Part 11 (1/2)
Mike Miller, sixty-two, Encinitas, California, retired software engineer: ”I have had sciatica since 1966-over forty years. I pulverized my fourth, fifth, and sixth lumbar vertebrae in a car accident and have lived with a great deal of pain and discomfort ever since. There is nothing medically that can be done about the situation except to take aspirin, which relieves the swelling of the sciatic nerve where it exits the spine. Aspirin actually works pretty well, but not perfectly. It does not eliminate the pain but relieves the swelling, which reduces the pain to a manageable level. For forty-two years I have basically taken two aspirin every night. ”I have had sciatica since 1966-over forty years. I pulverized my fourth, fifth, and sixth lumbar vertebrae in a car accident and have lived with a great deal of pain and discomfort ever since. There is nothing medically that can be done about the situation except to take aspirin, which relieves the swelling of the sciatic nerve where it exits the spine. Aspirin actually works pretty well, but not perfectly. It does not eliminate the pain but relieves the swelling, which reduces the pain to a manageable level. For forty-two years I have basically taken two aspirin every night.
”My symptoms were extremely painful shooting pains usually down my right leg to the knee and sometimes all the way to the middle of the foot, which contracts like a fist. I say usually because, in some cases, it would switch to the left leg and on really bad nights affect both legs. Additionally, I was dealing with a constant low-grade pain in the lower back, the muscles around the knees, back of the thighs, and the calves of both legs. The pain was there every night. It exhausted me. I usually took about an hour to an hour and a half to fall asleep. And when I did finally fall asleep, it was from exhaustion. When I woke up, I usually felt like I had jet lag or a hangover.
”In early 2008, I started sleeping grounded and everything changed. I experienced an immediate cessation of all the symptoms. I was stunned. I couldn't get over it. I just laid down and went right to sleep without a sciatic attack. I woke up the next day and said, 'Hey, I slept all night!' That was the first time I slept through the night in five years. I didn't have to go through my nightly ritual of discomfort before falling off to sleep. From the very beginning, I knew this was something special.
”I have been using the pad every night since, plugged into my wall socket. I even took the pad camping and used a grounding rod with it and could sleep in our camper without the least discomfort! That's a first too.
”In general I have no symptoms or pain, or need for medication, as long as I behave myself. By that I mean not lifting something too heavy or otherwise overdoing it, which, unfortunately I do from time to time. I'll irritate the nerve and have to take three aspirins to cut the pain. The next day, though, I am okay again.
”The results have been remarkable. I couldn't do much for years, and any kind of stress would aggravate my condition. I wasn't able to garden for four years. Now, I'm able to garden again and do light physical work. I can handle stress much better. I have my life back again.”
Better Sleep Nearly everybody who sleeps grounded says they sleep better, including globetrotting celebrities.
Actor Orlando Bloom: ”It's the best sleep.”
Chad Reed, World Supercross Champion: ”No matter the work load I put on my body, I'm recovered for the next day when I sleep grounded.” Supermodel Miranda Kerr: ”Sleeping grounded gives me sound uninterrupted sleep. I awake feeling refreshed, even with all my traveling.”
SLEEP APNEA.
An estimated 20 million Americans have sleep apnea. This means episodes of impaired breathing and disturbed sleep caused by a narrowing of soft tissue in the upper airway. Apnea reduces oxygen in the blood and prompts arousal from sleep. A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine is widely used as a remedy. It delivers a stream of compressed air via a hose to a nasal pillow, nose mask, or full-face mask. The pressure keeps the airway open. Researchers think that obstructive sleep apnea activates an inflammatory response in the body that may contribute to cardiovascular disease.
Daryl James, eighty-three, Palm Springs, California, business consultant and writer: ”Increasingly, over a period of a few years, I would wake up a few times a night gasping for breath. Finally, I went to a sleep clinic. The tests indicated that I had a moderate case of sleep apnea, with episodes where I would stop breathing for twenty seconds at a time. A lot of sleep apnea patients die in their sleep. I didn't want to be one of them. ”Increasingly, over a period of a few years, I would wake up a few times a night gasping for breath. Finally, I went to a sleep clinic. The tests indicated that I had a moderate case of sleep apnea, with episodes where I would stop breathing for twenty seconds at a time. A lot of sleep apnea patients die in their sleep. I didn't want to be one of them.
”I was told to get a CPAP machine. I did just that. I used it every night and it helped me sleep without interruption, but I didn't like using the device. It's not very comfortable.
