Gyroscopic Investing

In my neverending quest for simplification....i have found another thing people should consider ditching: the bed

Interesting article. Will be experimenting with this over the coming weeks. http://www.zafu.net/sleepergonomics.html

Funny how man and science have failed in so many ways to improve on diet, foot wear, seating position, and now sleeping. Its hard to beat two millions years of evolutionary selection. Unfortunately the marketplace isnt about selling people whats best for them, its about convincing them that there is something missing from their lives. Yet, again and again we seem to find that nature knows best.

Its hard to sell some one barefeet or a nonexistant mattress. This is one of my biggest beefs with modern consumer capitalism...it is such a snake oil sales routine designed to con people. It undermines peoples inherent rationality and confuses and dazzles them with empty promises while disappointing again and again. The sad thing is, most people seem powerless to resist.

I have always noticed this myself. Ever since being a small child, I've enjoyed the feeling of lying on the hard floor. Everyone around me thought I was nuts.

FWIW, I recently replaced a cheap, crappy spring mattress with a less-cheap-but-still-relatively-cheap no-name foam mattress and now I sleep like a baby. Perhaps this is because of its much greater firmness, which the article appears to approve of.

i slept on a futon (American style?) for many years, and switched to a select comfort that would allow me to pump the side i slept on up to be hard enough (and let my wife set her side soft) when i got married,
if i could have my choice i would probably go back to a futon on the floor for comfort and the best possible nights sleep, but my level of concern for the bedroom looking like a hippie crash pad is far lower than my better half's... 

Keep in mind, as in diet, not one size fits all e.g. if you have "falling arches", or leg length difference (we are talking 1/2" in my case), then barefoot is likely not best way to go.

I've used the (expensive) original, and very firm tempurpedic (memory foam) matress for over a decade and would not trade it for anything.  As you lay on it, it contours itself to hold your body and is super comfortable.  There might have been a few days or week period of getting use to it.

YMMV.

This reminds me of the "Earthing" craze that has emerged over the past few years. For those who aren't familiar with "Earthing" there is a theory that since we evolved as always being electrically grounded — even while sleeping — we should be trying to ground ourselves as much as possible. So, some guy started grounding his body and supposedly discovered that it was healing his chronic problems. Or something like that. Here is the book that started the craze:

Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?

http://youtu.be/1qSAZXjOo9g

http://www.earthing.com

Personally, I'm not a believer — as I haven't really seen any good controlled evidence to support the theory (yet). So, it's probably a scam. But, an entire industry of "grounding" products is cropping up to sell "earthing" sheets for sleeping and earthing mats that you touch while working or relaxing. And people claim they are seeing some health benefits. But, it's all anecdotal and the products are too expensive. I wouldn't dare spend the money to find out. Of course, one can experience "grounding" for free, by sleeping on the Earth. But, I kinda like my bug-free bed

My guess is that there is probably some evolutionary benefit to sleeping on the Earth. And I suspect we will see more research in that area over the next few years.

I stand corrected (or, er, grounded). I guess there is some research to suggest that there may indeed be a benefit to "grounding":

http://pmid.us/22291721

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article ... ool=pubmed

Sounds like there are probably some anti-inflammatory benefits to just touching the ground barefoot as much as possible. Funny how some people probably go days without ever touching the ground :/

Interesting. Apparently you can measure significant voltage changes when you ground yourself. And here is a video on how to create your own grounding sheet for just a few dollars:

http://youtu.be/8wPqh4DNfwg

Apparently, a "grounding sheet" will also increase your REM sleep, which I assume means better lucid dreaming. But, it makes me wonder if this just turns your bed into a lightning rod

EDIT: The guy in the video uses an inline fuse to prevent accidental electrocution if your ground became a live wire. Still, you'd think a lightning bolt would just jump around the fuse.

I'm due for another mattress--the current one is 14 years old--so I've been thinking of returning to a 100% non GMO cotton futon.  So thanks for the article, doodle.

First night on floor, fell asleep surprisingly easy. Slept on blanket folded in half on top of hardwood....no carpet. Slept on back and side. Actually, i feel slightly more refreshed this morning waking up than usual which is weird...i expected the opposite. Will continue to test through week and update.

I slept on a futon for a few years and slowly developed really excruciating back pain, didn't connect the two until I bought an 'ordinary' bed for unrelated reasons and was instantly cured. 

Few years ago I bought the same line in "unnecessary improvement" wrt gears on bikes, converted my bike to fixed gear, nearly killed myself flying over the handlebars and developed knee pain.

