Healing Series: Water, Light & The Negative Charge

As many of you know, I am shortly moving to live by the sea in Cornwall. As I explained here, this is an instinctive move; I just seemed to know I needed to be closer to nature, to the sea, in a bigger space somehow.

In my quest for finding non-ingestive healing methods for those of us who can’t tolerate the normal meds/diet/supplement approaches (see the whole series here), I followed up an article on negative charges in water the other day and, boy, it led to a load of fascinating reading! I share some of that with you today – and I’m glad I am following my instincts, let’s say that. You’ll see why…

 

Electricity and water

We are electrical beings – think how your heart works, your muscles contract, your nervous system works, for example. And, like all electrical things, we have a positive and a negative charge. So far, so easy to understand.

But, here’s an intriguing question: what if, in some people at least, our electrical charge was upset and was affecting our health and healing potential? Ah, you are sitting up now, as I did when I first started looking at this? It’s a thought isn’t it?

So, when I came across a video series by Dr Gerald Pollack, Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Washington, discussing his work on water in the human cells and tissues being related to electrical charge, my ears pricked up. It’s fascinating. In a nutshell, his research led him to believe that the water in our cells is not H2O as we previously thought; it is a much more complex crystallised and ordered structure, H3O2, and certainly not neutral as normal water is.

In essence, his belief, based on years of research, which has some way to go yet, is that we are a bit like plants. In the first stage of photosynthesis, the plant uses the light to split its water into positive and negatively charged, which then goes on to spark growth and activity in the plant. He is not saying we photosynthesise by any means, but his research has found that we too have positive and negatively charged water in our cells, activated by light, which acts like a battery and sparks activity and life. Previously, it was believed we were pretty neutral electrically-speaking, but this new finding of negatively charged, crystalline water in our cells throws a whole new light, literally, on cellular function. Very exciting!

Have a listen to this 3 minute video to start you off with this.

For a more in depth lecture, follow the link I gave above and there is a lot more if you Google. This discussion with Dr Mercola and another with Daniel Vitalis were both eye-opening too.

 

Why is this important for our health?

This is really complex stuff but it has to do with how this EZ water, as Dr Pollack calls it, sparks activity in the body. The trick is in the electrical charges.

 Let’s look at the cells. In a cell, we have lots of protein structures, the bits that do the work, and these are positively charged. Surrounding each of those proteins is the crystalline water H3O2, which is negatively charged. Around that, filling the rest of the cell is normal so-called ‘bulk’ water, which is neutral. When one of the proteins in, say, a muscle cell needs  to contract, or in a nerve cell needs to conduct a signal, the EZ water drops its charge and becomes the same as bulk water temporarily, allowing the so-called ‘action potential’ of the cell to happen ie. to spark it to do whatever it needs to be doing. This is well documented in science. Once that action has taken place ie. the signal’s been conducted or the muscles contracted, the EZ water becomes negative again. I hope you followed that.

His theory is that this knowledge can have huge health and healing implications. They’ve found that cells in sick people have less of this structured water in them and therefore less negative charge. Less negative charge means less activity being sparked in the cells. That leads to hypofunction of whatever system those cells are meant to be working for. The more positively-charged the body becomes, the less well it is, is how I understand it.

I think he is onto something here. We have known for years that the earth itself is negatively charged, so why would we be any different? We also know that antioxidants are anti-ageing for us because they prevent and offset free radical activity by preventing the loss of electrons, ie. they make us more negative. He studied if they had an effect on the H3O2 and found they did indeed increase the EZ water layers.

If his theory is correct, then we need to make sure we keep a good healthy amount of negatively charged EZ water in our cells and, if we are suffering from chronic ill health, we need to take steps specifically to improve that status, assuming the EZ concentration has lowered, if that makes sense.

 

So, just how do we increase negative charge and structured water in our cells?

