Grounding 101:

When’s the last time you placed your bare toes in the grass, or dug your feet into the sand?

It’s harder to remember than you might have initially thought, huh? We thought that might be the case. After all, it would be easy to argue that we are more disconnected from the earth than we ever have been. Not coincidentally, we’re also super sleep deprived, according to a new study from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) one in three of us are not getting enough rest each night.

The two may be connected.

Many of us sleep in stories-high apartments or in two-floor houses that look into other people’s dwellings. We drive or ride bikes or use some other form of faster transportation than our shoe-clad feet (which cut off our connection to mother earth) to traverse the distance from here to there.

It’s harder to remember than you might have initially thought, huh? We thought that might be the case. After all, it would be easy to argue that we are more disconnected from the earth than we ever have been. Not coincidentally, we’re also super sleep deprived, according to a new study from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) one in three of us are not getting enough rest each night.

The two may be connected.

Grounding 101:

When’s the last time you placed your bare toes in the grass, or dug your feet into the sand?

The two may be connected.

Make like our Ancestors and get all-day Grounding with our Electrical Grounding Mat.

Simply put, we need more grounding.

It’s kinda like the movie Avatar. We’re mere humans, disconnected from the “energy” of the Earth when, for our health’s sake, we ought to be a bit more like the seemingly magical blue creatures in the film, the Na’vi.

The species literally plugs into the planet to receive energy. They hardwire into the nature surrounding them and boom! It’s a peaceful life for them.

I want that, you’re thinking. We heard it. Maybe we’re tapping into your brain right now.

No. But, without getting too James Cameron on you, we can do the same thing as the fictional Na’vi, but in far simpler and less CG-augmented ways.

It’s called grounding or, in some circles, “earthing,” and it’s through that practice that we can, in reality, plug into the energy of the planet and use it to “recharge” ourselves and reap various health benefits for our bodies. This doesn’t mean waving a bundle of sage, trying to clear your chakras. It means simply and naturally:

Enjoy restful sleep
Stop letting pain and stress hold you back
Shift effortlessly from a state of tension to complete relaxation
Optimize heart rate variability
Accelerate wound healing and recovery
Lower blood viscosity ⁽¹⁾

Before we get into why you might need more ‘grounding’, let’s look at how your body is telling you it’s not grounded.

Because you already know what it feels like to be physiologically grounded. You know (and probably cherish) the feeling you get when walking barefoot along the beach, or even while hiking in the woods. You know the feeling of sitting or standing barefoot in the grass, squishing your toes in the sand, or letting your feet soak in a cackling stream—you get the picture.

Chances are you feel more like this on a regular basis, though:

Your heart randomly starts beating heavilyYour body feels flat out blah
Your brain feels disconnected and spacey and you’re unable to focus on tasks
You keep waking up physically drained, even after a full night’s sleep
Your emotions are on a short fuseour heart randomly starts beating heavily
Your heart randomly starts beating heavily
You feel your blood pressure suddenly drop

When you feel like crap most of the time, those pleasant moments of nature-incited calm, as wonderful as they may be, might seem like an exception in our everyday experience, but they’re actually supposed to be the rule.

So what is it about NATURE that sets your mind at ease?

That neutralized, calming sensation you get from being barefoot in nature comes from an energetic exchange you can tap into every day.

We promise, there are no psychedelics involved or kumbayas required to access this natural phenomenon. It’s pure, natural science.

Beat Feet & Get to the heart of the MATter with Vital Reaction’s Grounding Mats.

The grounded, down-to-earth scientific evidence on, well, grounding.

Millions and millions of them, actually.

Those particles compose a constant negative electrical field that is likely created and maintained by lightning striking the earth, solar energy, and the intense pressure and heat generated from within the inner core of our planet.

Oppositely, our bodies and the sometimes-harmful free radicals that cause premature aging and disease within them are more positively charged in comparison to the Earth.

Even worse, that positive charge hiding in your body is increased the more that we are insulated, which is another way of saying we’re indoors and “protected from the elements.”

Despite standing on their tippy-toes, Earth’s negatively charged electrons just can’t reach us very well when we’re working on the 22nd floor of a high-rise or sleeping in a second-story bedroom, or even when our little piggies are planted firmly on the ground while cushioned by socks and shoes. The truth is, we need to bare our soles to the sod for the regenerative magic to happen.

In other words, the more that we’re inside, the higher up we are, and the more often we glide our feet into even simple slippers and slides, the less grounded we’re likely to be.

