[fainz]

I do a lot more outside when its warmer – also ‘tree hugging’ works well for me as we have a lot of very old live oak trees. It’s nice just to sit outside and absorb the sun before it gets too hot as well!

I enjoyed the discussion last night!

[IMA-HelenT]

I do love a tree, and if you can climb it and sit for a while, thats really joyfull.

[marthajean]

Since I’m in southern Arizona, I don’t go outside unless I’m wearing shoes or sandals. Reason: A lot of thorny plant life here.

And hugging trees? Well, our trees have thorns too.

[IMA-HelenT]

😁, I must say I prefer to walk on grass or the beach … could you just stand barefoot on a patch of ground in the garden for a while.

[robin-whittle]

Each cell, multiple cells and our entire body is highly electrically conductive due to them being full of liquid water. The dead cells of our hair and the top layer of skin are less conductive, since they contain less or no liquid water.

Static electricity, such as that generated by the triboelectric effect (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triboelectric_effect), can raise (+) or lower (-) the voltage of our entire body with respect to zero volts, the voltage of the surface of the Earth. However, this does not affect cells since the entire cell, all its neighbouring cells and the rest of our bodies are at the same voltage, so no current flows within our body and there are no electrostatic fields (differences in voltage from one place to another) within or between cells as a result of the whole body being at a different voltage with respect to the Earth.

Static electricity from the triboelectric effect is commonplace. In a dry environment, walking in plastic soled shoes across a carpet or the solid plastic floor of a supermarket can cause our bodies to build up a voltage thousands of volts above or below ground (0 volts). We find out when we touch a steel shelf and get a zap, with a small spark, as our body’s total electrical charge with respect to ground is discharged to an object which is connected to ground.

Likewise wearing cotton clothing while sitting on a chair covered in synthetic material such as nylon or polyester. When the two slide or are separated, our body gains or looses trillions of electrons.

The shoe material or the cotton has a different (stronger or weaker) affinity for electrons than the other material – carpet/plastic-flooring or synthetic chair fabric. When the two, initially zero voltage, surfaces touch, some of the electrons at the surface of both materials tend to stay on one surface or the other. Since those surfaces are connected, electrically (flow of electrons) to our body and to the Earth respectively, our body ends up with an excess or a deficit of electrons, which we measure as a negative or positive voltage. (In the 19th century, I recall, when batteries were first invented someone decided to name one terminal positive and the other negative. This was before anyone knew what an electron was, or that voltage was pressure of electrons and that current is a flow of electrons or of other charged particles. They happened to give the negative name to the terminal which is pushing out electrons. So electrons have what we now call a “negative” charge.)

It is easy and common to develop a body voltage thousands of volts different from that of the Earth. This buildup of charge (excess electrons, or fewer electrons than match the number of protons in all the atomic nuclei in our body) generally will not occur in conditions of normal or high humidity, because this is a slightly electrically conductive environment in which the charge imbalance does not develop, due to the displaced electrons quickly being conducted back to where they came from. They are negative and wherever they were removed from has an overall positive charge, so they are attracted in that direction.

In normal life, these triboelectric displacements of electrons only result in overall changes of voltages which we notice when the air and so the points of contact and the materials themselves are dry – when the relative humidity is low.

Why does anyone think that these high voltages affect cells, or any part of our body, with the following exceptions?

1 – Our hair can be made to stand on end, due to it, like the rest of our body, having more than a few hundred volts positive or negative voltage with respect to zero, so each strand repels each other strand and the scalp. (This can be induced by a Van-de-Graff generator or an electronic power supply. I once sat on some styrofoam blocks, touching the high (+) voltage section of a power supply within a cathode ray tube computer monitor. I guess this was +20,000 volts or so. I didn’t just touch it, since that would have induced a spark and a shock as it removed electrons from my body. I touched it with the monitor turned off and my wife turned it on, so the current flowed over a second or so as the power supply charged up the capacitance of the CRT. My hair fanned out and stood on end, as predicted.)

2 – The sensation and possible small burn to our skin where there is a spark due to a very short, high-current, discharge of our entire body to some grounded object. Also, if a car developed a high voltage charge and we are ~0 volts, when we touch the car. Likewise if cotton and synthetic sheets are in contact and we separate them, we can get a zap from one of the sheets.

