UK Shudders as Venomous Spider Creeps Across Britain

There aren't many things that can bring a quiver to a Briton's stiff upper lip, but a venomous arachnid named the "false widow spider" seems to be giving the entire country a case of the heebie-jeebies.

The BBC reports that an amateur soccer player named Steve Harris has been sidelined indefinitely due to a bite from a false widow. The Daily Mail described in lurid detail how a healthy 31-year-old man collapsed on the floor of a Toys "R" Us in Southampton the day after being bitten 10 times on the neck by one of the notorious crawlers.

Not to be outdone, a headline in the Daily Star trumpets, "False widow spider on rampage in Britain." The article adds the unlikely news that the arachnid "can kill humans with a single bite." But exactly how fearsome is the false widow — and is the British press making a monster out of an ordinary garden bug? [See Photos of the Spookiest Spiders]

A few facts may be in order: The false widow spider (Steatoda nobilis) is a native of Spain's Canary Islands, and is widely believed to have spread to Europe and the British Isles through shipments of bananas. Its name comes from a superficial resemblance to the black widow spider, which has a much more venomous bite. The largest of false widows are no more than a half inch (13 millimeters) across, and both males and females have pale marbled markings on their abdomens that some observers have called a "skull mark."

And while a bite from a false widow can cause pain and swelling — and a handful of people may suffer an allergic reaction — the venom is widely believed by experts to be less harmful than a bee sting. "For almost everyone, the effect of spider bite in this country is an itchy lump for a day or so at worst," said Matthew Chatfield on his blog Naturenet.

"So actually, there's almost no evidence of Steatoda nobilis or any other U.K. spider causing anything more than temporary discomfort to anyone," Chatfield noted, adding, "Steatoda may well be the U.K.'s most dangerous spider, but that position is only slightly more odious than being the U.K.'s most dangerous kitten."

Stuart Hine, an entomologist at London's Natural History Museum, also weighed in on Chatfield's Naturenet blog: "Yes, this story makes its annual appearance, and I fully expect to cover it once a year for the next decade," Hine wrote. "Generally speaking, the effects of bites … are paltry, though shocking for the victim."

One thing that all parties agree on, however, is the spread of the false widow spider throughout Great Britain, largely due to a warming climate. "Interestingly, we never recorded this species as an inquiry pre-1999, and numbers have risen each year since," Hine wrote on Naturenet.

Environmentalist Matt Shardlow of the conservation group Buglife told the Star, "The false widow has long been prevalent across much of the southwest because of the milder temperatures. They come from warm countries and are usually killed off by our cold weather. But climate change may have helped."

Despite the spread of the false widow spiders, most experts are quick to remind people that, despite the creatures' nefarious reputation, spiders are an important part of the natural world, and help to control insect pest populations. "Spiders are of great environmental importance, and are really rather beautiful and very interesting," Hine wrote.

Follow Marc Lallanilla on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on LiveScience.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uk-shudders-venomous-spider-creeps-across-britain-231041408.html
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Why walking barefoot is good for your health - SheKnows.com

Or maybe you awoke refreshed from sleeping outside under the stars? Believe it or not, you were helping yourself to a dose of Nature's own healing powers.

Earthing is not a new concept — it's the idea that if you walk around barefoot, especially if you're walking directly on the ground, you'll realize the healing benefits of doing so. Some even call it "yoga for your feet."

Native Americans and other indigenous people instinctively knew for centuries to walk barefoot or in leather shoes and to sleep on the ground. By doing so, they were recharging their body's batteries, says Clinton Ober, founder of The Earthing Institute and co-author of the book Earthing: The most important health discovery ever?

Earthing explained

So, what is Earthing? Earthing is as simple as walking on the beach, laying down on a rock or in other ways connecting directly to the earth's surface with your bare skin. The premise is that the earth's negative ions help balance the positive ions we build up every day through stress, inflammatory foods and exposure to electronic and cellular devices.

An expert in the field of Earthing, Dr. James L. Oschman, describes the exchange in this way: “The most reasonable hypothesis to explain the beneficial effects of Earthing is that a earth connection enables both daily electrical rhythms and free electrons to flow from the earth to the body."

Benefits of Earthing

Regular contact with the natural electrical field of the earth helps restore your body's natural electrical balance. Practitioners of this trend, ranked #3 in the 2013 Spa Finder Wellness report, say that it helps:

• Reduce chronic pain


• Improves sleep


• Lowers stress


• Improves energy


• Lessens hormonal and menstrual symptoms


• Accelerates recovery from extreme athletic activity

"One of the major benefits of Earthing is that it appears to extinguish the negatively-charged electrons from the surface of the earth into the body where they neutralize positively-charged destructive free radicals involved in chronic inflammation," says Dr. Stephen T. Sinatra, co-author of Earthing with Ober. "The potential benefits from the earth's energy on the brain, heart, muscles, immune and nervous systems — and in turn the whole body and the aging process — are massive. Medically, this is a big deal!" he says.

As a youth, Ober enjoyed being barefoot and spending time outdoors in his native Montana. After years as a cable television executive, he had a near brush with death, which was his wake-up call to lead a healthier life. He had often noted that electronic and electrical devices had to have a grounding wire or other mechanism to keep them safe. He wondered what effects that same technology might have on human longevity and health. The results were grounding mats, special sheets, wrist bands and patches, all intended to recreate the grounding effect while working or resting indoors.

Also expect to see more formal "Earthing" at spas, as well as more "nature grounding". Think less background music with nature sounds and more real nature to help combat "Nature Deficit Disorder," the wellness report states.

An alternative to Earthing

If you can't easily go barefoot, an alternative is needed. Traditional plastic or rubber-soled shoes prevent getting this natural energy-enhancement from the earth. However, Peter Coulter of Juil Sandals, says Earthing can be done even while wearing shoes. The company has designed grounded footwear that incorporates copper insets. "If we stay connected by wearing earthing or grounding shoes, these unwanted positive ions are absorbed to neutralize and release the harmful free radicals in our bodies, " he says.

Another believer in Earthing , Dr. Roy Lidke, a Marion, Iowa podiatrist, says that all biological creatures benefit from grounding, which can even help serious conditions. "Damage to cells from oxidative stress causes the inflammatory process, which is related to heart disease, cancer, and the aging process and can eventually lead to cell death. Grounding provides the electrons for the atoms and molecules to alter these free radicals," he says.

Try your own version

• Go barefoot for 20 to 40 minutes at a time in (preferably moist or wet) grass, sand or dirt.


• Wear a wrist band.


• Wear copper-grounded sandals.


• Use a computer floor mat that has also been plugged into the ground outside.


• Sleep in specially grounded sheets.

These are all intended to bring about a better night's sleep, fewer aches and pains and a better quality of life!

More on holistic health

The holistic truth about colds and flu
Holistic lifestyle tips
A holistic approach to healing depression

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