Earthing_ The Most Important Health Discovery Ever? Part 8

"I Wouldn't Go Anywhere without My Sheets": Another Earthing amba.s.sador is Donna Tisdale, a top Nashville real estate broker. Another Earthing amba.s.sador is Donna Tisdale, a top Nashville real estate broker.

"Where do I start?" she said when asked about her Earthing experience.

"Let me start with allergies. I have been plagued with miserable seasonal allergies all my life. As a real estate professional, I'd be out showing property, and I would sneeze maybe ten or fifteen times in a row. I would laugh and tell my clients I'm allergic to the months of May and September. Well, it's been a year since I started sleeping grounded. First May came and went, and then September, and guess what? I have not taken one allergy med the entire spring and summer! I've sneezed maybe a few times and that's it. I have not gotten up one single solitary time in the middle of the night to clear my sinuses so I could breathe and sleep! This has been unbelievable.

"For fifteen years, I've had a weird autoimmune skin disease called granuloma annulare. It produces unsightly breakouts on my legs, arms, and trunk. Now it's almost completely gone on my arms, and almost completely gone on my legs. It's amazing. I've been to dermatologists all over the place, and n.o.body has a cure for it or knows what causes it.

"My eighty-eight-year-old mother has been incontinent for fifteen years. She had bladder surgery, and it didn't work. So she would use fifteen to twenty pads a day. She came to visit for a month six weeks after she started to sleep grounded. She was now using maybe one or two pads a day. 'I think it's the sheets,' she said.

"She also had shoulder pain for three years from an injury and could not raise her right hand over her shoulder. One day during her visit I saw her combing her hair with her right hand. I asked her about it. She said, 'My shoulder doesn't hurt anymore. I think it's the sheets.'

"For three years, my husband Bill was looking at knee surgery and getting injections into the knees. He's pa.s.sed on the shots now because the knees aren't hurting as bad. At a family wedding over Labor Day weekend in 2009, we danced together for the first time in years. His knees are doing great. He has also suffered with plantar fasciitis, and now that is totally gone. One of my sisters had that as well. It would come and go. She's been sleeping grounded and now hasn't had a single flare-up in months.

"Another sister has very aggressive rheumatoid arthritis. She's sleeping grounded and says she has very few flare-ups anymore.

"A dear friend who has Lyme disease used to have as many as fifteen migraine headaches a month and now she has one or two. She went to Arizona to visit her mom for a week. She forgot to take the sheets with her. She had four migraines during that time. I told her she was crazy. I wouldn't go anywhere without my sheets.

"From the start, we slept much better on the grounded sheets. Bill stopped getting up three times at night like he used to do. He and his bladder are seventy years old. A few weeks after we started sleeping grounded, we headed off on a weekend trip out-of-state to visit family. I wanted to take the sheets. Bill didn't. I gave in. Well, he flipped and he flopped at night. He was up. He was down. He didn't sleep well. So when we went to Austin to see the grandchildren for Christmas, guess what? We took the sheets! We slept well. Now we don't go anywhere without them.

"Do I ever have a pa.s.sion for getting people Earthed!"

THE SPIRITUAL CONNECTION.

Gabriel Cousens, M.D., sixty-seven, Patagonia, Arizona, director of Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center: "I applied Earthing first to myself and my wife. We both felt a difference. Our sleep is deeper. We used to go barefoot some of the time. Now we go barefoot all the time. "I applied Earthing first to myself and my wife. We both felt a difference. Our sleep is deeper. We used to go barefoot some of the time. Now we go barefoot all the time.

"In my work, I am on the go all day long. Now I find myself getting up earlier than before, and despite a half hour or an hour less sleep than I normally used to get, I have more energy. I've always been a high-energy person, but now I have more.

"My clinical impression is that Earthing helps decrease inflammation in people with autoimmune disorders. I have seen it make a difference for people with depression and anxiety. At the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center, we recommend that everyone who comes here for treatment sleeps on grounding sheets, and everyone benefits in some way or another. People are more relaxed, sleep better, and have more energy as a result.

