This article is posted here for archival purposes. It has been posted here with the author’s permission.

Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?
by: Stephen Sinatra, M.D., F.A.C.C.

Throughout practically all of history, we humans have walked barefoot and slept on the ground, largely oblivious to the fact that the gentle surface energies of the Earth harmonize and stabilize the body’s fundamental biological rhythms and keep inflammation at bay.

In our contemporary Western world, the widespread use of insulative rubber or plastic soled shoes has disconnected us from these nurturing energies and, of course, we no longer sleep on the ground as we did in times past.

New research, which I am proud to be involved in, indicates that this physical disconnect from the Earth creates abnormalities in the physiology and contributes to the chronic inflammation, pain, fatigue, stress, and poor sleep that are so rampant in our modern society.

Along with the research has emerged an amazingly simple remedy for many health problems, including the chronic inflammation regarded as the cause of most common modern diseases, including cardiovascular disease.  The remedy is something right beneath our feet – the Earth itself!

The Greatest Health Discovery in My Career
During my nearly forty years as a practicing cardiologist, I have encountered and used many wonderful natural treatments and seen first-hand astounding lifesaving technological advances. The greatest health discovery of my career, however, is something totally different and more natural than anything I could ever have imagined.

This discovery is called Earthing and it means reconnecting the human body to the Earth’s natural and subtle electric frequencies that few people even know exist. The surface of the planet, science tells us, brims with health-sustaining energy, but until recently the extraordinary benefits that it offers were basically unknown.

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Hair is one of if not the fastest growing tissue of the body, it’s made up of proteins called keratins.

Every strand of hair is made up of three layers: The inner layer (medulla) present in thick hairs only; the middle layer (cortex) determines the strength of the hair strand, texture, and color, and the cuticle, which protects the cortex. The cross section illustration below shows more detail.

Hair grows from roots, which are enclosed in hair follicles.

Below you will see a few illustrations of the hair and skin, the skin is called the dermal papilla (DP), which is fed by the bloodstream carrying nutrients vital to the growth of hair.

A hair follicle is mostly an epithelial tissue (i.e. it is a part of tissue made of closely-packed cells that are arranged in one or more layers and covers and body surfaces). A follicle originates in the dermis.  At the base of the hair follicle is what we call the dermal papilla (DP) enclosed within the hair bulb. The DP is crucial to the life-cycle of the hair, it contains nerves and blood vessels that deliver blood and nutrients (providing energy and amino acids) that are used in making keratin, a fibrous scleroprotein found in hair and nails.

Only the roots of hair are alive, and get nutrients from the blood stream, the visible part of hair is not living and therefore unable to heal itself. The health of hair is vitally connected to the scalp skin, nutrients, blood circulation and health of the body in general.

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These are some studies relating to grounding:

1. Pilot Study on the Effect of Grounding on Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness http://earthinginstitute.net/studies/earthing_delayed_muscle_2010.pdf

2. Changes in Pulse Rate, Respiratory Rate, Blood Oxygenation, Perfusion Index, Skin Conductance, and Their Variability Induced During and After Grounding Human Subjects for 40 Minutes http://earthinginstitute.net/studies/earthing_pulse_rate.pdf

3. The Effect Of Earthing On Human Physiology, Part 2 http://earthinginstitute.net/studies/earthing_human_physiology_2007_pt2.pdf

4. The Effect Of Earthing On Human Physiology, Part 1 http://earthinginstitute.net/studies/earthing_human_physiology_2006_pt1.pdf

5. The Effectiveness of a Conductive Patch and a Conductive Bed Pad in Reducing Induced Human Body Voltage Via the Application of Earth Ground http://earthinginstitute.net/studies/earthing_body_voltage_2005.pdf

6. The Biologic Effects of Grounding the Human Body During Sleep as Measured by Cortisol Levels and Subjective Reporting of Sleep, Pain, and Stress http://earthinginstitute.net/studies/cortisol_study_2004.pdf

7. Medical Thermography Case Studies http://earthinginstitute.net/studies/thermographic_histories_2004.pdf

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Inflammation has been linked to hair loss and to diet. A diet that produces systemic inflammation is more likely to exist with hair loss than do anti-inflammatory diets.

Several inflammatory cytokines are induced by oxidant stress.  The fact that cytokines themselves trigger the release of other cytokines and also lead to increased oxidant stress makes them important in chronic inflammation. Toxic cytokines can be influenced by diet modifications.

Over production of pro-inflammatory hormone-like messengers (ex. prostaglandin E2 PGE2) and a lack of production of anti-inflammatory messengers (ex. prostaglandin E1 and E3) is a common cause of inflammation. Omega-3 fatty acids seem to suppress the production of PGE2 and promote the production of the beneficial prostaglandin PGE3. Thus the recommendation is to reduce foods that are high in omega-6 fatty acids and increase the intake of foods high in omega-3. This will lead to more of the beneficial prostaglandins (E1 and E3) and less of the PGE2 linked to inflammation.

