JJ Virgin explains why grounding—walking barefoot on grass, dirt, or sand—improves mood, posture, skin health, and your gut microbiome. She walks barefoot with her dogs each morning to absorb negative ions from the earth. Try a one-week barefoot challenge to feel the difference.
Walking barefoot and grounding and earthing sound like total ridiculous woo-woo stuff, and they're not. One of the things that I really try to do in the mornings, especially as part of getting that great sunlight, is to walk outside. Fortunately, I have dogs, so I kind of have to do it, and get out into the grass and out into the dirt. Bonus points if you can get out into the sand because of all those negative ions. Amazing. But you actually want to touch the earth And if you can't do it barefoot, then do the best— next best thing and get into barefoot style shoes where your body really has to articulate and feel the ground and move with it. I know it sounds crazy, but even just do like a 1-week barefoot challenge of getting out there and seeing what it does for your mood and for your body. And remember, your skin's a sieve, so going out and walking in nature and getting into the ground and into the dirt actually is going to help your whole body and your gut microbiome.