”After hearing about grounding and how it improved sleep, I decided to give it a try it and see if it could possibly help my situation. It did!
”There were times when the CPAP face mask was too uncomfortable so I removed it. And even without it, I was able to get through the night without any problem. I noticed this within a few months of grounding. Now, I've been sleeping grounded for about almost a year and hardly ever need to use the CPAP anymore. I've been able to wean myself off. I had a serious condition, and there is no doubt the grounding helped me cope and recover.
”As a result, I have found that I have more energy during the day. In addition, my blood pressure has stabilized. I have been on hypertensive medication, but the blood pressure control hasn't been as good as my doctor would like to see it. I've been able to noticeably control the pressure better since being grounded.”
STRESS RELIEF.
Scott Hyatt, forty-five, Northern California law enforcement officer: ”I work in narcotics, and my life can be very stressful from just the people I come in contact with, to making time for court, and for family and everything else. In my work, I can be one minute on surveillance, sitting there and nothing's happening. And the next minute, I'm out of the car and running, trying to get my raid vest on and my weapon out. So the stresses are from zero up to 100 miles an hour at any given time. ”I work in narcotics, and my life can be very stressful from just the people I come in contact with, to making time for court, and for family and everything else. In my work, I can be one minute on surveillance, sitting there and nothing's happening. And the next minute, I'm out of the car and running, trying to get my raid vest on and my weapon out. So the stresses are from zero up to 100 miles an hour at any given time.
”Sleep takes a hit in all this irregularity. My sleep routine was skewed at best. So there's a lot of fatigue. In my job I've broken my foot, my hand, my nose, and my wrist. So there are also aches and pains from that, as well as a stiff back from wearing gun belts and raid vests.
”I've been sleeping grounded for about six years. And it made a huge difference. I used to be up a lot in the middle of the night-tossing and turning, fluffing my pillow, getting up, stretching, getting back into bed. And after I started using the bed pad, I've been getting a better quality of sleep-maybe not as much time as I would like because we still have strange hours we have to work with, but the quality of sleep really improved.
”There's also been a big difference in the aches and pains. They're gone. I didn't even really notice it until after six months or so. I woke up one morning and got right out of bed and there were no aches and pains, no sore back, no sore feet. It was amazing. I had probably not had any pain or stiffness before that but hadn't noticed it.
”I'm an avid runner, and so I'm used to the aches and pains of my ankles, knees, and hip flexors. They were gone as well. When I was out running later that day, it just kept reoccurring to me that something had changed and it wasn't my job, it wasn't my eating habits, it wasn't anything else. I could only put it to the bed pad.
”When I would run races-like five kilometers-and trying to beat my friends I would be running faster than when I'm out just on my own. The next morning I would usually be plenty sore and achy. The bed pad has taken that away as well. The aches are minimal. It's amazing.”
Brad Graham, fifty-four, Lakewood, California, firefighter: ”This job, as you can imagine, involves a lot of stress, physically and mentally. You never know what you are going to face at any particular time of the day or night. ”This job, as you can imagine, involves a lot of stress, physically and mentally. You never know what you are going to face at any particular time of the day or night.
”You could be asleep at 1:00a.m., and you get a call. It may be to respond to a fire or to a situation where people are trapped in a car that's been in an accident. You go from deep rest to fast and furious action and saving lives.
”When you get back to the station, it's hard to get the scenes of what you have been through out of your mind. If you rescue somebody who was injured, you wonder if they will be okay. And you may think about what you could have done different to affect the outcome.
”Because of the nature of the work, sometimes it is very, very difficult to get back to sleep after a call. Sometimes I'll lie in bed for hours. Sometimes I'll even get up, take a shower, and go to the kitchen and read the paper.
”When I sleep grounded, I find I am able to go back to sleep after a call in what I would consider a decent time period. Maybe twenty minutes versus two and a half hours. I also notice that I sleep deeper and feel more rested when I get up in the morning. I'm more rested, but still alert.
”There seems to be a physical benefit as well. Our type of work can be quite strenuous. I think some of the issues that firefighters face, especially as the years take their toll on us, is that our knees get a little stiff. Or, as we get older, we develop back problems. Ever since I've been sleeping grounded, my knees don't feel as stiff as they used to. I like to maintain my strength by lifting weights. For quite a while, I pretty much wasn't able to do squats. Now, at the gym, I can perform squats again. And I'm able to run better than before.”
VARICOSE VEINS AND BAD CIRCULATION.
