Earth & Immune Series, Part 6 - Grounding and Antibodies
This section isn't about vaccine opinions.. It's about the immune system. More specifically, how the adaptive immune response behaves when the body is grounded. That's the whole point here. Nothing more, nothing less.
Grounding, direct physical contact with the Earth, has shown effects on many systems in the body. One of the most interesting? The immune system. When grounded, the body doesn't just calm down. It seems to get sharper. The immune response becomes more regulated. More efficient. Less chaotic. And that has real consequences for how we deal with pathogens.
In 2011, Drs. Karol and Pawel Sokal published a series of studies in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. One of them focused on how grounding affects the immune system after a vaccine injection to test how grounding influences the body’s response to immune challenges.
The adaptive immune system is the body’s precision tool. Unlike the fast but generalized innate system, the adaptive side is slower but more targeted. It builds memory. It learns. It uses B cells to make antibodies and T cells to kill infected cells or help coordinate the whole process. Vaccines are designed to leverage this machinery and train the system without causing illness.
In the Sokal study, 32 men were given a small injection of typhoid vaccine and tetanus toxoid. For the first three days, none were grounded. On Day 3, blood was drawn. Then they were split, half grounded via copper plates, half not. On Day 4, blood was drawn again.
They measured serum iron, transferrin, ferritin, total protein, albumin, and globulins. That last one is where it got interesting. In the grounded group, globulin levels shifted. Gamma globulins (aka antibodies) increased more than in the sham group.
Quick refresher: globulins are plasma proteins. They're split into four classes - alpha1, alpha2, beta, and gamma. Alpha and beta types deal with lipid transport, coagulation, enzyme inhibition, etc. But gamma globulins are the real soldiers. They're the immunoglobulins - the antibodies. When gamma levels rise after a challenge, it means the immune system is doing its job.
What the study showed was that grounding appears to amplify this antibody response. Not in a dangerous way. In a coordinated way. A healthy spike in gamma globulins is a textbook sign of an immune system responding to a threat the way it should.
That means grounding might not just regulate inflammation or support sleep. It might also optimize immune memory. It might help the body recognize and respond faster and more effectively to immune stressors. That includes viruses.
This doesn't mean grounding is a substitute for medicine. But it might be a missing variable. A physiological modifier. Something ancient. Something free. And something that could be helping your immune system behind the scenes.. just by standing barefoot in the grass.
As always, if you’re interested in learning more about grounding, check out Earth & Water.
References:
Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, et al. Molecular Biology of the Cell. 4th edition. New York: Garland Science; 2002. Chapter 24, The Adaptive Immune System. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK21070/
Pulendran B, Ahmed R. Immunological mechanisms of vaccination. Nat Immunol. 2011 Jun;12(6):509-17. doi: 10.1038/ni.2039. PMID: 21739679; PMCID: PMC3253344.
Busher JT. Serum Albumin and Globulin. In: Walker HK, Hall WD, Hurst JW, editors. Clinical Methods: The History, Physical, and Laboratory Examinations. 3rd edition. Boston: Butterworths; 1990. Chapter 101. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK204/
Berger M, Gilbert I. Role of gamma globulin. Semin Respir Infect. 1989 Dec;4(4):272-83. PMID: 2516639.
Sokal K, Sokal P. Earthing the human body influences physiologic processes. J Altern Complement Med. 2011 Apr;17(4):301-8. doi: 10.1089/acm.2010.0687. Epub 2011 Apr 6. PMID: 21469913; PMCID: PMC3154031.
FORMATION OF GAMMA GLOBULIN. JAMA. 1961;178(2):257. doi:10.1001/jama.1961.03040410157017