Also, Gamma linolinic acid (GLA) induces the production of the anti-inflammatory PGE1.

Arachidonic acid is a precursor to both the pro-inflammatory prostanglandin E2 (PGE2) and the pro-inflammatory cytokine leukotriene B4. Limiting foods that lead to the synthesis of arachidonic acid can also help reduce inflammation.

A high-glycemic index (GI) diet cause excess production of insulin often leading to sharper spikes in insulin. Consuming GI foods could lead to the production of arachidonic acid. So, naturally one should avoid all high GI foods.

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What can I do about inflammation?

Inflammation could be caused by many factors, therein lies the challenge of knowing what is causing such inflammation. Fixing the problem at it’s root is much better than masking it.

Topically:

• Emu oil (comment: I have not tried this)
• copper peptides
• ketoconazole can be used to topically partially inhibit cytokine formation.
• Essential oils (comment: easy to apply)
• Anything that kills scalp parasites can help reduce localized scalp inflammation
• ACV (comment: good)
• Kefir (comment: tried it, works but messy)
• Xylitol (comment: I have not tried)

Diet:

Diet and nutrition:

• Ecklonia Cava Extract (rich in phlorotannins/polyphenols with uniquely strong antioxidant properties)
• Curcumin 95% (95% curcuminoids including curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bisdemethoxycurcumin, which are antioxidants)
• Krill Oil
• R-Lipoic Acid (anti Oxidant)
• Fish oil
• DHEA
• Stinging Nettle extract
• GLA
• Other antioxidants (vitamin E and N-acetyl cysteine)

Read the anti-inflammatory diets posted on this website. This website has a few anti inflammatory diets and diet recommendations. To find them visit:

• Prof. Ayers Anti-Inflammatory Diet and Lifestyle
• A Modified Elimination Diet

You should consider finding food sensitivities that you have that might be sub-clinical. These could be causing chronic inflammation that you have grown accustomed to. The best way to find foods that don’t sit well with you is to go on the elimination diet then slowly reintroduce one food item at a time. You may enjoy the benefits of eliminating foods enough to not even care to re-introduce some items.

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-::- Note: The below is posted here for archival and educational purposes -::-

Components of an Anti-inflammatory Diet (focus on meats, fish, eggs and leafy vegetables)

• Low starch and other simple sugars — insulin and high blood glucose are inflammatory; so use complex polysaccharides (not starch); starch only in small portions (1/2 banana or one side of a hamburger bun) and preferably in unprocessed, less available forms, e.g. coarse ground or fat coated — bread with butter; less than 30 gm in any meal, less is healthier, grains are frequently a problem — gluten intolerance
• No high fructose corn syrup — high free fructose (in contrast to sucrose) is inflammatory and contributes to crosslinking of collagen fibers, which means prematurely aged skin; sucrose is much better than alternative sweeteners
• High ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fats — most vegetable oils (olive oil is the exception) are very high in omega-6 fats and are inflammatory and should be avoided; omega-3 fats from fish oil cannot have their full anti-inflammatory impact in the presence of vegetable oils; omega-3 supplements are needed to overcome existing inflammation — take with saturated fats
• No trans fats — all are inflammatory
• Probiotics and prebiotics — the bacteria in your gut are vitally important in reducing inflammation; most of the bacteria that initially colonize breastfed babies and are also present in fermented products seem to be helpful; formula quickly converts baby gut bacteria to inflammatory species and should be avoided completely for as long as possible to permit the baby’s immune system to mature (at least 6 months exclusive breastfeeding.)
• Saturated fats are healthy and reduce the peroxidation of omega-3 fatty acids at sites of local  inflammation, e.g. fatty liver.  Saturated fats should be the major source of dietary calories.
• Vegetable antioxidants — vegetables and fruits, along with coffee and chocolate supply very useful, anti-inflammatory anti-oxidants
• Sensible daily supplements: 1,000 mg vitamin C; 2,000-5,000 i.u vitamin D3 (to produce serum levels of 60ng/ml); 750 mg glucosamine
• Associated anti-inflammatory lifestyle components:

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Chronic systemic inflammation and localized scalp inflammation are directly related to hair loss in both men and women.

Many degenerative (aging) diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes, asthma, arthritis, depression and androgenetic alopecia are accompanies (or caused by) chronic systemic inflammation. Several studies have been published showing that inflammation is often present in androgenetic alopecia cases. Not only for your hair health, but in order to avoid a myriad of degenerative diseases inflammation needs to be curved and eliminated.

Often, the degenerative diseases mentioned above are accompanied by a pathological increase of “inflammatory cytokines”. Our goal is then to lower such pro-inflammatory cytokines as in: tumor necrosis factor –alpha, interleukin – 6, interleukin 1(B) and/or interleukin B4.