I am not aware of any mechanism by which these occasional high bodily voltages cause any other physical effects. I am not at all concerned about them. (The spark could, however, ignite flammable substances. Also, this static electricity can permanently damage electronic devices. I am an electronic technician and one day, after I had removed a worn out cotton cover from my synthetic fabric covered chair, I must have developed a high voltage via my cotton clothing, because three chips in the device I was working on suddenly became faulty on at least one of their pins. I did not feel any spark or discharge. These integrated circuits are built with Metal Oxide Silicon Field Effect Transistors – MOSFETs. These rely on a very thin, fractions of a thousands of a millimetre, insulating layers of silicon dioxide. These cope with a few tens of volts, but are destroyed by hundreds or thousands of volts.)

By all means walk barefoot on the ground and sleep in whatever fabrics you feel happiest in.

However, before any professional person, makes claims about “grounding”, they should explain, or cited evidence and arguments for, why an overall voltage difference between the human body and the outside world, which is generally 0 volts == Ground, has any effect on cellular function and health.

Likewise anyone who sells “grounding” products or runs classes on “grounding”.

This “grounding” stuff is a distraction from what we should be concerned about – most importantly ensuring we all have at least 50 ng/mL circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D, which is needed for full immune system function: https://vitamindstopscovid.info/00-evi/. We are also rightly concerned with nutrition in general, pesticides, Ill-effects and ineffectiveness of vaccines and gene therapies falsely portrayed as vaccines, herbicides, corruption, medical freedom and freedom of speech and a long list of problems in mainstream medicine.

Moreover, any IMA-associated medical professional who publically promotes “grounding” leads critics to claim that that person, or the entire IMA, should not to be taken seriously. This is a broad-brush criticism but it is perfectly valid. If a doctor believes in grounding, or homeopathy, why should we trust them regarding human health?

Electromagnetic radiation is not the same as an overall voltage charge on the body. At high frequencies (short wavelengths) such as of ~290 nanometre wavelength (1,034,000 Gigahertz) UV-B light, the electromagnetic waves can penetrate tissue and give individual electrons, in molecules, 4.2 electron-volts of kinetic energy, which is enough to break covalent bonds and so alter molecules. Such electromagnetic wave break a bond in a carbon ring of 7-dehydrocholesterol, changing the molecule into a form which isomerizes (changes shape by one part twisting with respect to the other) of its own accord to become vitamin D3 cholecalciferol. UV-B also breaks bonds in DNA, causing cell death or predisposing the cell to becoming cancerous.

Visible and infra-red wavelengths (violet 380 nanometres to tens of thousands of nanometres = lower frequency = less energy per excited electron) may well be beneficial in some respects – see Jeffrey et al. 2025: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-09785-3.

Longer wavelengths, such as microwaves, with frequencies around 1 gigahertz (30 cm wavelength) cannot break chemical bonds, since the energy per excited electron is far too low. (https://www.rapidtoolsonline.com/unit-converters/photon-energy-converter: 0.000004 volts) Generally such electromagnetic radiation, such as is produced by cell-phones, Bluetooth devices, WiFi devices and which might leak from microwave ovens (2.4GHz, 12.5 cm = 5 inch wavelength), dissipates into our tissue with the only effect being heating. Assuming the heating is very mild, there will be no effect on health or cellular function.

However, it can’t be ruled out that such radiation has subtle effects on cellular function, since biology is so subtle and complex.

The whole body having a high voltage, which is what grounding prevents, has no such effect on our cells. A cell – or a sensitive voltage field detector placed inside our bodies – cannot detect that the whole body is at a higher or lower voltage than 0 volts. The whole body is conductive and it is the same as if the cell, or the detector, were inside a Faraday cage and the voltage of the entire cage was raised or lowered with respect to ground. Likewise when a metal-bodied car or aircraft is struck by lightning. No-one inside can detect what has occurred, yet the entire car or aircraft and its contents has suddenly been made hundreds of millions of volts positive or negative with respect to ground.

[IMA-HelenT]

Thanks @robin-whittle

I think that there are people that support grounding and others like yourself, that think, while our bodies can build up static electricity, it doesn’t actually affect our cells because everything inside us stays at the same electrical level, so no current flows internally.

I for one, love being in touch with the ground, getting outside, walking barefoot, and reconnecting with nature. It’s only going to benefit my overall health.