These days I suspect the 'faux simplification' meme as being as pernicious as creeping feature-ism. So you can buy crap you don't need, while avoiding buying crap you don't need... dawg  

doodle wrote: First night on floor, fell asleep surprisingly easy. Slept on blanket folded in half on top of hardwood....no carpet. Slept on back and side. Actually, i feel slightly more refreshed this morning waking up than usual which is weird...i expected the opposite. Will continue to test through week and update.

Doodle, if you're seriously willing to go without comfort, you really ought to give this grounding stuff a shot too (use the DIY approach in the video above for the cheap approach)…

http://www.foodrenegade.com/can-earthin ... nt-1574536

The more I look into it, the more evidence there seems to be to support the theory. I'd be curious to see you experiment with it.

gizmo_rat wrote: I slept on a futon for a few years and slowly developed really excruciating back pain, didn't connect the two until I bought an 'ordinary' bed for unrelated reasons and was instantly cured. 

Few years ago I bought the same line in "unnecessary improvement" wrt gears on bikes, converted my bike to fixed gear, nearly killed myself flying over the handlebars and developed knee pain.

These days I suspect the 'faux simplification' meme as being as pernicious as creeping feature-ism. So you can buy crap you don't need, while avoiding buying crap you don't need... dawg  

Lumpy futon? Ive seen some bad ones. Im flat on floor...can literally feel my bones on hardwood.

As far as bike, i agree fixed is bad for knees. But the analogy doesnt apply to shoes and beds or diet. We didnt evolve to ride bikes and fixed bikes depending on gear ratio can place a lot of stress on knees.

Gumby wrote:

doodle wrote: First night on floor, fell asleep surprisingly easy. Slept on blanket folded in half on top of hardwood....no carpet. Slept on back and side. Actually, i feel slightly more refreshed this morning waking up than usual which is weird...i expected the opposite. Will continue to test through week and update.

Doodle, if you're seriously willing to go without comfort, you really ought to give this grounding stuff a shot too (use the DIY approach in the video above for the cheap approach)…

http://www.foodrenegade.com/can-earthin ... nt-1574536

The more I look into it, the more evidence there seems to be to support the theory. I'd be curious to see you experiment with it.

Definately interested however i live on third floor of condo. Im guessing that would unground me even if im on floor? Maybe ill try daily walks barefoot for a while. How long does one have to be grounded to experience effects? All day and night?

Grounding for an hour or two each is claimed to have beneficial effects. But grounding while sleeping is supposed to have the best results. you can ground yourself through a properly grounded outlet (3rd hole) via a sinple wire and inline fuse attached to a mesh screen as instructed in the video, above. The mesh screen can go under a sheet and still works. See the video for details.

You know what is amazing about this is that we are redesigning a more complex version of the same  things that nature has already provided for us. Can anyone think of a better oxymoron and example of this than barefoot shoes? In a similar fashion, we have taken something simple with this grounding topic and turned it into another industry cranking out products......we need to, simplify, simplify, simplify! As Thoreau says.

Anyways, Im looking forward to an increase in intelligent design in the future that will align our designs to work with the forces of nature to our benefit, instead of against them. The primary impediment that I see to these types of designs becoming popularized on a large scale is that they dont maximize profits or jobs and therefore generally dont serve the interests of a capitalist system because they create independent, self sufficient individuals. Think of an earthship type house that is basically tornado proof, self sufficient, and will last a thousand years. If humans were to live in this intelligent manner in walkable communities think of the amount of jobs and industries that would be eliminated.

The question that I ponder is how does such a movement of less consumerism get started? How does one advertise the advantages of building more robust, stable, sustainable lives? How does one advocate getting back to the basics of things that have stood the test of time instead of being distracted constantly by the next new gadget full of false promises?

My position isnt about control, it is about freeing people from the forces of a massive consumerist culture to determine the best decisions for themselves based on an accurate analysis of all the variables, possibilities, and outcomes.

doodle wrote: The question that I ponder is how does such a movement of less consumerism get started?

One person at a time.

You're already helping by posting here on the subject an exposing other people to the information. Though we often disagree politically, I strongly agree with your premise of simplification and the importance of de-productizing.

Where I think you're too pessimistic is the notion that these changes will destroy jobs and undermine the capitalist system. Perhaps it will undermine the monopolistic corporatist system, but exchange and free enterprise themselves are natural too--as natural as any of the stuff you believe we need to get back to. Even the most basic societies trade, barter, and eventually designate some commodity or abstraction as a monetary unit.

