Grounding Is The Best Biohack
Biohacking is the use of a technology or a form of living that’s designed to augment your performance and health. If you’ve seen any self-improvement or health videos you would eventually stumble upon it. I tried and am currently applying some measures to my current lifestyle some of which are very beneficial. I’m not your doctor so I can’t advocate that you do this or that method though I can tell you of one thing that has been the most beneficial to me.
Grounding
Why do people get into biohacking and what makes them rave about it? I believe the average human here in modern times is far below the baseline of where a human being should be operating.
Joint Pain
Stiffness
Irritability
Needs stimulants like caffeine to stay awake.
Poor sleep
Bad digestion
Listening to your neighbor’s mumble rap
Can’t focus
And the list goes on.
There are still hunter-gatherer groups today as well as those with less of the comfort we have here in modernity. They don’t deal with any of the problems we deal with until they start to modernize.
We are so far below the baseline that anything that gets us close to where we are supposed to be will feel like a superpower.
Past/Current Methods
There were videos out there that advocate not touching your kibbles and bits for weeks or months on end. I got into this a few years back and it’s something I should have already been doing but I’m an imperfect human. Some more ancient Christian traditions refer to this as, “Self-Harm” which I believe is accurate just in the realm of our physical and mental state. These videos, and apparently people are still making them because they get you a ton of views, talk about these methods giving you superpowers. But honestly, it’s just getting you back to baseline. When you’ve been operating at half your computing power and you increase that to 75% it will feel like a major shift.
I’ve also done cold showers for energy during the day and for recovery from my workouts. It helped somewhat but the mental determination it takes to step into cold water and stand there for minutes will take away that mental energy from other things in life. Self-improvement is important but directing it to the wrong areas will only do so much.
The best biohacking to get us back to baseline I would argue takes the least amount of mental preparation and hence could be adhered to on a daily or hourly basis. The biohack that I believe fills this role is whats called, “Grounding” or “Earthing”
“Grounding?”
Grounding is essentially going barefoot. Think of it as practicing your Hobbit cosplay. I never would have thought walking barefoot on grass would have its benefits but it does. Everything that was created has a purpose and sometimes there are multiple. By walking barefoot on a nice patch of grass, sand near the ocean, and even some concrete slabs you are essentially grabbing free antioxidants from the Earth. Where oxidation in the body causes more damage, antioxidants have an opposing mission which is to heal the body of damage. You may often hear about antioxidants in food but grounding provides a cheap way to place antioxidants in your body.
Communication Equipment
In the Corps, I worked with communications equipment and in order for this equipment to work properly it needed to be grounded. Grounding helped to reduce any charge built up that could harm the folks working on it as well as could damage the machine. With radios, grounding helps to eliminate noise during use. Instead of intense static, you hear the individual on the distant end(wherever you are communicating to) as if they were right in the room. Humans carry charge. Heck, haven’t you ever tried to shock someone by putting on a pair of socks, sliding on the carpet, and then proceeding to shock your brothers and sisters?
Basically carrying too much of a charge over time can affect your biology leading to various symptoms like inflammation. Grounding can also help you fight off sickness and heal from any wounds a whole lot quicker. We ground electronic equipment so that it works properly, shouldn’t we ground ourselves?
Walking/Chilling in the cut
Sometimes I walk around depending on the area I’m at and how clean the ground is. But, grabbing a lawn chair, sitting down, and grounding on a nice piece of grass during a lunch break or before you head out during the day is also beneficial. With grounding, as long as your feet are connected to the ground your body will start gathering antioxidants immediately. But, depending on the amount of damage you have in your body it might take awhile to have an effect. I’ve listened to testimonials where people used a grounding mat or practiced walking on grass for a week and immediately felt an improvement in their constitution. For me, it took half a week of walking from 20 to 35 minutes for the grounding to start improving my mood, sleep, and focus. Now, I have my feet connected to the grounding for a minimum of 45 minutes a day. If I’m undergoing a massive amount of brain fog during the week I sometimes go to a nice park far away from everything and usually, after these trips, my sleep, and focus are back to where they should be. Grounding does not give you superpowers, it merely brings you back to baseline.
All Grass Matters # AGM
But I need to bring up a point that is that not all patches of grass are created equal. Due to the amount of infrastructure that’s around you, you might not have as beneficial of an effect. There are other folks that can get into the weeds on this stuff but pretty much the frequencies from man-made stuff will hinder your antioxidant-gathering efforts. But anything is better than nothing. Which is why I got to that park once in a while.
What This Means For Nerve & Muscle
What does grounding mean for someone who participates in calisthenics and overcoming isometrics? It means quicker recovery. My training style is already tailored towards improved strength and minimizes muscle damage. Grounding will aid this to a higher degree. That doesn’t mean you can ground and have an intense calisthenics and overcoming isometric workout every morning and evening, but you will be able to do more. Recover faster, gain more, and achieve your goals at a quicker rate.
Wrap Up
Grounding, aka walking barefoot, could get you some weird looks but it is extremely beneficial. If you do it right the ground could toughen up your feet to where they become impervious to Lego damage. Let’s live a healthy life and lead by example.
Thank you for making it to the end and comments are below.
Until next time.