And we can’t static shock ourselves to that just-right neutral balance by shuffling our socked feet on the floor and grabbing a metal door handle, either. But, don’t worry, there is a solution.

Get Grounded from Down Low with this grounding mat—even when you’re Way Up High.

So, how exactly does grounding help us feel better and enjoy regenerative sleep?

In a prior article, we described the relationship between our bodies and the free-radicals that (sometimes) create turmoil in our systems:

The harmful free radicals in our bodies are more positively charged. When we ground ourselves by coming into skin-to-dirt contact with the Earth or another source of grounding energy like Vital Reaction’s grounding mats, Earth’s free electrons can and do travel through our body, seeking to match our positive charge to the Earth’s electrical potential.

Check out this video that demonstrates this energy transfer via grounding mat.

Some argue that this neutral electricity grounding state is the human body’s preferred natural bioelectrical environment (2) and that we thrive best in it as we neutralize our more positively charged particles, supporting ourselves in obtaining:

Better quality of sleepDecreased levels of cortisol (stress hormone)
Stress reduction
Better blood sugar control
Pain reduction
A stronger immune system
Improved thyroid function
Improved blood flow to the face (thought to prevent premature aging and wrinkles)

And actually, during a recent study, researchers ran a test to determine whether grounding mats could support the body’s normal sleep cycle. What they discovered wasn’t eye-opening; rather, it was pretty darn eye-shutting—in a good, restful way.

Studies show that simply connecting to the Earth daily can lower night-time cortisol levels by up to 53.7 percent.

Less cortisol = less pain and fatigue, better sleep—and improved wellness overall.

Imagine what it would be like to fall asleep faster at night. How much better would you feel and function with sleep that’s 44% more solid (read: not interrupted by mid-night waking). Can you just feel the rejuvenation? Can you tap into how that increase of energy might feel?

That’s exactly what test subjects experienced when using grounding mats..

Did we just hear a “sign me up”?

Well, the studies don’t stop there. Do a quick search for peer-reviewed studies on grounding mats and you’ll find plenty of interesting data that demonstrates the varied benefits.

In one study, scientists found that earthing mats reduced anxiety-like behavior and learned helplessness and that, overall, connecting the whole body to the earth can “[set] the biological [clock] for hormones that regulate stress responses.” ⁽³⁾

Yet another found that research supports the concept that grounding or earthing the human body may be just as important to our health as sunshine, clean air and water, nutritious food, and physical activity ⁽⁴⁾, which indicates that this stuff definitely isn’t hocus pocus.

In fact, when it comes to physical activity, earthing—particularly grounded sleeping—after physical activity has been found to result in faster recovery and less pronounced markers of muscle damage and inflammation.

Basically, what happens is that grounded sleeping modulates key physiological events in the early stages of muscle regeneration on cellular and molecular levels, which serves to reduce inflammatory responses triggered by exercise-induced muscle damage.⁽⁵⁾

For that reason, perhaps not shockingly, some of the world’s greatest athletes, like Red Sox pitcher Adam Ottavino ⁽⁶⁾ and multiple Tour de France victors ⁽⁷⁾, have tapped into the unique recovery powers of earthing to help protect themselves from injury and increase performance.

You’re just one step or sleep away from your real-life “Avatar” experience.

About five minutes ago, you were thinking we were nuts to be comparing a real-life practice to a fictional film featuring alien creatures who plug into the earth to help them thrive.

Now, here you are, probably taking your shoes off as we type, ready to go step on a piece of sunlit earth. And that’s fantastic. But there is also a solution you could implement in your life to help yourself ground a little easier than a several-story elevator ride at lunch and a barefoot trek to the nearest patch of earth.

Vital Reaction’s two grounding mats make earthing so simple that you can do it while you work and even while you sleep (because there’s clinically no such thing as over-grounding).

There’s an option for a smaller, desk-size grounding mat that fits beneath your feet so that you can ground while seated at the office…

And there’s a your-side-of-the-bed sized mat that you can lay on to help you recharge with your eyes closed, directly improving your body’s ability to absorb a full, restful night’s sleep.

Ground while you work. Ground while you sleep. Check out Vital Reaction’s grounding mat options to see which option is right for you.

How does it work?

Just plug your grounding mat into the round hole in your electrical outlet. This creates a direct connection between your skin and the Earth's energy as it flows through the ground wire insert of your nearest electrical outlet (does the reason it’s called a grounding wire make sense now?) It’s as simple as that.

How does it work?

So, you ready to make like a Na’vi and tap into the healing, replenishing energy source hiding beneath your feet that is the Earth? Order here and plug right in.

Order here and plug right in.

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