Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate "earthing" from an electrical perspective through measurement and analysis of the naturally occurring electron flow between the human body or a control and ground as this relates to the magnitude of the charge exchange, the relationship between the charge exchange and body functions (respiration and heart rate), and the detection of other information that might be contained in the charge exchange.
Methods: Sensitive, low-noise instrumentation was designed and fabricated to measure low-level current flow at low frequencies. This instrumentation was used to record current flow between human subjects or a control and ground, and these measurements were performed approximately 40 times under varied circumstances. The results of these measurements were analyzed to determine if information was contained in the current exchange.
Results: The currents flowing between the human body and ground were small (nanoamperes), and they correlated with subject motion. There did not appear to be any information contained in this exchange except for information about subject motion.
Conclusions: This study showed that currents flow between the environment (earth) and a grounded human body; however, these currents are small (nanoamperes) and do not appear to contain information other than information about subject motion.
Keywords: Bioelectric energy sources; Bioelectrical impedance; Electric impedance.