My chum Aubrey Kagan, who hails from Canada, just sent me an email pointing me to the Groundology website in the UK. I fear I must come clean and admit that, until now, I was blithely unaware that Groundology was the official UK distributor for Clint Ober’s Earthing products. Of course, it’s also true that, until now, I hadn’t been aware that Clint Ober existed, or that “Earthing” a.k.a. “Grounding” was a thing (apart from the accepted electronics usage of these terms).
Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your point of view), the Groundology website explains all in excruciating detail, both in text and via a collection of mind-boggling (some might say “mind-numbing”) videos. As just one example, take this offering by Dr. Stephen Sinatra.
I have to confess that watching this video taught me all sorts of things of which I was previously unaware. For example, it seems our bodies are being inundated with “a firestorm of free radicals” whose source can be anything from “heavy metals to air pollution to trans fats.” Well, that certainly doesn’t sound good.
Even worse, our modern rubber or plastic soled shoes and insulated sleeping arrangements means that we no longer have a natural electrical connection to the Earth. Why is this important? Well, as Dr. Sinatra is more than happy to explain, the Earth is negatively charged, so if we can become connected to it — like putting our bare feet on the ground — our bodies literally “soak up lots of electrons” (wow; that does sound like a lot of electrons).
For any skeptics amongst our number, this must be true because the video shows pictures of blood cells before and after grounding. I have to say that the results are almost unbelievable. According to Dr. Sinatra, whenever we take on electrons in the body, we make our blood thinner; as a result, instead of our blood being like red ketchup, it becomes more like red wine. (Ooh, I do like red wine. Actually, if the truth be told, I like anything with alcohol in it, and even more so after watching the aforementioned video.)
“Is all hope lost?” you ask plaintively. “No!” I cry stridently. As I noted earlier, and as we see on the Products Page, Groundology is the official UK distributor for Clint Ober’s Earthing products, which include earthing sheets, grounding bands, and grounding patches sufficient to address the grounding requirements of even the most enthusiastic groundlings among us.
As an aside, the grounding bands look strangely like the antistatic bands I myself use for protection against electrostatic discharge (ESD). I must admit, however, that — until now — I’ve never contemplated wearing these on my feet, which just goes to show how parochial and set in my ways I have become.
“Can it get any better than this?” I hear you cry. Why yes it can, because Groundology is also the official distributor for 3rd Planet’s range of grounding footwear, including grounding sandals, which are also known as “Groundals” to the initiated. These bodacious beauties are not to be confused with earlier grounding footwear that boasted only a simple carbon ‘plug’ in the middle of the sole (I’m confident we can all envisage the potential problems with that approach); instead, they are made out of TerraMater Footwear® material that provides full surface grounding for the entire foot (yes, of course there’s a video).
Beware! As the Groundology website informs us: “Due to the growing popularity of these products, there are now imitations and counterfeits appearing on the market.” I have to say that I’m shocked to my core. That fact that anyone would take efficacious products with such obvious therapeutic value as these, and then create non-working counterfeits that will do nothing to quench the firestorm of free radicals that is assaulting our bodies leaves me speechless… so I will say no more.
Interesting” I wonder if I just keep my anti static band on all day at work if it would do the same thing./ Might be time to buy a microscope with that Christmas money …
While I’m “out and about,” I often realize I’m still wearing my antistatic band on my wrist — I never thought of wearing it on my foot until I saw the photos on the Groundology products page.
You have obviously lived a sheltered life. You can get anti-static foot grounders. Where I work, they are required to be worn to go out onto the manufacturing floor. They do depend on the floor being embedded with some sort of grounding material.
http://desco.descoindustries.com/DescoCatalog/Foot-Grounders/
I am young and foolish and have a lot to learn — so does this mean you are a devoted follower of the “earthing” philosophy discussed in this column? LOL
Not just all day at work — if you get one of these grounding mattress covers, you could wear it (and solder your hobby projects) in bed — tell you’re wife “you’re welcome” from me.
So, I should now sleep with grounding straps attached to my feet? OK, it sounds a little uncomfortable. But, I do have two 10′ grounding rods driven into the ground outside my house for use with my amateur radio antennas and I bring them into my work area already. I’ll just need some wire and some copper brushes with some rubber bands to attach the brushes to my feet while I walk about the work space. Or, do you think that brushless would be better? I’m converting many of my robots from brushed to brushless motors now because they give more power with less weight. And, I’m all about losing weight at this point in my life. So, maybe brushless is the way to go? But, I’ll definitely need to push some copper rods through my socks (it’s cold in D.C., so going barefoot is not an option currently) to increase the ground contact points. Or, maybe some copper infused socks to attach the grounding straps to? Wow, I know what to put on my Christmas wish list for 2020!
Thanks, Max!
Its funny you should mention copper-infused socks — I was just thinking that the combination of a copper infused body stocking and an aluminum beanie would greatly augment the power of the Groundals (grounding sandals) — I only hope that the rush of electrons racing up my legs won’t disconnoberate my chakras (again).
An acquaintance pointed me to this web site. She told me that when she walked on the beach barefoot she could feel the electrons tingling. She was absolutely non-plussed when I burst out laughing. I tried to persuade her to touch some exposed screw heads on her stove and see if that tingled, but the concept of earthing appliances went right over her head. I was not her favourite person!
This may be imagining things, but I get the impression you are not a believer in grounding (earthing). Next you’ll be telling me the Earth is round!
I remember getting grounded through my old metal bedstead as a sixteen year old user of a WW2 1155 radio receiver. The power pack was a half wave 230v DC home built lash up. The metal mesh of the bedstead was used as an Aeriel and because it was mid winter I had an electric blanket on under me. Headphones attached to my ears were not isolated from the receiver, Oh WOW did I begin to understand grounding and how much charge a body could get through sheets from an electric blanket. Been there felt the tingle to many times to want to take on any free electrons from anywhere. so I will stay with non conductive soles on my shoes and rubber gloves when stray voltages above 50 V are around
The young kids of today don’t know how lucky they are — we had to make our own fun back in the day. I bet your parents were wondering what was happening LOL
I had no trouble being grounded as a child — just had to do something my parents didn’t like. I could be grounded for days or weeks at a time! As an adult, I end up in the doghouse if I do something my wife doesn’t like. Fortunately, it sits on the ground outside and has a dirt floor.
Not sure how walking barefoot is all that great a way to add electrons to your body. Human skin has a pretty high resistance. You have to get past the skin into the liguidy bits to conduct well. I’ll leave it to the reader to go from here.
“liguidy bits” — I had no idea “liguidy” was a word — now it’s one of my new favorites — I can;t wait to use it in conversation LOL