Electricity – the fundamental nature of the human body

In physics classes you may have learned that everything is made of atoms, which in turn are made of protons, neutrons and electrons. Protons are positively charged, neutrons are neutral, and electrons carry negative charge. If these are not balanced, the atom becomes positively or negatively charged. The difference in charge allows electrons to flow, which creates electric current.

Because your body contains countless atoms, together they can produce electrical energy. Jokingly, one could say your body is (also) a power plant.

What does the body use electricity for?

When your brain “tells your hand” to pick up a glass, it sends “signals” through the nerves to the muscles in your hand to contract. These are entirely electrical signals. The same applies when the image your eye sees reaches your brain or when your thoughts form.

Every cell in your body operates electrically, so electrons do not travel along wires (as in machines); instead the electric charge “jumps” from one cell to another connected cell and thus reaches its destination. For example, from a nerve cell in the brain to another in the spinal cord, and from there to a muscle.

Electricity is the key to your survival!

Electrical signals are extremely fast and ensure the transmission of “control” messages almost instantaneously. This enables you to jump aside from an unexpected danger, pull your hand away if pricked by a thorn, or avoid burning yourself. If this control worked only by chemical reactions — that is, by moving chemical substances to give commands in such situations — you would quickly die (or at least badly burn your finger because you wouldn’t be able to pull away from a hot surface in an instant).

Your heart is also entirely under electrical regulation. The sinoatrial node in the right atrium of your heart regulates your heart function throughout your life. It has an automatic rhythm that triggers the heart to contract about 60–80 times per minute. It also raises or lowers the heart rate according to need. For example, when you run, the heart rate increases because of the higher demand for blood flow. When you stop, it decreases again.

What creates the body's electricity?

When not transmitting a message — that is, at rest — every healthy cell in the body carries a slightly negative charge.

This arises from a small imbalance of potassium and sodium ions between the inside of the cell and its outer surface (the two sides of the cell membrane). This is the cell membrane potential, on the order of -30–50 microvolts.

At rest there are more potassium ions inside the cell than sodium ions. Outside, sodium ions predominate. Potassium is negatively charged, so the inside of the cell is slightly negative. Sodium ions are positive, so the outer surface of the membrane is positive. The charge difference is so small that there is no electron flow and the cell does not produce electricity.

However, when a “message” must be transmitted, the “balance is disturbed.” This is a very complicated mechanism called the sodium-potassium gate or pump. Very simply put, if the cell receives an impulse from a neighboring cell, the gate activates and allows ions to pass. The negatively charged potassium leaves the cell, attracted by the external positivity. The positively charged sodium moves inward toward the negative interior. Thus the concentrations of the two ion types change and the reversal of positive and negative poles generates an electrical impulse.

This impulse activates a similar process in the next cell, creating a new charge and so on. In this way an electrical impulse travels until, for example, it carries a pain signal from a toe to the brain.

What happens if the control malfunctions?

Because all bodily functions rely on electrical signals, any malfunction of the body's electrical system can lead to serious problems.

An electric shock or lightning strike, for example, can "blow the fuse", stopping the body's electrical activity (similar to a power outage in machines).

Of course there are less severe electrically caused problems that lead to various complaints. Disease of the sinoatrial node can cause a “missed spark,” meaning the heart "forgets" to contract and a beat is skipped. Conversely, the sinoatrial node can trigger a fast heartbeat even though you are lying in bed and a high pulse is unnecessary.

An electrical impulse that triggers vascular spasm can cause impaired blood flow, which may lead to stroke or a heart attack.

Mild regulatory disturbances can underlie conditions such as unexplained high blood pressure or, for example, abnormal palm sweating.

If electricity is so fundamental, why are drugs used for treatment?

Good question! It is clear that modern medical treatments are predominantly drug-centered. Increasing numbers of people take some kind of medication every day. But these have little effect, because the number of patients does not decrease — statistics show it is rising. If drugs cured, the numbers should fall! The trend is rather that instead of eliminating the cause (disturbance in electrical control), treatments suppress symptoms. As a result, most medicines must be taken for life, because they do not cause a cure.

This was not always the case. Natural remedies (manual therapy, medicinal herbs), natural energies (light, ultrasound, magnetism, etc.) and electricity were almost on an equal footing until the mid-20th century. Since then they were gradually pushed aside by the pharmaceutical industry. Over the past 50–80 years the pharmaceutical industry has become one of the world's largest businesses (after oil, energy and banking).

Some interesting facts about body electricity

Dr. Harold Saxton Burr believed that “electricity is a fundamental property of every living organism.” Through a series of experiments he demonstrated that living organisms are surrounded by an invisible electric field measurable in microvolts, the changes of which indicate both healthy functioning and disease states.

Dr. Robert Becker (1923–2008) conducted similar investigations and successfully measured the electrical potential of the cell membrane.

He is associated with the theory of the “injury current.” According to this, when tissues are injured the electric charge balance of cell membranes is disrupted and tissue function stops. The injured (damaged, inflamed) cells cease energy production and protein synthesis, halting regenerative and healing processes. Dr. Becker found that injured areas become positively charged, then slowly return to a balanced zero value during healing.

He began studying salamanders, amphibians known for their ability to regrow lost tails and even limbs. He noticed that in these animals the injured tissues do not return to zero charge but become negative. In a 1972 published study he reported that in experimental rats whose limbs were amputated, electrical stimulation produced similar processes to those seen in salamanders, even though rats do not naturally regrow limbs.

Radiologist Dr. Björn Nordenström, analyzing about 7,000 chest X-rays, noticed a clearly defined 2–3 mm wide area around lung tumors that he called a crown (because it resembled the solar corona). Targeted studies showed that at the boundary between diseased (tumorous) cells and healthy tissue there is a significant difference in electrical potential. His best-known work is the development of an electrical treatment procedure for lung tumors. He received the Nobel Prize for the method.

Based on the above, recent research suggests that Becker-type injury current can be eliminated with microcurrent therapy. This restores cellular function and can increase energy production by 5–8 times. This is the basis of healing.

This alone could have enormous significance in treating and regenerating chronic inflammations and degenerative joint diseases.

From the above you can probably guess my opinion: since your body is entirely controlled by electricity, research into electricity should play a much larger role in understanding disease development and, of course, in treatment.