Studies Confirm Indoor Grounding Safety and Reduced Exposure to AC Voltage EMFs
Repeated studies confirm that grounding indoors is safe and protective.
Even for premature infants!
An impactful study published in 2017 showed potentially life-saving benefit for premature babies when they are grounded. The study, done at the Pennsylvania State University Children’s Hospital in Hershey, demonstrated that grounding had an immediate and significant improvement on autonomic nervous system functioning critical to inflammatory and stress responses.
Twenty-six infants were involved in the study. Skin voltage was measured while the babies were alternately grounded and then ungrounded. When grounded, their skin voltage levels dropped instantly to almost zero! And in a setting filled with electrical medical equipment and electromagnetic fields (EMFs)! Click here to read an article we have written about the study.
We mention EMFs because various “experts” continue to falsely claim that Earthing indoors can be harmful because of the presence of EMFs.
Earlier, in a 2016 study, conducted at the University of Oregon, exercise physiologist Dick Brown exposed 50 participants (male and female, ages 12 to 79) to EMFs generated by electric equipment in his home office. The equipment included a printer, scanner, cordless phone, lamp, computer, and computer monitor. These devices, like many other household appliances and wiring, produce 60Hz frequency alternating current (AC) EMFs.
The voltage and currents induced on the participants’ body by the equipment was first measured with a voltmeter when participants were ungrounded and then again when grounded. Grounding was achieved via an Earthing (electrode) patch placed on the palm of the left hand and connected to the ground port of a grounded wall electric outlet.
The results: A significant drop – by a factor of 58 on average – of measured body AC voltage when subjects were grounded compared to not being grounded. Current measurements were taken when participants touched a desk lamp, and again when they moved their hand about 12 inches away from the lamp, and then three feet away.
The highest average current − 2.62 microamperes − measured on grounded participants occurred, as expected, when touching the lamp. What does that number mean? The Electrical Safety manual of the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2009-113/pdfs/2009-113.pdf, p. 7) states that a current below 1 milliampere is generally not perceptible. There are one thousand microamperes in a milliampere.
Thus, the recognized perception level is at least 382 times larger than the average current measured in the study when touching the lamp and 1,852 times larger than the measurement at three feet distance from the lamp.
“The study indicates clearly that normal levels of electromagnetic fields existing in an office setting in houses are too low to produce harmful currents when a person is grounded,” concluded Dr. Brown.
The decreased voltage induced on the body by grounding in this experiment is comparable to results obtained by electrical engineer Roger Applewhite in a hotel room setting in 2005. In that experiment, grounding produced a voltage drop by a factor of 71 in comparison to being ungrounded.
Grounding Creates a Protective Faraday Cage Effect
EMFs are present whether you are grounded or not. When you are grounded, you become like a Faraday cage and the Faraday cage effect prevents EMFs generated by the electric wires of your home from penetrating your body. They are reflected as a mirror reflects light. A Faraday cage is a metal enclosure used to block electromagnetic fields. Grounding drops the voltage on your body to nearly zero.
These kinds of results speak loud and clear to the safety issue of Earthing. Yes, it is wonderful to be outdoors barefoot in Nature and ground yourself. Yet, by plugging into a properly grounded wall outlet indoors you can safely and beneficially ground yourself. In the process, you become buffered from common AC voltage surrounding you that emanates from wires, and most electronic equipment and appliances. You instantly equalize electrically with the Earth’s natural energy. You become an extension of Mother Earth.
But more important than fending off AC voltage, grounding reduces inflammation and pain, calms your nervous system, and improves your blood flow. You become healthier and look healthier.
Please ignore the ignorant opinions of bloggers and others who say that Earthing indoors is unhealthy because of the EMFs that you absorb like an antenna. The truth is just the opposite. And grounded antennas, for the uninformed, cannot absorb EMFs. To read more about the fake warnings and misinformation spread by so-called “EMF consultants,” click here.
What about the Wi-fi and cellphone frequencies all around us? First and foremost, they have nothing to do with Earthing. Earthing works in environments full of such frequencies. For almost 15 years, grounding research has been conducted in indoor settings full of common EMFs. More than 20 published peer-reviewed articles have demonstrated consistently significant and positive changes in the physiology.
What we tell anyone who expresses concern about potential harm from these frequencies is that they should try to limit their exposure and, very importantly, ground themselves as much as possible.