"Beyond these things, Earthing represents a whole way of thinking. It really speaks to the problem today that people on this planet have lost touch with the Earth and have not returned to the Earth. They have gotten further and further away. From a biblical perspective, people who lose touch with the Earth lose touch with G.o.d. There is a whole deeper understanding here. Earthing reconnects us to the Earth, to others, and, in a sense, to G.o.d."

THE MOST BENEFITS FOR LEAST AMOUNT OF WORK.

David Wolfe, thirty-nine, San Diego, speaker and author on healthy lifestyle: "Personally, I've seen three surprising changes after I started Earthing two years ago. The first was the disappearance of a stubborn remnant of an infection-likely one of those antibiotic-resistant staph infections. I developed the infection on my big toe about eight years ago and battled it for a couple of years, down to one lump that looked like scar tissue. Occasionally, it would bother me. I used all the healing tools at my disposal and even asked for help from some health professionals I know. But I couldn't eliminate it. Then I started using a grounded floor pad as I worked on my computer or on the telephone. Within two days, the lump was gone. Like magic. "Personally, I've seen three surprising changes after I started Earthing two years ago. The first was the disappearance of a stubborn remnant of an infection-likely one of those antibiotic-resistant staph infections. I developed the infection on my big toe about eight years ago and battled it for a couple of years, down to one lump that looked like scar tissue. Occasionally, it would bother me. I used all the healing tools at my disposal and even asked for help from some health professionals I know. But I couldn't eliminate it. Then I started using a grounded floor pad as I worked on my computer or on the telephone. Within two days, the lump was gone. Like magic.

"Similarly, I had a very sensitive tooth for about twenty-five years. I had cracked it at age fourteen. The tooth was sensitive to cold water and any kind of sugar or sweetener. If I chewed down on a small, hard object like a seed and it pressed against the tooth, there would be a jolt of pain. After a few months of Earthing, I noticed the sensitivity disappeared.

"The biggest change health-wise has been with my allergies. As a kid, they were completely disruptive. I was extremely sensitive to cats and pollen, especially ragweed. Exposure could incapacitate me for two or three days. In pollen season, my lungs would fill with mucus and fluid. I would get intense itchiness in my eyes, ears, and back of the throat. My eyes would tear. The allergies have gotten better over the years as I have improved my nutrition. But Earthing has been like the coup de grace. I've gone through two pollen allergy seasons now without any problem. No symptoms. If I go into a house now where a cat resides, I am good for about an hour. Before I couldn't even go into the house.

"Besides the changes in me, I have seen and heard pretty amazing things when other people are grounded. One woman who came to one of my health seminars was in obvious pain. She was sitting in the front row, and I could see her discomfort written on her face. I went over and asked her about it. She said she suffered with back pain for twenty years. I had a grounding pad with me. I connected it into a wall outlet and she put it inside her blouse against her back. An hour and twenty minutes later, when I finished my talk, her face had totally changed. She couldn't believe what had happened. She said her pain was gone. I was shocked. Everybody in the room was shocked.

"Pretty much everybody who sleeps grounded says they sleep better. One interesting feedback I've gotten from a number of people is that they feel different when they work grounded at their computers. They describe the feeling with words like 'comfort,' 'security,' and 'safety.' A few of them have said they actually don't like working at a computer anymore unless they are grounded.

"In my work as a health educator and speaker, I focus on what's natural, good for healing, and good for people in general. I'm also very much attuned to what is the least amount of work that somebody can do and get the most benefits. That's a number one consideration for me because in the health world people want to get the most benefits for the least amount of work. Well, it became clear to me after about a month of Earthing that this was it. Earthing gives you the most benefits for the least amount of work of anything I've ever seen. There is no work!"

IMPROVING THE LIFE OF A DOCTOR AND HIS PATIENTS.