When most people live in sturdy, inexpensive homes, eat healthy food, are mostly free of chronic illness, and don't need cars to get around their communities, that enables a huge flowering and blossoming of ideas and possibilities. Reducing the size of the medical-industrial-consumerist complex doesn't mean the the lots jobs there won't be made up elsewhere as people are freer and happier. We're not just going to sit on our butts all day picking daisies; we're going to keep on offering goods and services to each other.

doodle wrote: You know what is amazing about this is that we are redesigning a more complex version of the same  things that nature has already provided for us. Can anyone think of a better oxymoron and example of this than barefoot shoes?

There was a doctor recently on the local news talking about barefoot running shoes.  She said was that there are cultures where people wear shoes all the time, in all situations, starting shortly after birth. And other cultures where people wear shoes only on rare occasions, if ever.  She said that people from 100% shoe-wearing cultures (like the USA) often have trouble running barefoot or in barefoot shoes because the weight is directed over the balls of the feet, whereas the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones of their feet, legs, and back have adapted to wearing shoes, where the weight is directed over the heels.  It's the same with some women who learn to wear high heels as teenagers, but have trouble with their Achilles Tendons later when they try to walk on no or low heels, even the point of tearing their AT.

I wonder if this would apply to beds.  I'm thinking about the example of the woman from New Guinea sleeping on a pile of wood sticks on the sleepergonomics page.  In some cultures, people sleep alone from babyhood on a $2000 mattresses, and sometime after puberty most (but not all) manage to adapt to adding another person to the bed.  In other cultures people sleep on a pile of leaves or sticks on the ground, or on the sandy beach, or the floor of a cave.  In other cultures people sleep on a pile of family members, but this is usually for economic reasons. 

I wonder whether there are stats on how the backs of different cultural groups of sleepers fare.  And don't forget other things that Americans, for example, do that can affect backs.  In addition to high heels in shoes, there is also lots of weight, particularly fat and fluids on the abdomen, the sedentary lifestyle sitting for hours at a time, etc.  Some people also develop mild scoliosis from birth or shortly after, and don't even realize it until they show up at the doctor's office at age 35 complaining of back pain. 

Gumby wrote: you can ground yourself through a properly grounded outlet (3rd hole) via a sinple wire and inline fuse attached to a mesh screen

Please don't do this!  While the third prong is grounded in theory, it can still carry elevated voltage in certain circumstances.  In addition to any hazards associated with faulty wiring, lightning strikes or electrical distribution system faults can cause system neutrals to experience temporary voltage transients.  A person lying on the wire mesh and touching some other object off the mesh could experience an electrical shock.

Even though the third prong is supposed to be tied to earth ground in your house, it might not be a good ground.  In older homes, this is sometimes even tied to a water pipe, not a ground rod.  There could be a significant impedance between your ground wiring and earth, which could translate to elevated voltage on the mesh you're lying on.  Finally, consider that the third prong is also tied to the utility neutral in your breaker panel.  This is the same as the left prong on the outlet.  I've known cases where people experience voltage (enough to get a shock) on plumbing due to the utility neutral conductor being broken outside their home.

The third prong is meant as a last-ditch effort to prevent shock in the event that the hot wire inside a piece of equipment shorts to the equipment case.  It provides a path to ground that will hopefully cause the source breaker to trip and de-energize the faulty equipment. 

Don't rely on it to be a perfect ground.

Day two...added a bit more cushioning. Slept on Yoga mat with sheet on top. I didn't get a deep sleep (Im still adjusting to sleeping on back) but my subjective experience so far is that there was less soreness upon waking up and definitely less creaking and cracking in the back and neck. I just feel a little better aligned. Again, this might all be placebo so the test will continue.

For what its worth I have two mattresses at home both are very high quality. One memory foam and the other spring coil.

pumpkin wrote:

Gumby wrote: you can ground yourself through a properly grounded outlet (3rd hole) via a sinple wire and inline fuse attached to a mesh screen

Please don't do this!  While the third prong is grounded in theory, it can still carry elevated voltage in certain circumstances.  In addition to any hazards associated with faulty wiring, lightning strikes or electrical distribution system faults can cause system neutrals to experience temporary voltage transients.  A person lying on the wire mesh and touching some other object off the mesh could experience an electrical shock.

