Benefits of grounding for children

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Children today are more stressed and anxious than ever. With all the changes, conflicts, and uncertainty in the world right now, taking care of our kids’ mental health should be on the top of our priority list. One of the easiest ways to help calm anxiety (in both kids and adults) is by spending time outside in nature. The healing power of nature is immense and the benefits of the outdoors are incredible for physical and mental health.

Did you know that the ground we walk on is full of ions that are positively charged just waiting to realign your electrical energy? The Earth is like a gigantic battery that contains a natural, subtle electrical charge. Our entire world is beautifully electrical, and we are electrical beings made of atoms living amongst a plethora of other electrical beings!

Everything on this planet is made of atoms, which means everything has a charge that’s positive, negative, or neutral. For safety and stability, almost everything in the electrical world is connected to the earth and its charge.

Unfortunately, when your body’s overall charge is off, chemical reactions happen that shouldn’t. We are, in short, a variety of chemical reactions. Think of yourself as a long lasting battery. You can keep going but you NEED a re-charge. Mother nature has the ultimate remedy for you when you’re feeling off or need recharging. Enter – grounding.

When your body is in direct contact with the earth, without any disruption, like shoes or carpet – you are grounded. The act of grounding (also called earthing) is a therapeutic technique that involves doing activities that “ground” or electrically reconnect you to the earth. Meaning, when you physically touch the ground electrical charges are transferred from the earth – providing positive effects to your body. This is true for children as well!  In simple terms – go outside, take your shoes off, and make direct contact!

People all over the world in diverse cultures have talked about the benefits and how to improve their health and well-being from being barefoot on the earth for thousands and thousands of years. Although this may seem new to some, it is really prevalent in other cultures. Grounding has been shown to reduce inflammation and decrease pain.  It’s been connected with improving your heart rate, your stress levels, sleep, healing, and your immunity. 

When you are grounded to the earth, you feel centred, strong, solid, balanced, stable, less tense, and less stressed. 

While grounding does wonders for an adult, just imagine how important this practice is for our generation of children? These days, just the act of relying on the earth for any form of healing feels like an act of rebellion. But fear not friends. There are far fewer things that can provide to our mind, body, and soul what mother nature can in her raw form.  

Just being outside allows us to exposure to vitamin D which triggers an anti-microbial response. Allowing your children to be exposed to dirt exposes them to a variety of bacteria and microorganisms that boost the immune system, reduce allergies, and works as an all-natural anti-depressant and stress management. Not only is grounding/earthing beneficial, but it is also crucial for raising healthy and mentally strong children. How amazing is it that we can turn an entire day around by just placing our feet on the earth!?

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There is much to say about kids spending too much time indoors. This issue has become so extreme that the crisis has a name: Nature deficit disorder. Many studies have shown that kids who play outside are smarter, happier, more attentive, and less stressed or anxious than kids who spend more time indoors. Regular exposure to the outdoors and frequent – even daily – grounding can provide you and your child with multiple benefits and create some quality time to slow down and enjoy some “be here now” quality time with each other lowering stress levels and creating a tighter bond!

Mother nature has always had a beautiful way of calming the mind if you let her.  Nature is all around us and offers more benefits than we can ever imagine. Spending time in nature is free and gives back so much. Sometimes, on the days that feel exceptionally hard (and in these crazy times it might be more days than not) the answer to some of our problems lie right under our feet.