Roland Perez, sixty-six, Palm Desert, California, medical film producer: ”Experts say that some people are likely to inherit varicose veins, and I appear to be one of them. My mother had a severe case, and so did I. It left my feet, up to the ankles, almost black in some places, particularly on the instep. The veins were getting smaller and the circulation was not very good. My feet were very cold, and as I walked around, I didn't have much feeling in them. I could walk on cold tile and not feel the cold. I didn't know what to do about it. There was nothing that doctors could do for it. ”Experts say that some people are likely to inherit varicose veins, and I appear to be one of them. My mother had a severe case, and so did I. It left my feet, up to the ankles, almost black in some places, particularly on the instep. The veins were getting smaller and the circulation was not very good. My feet were very cold, and as I walked around, I didn't have much feeling in them. I could walk on cold tile and not feel the cold. I didn't know what to do about it. There was nothing that doctors could do for it.
”Then I heard about Earthing and got a grounded bed pad. It was a Sunday afternoon when I first tried it out. I lay there for about twenty minutes, watching television. There had been no pain before. Now there was bad pain. The feet started to spasm. I jumped up and said, 'Done, I'm not doing this.'
”The next day I spoke to Clint Ober and told him about the pain. He suggested that what I had experienced was not uncommon and was very likely part of an initial healing response. So I decided to continue. Within two days the pain went away. It was replaced by tingling in my feet for about three weeks. Then I started noticing that the color in my feet was getting lighter. I thought to myself that this couldn't be possible. It is not something that you could clear up. But it was clearing up.
”Before my feet used to get very dry, crack, and sometimes bleed. I would develop sores. All a result of bad circulation. Slowly, my feet softened on the bottom. The cracking and bleeding stopped.
”These improvements happened within two months. I hadn't said anything to my wife. One day during breakfast, she noticed my feet. She was surprised. 'Your feet really look good,' she said.
”By five months, the color of my feet had cleared up completely. Both feet.
”My wife has varicose veins on the back of her legs, and she used to put makeup on the back of her legs. She wondered if grounding would help her. After six weeks, one leg was totally clear. The other has a slight purplish curved line. The legs have definitely have improved. We haven't done anything other than be grounded.”
THE YOGIS KNEW.
John Gray, fifty-eight, Mill Valley California, author of Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus (Harper Collins, 1992): ”The concept of Earthing resonates deeply with me. I have, in fact, done something similar since 1995 when I was in India and studying with teachers of the Indian meditation system. It was recommended to me that for the best results in my practice I should sleep and meditate on a deerskin, and the deerskin should be on the ground. (Harper Collins, 1992): ”The concept of Earthing resonates deeply with me. I have, in fact, done something similar since 1995 when I was in India and studying with teachers of the Indian meditation system. It was recommended to me that for the best results in my practice I should sleep and meditate on a deerskin, and the deerskin should be on the ground.
”This was the tradition of the Yogis. The teachers said there was energy from above that comes to the Earth and then comes to you if you stay connected to the Earth. The Yogis, of course, would meditate for long periods of time and always do so on an animal skin. They often lived in caves where they would be surrounded by the Earth. They would also put down little sheets and sleep on earthen or marble floors as well. The Christian mystics had practices like this. They would go out into the desert and meditate in Nature, knowing that the results were better.
”When I was in India, I wasn't very interested in sleeping on the ground. The Yogis said there was another option for me, something that the kings did when they studied Yogic techniques in the past and apparently received benefits in terms of longer life. The option was the use of a bed sheet made with copper material that was connected to a copper rod outside, placed in the ground. I guess they did a lot with metal thousands of years ago. They certainly had some specific knowledge.
”I obtained a setup like this in India and used it in my home. At the time, I had some pain from bursitis in the shoulder. I'd had it for two or three years. I would feel it particularly when I woke up. Then, after sleeping on the Indian sheets for a while, the pains were not there anymore.
”I had the Indian sheets for about twelve years and enjoyed them very much. Then I moved the bed and the original wire wouldn't reach so I stopped using the copper sheets for a while. Then I heard of Clint Ober's work and obtained some conductive sheets that he had developed. One of the first things I noticed is that I could no longer sleep later than 8:00a.m. Even if I am up late the night before, there's no way I can sleep past 8:00a.m. Yet I am up at that time, fully refreshed. That's part of normalizing the circadian rhythm. Your cortisol level is highest at that time. There's no possibility anymore of sleeping late for me when I'm on those sheets.