Even though the third prong is supposed to be tied to earth ground in your house, it might not be a good ground.  In older homes, this is sometimes even tied to a water pipe, not a ground rod.  There could be a significant impedance between your ground wiring and earth, which could translate to elevated voltage on the mesh you're lying on.  Finally, consider that the third prong is also tied to the utility neutral in your breaker panel.  This is the same as the left prong on the outlet.  I've known cases where people experience voltage (enough to get a shock) on plumbing due to the utility neutral conductor being broken outside their home.

The third prong is meant as a last-ditch effort to prevent shock in the event that the hot wire inside a piece of equipment shorts to the equipment case.  It provides a path to ground that will hopefully cause the source breaker to trip and de-energize the faulty equipment. 

Don't rely on it to be a perfect ground.

Hmm... But, there are devices which test for the exact kind of faulty wiring that you speak of.

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It should be very easy for these devices to sense the kind of problem you're talking about, no?

Gumby wrote:

pumpkin wrote:

Gumby wrote: you can ground yourself through a properly grounded outlet (3rd hole) via a sinple wire and inline fuse attached to a mesh screen

Please don't do this!  ...  Don't rely on it to be a perfect ground.

Hmm... But, there are devices which test for the exact kind of faulty wiring that you speak of.

It should be very easy for these devices to sense the kind of problem you're talking about, no?

That device will* detect a mis-wired outlet, but won't address things like a broken utility neutral (outside the building), a high-impedance ground connection at the main panel, or any of the other transient conditions I mentioned.

Bottom line is I wouldn't lie on anything connected to an outlet unless it was subject to some kind of safety testing and underwriting, and even then proceed with caution.

* Better stated "is designed to".  That's a piece of consumer electronics assembled in China by somebody making $0.29/hr.  Same with the in-line fuse.  I'd liken it to putting your money-you-can't-afford-to-lose into an investment that your brother's sister-in-law's cousin's-twice-removed 2nd-dog's-former-owner who's in the investment industry said he thinks is safe.

Why not just go for barefoot walks and sleep on the ground? Boy, how we love gadgetries and complications in our lives.

pumpkin wrote:

Gumby wrote:

pumpkin wrote: Please don't do this!  ...  Don't rely on it to be a perfect ground.

Hmm... But, there are devices which test for the exact kind of faulty wiring that you speak of.

It should be very easy for these devices to sense the kind of problem you're talking about, no?

That device will* detect a mis-wired outlet, but won't address things like a broken utility neutral (outside the building), a high-impedance ground connection at the main panel, or any of the other transient conditions I mentioned.

Bottom line is I wouldn't lie on anything connected to an outlet unless it was subject to some kind of safety testing and underwriting, and even then proceed with caution.

* Better stated "is designed to".  That's a piece of consumer electronics assembled in China by somebody making $0.29/hr.  Same with the in-line fuse.  I'd liken it to putting your money-you-can't-afford-to-lose into an investment that your brother's sister-in-law's cousin's-twice-removed 2nd-dog's-former-owner who's in the investment industry said he thinks is safe.

Good to know. So, it sounds like the optional grounding rod — led outside the window and inserted directly into the ground — is the best bet. And it sounds like getting an electrician to verify a 3rd-hole outlet-ground is the next-best thing (assuming you own your house and random electricians aren't messing around with your wires after you check them).

Gumby wrote: Good to know. So, it sounds like the optional grounding rod — led outside the window and inserted directly into the ground — is the best bet. And it sounds like getting an electrician to verify a 3rd-hole outlet-ground is the next-best thing (assuming you own your house and random electricians aren't messing around with your wires after you check them).

No.  Neither one is sufficient.

Grounding is an industry standard practice for ESD protection.  There has been a lot of lessons learned since the 1960's about what it takes to safely ground people.

When wiring people to ground you ALWAYS go thru a high impedance connection (e.g. 100kohm) and typically use a fusible link of some kind.  This is for human safety and is non-negotiable.

Grounding does not need or require much current to flow to dissipate these charges.  If it did, you would be burned every time you touched a metal water faucet.


ground pin anecdote from the 1970's:

I used an outlet screw for a crystal radio ground with the antenna strung thru several rooms (open floorplan) taped to the ceiling.  It worked great for a few weeks.  My sister knocked down the antenna with a ball (should have used more tape).  It shorted the ground screw thru the crystal radio to a heating duct.  The antenna became red hot and melted the ball and the carpet everywhere it touched.  The crystal radio was mostly plastic and turned into a charred puddle.  Turned out that the 1950's outlet was not grounded nearly as well as the 1970 gas furnace.  No breaker nor fuse blew.  My mother had the presence of mind to throw the master breaker and when things cooled down gather them all up and make sure everything was disconnected before turning the power back on.


