Often, snake oil products are sold to make you feel like you have taken care of 'the static problem'. All that you need to keep the marketing types from preying on you whether you are a hobbyist, technician or engineer, is an understanding based in science. When you walk across a carpet on a dry winter day, you build up a static charge. As your shoes rub on the carpet there is a net wiping off of electrons that gives your body a potential that is different to ground. If the air were more humid, the charge would bleed off rapidly but on a dry winter day the charge stays on the surface of your skin for a few seconds.
Static electricity is a surface phenomenon.
The more surface area the greater the charge stored. Quite simply, electrostatic discharge is a spark. When you reach for the doorknob a spark jumps from your conductive skin to the conductive doorknob. If you felt the spark, you had a potential of at least 3500 volts. Every day, when you touch conductive items, small sparks are produced that can t be felt yet have enough energy to damage electronics.