Do you remember how you feel when you enjoy a sunny day, walk on the beach or on grass, how you feel more energised by the sea or with mountain air? Do you feel energised by the wind or love staring at a real fire? Ever used an ioniser for energy etc? Well, all of those are known negatively-charged things. You literally pull in negative electrons, which, through mechanisms I am not going to pretend I understand, improves the body’s negative charge and, in Dr P’s theory, builds the EZ water.

 

More light..

Sounds far-fetched, I know, but they discovered that the EZ – exclusion zone – water is made of layers and it can build up or reduce. They found that, like plants, light seems to be the main thing that builds up the layers; that creates the EZ water. Sunshine is best, but in fact any source of UV or infrared light does it. Infrared was the best. There is loads of natural infrared light all around us anyway, but it does explain why infrared saunas, laser and other kinds of light therapy etc seem to help people regain health in many instances.

Are you with me? Light builds more of the EZ water, which makes our cells and us more negatively charged, which sparks more activity in the cells.

Of course, that could be to detox. We do know that there is a traditional history of using eg clay and activated charcoal – both negatively charged – to help bind toxins like alkaloids etc – positively charged. So, I would imagine that building your EZ layers could well spark an elimination of some kind. But, I digress…

 

 Being grounded..

Other ways of building this EZ water and negative charge is to be in nature more. Walking on the grass, earth or sand ‘grounds’ us, which just means we pull negative electrons in to us as the earth itself is negatively charged. Being in the sunshine, near moving water, up a hill or mountain and near trees will all increase negative charge. Windy weather is great for it – even your hairdryer does it to some extent: just think of how your hair goes fluffy or gets static! Failing all that, an ioniser might be a good investment but, of course, you won’t be getting the light then.

During my research I read a fabulous article in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health, written in 2012, about this ‘grounding’. It blew me away (wind: see what I did there?!). There is much research to show that we do indeed pull negative electrons from the earth and that they have a profound effect on how the body works, including mineral levels, oxygenation, immune and, importantly for us, on inflammation and the parasympathetic nervous system. Do read it:

Earthing: Health Implications of Reconnecting the Human Body to the Earth’s Surface Electrons

Here are a couple of quotes to whet your appetite:

The logical explanation for the anti-inflammatory effects is that grounding the body allows negatively charged antioxidant electrons from the Earth to enter the body and neutralize positively charged free radicals at sites of inflammation [28]. Flow of electrons from the Earth to the body has been documented [15

Mounting evidence suggests that the Earth’s negative potential can create a stable internal bioelectrical environment for the normal functioning of all body systems….It is also well established that electrons from antioxidant molecules neutralize reactive oxygen species (ROS, or in popular terms, free radicals) involved in the body’s immune and inflammatory responses. The National Library of Medicine’s online resource PubMed lists 7021 studies and 522 review articles from a search of “antioxidant + electron + free radical” [3]. It is assumed that the influx of free electrons absorbed into the body through direct contact with the Earth likely neutralize ROS and thereby reduce acute and chronic inflammation [4].

They conclude:

Could such an intervention be located right beneath our feet? Earthing research, observations, and related theories raise an intriguing possibility about the Earth’s surface electrons as an untapped health resource—the Earth as a “global treatment table.”

Emerging evidence shows that contact with the Earth—whether being outside barefoot or indoors connected to grounded conductive systems—may be a simple, natural, and yet profoundly effective environmental strategy against chronic stress, ANS dysfunction, inflammation, pain, poor sleep, disturbed HRV, hypercoagulable blood, and many common health disorders, including cardiovascular disease. The research done to date supports the concept that grounding or earthing the human body may be an essential element in the health equation along with sunshine, clean air and water, nutritious food, and physical activity.

Ooh, interesting.

 

Back to water..

Some companies are making EZ water. Dr Pollack hasn’t endorsed any of them as they need proper testing, which he is trying to get funding for, but I noted he says that many of them he thinks do work. He’s not sure yet whether drinking high negatively-charged or split electron water, which is what EZ water is in essence, is any good for us and wants to test it, but he has heard some very encouraging feedback. That said, I am inclined to agree with him that more natural ways of creating more EZ water are best. He did say he felt that running spring water and vortexed water was more likely to have more negative charge in it, simply because rushing water always does.