David Gersten, M.D., sixty, Encinitas, California, pract.i.tioner of nutritional medicine and integrative psychiatry: "A few years ago, I developed what I called a 'cause and effect' health map that plots out why people get sick with chronic illness and stay sick. I narrowed it down to a simple three-step process. In all chronic illness, you have primary causes (level one), which includes genetics, infections, toxins, digestive problems and malabsorption, and mental, emotional, and stress factors. Level two involves how the body reacts to these primary causes, namely through inflammation and the stress response. Level three relates to total body disturbances of biochemistry, or what I call metabolic chaos. Over time, it has become clear to me that Earthing has a profound healing effect on level two. "A few years ago, I developed what I called a 'cause and effect' health map that plots out why people get sick with chronic illness and stay sick. I narrowed it down to a simple three-step process. In all chronic illness, you have primary causes (level one), which includes genetics, infections, toxins, digestive problems and malabsorption, and mental, emotional, and stress factors. Level two involves how the body reacts to these primary causes, namely through inflammation and the stress response. Level three relates to total body disturbances of biochemistry, or what I call metabolic chaos. Over time, it has become clear to me that Earthing has a profound healing effect on level two.

"I've been grounded for about three years, and now it's completely integrated into my practice. I see people all the time who come to a doctor like me as a last resort. The first feedback I usually hear after a patient starts Earthing is an email the following morning that says, 'I just had the best sleep in twenty years.'

"I provided a grounding unit to a ninety-six-year-old friend who had severe osteoarthritis for probably twenty-five years. I didn't explain a word to her. I just explained it to her son. After a few days, I called to see how she was doing. He said his mother, a well-known folk medicine healer in San Diego for decades, told him her pain was down more than three-quarters. But what was really amazing was that her pa.s.sion for life had come back. She had had a stroke six months before, and although she had recovered from the physical effects, she had lost her typical pa.s.sion for life. This was a vital woman who was still traveling and giving lectures. 'It's back,' her son told me.

"People frequently come to me for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a problem that often involves cognitive issues like memory, concentration, focus, and brain fog. One such patient was a sixty-five-year-old woman. She had had CFS, plus hypertension, for a very long time. I told her to get grounded. On day thirty-one after she started, she emailed me to say her energy was much improved from the Earthing but also her cognition had suddenly returned. Moreover, her blood pressure numbers had dropped and began to quickly normalize. I advised her to monitor her blood pressure carefully each day. She had been taking two blood pressure medications that another doctor had prescribed. Her blood pressure came down so fast that on her own, without consulting with me, she discontinued one of the blood pressure meds. She then went back to her other doctor, who prescribed a much weaker prescription. Now, along with the Earthing, she is able to maintain a normal blood pressure. Her fatigue and most of her other CFS symptoms have vastly improved.

"In terms of my own personal experiences, I didn't see anything miraculous, at least not for a while. For decades, I have suffered with keratoconus, a condition in which the cornea of the eye becomes progressively thin, leading to significant visual loss. About one out of two thousand people in the population have this problem. The cornea thins out and blows out like a balloon, and you can't get a contact to fit on it anymore. I've had five corneal transplants over the years. Three in the right eye were rejected, resulting in considerable inflammation and the formation of hundreds of minute blisters on the surface of the cornea. In the latter stages of rejection, the pain is absolutely agonizing. I was a good year and a half into the rejection of my 2004 transplant when I began to ground myself. In addition to the pain, I was waking up each morning with drainage coming out of the eye. After about four months of Earthing, I woke up one morning and realized that the drainage was not there. From that day on, there has been no drainage at all. The pain level has stayed low, and it's very tolerable almost all the time. I do still have occasional to rare days when the pain is high enough to require a strong painkiller. But now I'm three years into a rejection that would not have been bearable without Earthing. This is a good thing for me because I need to wait for stem cell research before I have another corneal transplant.

"In any case, I have no vision out of the right eye. Although I haven't had the corneal transplant rejection issue with the left eye, I was definitely losing vision in that eye and was quite concerned to say the least. I had been going downhill for about fifteen years until I started Earthing. Then the vision loss stopped and reversed. My optometrist was amazed at the dramatic improvement in vision. I asked him if he had ever seen anyone who had a degenerative eye disease that suddenly reversed after decades. He said he had never seen that before. For me, this was pretty miraculous.

"Another personal experience made me keenly aware of the power of Earthing. I was working at night in a clinic and had stepped outside to take a short break. While outside, I walked smack into a metal post with a 'No Parking' sign. The side of the post was like a dull knife blade, and it put a half-inch gash in my forehead down to the bone. It was bleeding badly. I ran back into the clinic and had my nurse clean the wound and bandage it up. I would have sent any patient with this kind of cut to the emergency room. But I had more patients to see. The next day, I pulled off the bandages and there was just a small line, like a small surgical incision, where the cut was. There was no sign of redness, heat, swelling, or pain. There was virtually no inflammation. On day two, I could just make out the edges of the gash. The edges of the cut were starting to come together and heal. On day six, it was so completely healed that there was no sign of the cut at all.