ground rod anecdote from early 2000's:

I'm on 5 acres.  Lots of trees around the house.  Drive comes roughly north to the garage from off my east-west lane.  I built a shed down the lane about 60 feet from the garage and that is where I mounted my solar PV.  I put a ground rod near the drip line for the shed, another at the entry point to the garage on the S.W. side which became the S.W. end of my home ground comprised of another ground rod at the N.W. corner of the house, another mid-way along the north side, another at each of the N.E. corners, and a final at the electrical meter on the N.E. side of the garage.  (Making a big U ground around all but the South side of the house+garage, and adding a long extension out west to the solar shed.)  These ground rods are 8ft copper coated steel rods driven straight down until the top is buried about 4in below the surface, and they are connected with 6ga bare copper wire.  This makes a very good ground connection.  Before running the wire between the garage and solar shed, I measured 100+ volts difference between the two ground rods with my DVM and at least 10x that using my oscilloscope.  Not enough power to light even a small (milliwatt) light bulb at the times I measured.  But enough voltage to make some pretty good sustainable sparks at least 1/10in very consistently.  That is normal earth differential voltage (or was) in my back yard.  It varies.  And it can kill you.  With my ground running around all the living quarters of the house, there is very little potential difference within that 'U'.  That's better for electronics and better for safety.  (If I trench my drive I will close the ring.)


Whether it is a wiring fault that you never know if or when it will appear, or a ground differential voltage transient, you do NOT want to be connected to it with a low-impedance connection.  Safety first.

Enough with the neo-peasant infatuation, already.   

The hipster/techno-Left is trying to prepare us for a lower standard of living, imho.

AgAuMoney wrote:When wiring people to ground you ALWAYS go thru a high impedance connection (e.g. 100kohm) and typically use a fusible link of some kind.  This is for human safety and is non-negotiable....Whether it is a wiring fault that you never know if or when it will appear, or a ground differential voltage transient, you do NOT want to be connected to it with a low-impedance connection.  Safety first.

Thanks AgAu.. I'm seeing on the Earthing.com site that they agree with what you are saying:

Earthing.com: FAQ wrote:Q. My husband told me that if there is a short anywhere in our home electrical system, all the electricity would flow through the ground wire into the ground and that since we were using a grounded sheet connected to that wire we would be electrocuted. ?

A. Not at all. If there is a short to the ground it would immediately trip all of the breakers on that circuit. Furthermore, the ground cords on authorized Earthing products have a built-in safety feature (a 100k ohm resistor) that prevents current from flowing through.

... All the authorized Earthing products are specifically designed for safe, biological grounding of people. They have a built-in resistor that limits the flow of current in order to prevent the unlikely possibility that electricity would flow through the connecting wire and possibly hurt someone. This allows the Earth’s natural energy to come through but not any potentially harmful electricity. In this respect, the resistor acts like a “kink”? in a hose, curbing the flow. Earthing products for personal grounding have built-in protection similar to the systems utilized in industry throughout the world to prevent electricity and static from damaging sensitive electronic parts.

Source: http://www.earthing.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1835#d3

Sounds like anyone who sells a grounding mat needs to live up to the standards you're talking about. Seems safer than a DIY approach, for those of us who are not electrically literate.

On the subject of the third hole (in conjunction with their products, not bare wires in the third hole):

Earthing.com: FAQ wrote:Q. Before I buy any Earthing products, should I have an electrician come to my house first and see if it is grounded properly?

A. (North America) If you have an older house, built before the 1960s, and all the outlets do not have a third hole (ground port) then you will either need to use a ground rod or call an electrician to do some updating on your electrical system.

In any case, Earthing products come with an outlet checker that is very simple to use. You just stick it in your wall outlet and it lights up if you have a good solid ground. Then you are good to go with the products. You just plug them right into the third hole and forget about it.

Outside of North America, you will also have to use a ground rod if your home’s electrical system is not properly grounded. If it is grounded, you will have to obtain a grounded North American adapter for your outlets that will accommodate standard three-pin North American type electrical appliances. 

Source: http://www.earthing.com/SearchResults.asp?Cat=1835#d3

I think I understand pumpkin's concerns with the potential lack of high impedance grounding from the building/utility pole, but does the high impedance rating of the Earthing mat product protect against any building/utility pole impedance issues? They seem to be suggesting that it would (assuming that the outlet checker worked properly).