Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/522093
SURPRISING BENEFITS OF GOING BAREFOOT BY LAURA G. OWENS K IDS NEVER THINK TWICE ABOUT RUNNING BAREFOOT, AND WOULD PROBABLY PLAY SHOELESS ALL DAY IF LEFT TO THEIR OWN DEVICES. THEIR CONNECTION TO THE EARTH IS INSTINCTUAL—IT JUST FEELS GOOD. AS adults, however, we wear shoes, drive on asphalt roads and work in insulated environments; our feet rarely touch natural surfaces. Yet a growing body of anecdotal evidence suggests the kids are on to something and there are health bene" ts in connecting our bare feet to the earth. Grounding, also known as "earthing," essentially means walking barefoot on any natural surface, such as soil, grass or sand, that allows you to tap into the earth's natural electrical " eld. It can also mean sitting, working or sleeping indoors while connected to a system that grounds you to the earth. "# e Earth is an electrical planet, and you are a bioelectrical being living on an electrical planet," explains Martin Zucker, veteran health journalist and co-author of Earthing: ! e Most Important Health Discovery Ever! In fact, various parts of the human body function electrically, notably the nervous system and the heart. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman suggests that when the body is grounded, its electric potential becomes an extension of our planet's electrical system, allowing the earth to be the "working agent that cancels, reduces or pushes away [other] electric " elds from the body," notably electromagnetic " elds (EMFs) created by the conveniences of the modern 22 wholelifetimes.com