Earthing: The Remarkably Simple Way to Support Your Health

Written by Kim Deschamps, MPT, BKin, PYT | May 15, 2025

Physiotherapist, Pelvic Health Therapist, Yoga Therapist, Lifestyle Medicine Practitioner

Have you ever noticed how calm and clear you feel after walking barefoot on grass or dipping your toes in a lake? That sense of grounding isn’t just in your head—it’s actually happening throughout your entire body.

What is Earthing?

Also called grounding, earthing is the practice of making direct contact with the Earth’s surface—most commonly with your bare feet on soil, grass, sand, or natural water. This simple connection allows your body to absorb free electrons from the Earth. These electrons act as powerful antioxidants, helping neutralize excess free radicals that contribute to inflammation, cellular damage, and disease.

Because the Earth holds a limitless supply of these electrons, reconnecting with it on a regular basis can help restore balance within the body and nervous system. It’s an incredibly accessible and effective form of natural healing that doesn’t cost a thing.

The Health Benefits of Earthing

Both scientific studies and anecdotal experiences have shown that grounding may help:

1. Reduce inflammation and related symptoms

2. Relieve chronic pain and muscle tension

3. Improve sleep quality and promote deeper rest

4. Increase energy and vitality

5. Calm the nervous system and reduce stress hormone levels

6. Support cardiovascular health by improving blood flow and blood viscosity

7. Enhance hormone regulation and immune function

The Science Behind Earthing and Hormones

When you ground yourself to the Earth, several physiological changes begin to occur:

1. Electron Transfer: The Earth’s surface is rich in free electrons. When you connect to it, your body receives these electrons, which help reduce oxidative stress and inflammation by neutralizing positively charged free radicals.

2. Stress Hormone Reduction: Grounding has been shown to reduce cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone. Normalizing cortisol levels supports mood stability, digestive health, and immune function while improving overall hormonal harmony.

3. Melatonin and Sleep Cycles: By calming the nervous system and lowering nighttime cortisol, grounding supports natural melatonin production—leading to better, more restful sleep and improved circadian rhythm regulation.

4. Autonomic Nervous System Reset: Grounding appears to increase parasympathetic tone—bringing the body into a “rest and digest” state. This reduces overproduction of adrenaline and noradrenaline, and promotes calm, clarity, and hormone balance.

5. Endocrine System Support: While still emerging, evidence suggests that reducing inflammation and stress load through grounding can indirectly support thyroid hormone conversion and balance sex hormones like estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone—especially when adrenal function is under pressure.

Why We Need to Reconnect

In our modern lives, we’ve become disconnected from the Earth—spending most of our time indoors, wearing rubber-soled shoes, and living high above ground in homes and buildings. Unlike our ancestors, we rarely walk barefoot outdoors, sleep on the ground, or spend meaningful time touching the Earth.

This loss of physical contact may lead to a buildup of static charge in the body, an “electron deficiency,” and greater vulnerability to dysfunction, hormonal dysregulation, and inflammatory diseases.

But here’s the good news: reconnecting is simple, powerful, and immediately available.

Getting Started with Earthing

You don’t need fancy equipment or perfect conditions. Just try:

1. Standing barefoot in the grass or garden for 10–30 minutes a day

2. Sitting or lying on the ground with exposed skin touching Earth

3. Gardening with bare hands

4. Immersing your feet in natural water (like a lake or river)

5. Using indoor grounding mats or sheets as a supportive tool

Make it part of your daily routine. Let your feet touch the Earth, your nervous system unwind, and your body remember what it feels like to be grounded and supported—electrically and energetically.

Want to Learn More?

I highly recommend this insightful podcast episode from 2% Better Health with Carrie B, titled:

“Earthing: Soaking up electrons for less inflammation, more energy, better sleep and more!”

It’s a great breakdown of the science behind grounding, with real-life tools to help you get started.

Listen here

Final Thoughts

What if the path to better health wasn’t about adding more, but coming back to something so simple, so familiar, and so free? What if just getting your feet dirty could calm your nervous system, regulate your hormones, and support long-term health?

Here’s to the medicine that lives beneath your feet.

In health and with dirty feet in my garden,

Kim Deschamps

References

1. Chevalier, G., Sinatra, S. T., Oschman, J. L., & Delany, R. M. (2012). Earthing: Health implications of reconnecting the human body to the Earth's surface electrons. Journal of Environmental and Public Health, 2012, 291541. https://doi.org/10.1155/2012/291541

2. Brown, D., Chevalier, G., & Hill, M. (2010). Pilot study on the effect of grounding on delayed-onset muscle soreness. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 16(3), 265–273. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2009.0399

3. Ghaly, M., & Teplitz, D. (2004). The biologic effects of grounding the human body during sleep as measured by cortisol levels and subjective reporting of sleep, pain, and stress. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 10(5), 767–776. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2004.10.767

4. Chevalier, G. (2010). The effect of Earthing (grounding) on human physiology: Electrodermal measurements. Subtle Energies & Energy Medicine Journal, 20(3), 1–12.