I do think we should listen to our mothers, the ones from a few generations back, who would kick the kids out barefoot and tell them to be home before dark. Not really my generation, my generation was already getting into trouble with the thought police for letting the kids run around barefoot and unsupervised. Somewhere between the constant threat of kidnappers, the newly discovered dangers of sunlight and skin cancer, and chronic helicopter parenting, I barely made it through motherhood. In fact, I still haven't fully recovered.
Anyway, this is actual science. Fresh air and sunshine are good for us! Yes, too much exposure to sun can age you, perhaps even cause skin cancers. However, here we are today now with chronic vitamin D deficiencies. Staying indoors and constantly lathering ourselves down with sunscreen has lead to some unintended consequences. One of those is often a vitamin D deficiency.
Going barefoot, playing in the dirt, is also good for you! Science actually suggests that there are microbes in the soil that stimulate our immune system, but there is another reason why having your body touch the earth whether through the souls of your feet or by crawling around in a garden. It grounds you. It literally changes the electrical currents in your body. We are bio-electrical creatures who have now immersed our ungrounded selves in electro-magnetic energy. Cell phones, TVs, microwaves, computers, whatever, we are constantly being buzzed.
To make matters worse we started building really good shoes with shock absorbers, usually made out of synthetic rubber, which often insulate us from contact with the Earth. Add in concrete, elevated beds at night, and insulated homes and there are people walking about today who haven't actually touched the Earth in years, all while marinating 24/7 in electricity.
For much of human history we wore thin sandals, leather soles, or ran around barefoot which allowed us to make contact with the Earth, rather than the modern fake rubber of today. JR Tolkien and CS Lewis both instinctively knew this truth. They would often sit on the ground against a tree and the Hobbits were purposefully designed barefoot. This was before any real research had been done and before we began marinating ourselves in massive amounts of electromagnetic energy.
I'm laughing because it sounds like a grand conspiracy theory or a sales pitch for some product, like a tin foil hat that will protect you. No doubt such products actually do exist, because there is some genuine science behind what mothers have known since forever, that fresh air, sunshine, and touching your feet to the Earth is good for you. It stimulates your immune system, heals your body, enables you to store up vitamin D, helps you sleep better, and calms your brain down.
It is also free. You don't need a prescription. You don't have to buy anything. The only side effect I know of from going outside, putting your feet on the Earth, and getting some sunshine, is that you might encounter people out there. Trust me, this is my biggest obstacle, an unpleasant side effect for sure, but it is what it is.
Did I mention that it calms your brain down? We used to send our kids outside so they could run around and burn off energy, but something else was going on too, they were grounding their bodies to the Earth which helps to center their brains. It all sounds very woo-ish, very hippy dippy, but it's true. We can test the electrical current in people and discover when they are grounded to the Earth and when they are just a loose wire trying to maintain a sense of control.
Tragically, the modern world has turned us all into loose wires just trying to maintain a sense of control. For much of human history it wasn't like this. We didn't have the huge pharmaceutical influence on our bodies, we didn't have electro magnetic everything in our environment, and we weren't wearing insulators on our shoes.
A lot of people practice grounding for psychological benefits, to calm people in crisis. It also sounds a bit silly, but you simply sit down on the ground or take your shoes off and place your feet on the ground for a few minutes. Part of that is psychological, to help one focus on what is firm and unchanging beneath one's feet, but part of it is also electrical, biochemical. We do have a parasympathetic nervous system. Our brain waves actually change when we are grounded.
I spent a lot of time on boats growing up. After not being on land for months at a time, you can really feel it when you touch the Earth. It's hard to describe, but there is definitely something there that your body needs and you will feel yourself kind of stick to the Earth's energy when you land. Astronauts may well experience something similar. My point simply being, we are Earthly creatures, bio-electrical, and doing what mothers have instinctively known since forever, is really good for our health and mental well being.
You can ground yourself by simply placing your hand on a tree, for goodness sakes, or a bare foot in the sand. It's not really rocket science or strange magic or anything weird, it just is what it is.
Strangely enough, I often encounter a great deal of resistance when I even suggest these things, sometimes even outright hatred and mockery. It's sometimes labeled "pseudo science" and "bad health advice," and "old wives tales" and there is just a tsunami of brainwashing far more powerful then me at work. I actually once asked someone on social media, "have you been getting any sunshine?" and I got hit with a misinformation sticker and a warning about the dangers of skin cancer.
So here's the deal people, fresh air, sunshine, and grounding yourself to the Earth are good for your health, for a myriad of reasons both well known and some yet unknown to science itself. So just do it. And if they tell you you shouldn't do these perfectly reasonable, common sense things, do them twice as often and add some swagger.
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