is Vestu; I think) that was purported to harmonize the electrical energy in the house. I had heard about these types of things, but had a lot of doubt about their efficacy. I had tried similar things at other times with minimal results.

But after putting these simple strips on our electrical box (cost about $3), both he, my partner and I felt a very noticeable shift in the energetics of our house. My partner, who is very healthy, mentioned that it felt like a burden had been lifted that she had not even been aware of. I myself feel Ive taken a step up in my ability to function around the house.

My friend, an acupuncturist, said it's not easy to find these products, and he himself got his through an acquaintance of his. It's possible it may be a "professional" product only. If you would be interested, I could make it a priority to e-mail my friend, and see whether these really inexpensive strips might be available to the public.

Good suggestion on the swimming. I might mention that I believe it's the minerals in the water that conduct electrical energy, and not the water per se. I believe many of us with ME/CFS have mineral and nutritional deficiencies, and one of the effects of this is that it makes it more difficult to maintain bioelectrical harmony in our bodies.

Regarding sleep; I have found my sleep to be improved since doing the regular earthing. What a difference better sleep makes! Good luck on setting up your tent and getting started on the program you mention. I know it can't be easy with your lower energy and continuing recovery from your surgery. But if you could get set up, I suspect it could make a very nice difference for you.

this stuff on EMF fits right in with my interest in both reducing EMF exposure (recently installed Stetzer filters, with major improvement recorded on a Stetzer meter rented for the purpose, and also in the MSR 2000 and Bemer 3000 PEMF mats, which seem able to undo some of the damage done by our insulation from the earth, and our exposure to RF and other damaging forms of electromagnetic energy.

Chris, I've not heard about the Stetzer filters, but will do a search on it to learn more. I've been interested in the Bemer 3000 since Michelle posted on some positive experiences in recent months. I really think EMF protection could be an important component for many of us. I myself plan to pursue this looking at a variety of things. The product that intrigues me the most at this time is sheets which apparently can ground you while you're sleeping. I think I remember them being about $75 or so.

I think I'm going to go ahead and e-mail my friend for some more information on those magnetic strips. It is so cheap, and I continue to notice that my functionality has improved so much since we "installed" them. Took about a minute; if you want to call that an installation. :Retro smile:

Best to All, Wayne

 

[Chris]

EMF stuff

Hi, all; I can recommend a couple of books--Robert Becker's "Cross Currents," fascinating stuff, and a little book (cheaply available as an E book) by Camilla Rees and Magda Havas, "Public Health SOS: The Shadow Side of the Wireless Revolution." Becker's book is by far the more fundamental, but is now a bit dated--1990; I have not found a more up-to-date accessible account of the whole picture. The SOS book gives a few websites that contain information about some protective products and meters--http://www.EMFSafetyStore.com, http://users.maui.net/~emf , www.safelivingtechnologies.ca
http://www.drgauss.com ; there are others.
There is also an expensive book by Joel P. Carmichael on the MRS 2000--he is deeply involved in the product--this is not an impartial book. It does contain some good information, but much less than its price and 350 pages promise. My overall impression, after doing some reading of the research on these PEMF machines, is that they do do some good, as Michelle testified, and have particular usefulness in some conditions such as osteoporosis and bone fracture, but have come to the conclusion that with limited funds I will get more from reducing my exposure to damaging EMF than by getting periodic small boosts from these mats.
There are also some specific warnings (I appreciate the honesty that produced these): don't use these machines during pregnancy or on the very young, if you have electronic implants, or serious cardiac arrhythmias, while taking oral steroids, or in the presence of metastatic disease--this last is a bit tricky, since I guess that can begin without any obvious signalling.

So I rented a Stetzer meter, which measures the high frequency pollution stuff that gets into the basic 60 cycle power lines in a building by various routes; I found very high readings in the order of 300-400, and installing (expensive, but compared with a PEMF mat cheap) Stetzer filters reduced those readings to around 70--still higher than I would like (recommended--20!), but much lower, and I do seem to feel a bit better as a result (though am also taking Stem-Kine, and would say the same of that--I never know just what is doing what... ). I live in an apartment building with a forest of cell phone and other devices sticking up from the roof and am looking for an apartment in an electronically quieter part of town!

