How Long Should I Ground For?
Ahhh, one of the most prevalent questions in the world of grounding, as well as in my DM’s. I have decided to do a short post about this so hopefully this helps. I, Rob, am a man of the people, so here goes. I have found that people want a specific amount of time or time frame in order to see benefits from grounding (i.e., how little can I get away with). I must give you the most annoying answer the world has ever known.
It depends.
Of course, I could just say 20-30 minutes and that’d make a lot of people happy, and that amount of time would still give benefit. The extent of benefit, however, is where you’ll find your nuance. An answer like this is subjective to the person asking. What kind of condition are you in? Are you chronically inflamed? Do you live a healthy lifestyle? The point is, I don’t know how long YOU need to ground for, because I don’t know where you stand on the inflammation/inflammatory preparedness/oxidative stress spectrum. This is for you and your doctor to figure out.
Wow, Rob, thank you for your useless answer. You’re welcome.
But I can give you some other useful information in the meantime. In the videos that I make, what kind of time frame are these individuals subjected to, as far as being electrically grounded?
Zeta Potential: 2 hours
HRV: 40 minutes
Skin Conductance: 2 hours
EEG / EMG: 28 minutes
Facial/Torse Blood Circulation (infrared imaging): 1 Hour
Blood Viscosity (Yoga): 1 hour
Medical Thermography: 30 minutes to full night of sleep
Meditation Quality / Brain Mapping: 40 minutes
Training Recovery / Creatine Kinase: Slept
Vagal Tone: 20-40 minutes
Cortisol: Slept
Pulse rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygenation, perfusion index, skin conductance: 40 minutes
DOMS / Muted Immune Response: Most of the day and during sleep
Osteoporosis Primary Indicators: Slept
Blood Urea / Training Grounded: 1.5 hours
Those are the big ones, so far. However, it’s important to keep in mind that the instant you’re in electrical contact with the earth (grounded), your skin conductance and induced body voltage will drop instantaneously. Electrons can move quickly depending on the situation and depending on how “energized” they are. Because of this instantaneous charge transfer and electrical coupling, the external and internal environment of the organism will change. How quickly these changes are manifested and felt is, again, where you’ll find your nuance. Humans, for most of the entirety of their evolution, have been in contact with the earth. Grounded is the natural electrical state of your body. You’re meant to be grounded 24/7. Grounding will produce an immediate biophysical, electrical change, and your subjective physiological parameters will vary. The longer, the better. 1 minute is better than no grounding at all.
I also get asked how long I ground for. I sleep grounded, so 9.5 hours. I do my computer work grounded (2-3 hours). I work on a concrete (works for grounding) floor (3-4 hours). I wear my sandals in the meantime and use a grounding mat pre/intra/post training. So, on an ideal day I can be grounded up to 18 hours.
“That’s soooooo long, Rob!”
Yes, young starflower. This is the lifestyle I’m trying to inspire in others.