Medical and Medication Considerations

Research indicates that regular Earthing restores and stabilizes a natural state in the electrical functioning of the body, affects many physiological processes, reduces inflammation, and improves sleep and energy.

If you are under the care of a health professional, we strongly advise you to inform your practitioner about Earthing because Earthing can influence how you feel, your medical test results, and may possibly require adjustment in your medication. It is strongly recommended that individuals taking medication to thin the blood, regulate blood sugar, control blood pressure, or to regulate thyroid hormone levels, consult their health care provider before Earthing.

Earthing influences thyroid function, so if you are on thyroid medication you may begin to feel symptoms of over-medication.

Similarly, if you are on Coumadin, or any prescription blood thinner, you need to know that Earthing has a natural blood-thinning effect so there could potentially be too much blood thinning.  A compounded effect.  You’ll need to monitor your blood carefully and above all consult with your doctor.

We also know that the regulation of blood sugar improves, so if you take anti-diabetic medication you need to check with your doctor to see if a medication reduction is in order. Keep in mind also that Earthing reduces inflammation, so if you are taking any anti-inflammatory medication please be sure to monitor your dosage with your doctor.

Whether you are barefoot on the ground outside, or grounding yourself indoors for many hours with an Earthing system, we want you to have the best and safest experience possible. If you have any doubts at all whether Earthing may be safe for you, simply go out in your backyard, or to your nearest grassy park, or sandy beach, and sit/stand/walk barefoot for at least a half hour or forty minutes. Try to do it once or twice a day. Earthing indoors on conductive sheets, mats, or with bands and patches, is the equivalent of being barefoot outdoors on the ground. Your body is absorbing the same natural energy from the Earth. It’s a simple experiment and often a surprising one. People feel better and notice a difference in a short period of time.

For further clarification, we asked Cardiologist Stephen Sinatra, M.D., the co-author of the Earthing book, about the medication issue. His comments:.

“The important thing is to be prudent. Keep in mind that Earthing reduces inflammation in the body and restores natural internal electrical stability and rhythms. Any doctor would applaud such benefits and improvements. But because of such changes, as good as they are, it is possible with continuing grounding, such as sleeping grounded at night, medication dosages may become excessive, and perhaps even unnecessary in some cases.

“Years ago as a practicing cardiologist in Connecticut, I often found myself having to reduce the level of warfarin (Coumadin) for patients coming back to their homes after snowbirding in Florida over the winter months. Their blood coagulability had changed. I thought it was simply a result of going from warm weather to cold weather. I was wrong. I didn’t know anything about Earthing back then. I now know that the reason for the change was because they were going barefoot for many hours during the day and swimming in the ocean or in concrete pools. They were grounding themselves!

“There is something very special and healing that occurs in your body as a result of being in direct contact with the Earth. I regard it as the equivalent of being on a treatment table. Your body is absorbing the natural, subtle electric energies omnipresent on the surface of the Earth. There is an instant shift in your physiology.  We see that happening in laboratory studies that measure the electrical activity inside your body.

“Logic tells us that the normal state of humans is to be grounded, that is, connected directly with the Earth. Most of us today in so-called developed societies function ungrounded, wearing plastic and rubber soled shoes, and no longer living on the Earth but above it and in structures that separate us from the Earth. Throughout history, our ancestors lived in intimate contact with the Earth.  We believe that the body adapted itself to this contact, to the energies and frequencies in the ground, and that by being ungrounded the body malfunctions in one way or another, or in many ways. Think of a flickering light bulb that is not fully connected to its energy source.

“Humans have increasingly adopted unnatural lifestyles, causing self-inflicted stress and illness. We regard the separation from Earth’s natural surface charge as one example of an unnatural lifestyle, along with more familiar factors such as poor diet and lack of exercise.

“Reconnecting to the Earth, such as being barefoot outdoors and sleeping or working indoors while using Earthing systems, is extremely beneficial. However, our research is in an early stage and we have not completed any direct studies related to medication, including Coumadin, a commonly used medical blood thinner and anti-clotting agent, or other prescription blood thinners.  In general, our experience suggests that some patients taking medication are able to reduce their dosage level. For that reason, we highly recommend that people on medication and considering Earthing should consult with their doctors first and then monitor their medication carefully.

“Earthing helps balance the nervous system, lower stress, reduce inflammation and inflammation-related pain, and improve sleep and energy. The research also suggests that the electrodynamics of blood, a subject not very familiar to doctors, is also improved, and this effect may lead to a more desirable blood viscosity (thickness), reduced aggregation of red blood cells, and better overall circulation.

“Your doctor is looking out for your well-being and will naturally be reluctant about something new that he or she has no knowledge about. If you are under a doctor’s care, we strongly advise you to consult with your physician before grounding yourself.  If interested, the doctor can read our book, Earthing:The Most Important Health Discovery Ever! as well as check out the research we have posted elsewhere on this website. Keep in mind that Earthing inside is the equivalent of standing or walking barefoot or sleeping on the ground. The same natural, subtle electric energy that your body would absorb from being in direct physical contact (barefoot) with the Earth outside is the same energy that you receive when sitting or sleeping indoors and using an Earthing product.  It is something totally natural.

“For those of you on any critical medication, you should decide with your health care giver about grounding yourself.  If you decide to do it, it may be prudent to do so for shorter periods in the beginning, such as walking barefoot in the park or in your backyard, where it is, of course, safe and comfortable to do so, or ground yourself for a few hours while you watch television.  As you slowly increase your Earthing time, monitor your situation carefully, including how you feel, so as to determine if your dosage of medication needs to be lowered.  Ground with caution, and under the watchful eye of your physician.”

We would also like to bring to your attention to the issue of multiple medications, as is often the case with elderly individuals or those with serious health complications.

In these situations, we strongly recommend not starting Earthing until a discussion takes place about Earthing’s multiple physiological effects and potential effect on medication dosage with the doctor or health professional involved. Earthing promotes a variety of improvements in the function of the body. Such improvements, to be sure, are welcome, but one byproduct could be that a specific medication dosage may no longer be applicable simply because the body is working better. An overdose situation could develop. Symptoms of overdose could appear. For somebody taking a single medication, or perhaps two, such symptoms may be apparent, and easily remedied by consulting with one’s doctor and reducing the dosage.

When multiple medications are involved, the situation is more complex. Multiple interactions could occur as different medications affect each other. There might be some roughness as part of an initial healing effect as well.

For this reason, someone taking multiple medications should NOT start Earthing until he or she has talked about it with their health professional. Earthing is relatively new. Most doctors have not heard about it or don’t know just how significantly it can influence the physiology. Until there is more research and Earthing becomes more mainstream, this issue is a challenge. Doctors have the best interests of their patients at heart, so our advice is to always follow your doctor’s advice. He or she may say no, because of unfamiliarity with Earthing, or be open to it provided there is close monitoring of medications and reporting of any unusual reactions.

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