"I was also impressed by the experience of a patient who, in addition to CFS, suffered with anxiety. Immediately after she grounded herself, she had a significant decrease in her anxiety. Her overall health and energy improved. What made the most impact on me was what she described as a sense of renewed connectedness to the Earth, to others around her, and to the absolute core of her being. She felt this connectedness so much when she was grounded that she took her bed pad with her to work. She slept on it at night and used it at her desk during the day. She said she was experiencing her deepest self, 'a new me,' she called it, without all the worry, the fear, the anxiety, and the restless mind. 'I'm changed at the core,' she said.

"The feedback I have from patients is now so strong that I know predictably, as a doctor, this will change a person's life. Maybe three out of nearly one hundred patients have said they didn't notice any difference."

THE ANTI-AGING CONNECTION.

With the pa.s.sage of time, changes inexorably occur in the human body. The signs of aging range from the obvious-weight gain, loss of height, muscular weakness-to the hidden-loss of elasticity in blood vessels, slowdown in hormonal output, and most significantly, cellular damage from unrelenting free-radical activity. Doctors see a wide variety of physiological responses to the aging process. Some eighty-year-old individuals physically appear to be fifty or sixty. Conversely, some middle-aged people in their forties and fifties look like they are ready for retirement. There are many reasons why some people "age" faster than others. Could Earthing be one ingredient for slowing down the process?

Growing older is inevitable. Anti-aging strategies are not about living to one hundred or one hundred and twenty, but about growing older gracefully and with energy. The goal is to prevent illness and develop physical and mental potential in the pursuit of satisfaction and aliveness.

Arvord Belden, Ph.D., ninety, Yountville, California, retired clinical psychologist: "I've been sleeping grounded pretty regularly for more than eight years. Within a year, I realized that I wasn't going to doctors like I used to do. My hands and hip hurt me less from arthritis. I also noticed that my mind seems to be clearer, and I seem to have more energy and stamina. "I've been sleeping grounded pretty regularly for more than eight years. Within a year, I realized that I wasn't going to doctors like I used to do. My hands and hip hurt me less from arthritis. I also noticed that my mind seems to be clearer, and I seem to have more energy and stamina.

"After a year, I had a checkup with my doctor, and he commented that he was amazed at my excellent health given my age.

"Now after all these years of continued Earthing, I can't say I've reversed the aging process. I still have the arthritis, but I don't need to take any medication for it. In fact, I don't take a single medication for anything. I feel darn good for somebody who is ninety. My energy is great.

"I still do a lot of yard work, including tree pruning, and I've had my share of cuts, sc.r.a.pes, and even falls. I was out a few weeks ago on my rec.u.mbent three-wheeler bike and I took a fall. I banged myself up but didn't break anything, and I healed up nice and quick. Same thing with the yard work. None of the cuts ever get infected, even though I don't put any topical medicine on them.

"My sleep has definitely been better ever since I started this. If I wake up at night, it seems like after a minute or so, I am back sleeping again."

Katherine Van Hatten, seventy-one, Brentwood, California, ma.s.sage therapist, acupressurist: "I've been working and sleeping grounded for five years. I still work a full day, and the only way I can do that at my age, without going home exhausted, is to stand barefoot on a floor pad that is grounded while I give my ma.s.sages. If I don't use it, I can do maybe one or two ma.s.sages a day. If I work on the pad, I can work a full day, meaning four, five, or even six ma.s.sages. Moreover, my clients receive the benefit because for the whole hour that they're on the table I am bringing free electrons to them through the pad, my body, and my hands. So they are grounded as well. "I've been working and sleeping grounded for five years. I still work a full day, and the only way I can do that at my age, without going home exhausted, is to stand barefoot on a floor pad that is grounded while I give my ma.s.sages. If I don't use it, I can do maybe one or two ma.s.sages a day. If I work on the pad, I can work a full day, meaning four, five, or even six ma.s.sages. Moreover, my clients receive the benefit because for the whole hour that they're on the table I am bringing free electrons to them through the pad, my body, and my hands. So they are grounded as well.