Rich van Konynenburg has a post somewhere on this forum (!) suggesting a path by which EMF could be particularly damaging to us--wish I could remember just what he said! As usual, our governments have abandoned the field to private enterprise, which insists that all this stuff is good for us, or at the worst not really bad.
Best, Chris

 

[Phil]

Hi Wayne
I'm glad you posted this. I'm interested and hoping more people try this out so we can see what (if anything)
happens. It's one of those things that seem quite reasonable and that could be quite helpful, or there might be
nothing to it. I found a couple of hopeful user reports on the planetthrive.org forum but no really distinctive cases
so far.
Unfortunately the half sheet for grounding at night is $239 and up at http://stores.earthing.com/-strse-Sleep-Systems/Categories.bok. The bands and mats are much cheaper but it seems to me that the grounding while you sleep makes the
most sense.

By the way if you are thinking of doing something in this area you might consider working at reducing your emf
exposures in general. There's lots of short articles on the net giving suggestions as to what to avoid and how far
away to keep electrical devices etc. Last year after many years of thinking about it I bought a Trifield Meter (model 100XE).
The meter was a revelation. I found that it is very hard to do a really thorough job of reducing emfs without use of a meter.
You can get a significant reduction in most cases but there are things I just wouldn't have thought of or discovered without
the use of the meter. The one problem I see besides the initial cost of a meter (mine was around $140 I believe), is that you
may uncover some emfs that are hard or expensive to reduce. So if it's the thought or belief that I'm reducing emf danger by using an emf pendant or some such "magical" device that helps you feel better, well you may not get that from a meter. You can reduce exposures a lot but you may (and I certainly did), find a lot of emfs that you were not expecting, and are hard to avoid. And oh yeah, despite greatly reducing my exposures I have noticed no health changes. Still, I'm glad I'm reducing this stuff.
Let's hope the grounding idea is for real.
Phil

 

[IntuneJune]

Wayne, I have subscribed to your thread so that I could come back to it, no time to read now. So I am not sure "where" the information was leading" However........

Connecting to the first sentence or two:

YES!!!! I love to take my shoes off and walk along the beach.... I NEED to do this. I always feel better....somehow, certainly in attitude.....in being..... I love the ocean. But I NEED to get my feet in the sand...... Must get back to your thread at some time, need to sign off now.

Thank you, June

 

[richvank]

Rich van Konynenburg has a post somewhere on this forum (!) suggesting a path by which EMF could be particularly damaging to us--wish I could remember just what he said! As usual, our governments have abandoned the field to private enterprise, which insists that all this stuff is good for us, or at the worst not really bad.
Best, Chris

Hi, Chris.

You may be referring to the post in which I suggested the hypothesis that EM sensitivity in PWCs may be a result of inability to properly maintain the myelin "insulation" on nerve fibers. There are at least three components of myelin that require methylation for their synthesis in the body--phosphatidylcholine, choline plasmalogen and myelin basic protein.

We now have good lab-based evidence that there is a partial methylation cycle block in nearly all PWCs who have had the methylation pathways panel run by Health Diagnostics and Research Institute (formerly Vitamin Diagnostics, Inc.). We should expect that if there is a problem with methylation, the integrity of the myelin will suffer.

In addition, the best-documented brain-related feature of CFS is slow processing speed. Myelin is normally responsible for the abiliity to transfer nerve impulses down the nerve fibers at high speeds, because of its high electrical resistivity and its low inherent capacitance (note that it is composed primarily of lipids, which do not conduct electricity and do not have a dipole moment, which would raise the capacitance).

I suggest that without robust myelin insulation, the nerve fibers are vulnerable to having currents induced in them by external electromagnetic fields. The body, being a conductor because of its high water content, with dissolved ions, acts as an antenna, receiving electromagnetic signals from the environment.

These induced currents can be expected to influence the nervous system in a deleterious way.

This hypothesis seems to fit the available observations and the accepted anatomy, physiology and biochemistry pretty well, as well as being consistent with known electromagnetic theory.

What can be done about this? Well, living inside a Faraday cage would be a short-term measure, and grounding will probably help, also, but in the longer term, the partial block in the methylation cycle needs to be lifted, so that the myelin can be repaired, and thus the normal protection of the nerve fibers can be restored. That is the goal of the methylation cycle treatment that I have suggested and that is being increasingly used by PWCs. For more information, see www.cfsresearch.org and click on CFS/M.E. and then on my name.

Best regards,

Rich

 

[IntuneJune]

Still have not read the thread, cannot concentrate...... so this is not directly related.....

I have been out very little lately so yesterday ...said to hubby, "let's go for a ride."

In the car, "Where do you want to go" hubby asked

"The beach."

Our town beach is small by most of our State's standards, but it is nice, has a grassy area with benches, then the sand, then the ocean. So we sit on the bench.

"Let's take our shoes off and walk along the beach" I said.

"Well, you can." He repllies. (Now we both know I cannot get too far but I explained I wanted to get my feet in the sand.)

