You need it: go out for a walk in the woods and enjoy the earth beneath your feet. Before you do, savor a sip of wisdom from Henry David Thoreau (HDT).
When was the last time you deliberately walked in nature just for the sake of it?
...without using smartphones or earbuds?
...without an agenda of exercise, a goal to get from A to B?
...without communicating with anyone, or focusing on a pet?
When last did you simply go for a walk in the woods and behold your surroundings?
Have you ever done so whilst also barefoot?
"Dude, why does this matter?"
It matters because our minds and bodies are seriously affected.
Evolution did a top-notch job shaping the human species to survive in small social tribes within the natural world. But inside of a few generations, they insulated their minds and bodies. Homo sapiens grew accustomed to a life solely filled with, and surrounded by, man-made machinations. In this cocoon of creature comforts and technological marvels, their pace of life changed anachronistically. Their natural rhythms were disrupted: electric lighting turned night into day, modern heating and cooling guaranteed a perpetually perfect temperature regardless of what was outside one's window, and increased trade and transportation yielded foods of any season available in every season. As a result, chronic diseases boomed.
Nowadays, people have another challenging layer: a constant technological bombardment that is designed, manufactured, marketed, and updated to infuse their developing minds with a constant drip of dopamine-flooding stimulation. This prevents them from regularly experiencing, let alone appreciating, a closer connection to nature. These people are missing out. Don't be one of them.
Instead, listen to HDT and realize that "an early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day" (HDT's journal, 20 April 1840).
Why HDT?
He and Ralph Waldo Emerson were leaders of a movement called transcendentalism, which was basically a movement seeking spiritual experience to balance out total reliance on reason. If you so desire, you can look up the history of Unitarianism versus transcendentalism (it's better than melatonin). The point of recommending HDT to you is that he has a wonderful way of distilling beautifully simple truths down to a bite-sized bit of knowledge to satiate you for a day. Here's one to chew on:
"Standing quite alone, far in the forest, while the wind is shaking down snow from the trees, and leaving the only human tracks behind us, we find our reflections of a richer variety than the life of cities." - HDT, "A Winter Walk"
Take this intentional walk of yours a step further: go barefoot. The movement known as "earthing" encourages folks to physically reconnect their bodies to the ground in order to - get this - reduce inflammation.
It is a well-established fact that the human body contains electricity. And it is a well-established fact that the earth holds a charge. Therefore, simply putting your bare feet on the ground for at least 20 min per day will encourage the transfer of free electrons, thus reducing the creation of free radicals, and thus reducing inflammation.
Think it's all nuckin' futs? This PubMed article concluded:
Accumulating experiences and research on earthing, or grounding, point to the emergence of a simple, natural, and accessible health strategy against chronic inflammation, warranting the serious attention of clinicians and researchers. The living matrix (or ground regulation or tissue tensegrity-matrix system), the very fabric of the body, appears to serve as one of our primary antioxidant defense systems. As this report explains, it is a system requiring occasional recharging by conductive contact with the Earth’s surface – the “battery” for all planetary life – to be optimally effective.
That's right....You don't need to go barefoot, or even go outside, to get grounded.
"But wait, I thought bare feet have to touch the Earth in order to get grounded?"
The actual science is that free electrons pass between your body (a conductive material) and the earth, to balance out the overall charge and prevent the creation of free radicals. How your body touches the ground can be achieved in different ways. For example: Jordan and I both have a pair of Earthrunner sandals, which are designed with conductive materials whilst protecting your soles from gravel, thorns, lava, what have you.
Another example: we have an Earthing mattress cover for our bed that is connected to the grounding port in the wall outlet. We get grounded while asleep, which greatly helps reduce inflammation. (Caution: check your outlet before doing this. These products come with a device to do so.) I've also used smaller sticky grounding patches to directly help treat an inflamed body ache.
But nothing truly beats being in direct contact. Take off your socks and shoes, savor an HDT quote, and go for a stroll. You'll soon realize that "heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads" (HDT, "The Pond in Winter," Walden)
~ Jordan's Hubby
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