"A new client once told me she never had such a good night's sleep in her life as she did after the ma.s.sage. Ever since I have been working grounded my clients tell me routinely that they experience a higher level of energy afterward for an extended period of time.

"I'm also an acupressure therapist, so between that and ma.s.sage, my hands and wrists are working hard with a lot of pressure. Until I grounded myself, I quite often experienced fatigue and muscle pain. I feel that the regeneration from sleeping grounded and also working while standing on a grounded floor pad is really giving me extra years to work.

"In my profession, there's a tremendous amount of burn out because the work is very physical. You use a lot of energy. I've been at this for twenty-four years, and even if I go home tired now, I go to bed, sleep on the bed pad and get up and I'm ready to go. And my husband has experienced the same thing. He stopped snoring the first night he was on the pad. We have been able to sleep fabulously."

ARTHRITIS.

The most prevalent form of arthritis is osteoarthritis, also known as degenerative joint disease, wear-and-tear arthritis, or just plain arthritis. The incidence increases with age. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) differs from osteo in that it is an autoimmune disease, the result of the immune system attacking the body's own tissue. RA can affect other body parts besides joints, such as the eyes, mouth, and lungs. Of these two common forms of arthritis, RA is the most inflammatory. Either one causes pain, stiffness, and can lead to inactivity and disability.

Sheila Curtiss, sixty-three, San Diego, sales: "I was born unhealthy. I'm amazed that I'm alive now. If it weren't for Earthing, I'm not sure I would be. "I was born unhealthy. I'm amazed that I'm alive now. If it weren't for Earthing, I'm not sure I would be.

"I used to have scary episodes of heart fibrillation. They stopped shortly after I started grounding myself and haven't returned. The constant hot flashes I had been experiencing for some years stopped within the first month of grounding.

"But it was the effect on my rheumatoid arthritis that made the biggest and quickest impression on me. I had bad pain and swelling in both knees, particularly the left, and was kind of hobbling all the time. I would have flare-ups from time to time, and with each episode, it seemed like they were getting worse. The one knee was so swollen I could barely get my leg into my pants. I'd have to lift my leg to get into the car. And all my other joints popped and cracked. Elbows. Wrists. Shoulders. When you hear your joints pop, you wonder what's going on? Am I going to break something?

"I knew one of the top orthopedic surgeons in the area and consulted with him. He told me I should have knee surgery in the next six to eight weeks and until then be careful because my knee could lock up on me. I might fall and hurt myself. He wanted to do more testing, but I never had it done. I was reluctant to have a lot of testing because of negative experiences in the past.

"The following weekend I heard Clint Ober speak at a health conference. His idea sounded interesting to me and I decided to follow up immediately. I got grounded. And in three weeks, the pain and swelling were gone. Where did they go? All I know is that they were gone. Gradually, over time all my joints quit popping.

"I've been grounded since 2000, and it has made such a big impact on my health that I stay grounded all the time. People began calling me the barefoot lady. Right now, as I am speaking to you on the phone, I'm standing outside barefoot on my lawn. And when I'm by my computer I have a grounded footpad. When I sit to watch TV, I also have a footpad. And I sleep grounded. The only time I'm not grounded is walking from point A to point B, but maybe that will change when they start making grounded shoes.

"Now, years later, I'm doing really well for somebody my age. I hike, walk, and exercise, probably not as much as I should, but I'm able to do it without any problem. I can move freely. I have become addicted to Earthing. I love the feeling and can tell the difference when I am not grounded."

Howell Runion, Ph.D., seventy-six, Stockton, California, former professor of neurophysiology: "I have rheumatoid arthritis involving my hands, shoulders, lumbar area, and lower extremities. There is nothing going to remove this disorder. It is progressive and degenerative. I've had the condition for eight or so years and it has been slowly progressing. I take a lot of medication to manage this and some other problems. "I have rheumatoid arthritis involving my hands, shoulders, lumbar area, and lower extremities. There is nothing going to remove this disorder. It is progressive and degenerative. I've had the condition for eight or so years and it has been slowly progressing. I take a lot of medication to manage this and some other problems.