That’s something we can probably all get behind:)

We are hoping that Dr. Cole will do a full webinar on grounding so we can really dig into the questions—but in the meantime, this week’s discussion was excellent and worth a watch if you havent yet 👇

https://imahealth.org/drug-cycling-in-cancer-care/

[Al Oha]

​I completely agree with your sentiment regarding the importance of reconnecting with nature. There is something undeniably restorative about walking barefoot and getting outside; those 10–15 minutes of movement, sunlight, and fresh air provide a vital reset from being indoors.

​However, from a physiological and physical standpoint, it is important to distinguish between the sensory benefits of nature and the specific claims surrounding “grounding” or “earthing” in the electrical sense. While the experience is grounding in a soulful sense, attributing health changes to electrical exchange with the Earth runs into some physical hurdles:

• ​Biological Shielding: Much like passengers in an airplane struck by lightning are protected by the Faraday Effect, our internal cells are shielded from external static potential. In a conductive body, excess charges repel each other and accumulate on the surface (the skin), leaving the interior shielded. Being “electrically connected” to a reference voltage (the ground) doesn’t necessarily translate to a flow of electrons that alters internal cellular chemistry.
• ​Physics of Potential: Birds can sit on high-voltage wires without harm because their entire body exists at that potential without a circuit being completed through them. Simply touching the ground changes our body’s voltage relative to the Earth, but it doesn’t reach, and cannot create, the internal electrical currents or chemical reactions often described in grounding literature.
• ​The Power of Placebo and Sensory Input: The “pressure point” stimulation of bare feet and the psychological relief of a “reconnecting” ritual are powerful. When combined with a complex-sounding explanation involving electrons, including the use of grounding sheets, it can create a very real placebo effect, even if the underlying physics don’t support the electrical claims.

​It’s a fascinating area of discussion, but it’s vital to separate the proven benefits of our innate connection to nature from the very speculative electrical theories that often conflate in vitro results, or electrodes inserted into the body, with how a living organism functions in an open environment, and with the proven laws of physics.

[robin-whittle]

I agree with what you wrote except for the section concerning birds on power lines. What you wrote would be true if the power line had a constant DC voltage and if there was no corona discharge from the bird to the atmosphere – there might be such a corona discharge if the voltage was over 1000 volts or so.

Power wires (excepting those supplying train or tram wires directly, which are DC) are always AC at 50 or 60 Hz. For a 230 volt power wire (here in Australia, or in the UK) the voltage raises from 0 to (square root of 2 = 1.414) times the Root Mean Squared (RMS) 230V voltage, so to +325V, and then through 0 volts to -325V, and back again to 0 volts, 50 times a second. In the USA, the power wires which supply houses directly are 115 volts RMS at 60Hz, so the peak voltages are half this.

A bird has a capacitance to the outside world. Assuming its body is well connected to the power line through its feet, this capacitance has to be charged positively and negatively 50 or 60 times a second to the power line voltage. As far as I know, even the largest birds have too small a capacitance to the outside world for the current induced in their legs to be sensed or at least to be of any concern to them on 230V or lower lines.

This is not the case for higher voltage, longer distance, power lines (with larger insulators), such as 22,000V or 33,000V. I may have seen birds perched on 11,000V lines, but I don’t recall them on higher voltage lines. They would experience significant currents in their legs, and concentrated currents with high voltages at high resistance points of contact, since their feet are likely only partly conductive.

No bird would land on the highest voltage wires carried by steel pylons – 220,000 to 500,000 volts RMS. The currents would likely harm or kill the birds. There would be a spark a few millimetres long as uts foot approached the line. This would be non-habit-forming.

The grounding debate concerns static electricity – with no sudden or cyclic changes in voltage.

One can experience something like what a bird would feel perching on a high voltage AC line when standing underneath 220,000V or higher voltage lines. Assuming one is standing closer to one of the three lines (they carry sine waves 120 degrees out of phase with each other) then one is capacitively coupled more to that line than the others. (Coupling equally to all three would result in no net change in voltage of our body. Capacitance between two objects in this setting is proportional to the surface areas of the objects and is reduced at greater distances.) Assuming a person is standing in such a position, if their body was insulated from the ground, such as by plastic soled shoes with no water involved, then they would not feel any current flow, though their body would probably be oscillating at several hundred volts AC. I suspect that if, in this condition, they touched a metal object connected to ground, with the back of their fingers, they would feel a little tingle, at least until the skin made a stronger connection and so spread the current over more skin, with little voltage drop.

