Supposedly, getting your Vitamin G (ground) is simple–go barefoot outside for a minimum of 30 minutes.
A lot of social media influencers will try to sell you holistic cures for everything from depression to insomnia. But do any of these practices have a basis in science? Today, Coach Kevin Don looks at two such practices: earthing and kambo.
Get-Fit Guy is hosted by Kevin Don. A transcript is available at Simplecast.
Grounding study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4378297/
Kambo study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9061256/
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Welcome back to Get-Fit Guy, Coach Kevin Don here. This week I want to look critically at a couple of holistic therapies that claim to solve almost every problem under the sun. While their promises are alluring, are they based in scientific fact?
So, first off, let’s have a look at a practice called earthing, or grounding. According to what sounds like a pretty specialist source, barefootgrounding.com: earthing is when you connect to the earth’s natural energy by walking barefoot on grass, sand, dirt, or rock. Earthing can diminish chronic pain, fatigue, or other ailments that plague so many people today. I have to be honest here and say that my BS detector is screeching at me. But let’s read further.
Apparently, when you walk barefoot or your skin comes into contact with the earth, free electrons are taken up into the body. These electrons are nature’s strongest antioxidants and help to neutralize damaging free radicals that lead to inflammation and disease in the body. Already, that’s a lot to take in, but let’s take a look at what ailments they say earthing can treat:
The list goes on, basically: it will help with everything from “inflammation” to menstrual symptoms and from jet lag to athletic recovery.
Getting your Vitamin G (ground) is simple–go barefoot outside for a minimum of 30 minutes. Have some part of your body in contact with grass, sand, dirt, or rock. This way your body can draw up the free electrons. Being on carpet, asphalt, sealed concrete, or vinyl flooring won't work, because these insulate you from the earth and block the flow of electrons!
Ok, so that's what the so-called “specialists” say, but what does the actual hard, peer-reviewed science say?
According to a 2015 study (link in shownotes), “Accumulating experiences and research on earthing, or grounding, point to the emergence of a simple, natural, and accessible health strategy against chronic inflammation, warranting the serious attention of clinicians and researchers. The living matrix (or ground regulation or tissue tensegrity-matrix system), the very fabric of the body, appears to serve as one of our primary antioxidant defense systems. As this report explains, it is a system requiring occasional recharging by conductive contact with the Earth’s surface—the ‘battery’ for all planetary life—to be optimally effective.”
Sounds like a pretty strong conclusion, until you read on and discover that the same study notes that the study's authors actually work for the company sponsoring the research, so a bit of a red flag there, I’d say.
Generally, I find that if a protocol claims to cure almost every ailment known to humankind, then it’s quite likely we are dealing with something rather pseudoscientific. Definitely, studies written by the companies who pay for the research and could benefit from the claims should probably be disregarded, especially when there is a notable absence of any other evidence.
I am the first one to be hopeful and wish for a naturally occurring, free-to-access solution to chronic pain, sleep problems, and more, but the reality is that it's just not the case and we have to be able to step back from our hopes and beliefs and be objective.
Of course, walking around barefoot in your backyard probably won’t hurt you. But this next practice… well, let’s get into it. A former fitness coach that I would call a “loose acquaintance” was advertising on her Facebook about the life changing experiences she had using “Kambo” and that she is now offering healing, therapeutic kambo sessions at her “retreat.”
What on earth is kambo? I thought, before turning to the internet to take a deep dive into yet another cure-all but totally natural intervention. Kambo is a frog. In this therapy, the practitioner harvests the secretions of the frog and applies the dried secretions to your skin. Oh, yeah, they also burn your skin first and apply the kambo to the burnt skin.
As unappealing as that sounds, it's only fair that we take a look at the things kambo might help us with:
A pretty familiar sounding catch-all list.
So what does the science say? Is there a study sponsored by a kambo frog farmer that might be of interest? Well, not quite. Although it’s pretty easy to find a ton of information on why you should stay away from this at pretty much all costs.
The effects usually include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and tachycardia. A meta-analysis of fifty studies found that extreme cases include severe psychosis, acute kidney failure, toxic hepatitis, seizures, and even death. Taking kambo with large quantities of water appears to be particularly dangerous, resulting in severe electrolyte imbalances and damage to internal organs. The Australian Medical Association has banned the sale, supply, and use of kambo.
There is a devastating environmental impact also, because tens of thousands of frogs have been removed from their natural ecosystems in South America, affecting the delicate balance, with prey lower in the food chain multiplying and those higher up the food chain having their own food supplies diminished.
My advice to anyone listening who wants to find natural, more holistic ways of healing themselves: at the very least do some objective due diligence, looking for the evidence against as well as the evidence for. If you wanted to try something, then make sure that it's safe. In the two examples today, I would definitely be comfortable recommending my own clients to try grounding, even if for the placebo effect. I would say that the death potential of a walk on the grass is significantly less than that associated with a kambo ceremony. Be smart, be safe, and learn how to use Google.
As always, please email me if you have any questions! Contact me at getfitguy@quickanddirtytips.com or check out the Get-Fit Guy Facebook page!