"A friend for whom I have a lot of respect told me about Earthing at night, and I tried it and noticed there was a tremendous difference. I thought at first it was just my imagination. I stopped using it. The condition got worse again. So I tried it again, and I felt better. Nevertheless, I still thought it might be my imagination. But it wasn't my imagination. It did make a difference-a significant decrease in discomfort. It became clear to me that when I don't sleep grounded, I don't feel as good as when I do. I get up the next morning much more refreshed. If I don't use it for several days, I can tell the difference. I feel worse.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is so bad that you wish you had something to blow your brains out, my pain level without sleeping grounded is often around 8. Sleeping grounded, the level may be about 5. This is not a cure. But it certainly helps, and the difference makes it worth doing. I believe there is a slowing of deterioration.

"For anyone who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, I recommend this simple, effective procedure of sleeping on a grounded sheet as an aid to significant pain reduction. It works!"

Steve Garner, fifty-two, West Valley City, Utah, auto technician: "Working on cars for a living is brutal on the hands and body. But that's what I was doing for years until rheumatoid arthritis put me out of action. "Working on cars for a living is brutal on the hands and body. But that's what I was doing for years until rheumatoid arthritis put me out of action.

"In 1993, I was diagnosed with RA after developing a lot of pain in my hands, ankles, and knees. For the next twelve years, I went to the rheumatology clinic at a university medical center every three months for treatment and evaluation. They put me on six different prescription drugs during that time. Each one had side effects that I couldn't live with.

"One medication I received was called diclofenac. The side effects were terrible: headaches, dizziness and my guts feeling like they wanted out. I told the doctor that this was not the drug for me. She then prescribed methotrexate but warned me that it could also cause a lot of side effects. It sure did. After about a week, the pain had gone down quite a bit and the inflammation was a little better, but I felt like I had a constant cold with a runny nose, head congestion, and headaches. These were just some of the side effects.

"Meanwhile, my sleep was disturbed from the pain and my performance at work was suffering. The disease was taking the fun and purpose out of my life. I began taking ma.s.sive amounts of ibuprofen. I started with 200 to 500 milligrams (mg). This was just barely taking down the pain and very little of the inflammation. I increased the daily doses to as much as 3,000mg. I lived like this for five years.

"In 2005, I was forced to retire because of the constant pain and inflammation in my hands. It was impossible to continue my work.

"A couple of years before, I had been given a grounded bed pad as a gift, but I was too skeptical. I stashed it in the closet. It sounded too weird to me. After the pain forced me to stop working, I was willing to try anything. I found the bed pad in the closet and started sleeping grounded. "I only wish I had done that before. I experienced a change after the very first night. I had the best night's sleep in years! The inflammation and pain eased a lot within a few days, and after four weeks the pain was gone!

"Awhile later, I went back to see my doctor. She was impressed with the improvement in my overall heath. She told me that the improvement showed in my face. She said that I looked like a new person. She did x-rays on my hands and could not find any inflammation. She commented that the new medications must have been really working. When I told her that I had not been taking any of the medications but just sleeping grounded, she looked puzzled. I told her I was going to keep doing it. And I have.

"Today, four years later, I am still pain free and I have not had to take even so much as an aspirin. This thing has literally changed my life! I have felt so good that I was able to return to work. I am now back turning wrenches again."

AUTISM.

Autism is a complex developmental disability that affects an individual's ability, in different ways and degrees, to communicate and interact with others. It typically shows up during the first three years of life and is not outgrown, causing a potentially severe emotional and financial burden on families for decades. There is no known single cause for this condition, which has risen steeply in recent years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates it affects one out of every 150 American children. The Autism Society of America says the lifetime cost of caring for an individual with autism ranges from $3.5 to $5 million. Typical signs of autism include lack of or delay of spoken language, repet.i.tive use of language and/or motor mannerisms (e.g., hand-flapping, twirling objects, little or no eye contact, lack of interest in peer relations.h.i.+ps, lack of spontaneous or make-believe play, and persistent fixation on parts of objects). Sleep disturbance is often a major problem and can profoundly disrupt normal family routines.