Some people reckon that alkalised water has some of the same properties as EZ water, but he is not convinced of that. He did agree, though, that green juices – highly alkaline – did seem encouraging in some tests he’s done so far. I think it may be because alkaline juices and waters have a higher mineral content. The mineral protons would have more EZ water around them and therefore have a higher negative charge generally. I noted that RO and distilled water, which are demineralised and therefore not very alkaline, are less likely to have a high EZ water content. Oh dear, that’s what I have. I will have to walk on the beach more to compensate. What a shame.

Actually, you can get RO water filters that have an alkaliser. Or, you could ionise your water, but I don’t know enough about these to advise you yet. I am informed that ionising RO water is not very effective, simply because it doesn’t have any minerals to ionise, so that looks out unless you add minerals first. Ooh, getting complicated!

If you did want to do that, to re-mineralise your purified water you could some colloidal minerals, a pH balancing type product which usually have sodium and potassium in them, even a sea liquid or a trace minerals product would work. I did read on Mercola that 1/4 tsp of Himalayan salt per gallon is what he recommends.

 

How can you measure negative charge in water?

I do know you can measure the ORP (Oxidant Reduction Potential) of your water to see how negative or positively charged it is. Of course, I had to get me one of the ORP meters to check…! For antioxidant activity, you basically want it to be at least in the negative numbers, anything from -50, but preferably – 200-400. Mine was + 235 ish. My tap water was over +400. (It’s worth noting here that high positive ORP is very antibacterial apparently).

I assume my RO water is positive because it doesn’t have anything in it, no minerals for the EZ water to build around. It measures 20 on my TDS metre (oh yes, I have one of those too), which means it is ultra pure. Great for allergens, not so great for antioxidant/EZ water potential.

To remedy that, I could add some minerals as above and ionise or stir/vortex it. Or, I could invest in a 3-in-1 type product that RO’s, remineralises and then ionises. Yep, they do exist, see here. I’m not sure about that idea yet; need to research a bit more.

 

Summary

  So, lots of ideas for you to go at there to increase your negative charge. Remember: light is the best way to increase the EZ structured water in your cells, which is what seems to spark good healthy cellular activity, at least in part. Low cellular activity is found hand in hand with low levels of EZ water. Ergo: to get well, it would seem wise to increase the EZ water and negative charge generally in the body.

Given all that, I am pleased I have followed my instincts to move to the sea and countryside for more fresh sea – negatively charged – air and sunlight. I have always felt better by the sea, walk barefoot all the time indoors so will have to start outdoors too, love the sunshine (although not the heat!) and specifically go out in windy weather, so maybe I am a person who just needs more negative ions in my life. A thought. Either way, getting more is now going to be part of my healing strategy. How about you?

 

In essence, today’s message is:

We all know that being in nature, getting enough water and plenty of light is good for us. But, now we have a real reason why. If you are suffering with ill health and want to encourage healing, take steps to increase your negative charge – in a natural way. Get out in the sunlight more, make like a kid and bury your legs in the sand or romp around on your lawn barefoot (you can simply stand or sit, if you like – research I read suggested 15-30 minutes was about right).

Spend more time near trees, mountains or running water if you can – even the little paddling pool or water feature in your local park or one in your garden might help! Think about light therapy or a regular sauna maybe, but beware a detox! Have your activated charcoal ready to bind positive toxins that may come out.

Consider an ioniser. Invest in a juicer. Eat more raw, preferably just picked from your garden or from a pick your own farm maybe – the longer off the plant, the lesser the negative charge. If really going for it, keep your preferably mineralised RO water in a terracotta or clay, not glass, vessel in the fridge and stir it with a wooden spoon (not metal) before you drink to increase its negative charge. I read that is just as effective as an expensive vortex machine!

OK, hope you found that interesting and useful. Do let me know any thoughts and how you get on yourself. Anyone using an infrared sauna, for example? Meantime, I’m looking forward to breathing exercises with morning sea air on my balcony and to walks on the beach.  Aah…