Lowering excessive cytokines can be done internally (systemically) and topically (more localized) using  drugs, nutrients, supplements, dietary changes, oils, hormones, etc…

In this website I do not discuss pharmaceuticals, I rather concentrate on nutrition, diet and life style to fix the root causes of inflammation. Most if not all pharmaceuticals have side effects if not toxic effects on the body.

Ending inflammation could go a long way. Find out what you can do to eliminate inflammation here.

How I learned of grounding:

I always had a connection (felt connected) to nature and our planet, once this connection was compromised I experienced dis-ease. I know this from personal experience.

In my quest to reverse my male pattern baldness, improve my vision and heal decaying teeth I researched many diets and theories, trying to figure out what the right thing to eat was, more accurately what my body evolved to eat.

I learned of great concepts such as paleolithic dieting and metabolic typing. Dr. Weston Price, like many others, also figured it was all in the diet, that natives and uncivilized people had great teeth (and hair) due to their diet.

One morning as I continued to research the correct genetic type of foods for me, I had a very simple idea sprout from my mind and catch my attention, “it’s not all in the diet”. While diet is a major factor of the body’s health, I believe looking at diets, supplements and chemicals only for an answer misses 1/2 the reality.

Yes the paleolithic humans ate differently, yes the uncivilized white-teethed tribes ate differently. Some ate raw foods, some ate a vegetarian diet of roots and fruits, some drank raw milk, others ate mostly sea food or meat. Finding commonalities in these diets has been the obsession of many researchers and remains an interest of mine; the same with metabolic typing. One convincing answer that explains why different diets had similar results in natives is that these people ate what was right for their metabolic type.

Keeping that in mind, I sifted through facts and theories on ancient and uncivilized diets, then I noticed something that was even more in common between these ancient people, besides how different their diets were than the typical SAD (Standard American Diet). they all were barefoot (or used thin leather sandals), sat on rocks or the ground, climbed trees, swam, and got a lot of sunshine. These people were more “grounded” than us today. I cannot comment on their spirituality, life habits, culture, mind-set, or rituals but I know they were grounded, got a lot of sun and plenty of functional physical activity.

I theorize that it was not just the diet that made our ancestors healthy, it also must have been their lifestyle: especially grounding activities, functional paleo-type physical activity, and plenty of sunshine. This is not to discount diet, diet is a huge part of health, but not the answer-to-all solution to a holistic whole health.

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This is one version of a modified Elimination Diet that I like. It removes any possible allergen or inflammatory food, you most likely can tolerate most these but while on this diet the idea is to not eat anything that could remotely cause you inflammation. If some people had an inflammatory reaction then this food is listed in the Foods to Avoid column.

-::- Note: The below is posted here for archival and educational purposes -::-

Modified Elimination Diet

Last Updated on Thursday, 29 January 2009 03:22

:: The diet above has been posted here for archival and educational purposes only. PLEASE do me a favor and visit the author’s website, i.e. the ORIGINAL website where this diet was found, by following this link, and considering using their services and/or visiting their sponsors’ websites: http://www.ecopolitan.com/health-services/eco-healing/ ::

The FASEB Journal 2006;20:1567-1569.

Towards a “free radical theory of graying”: melanocyte apoptosis in the aging human hair follicle is an indicator of oxidative stress induced tissue damage

Petra Clara Arck†,1, Rupert Overall*,1, Katharina Spatz*, Christiane Liezman*, Bori Handjiski†, Burghard F. Klapp‡, Mark A. Birch-Machin§ and Eva Milena Johanne Peters*,1

* Cutaneous Neuroimmunology, Biomedical Research Center, University Medicine Charité, Virchow and Mitte Campus;

† Psychoneuroimmunology, Biomedical Research Center, University Medicine Charité, Virchow Campus; and

‡ Internal Medicine, Psychosomatics, University Medicine Charité, Mitte Campus, Humboldt-University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany; and

§ Dermatology, Medical School, University of Newcastle, UK

1Correspondence: Biomedical Research Center, Rm. Nr. 2.0549, University Medicine Charité, Virchow Campus, Humboldt University of Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, Berlin 13353, Germany. E-mail: eva.peters@charite.de or frl_peters@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT

Oxidative stress is generated by a multitude of environmental and endogenous challenges such as radiation, inflammation, or psychoemotional stress. It also speeds the aging process. Graying is a prominent but little understood feature of aging.

Intriguingly, the continuous melanin synthesis in the growing (anagen) hair follicle generates high oxidative stress. We therefore hypothesize that hair bulb melanocytes are especially susceptible to free radical-induced aging. To test this hypothesis, we subjected human scalp skin anagen hair follicles from graying individuals to macroscopic and immunohistomorphometric analysis and organ culture. We found evidence of melanocyte apoptosis and increased oxidative stress in the pigmentary unit of graying hair follicles.

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