People who start Earthing because of a sleep or a pain problem are often surprised to experience a broad array of relief. Here are a few such stories:
Lynn Deen,Milo, Michigan, retired medical practice administrator:“In 2010 I started Earthing looking for relief for bilateral swollen and painful Achilles tendons and plantar fasciitis. For over a year, I had tried exercise, ice packs, massage, and physical therapy, with little or no relief.
“At the end of each day, my calves and feet were painful. Every step was torture, no matter how active or inactive the day. Getting out of being the morning, it felt like I was standing on blocks of wood. It took several slow steps to loosen up my feet.
“I also had left shoulder and upper arm pain from a fall six month earlier. I experienced minimum relief from therapy, pain relievers, and stretching exercises.
“I dealt with urinary frequency, headaches, fatigue that sleep didn’t relieve, other muscle aches, and a feeling of heaviness in my legs that cam after a few minutes of my daily walks, and chronic knee pain from a twenty year-old injury caused from a horse kick.
“I took hypertension medication daily.
“I have led a healthy lifestyle all my life–no alcohol, no tobacco, eat well, drink lots of water, take supplements, have regular adjustments, do daily exercise,and love the outdoors.
“I read about Earthing and got myself an Earthing mat. I put it on the floor at my computer. After a ten-hour day at the computer, I noticed that I didn’t get my usual headache after a few hours and I wasn’t nearly as fatigued at the end of the work day. I had more energy for my after-work walk.
“I was so excited that I got a half sheet for our bed. My husband was willing to give it a try.
“ After three weeks, my Achilles tendons were less swollen and didn’t hurt at the end of the day,After four months, I was like a new person. My tendons felt normal. The fasciitis was completely gone. The knee pain, creakiness, and heaviness in my legs were gone. My mobility became stronger, quicker, more flexible. I wasn’t fatigued at 10 AM, as before.
“The shoulder and arm pain was greatly relieved. The urinary symptoms were gone. I didn’t have to plan my life around bathroom availability. I was able to lower my blood pressure medication–from 20 to 5 milligrams–with a consistently lower reading that I haven’t seen since started on medication more than a dozen years ago.
“My husband has also benefited. He has had very little muscle pain,sleeps more soundly, and with less snoring, and has more energy during the day.
“Looking back more than three years later,could I ever have possibly believed that my pain,fatigue,and incontinence would be gone?The best that I had hoped for was going to be severely compromised.Instead,I am able to enjoy more and do more physically.”
Graeme Dalton, London, artist/designer:“I’ve had relief from some twenty years of insomnia (since I was about sixteen!) and eczema. I had tried all the usual kinds of treatments for these problems. Either they couldn’t work at all or just would work temporarily.
“I started going barefoot in a nearby park for an hour a day in 2012I couldn’t believe it, but the insomnia simply vanished! I was astounded. was in bed before midnight and waking up at 7:30 feeling great and full of energy. The skin rashes I had for years cleared up and almost disappeared.
“Psychologically, I feel much better than in years. I’m confident, happy excited, and less stressed in general.
“My other half had back trouble for a while from dragging around heavy bags and was always in pain and almost half bent over. Now her back pain is almost completely gone.
“Both of us sailed through the cold months without the usual colds,sniffles,and the winter blues.
“As an artist and musician, most of what I do involves creative processes and inspiration.In the last nine months, since starting Earthing, I have created more paintings, taken more photographs, and written more songs than at any one time over the past seven or eight years. The creative juices keep flowing.I credit this to the overall effect of Earthing on the physio-logical and psychological levels. I seem more balanced in my whole being and more focused on the bigger picture rather than getting carried away with the small details. This has made me happier and more content, which in turn leads to a more creative mind, which leads to more creativity.“I sleep grounded on a sheet all the time now.
“My experience inspired me to tell friends about Earthing. One suffered from terrible eczema of the hands, She started using a grounded mat at her computers Unbelievably,within a week,the eczema pretty much cleared up,and she was sleeping and feeling much better.
“Another friend,a man in his mid sixties,had problems with his hands all his life.I am not sure about his condition gradually improved and he could pretty much make a first again.
“It is all truly amazing.”
Karen Ball, Beaverton, Oregon, massage therapist: “In 2011, I was iorerrible shape. I had been suffering with serious insomnia for twenty two years, sleeping maybe two to three hours per night. I had digestive digficulties, mild depression, bloating, fifteen years of hot flashes, bone density issues, and severe arthritis and muscle contracture in my right hip the caused pain and restricted movement. To top it off, at 244 pounds, 80 pounds overweight.
Sleeping pills, megadoses of melatonin, antihistamines, supplement shot baths, herbs, teas, meditation, breathing exercises, relaxation CDs, and so many more things were making little impact on my problems. I tried everything
“In 2011, I started sleeping grounded. The first three nights I didn’t get any sleep, but I had great energy from laying on it seven to nine hours per night. Moreover, I lost considerable inflammation so that my severely swollen ankles now appeared normal. I lost 4. pounds of swelling those first three nights! Not real weight loss; just a very noticeable decrease of swelling.
“It took six nights before I got a good night’s sleep. But from August 2011 to October 2013, I have had four to eight hours of sleep every night except for maybe a couple of nights. My sleep situation has, in fact improved to the point where I have been increasingly sleeping through the night for weeks at a time without getting up to pee. Better sleep is a huge deal for me. I can only lose weight when I sleep five hours or more. I have now lost forty pounds, and basically by not doing anything, just sleeping more. I need to lose another forty, and to do that I’ll need to stop eating bread when I shouldn’t.
“After my ankles, my knees became normal size without swelling.I could actually see my kneecap for the first time in five years. My pain was reduced.. The contracture in my right thigh went away. The position of the femur corrected itself, and was no longer pressing against the side of the hip socket. I had greater range of movement, less pain, and for the first time in years, could exercise to reverse the muscle atrophy that had developed over a decade. Walking and other forms of exercise had been very painful. I could now do those things.
“in recent years, my hip pain and restrictions were so bad that at times I couldn’t manage more than a four-inch stride. I am a tall woman with long legs yet I was barely able to get my leg over the side of a tub, and had to lift my leg with my hands to get into bed or into a car. Gradually I’ve been able to extend my stride to eighteen inches on a good day, and it has been getting better all the time.
“I still walk with a cane most of the time, but when I don’t my side to-side hip sway is less than half of what it was before. The sway increases pain so I use the cane for support and to minimize the sway. My ability to bend my knees has increased. I can cross either leg over center now. I could not before. I can lift things now that before would cause severe hip pain. I have been able to do yard work on my half acre, walk back and forth to the chicken coop, and sometimes log a mile and a half of daily walking. I am working continually to strengthen the weak leg muscles so that maybe one day I will be able to walk without a cane. Meanwhile, it looks as if I am pushing off further into the future a hip replacement I was supposed to have at one time.
“My night sweats stopped, and then my hot flashes diminished, and stopped completely in December 2011.What a relief!“I hadn’t realized how depressed I had been before until I became increasingly aware of a greater sense of well-being and return to health Although I am aware of my limitations, I can do so much more now. My capacity keeps growing and the improvements continue. For instance, I have been able to pivot on my right foot for the first time in twelve years without any pain anywhere. I can carry forty pound bags of chicken feed Normally, any kind of weight carried would cause lots of pain.
“Clearly the more time I spend grounded, the better I feel.”