Earthing

Are you familiar with the concept of earthing? I won’t get into the nitty-gritty scientific details, but the general basis behind it is that the earth has a slight negative charge, and over time our bodies will build up a positive charge. Being in soil and connected to the earth (literally) can help restore our body back to its desired neutral state. Earthing, also called grounding, has also been shown to improve mood (even with anxiety and depression), chronic fatigue, inflammation, chronic pain, and also reduce blood pressure. Pretty cool, right?

When I was growing up, in the warmer months you were likely to find me barefoot if I was at home. I loved the feeling of grass on my feet (especially living back East where the grass wasn’t so dry and prickly), and nearly every day I would be wading in the creek behind our house and catching frogs (because everyone knows you are a much better frogger without shoes, so your feet can quietly slide along rocks as you sneak up on your unsuspecting target). I climbed trees barefoot. And with the toughened up soles I would develop (I was so proud of those – no dainty soft feet for 10-year-old me!), I even liked feeling the hot sidewalk under my feet. Sure, that meant I ended up with bee stings on the bottoms of my feet on more than one occasion, but that didn’t deter me from being outside barefoot as often as I could.

I didn’t realize that I was earthing, but it makes sense now why studying outside on the grass always felt so much more relaxing. After we were married and had bought our first home (17 years ago, wow!!), I discovered that I really liked gardening (not something I grew up doing). It wasn’t uncommon to find me doing so without shoes, either. I would definitely get a big mood boost every spring when I could first get out in the garden, get my hands (and feet?) dirty.

Being diagnosed with severe Raynaud’s a few years ago changed that for me, though. Suddenly I had to wear shoes (or at least socks) all the time, or I would get constant vaso-spasms up my legs (still got a decent number anyway). Had awful vaso-spasms in my hands too, and it hurt them to touch anything metal or remotely cold meaning I needed to wear special gloves for most of the time (made cooking interesting). Nearly constant pain in my hands and feet became the norm, at least during all but the hottest months of the year.

That didn’t stop me from regularly working in my gardens and yard up until Kenny got sick (I can be pretty stubborn at times), but I hadn’t realized how much I’d missed being there in the dirt. And when was the last time I was barefoot outside?

Now that I’m on a medication to help my circulation (and one that thankfully doesn’t make me keep fainting, hooray!), I’m thinking about trying out some earthing again. I wouldn’t mind reaping some of those purported benefits of doing so. ‘Fraid these feet of mine have gotten pretty soft in the ensuing years, but I feel up to the challenge of toughening them up. Summer here we come!