"Oh come on," I coaxed. "everyone should get their bare feet connected to the ground sometimes."

He snickered......"Not me: he replies, "I am a pilot, my feet should not touch the ground." Side note, he was a military pilot, but has not flown for years.

I walked barefoot........

June

 

[muffin]

When I first saw this post I sort of thought it was obvious and a tad "out there". Then I realized that there really IS something to this.
When I was a kid and teenager, I and my siblings never wore shoes all summer long. Before school started, my father had to take a razor and cut down the heavy callous on our heals since they had built up so thickly and our shoes would not fit with all that thick heal. As kids, we simply could not and would not wear shoes outside even on the rocks, hot pavement, glass strewn grass, etc. Of course we all became adults and put our shoes back on and kept them on since that's what adults do. Well, after reading this post I did start back to not wearing shoes outside. There really is something about having your feet and skin touching the ground. Something primal and lovely. Of course, where I live I do have to watch out for Rattlers and Copperhead snakes but then, where I grew up we also had TONS of Rattlers and they never bothered us even when we played and laid on top of the rock outcroppings that Rattlers love to live in.

I do think there is something to this. What, I don't know but it sure feels nice to get those shoes off and be a kid again. Thanks for this post!

 

[Sing]

Yes, muffin! I too went without shoes all summer. I climbed trees, learned to ride horses, loved to swim and run through the fields. This wasn't "jogging" for exercise but an expression of happiness. I loved all animals and never got bitten by anything other than bugs. When I was ten, I had to start wearing a shirt, which felt ominously like the beginning of confinement, which it was, in the culturally prescribed female role in this case. I belonged to nature-- that is how I felt.

I chuckled to read your thought that this thread is a little far out, because actually, how we live now with all our electronics, machinery and buildings is what is far out. How we are encased in a context of EMFs and other energies that we were never designed for. We are creatures of the earth essentially, still, and it feels good to remember this with our feet and our hearing--the birds, the wind in the trees, the ocean--and our skin. It isn't only the sight of nature, pretty pictures which we need, but visceral contact. I feel like a thirsty person who can finally drink, when I go outside. It relaxes and restores me, and it lifts my mood. And then I go back to the computer!

Sing

 

[IntuneJune]

What will the children of today think is natural?

I chuckled to read your thought that this thread is a little far out, because actually, how we live now with all our electronics, machinery and buildings is what is far out. How we are encased in a context of EMFs and other energies that we were never designed for. We are creatures of the earth essentially, still, and it feels good to remember this with our feet and our hearing--the birds, the wind in the trees, the ocean--and our skin. It isn't only the sight of nature, pretty pictures which we need, but visceral contact. I feel like a thirsty person who can finally drink, when I go outside. It relaxes and restores me, and it lifts my mood. And then I go back to the computer!

Sing

:worried: :sofa:

What Sing said.

We are moving away...through technology...from nature...without giving it much thought, other than the usual statements "well, back in my day I walked five miles to school.....yady, yad, kids these days sit in front of the tv too much, yady, yady."

 

[Chris]

Hi, all; have not revisited this thread for quite a while, so this is catch up. Thanks, Rich, for the reminder--at least my memory had not totally betrayed me! Makes sense to me, and I still do the simplified meth protocol, more or less, most of the time. I think it helped me, but seemed to plateau out.
I have now read "Earthing," and checked out the www.earthinginstitute.net website; I am in the throes of moving to a new apt, not topped by cell phone relay towers, and will buy a ground checking device at the hardware store, and depending on what that tells me about the electrical ground in the building, plan to buy one of those grounding sheets--I can't run a wire to ground in an apt building, unfortunately. My impression after reading the book is that this stuff may do most of what is claimed for the Bemer and MRS 2000 PEMF machines, which after all make as one of their central claims that they closely imitate the electromagnetic field of the earth. My impression is that they do some good, but maybe "Earthing" is a much cheaper and more direct route towards the same goal. At least I hope so!
Best to all, Chris

 

[Chris]

Hi; now I read that some power companies use the earth as a return wire--so what we would like to think of as Mother Earth to which we can ground ourselves is also contaminated with our electrical presence. I don't know how prevalant or significant this is--it may be only in the country, since I saw it connected with farmers reporting decreased milk production etc., but it puts a bit of a damper on things for me--will investigate further later. Chris

 

[richvank]

Hi, Chris.

