You’re grounded! (It’s a good thing.)

Ever since I was a kid, I never liked walking around barefoot outside. It’s one thing to walk in the grass, where the most you have to worry about is a stick or some dog poop. But walking on gravel or the sidewalk or out in the street — no thanks! I have reacted with mild disgust when I see kids running around barefoot outside, seemingly without a care in the world.

First of all, it hurts my feet to step on pebbles or anything on the ground. Anyone who has ever stepped on a Lego or matchbox car knows the feeling. Then, you have to wash your feet when you come inside the house, and as long as you’re going to do that might as well take a shower. It becomes a whole event.

I guess the joke is on me because walking and standing barefoot outside, referred to as “earthing” or “grounding,” is actually good for us. Maybe those kids are onto something after all.

The science of grounding

The Earth is like a gigantic battery that contains a natural electrical charge — a special kind of energy present in the ground. For safety and stability, almost everything in the electrical world is connected to it. This is what the term “grounded” means.

We are bioelectrical beings living on an electrical planet. Our bodies operate electrically. Our cells transmit multiple frequencies…