Earthing is not a cure for autism, but over the years it's been seen to have a calming effect, improve sleep patterns, and promote better speech and socializing. Reducing the impact of autism on a child in this natural and simple way simultaneously lessens the stress level in the whole family. Earthing opens a door of hope.

Ron Petruccioni, forty-four, Anaheim, California, businessman: "My daughter Rosanna, fourteen, was diagnosed with moderate autism. Her condition presents itself mostly as an expressive and receptive language disorder. She often cannot produce the words fast enough and stumbles or mumbles her speech. I sometimes have to tell her, 'What did you say? Slow down!' Or in new situations and social environments where she is having some anxiety, she might mix up her tenses and switch inappropriately from first to third person when speaking about herself or others. "My daughter Rosanna, fourteen, was diagnosed with moderate autism. Her condition presents itself mostly as an expressive and receptive language disorder. She often cannot produce the words fast enough and stumbles or mumbles her speech. I sometimes have to tell her, 'What did you say? Slow down!' Or in new situations and social environments where she is having some anxiety, she might mix up her tenses and switch inappropriately from first to third person when speaking about herself or others.

"Rosanna has slept on a grounded bed pad since early 2008. We also placed a grounded desk pad at her computer, where she spends an hour or two each day. So she has been getting in some extra daily grounding time.

"Within about a month after being grounded, I started to see her calmer. Her speech became more understandable. That alone has been a great improvement and stress reliever for both of us. There was less frustration showing. The anxiety wasn't there. Occasionally, I will have to tell her to slow down, but not nearly as much as before.

"She has also been sleeping better. She's been easier to wake up.

"Over the years in school, there has been an aide or teacher's a.s.sistant a.s.signed to monitor her. Within a short period of time after Rosanna was grounded, the aide noted in her logbook that my daughter partic.i.p.ates more actively in the cla.s.s. Lunch with the kids was more enjoyable for her, and the other kids were engaging her more.

"This makes me so happy. These are subtle things that can't be determined by a lab test. Rosanna is now in the eighth grade, in a mainstream cla.s.s, and for the first time, there is n.o.body a.s.signed to keep an eye on her. This is a big deal. She seems happier, more confident, with a little higher self-esteem. She has continued to slowly, smoothly, and surely improve.

"Everyone involved in this disorder knows that autism is a marathon, not a sprint. But what happened in a couple of months and has continued is a miracle for me. A cloud has lifted a bit, and I can think ahead to high school. Maybe college? And to see her become a productive member of society? That's a possibility. High school is a given now. There's hope. And that's huge.

"What I really like about this is that it is so very easy to use. With the autistic community, it's often very hard to find something effective. This is not about how many supplements you can get down them or rubbing on some cream. You just put a grounded pad on a bed, and there are real therapeutic benefits for hardly any cost. A lot of us parents are really strapped, emotionally, physically, and financially. This is something special."

Autism: Meltdowns and Moodiness Much Improved One California mother said her five-year-old son was diagnosed with autism two years before. She described her situation thusly: "He used to wake up bright-eyed around 5:30a.m. Then he would 'burnout' from not enough sleep in the late afternoon or early evening. It was like hitting the wall. Crying. Meltdowns. Moodiness.

"We have had him sleeping on the grounded bed pad for seven months, and he now sleeps much more soundly and for a full eleven hours without waking up. I now realize that my son was just sleep deprived, which we all know is an issue in itself. The pad is wonderful. He is much improved, primarily due to the pad along with dietary and environmental changes we have made.

Ron Petruccioni's Earthing Survey In 2009, Ron Petruccioni, the father of a teenage daughter with autism, contacted parents with autistic children around the country for the purpose of partic.i.p.ating in an informal study involving Earthing. The idea was to provide interested parents with a grounded bed pad and have their children sleep grounded for a two-month period. The parents were asked to initially complete a twenty-question survey before the experiment and then answer the same questions on a weekly basis until the experiment ended. The questions for the survey were prepared by Mr. Petruccioni, in conjunction with a Southern California mental health expert. A total of twenty-eight parents, whose children ranged in age from two to thirteen, partic.i.p.ated in the project. The average age of the youngsters was six for girls and seven for boys. The results included the following (in percentages): (Table 10-1)

% Before % After Will say goodbye

Almost always 17.9.

27.9.