You're welcome!
Your report of having "plateaued out" on the simplified methyation protocol corresponds to what I've heard from quite a few others. It seems to help about two-thirds significantly, a small number have reported complete recovery, and about one-third report either that they couldn't tolerate it, or that they didn't experience anything from it. So there is definitely more to learn, and perhaps the retroviruses will be the missing factor. The methylation treatment seems to be an important component of the treatment, but it doesn't appear to do the whole job for most PWCs. Some people are now saying that if they take care of other aspects first, then the methylation treatment is the last thing they need to do to recover. I'm trying to figure out what all those other things are.

It's true that the neutral line from the power company is attached to the earth, and the national electrical code requires that both the water pipes in a house and the neutral wire of the electrical system be grounded to the earth. This is done as a safety measure, especially important during lightning storms, to prevent electrocutions. Generally speaking, though, not much current flows from the neutral line to ground. The power companies don't actually use it as a return line, as far as I know. There would be too much resistive loss of power if they did that, so it wouldn't be economical.

I don't know about the farmers reporting decreased milk production, but since the earth is so large and has such a large capacitance from an electronic point of view, I think that grounding one's body to the earth would give a pretty steady potential, and would drain off currents induced by atmospheric electromagnetic radiation.

Best regards,

Rich

 

[Chris]

Rich, thanks again! I think the info I saw did suggest that some power companies use the earth as a return, but quite possible in the context of a small local power station. Anyway, I am reassured by your information, and living in an urban environment as I do, I will probably try one of the Earthing things--probably the contour sheet--much cheaper than a Bemer or MRS, and maybe, just maybe...
Best wishes, Chris

 

[Wayne]

Bathable and Edible Clays for Radiation Toxicity

I’m told that Russian scientists used Bentonite clay to protect their bodies from radiation when working with nuclear materials. What I heard is ingenious. They would first coat their hands and bodies with hydrated Bentonite mush mixture before donning radiation suits, and presumably the clay would help trap and stray radiation particles. Afterwards they would just wash it off.

The above paragraph is from the following article:

​

All About Radiation

Hi All,

I ran across the above paragraph a short while ago, and was quite intrigued by it. I've been really interested (and concerned) about doing what I can to protect myself from all sorts of radiation, EMFs, microwave frequencies, radio frequencies, satellite/cell phone frequencies, etc.

I've used clay in the past for various reasons, primarily to do clay foot baths. But I've also applied it topically on occasional rashes I get, and found it to be quite helpful. When I saw the above paragraph, I decided to apply some "hydrated clay solution" over my entire body. I've just begun to do this, but so far, it feels really good.

I don't know exactly why this would be, or what it might all be doing (it might even be some kind of "earthing" aspect), but I plan to continue this for a while, and see if it feels right to make this part of my regular regimen.

I've run across random references recently regarding various molds, fungi, bacteria, etc, that can proliferate in various kinds of radiation/EMF environments. The ability of clay to absorb radiation (and even pull it out of our bones) would seem to make it a common sense measure for our times. Given that PWCs are so susceptible to all sorts of pathogens, it would seem that it might be quite beneficial to take advantage of this low-cost treatment. I use the following bentonite product:

NOW Foods - Bentonite Powder 100% Pure Clay - 1 lb.

Take 1/2 cup of clay powder, put it in a Vita Mix or blender, and blend at high speed until it begins to thicken (about 30 seconds or so). Obviously, you can make many quarts of clay solution from a single pound of bentonite powder.

BTW, this NOW brand bentonite is also ingestible. If you read the full article from the above link, it has some really good information about some of the beneficial things that clay can do inside our bodies.

All the Best, Wayne
..................................................

ETA I just found these recommendations regarding internal consumption of the NOW brand bentonite powder:

Suggested Use: As a dietary supplement, take 1/4-1/2 level teaspoon twice daily with juice or water. For best results, consume with plenty of fluids and bulk-forming fibers.

Warnings: DO NOT consume over 1 tsp. Per day for extended periods of time.​

 

[Wayne]

Map of Nuclear Fallout

Here's an interesting nuclear fallout map. It sure seems most of us likely have at least some level of radiation stored in our bodies. I also had a fairly large number of x-rays taken in my lifetime, especially as a young child (back when they gave off far more radiation).

Seems the prudent thing for me to do is get started on some kind of clay ingestion program to see if I can reduce some of my radiation levels. Who knows, maybe it will help some of my ME/CFS symptoms.

Here's a link: Estimated Per Capita Cumulative Dose of I-131 Nevada Test Site Above-Ground Tests

 

[wallace]

See an active discussion

http://flash.lymenet.org/ubb/ultimatebb.php/topic/1/100709

I note a cfs doctor called Blake graham advocates it.

makes sense to me