The closest I have come to this is riding a bicycle underneath 220,000 volt lines and touching the handlebars with the back of my hand. The bike is capacitively coupled to the ground more than my body is, and may be coupled also by conduction of the tires, especially with moisture on the tyres or the wheel rims touching blades of grass. My body is more strongly capacitively coupled to the power wire above me than the bike is. So my body, if not connected to anything, is oscillating at a higher voltage than the bike. When I touch the metal frame of the bike, I partially connect my body to the bike, with a lower oscillating voltage, and so an oscillating current flows through the point of contact. (BTW, voltage is the pressure of electrical charge, generally electrons, like the pressure of water in a pipe or tank. Current is the flow of electrical charge, usually electrons, like water flowing in a pipe or through porus material. Power dissipated in watts is the voltage multiplied by the current in amps.)

Even then, with these low frequencies, except for tingles in my skin due to there being 100 volts or so between the outside of my skin and the inside, there will be no significant voltage across any of my cells and they will all be unaffected by the fact that my body may be changing its voltage 50 times a second over a 1000 volt or so range. I have a battery operated oscilloscope with a 10,000,00 ohm home probe. It would be interested to take it out, ground it, stand on a piece of styrofoam and use the probe to measure my body voltage, which would be considerably reduced by the current flowing to and from the probe. I would see a substantial sine wave on the screen.

[Al Oha]

To understand why the scientific community remains skeptical of grounding (earthing) research, it helps to look at the consistent “red flags” found in their methodology.<div><div>Here are the primary reasons these small studies are often considered inconclusive:<div>

1. Lack of “True” Blinding

The Issue: Because grounding reduces the subtle “hum” or tactile sensation of AC fields on the skin, many participants can often sense whether they are grounded or not. The Consequence: This creates a massive placebo effect. If a participant feels “connected,” they may report feeling more relaxed, which can then lower cortisol levels through purely psychological means.

Industry Bias and Small Sample Sizes. The Issue: A significant portion of published grounding research is funded by companies that sell grounding products. The Consequence: These studies use very small groups (e.g., 10–30 people). In small samples, “noise” in the data can easily be misinterpreted as a significant result, and negative results are rarely published.

Measurement Artifacts (The “Antenna” Problem)</div><div> * The Issue: Many studies measure body voltage in a room filled with electronics. The Consequence: When the researcher grounds the subject, they aren’t necessarily measuring a “healing connection to Earth”; they are simply measuring the subject’s body acting as an antenna for 60Hz ambient noise. Removing that noise is an electrical change, but it is often misrepresented as a biological one.

In Vitro vs. In Vivo Logic Leaps. The Issue: Measuring things like Zeta potential or ROS in a lab setting (in vitro) is highly sensitive to the equipment used.The Consequence: If the lab equipment itself isn’t perfectly shielded, the act of “grounding” the sample can change the reading on the machine without actually changing the biology of the blood.

Correlation vs. Causation. The Issue: Studies often show that grounded people feel better, but they don’t account for “confounding variables. The Consequence: If a person is told to sit quietly for 40 minutes while “grounded,” the relaxation likely comes from the 40 minutes of stillness and deep breathing, not necessarily from the copper wire attached to their foot.</div>

[IMA-GregT]

I think what I get most out of walking barefoot a lot (90 mins or so per day), is a comprehensive and free foot massage. That said it’s sometimes too an unexpectedly sharp and pointed foot massage.

I love to think the ‘grounding’ effect is good for my health, but I’m very comfortable that the feeling of being earthed may be a placebo effect, or the feeling of wellness simply brought on by exercise.

As always there’s just great info from all of you here – thank you.

[Sean Polacik]

I think to understand where the grounding proponents come from you need a “grounded” base in looking into where this fits in terms of biophysics and quantum mechanics. Our entire biology operates on DC voltages and quantum tunneling between cells and mitochondria. Not sure if you are familiar with the work of Dr. Robert O. Becker but their papers would be one of the better references to look at to in understanding where that fits into the electron transport chain. Dr. Ana Maria Olivia is presently continuing Becker’s, founded the “Living University of Terrain”. Would also look over Dr. Jack Kruse’s material on this as well.

Two books worth reading, On from Dr. Becker, the other from Arthur Firstenberg

The Body Electric: Electromagnetism And The Foundation Of Life-> https://www.amazon.com/Body-Electric-Electromagnetism-Foundation-Life/dp/0688069711

The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life -> https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Rainbow-History-Electricity-Life/dp/B09BBJL1TF/ref=sr_1_1?sr=8-1