What Are Grounding Sheets?

What Is Grounding?

Grounding describes when a person’s body is making contact with the electric charge of planet earth. Trusted Source Science Direct The leading platform of peer-reviewed literature that helps you move your research forward. View Source Trusted Source Science Direct The leading platform of peer-reviewed literature that helps you move your research forward. View Source Trusted Source Science Direct The leading platform of peer-reviewed literature that helps you move your research forward. View Source Trusted Source Science Direct The leading platform of peer-reviewed literature that helps you move your research forward. View Source Grounding can occur by standing directly on the earth with bare feet or by using one of a variety of grounding products, including grounding sheets. Trusted Source Science Direct The leading platform of peer-reviewed literature that helps you move your research forward. View Source  

Proponents argue that humans once engaged in grounding naturally throughout each day by spending most of their time outdoors, walking around barefoot, and sitting or even sleeping on the ground. In modern times, people spend a majority of their time indoors, sleep in beds separated from the ground, and wear insulated shoes, leading some people to argue that people have become disconnected from the earth’s electric charge. 

Believers in grounding argue that this lifestyle shift away from regularly touching the earth has caused health problems that intentional, habitual grounding can alleviate. Trusted Source Science Direct The leading platform of peer-reviewed literature that helps you move your research forward. View Source For this reason, some people call grounding “vitamin G” or describe it as “electronic nutrition.” 

However, it is important to point out that many scientists refute or doubt claims about the benefits of grounding.

Is Grounding Different Than Earthing?

The terms “grounding” and “earthing” are often used as synonyms that describe the act of connecting the human body with the earth’s electric charge. 

Although grounding and earthing are frequently used interchangeably, the term “grounding” can carry other meanings as well. In psychology, grounding can refer more broadly to practices that help people calm down in the face of anxiety. By this definition, earthing may be one way a person can ground themselves emotionally.

In electrical engineering, grounding describes when an electrically charged item connects to the earth or something else that absorbs an electric current, reducing the risk of shock. The earthing form of grounding also meets this definition, though some researchers have dubbed it “biological grounding” to provide clarity. Biological grounding describes when a person intentionally grounds their body in hopes of benefitting their health.

What Are Grounding Sheets?

Grounding sheets, also called earthing sheets, are bed sheets marketed as having the ability to provide electrical grounding to whomever lies on them. While there are a variety of different companies selling grounding sheets, the sheets all operate in similar ways.

How Do Grounding Sheets Work?

Grounding sheets are said to work by picking up the electrical current from the earth and spreading it through metal fibers that are woven into a bed sheet. Generally, grounding sheets connect to the earth’s electrical current via a cable that ends in one prong, which fits into the grounding port of a wall electrical outlet. 

Some grounding sheets come with an outlet tester to ensure that a grounding port is working. For people who don’t have a working grounding port nearby, some grounding sheet manufacturers also sell grounding stakes with a long cord. The grounding stake pushes into the ground, and its cord connects with the grounding sheet, so the sheet is receiving an electric current directly from the earth.

How Do You Use a Grounding Sheet?

To use grounding sheets, you must first put them on your bed. Grounding sheets fit on a bed in the same way regular bed sheets do. Companies sell grounding sheets in both fitted and flat sheet options. 

Once your grounding sheets are on your bed, look for the exposed connector on the sheets. This part may look like a metal snap, and it will likely sit toward the side, edge, or bottom of your sheet. Connect the cord that came with the sheets to the connector on the sheet. 

Next, insert the other end of the cord into the grounding port of a wall electrical outlet. The grounding port is the smaller third opening that is shaped like a circle.

If your sheets came with an outlet tester, or if you bought one separately, you can use it to test the grounding port before plugging in your sheet. Testing the grounding port can provide assurance that it is truly acting as a grounding source. In some buildings, three-pronged outlets may not actually be connected to a grounding source. In these cases, plugging in the grounding sheets will not do anything, and the sheets would operate like regular bed sheets.

What Are Grounding Mats?

Grounding mats operate similarly to grounding sheets. They plug into the grounding port of an outlet on the wall and are thought to provide grounding to people who touch them. 

However, given their size and materials, grounding mats are generally not intended to be used as bed sheets. According to manufacturers, people can use grounding mats by sitting on them, temporarily lying on them, standing on them, or exercising on them.

Potential Benefits of Grounding

Many experts have pointed out that there are problems with the research on grounding that make it hard to validate the impact of grounding on sleep or health. 

Some grounding studies were conducted with a very small number of participants, had a poor study design, or were published in journals without an established reputation. Some studies were conducted by people with a financial stake in grounding products or certifications, which could lead to bias. 

These concerns cast some degree of doubt on the findings of existing ground research, which has suggested that the practice may provide a wide variety of benefits, including: 

• Improved sleep quality Trusted Source MDPI Open Access View Source Trusted Source MDPI Open Access View Source
• Decreased muscle damage after exercise Trusted Source Dove Medical Press Dove Medical Press specializes in the publication of Open Access peer-reviewed journals across the broad spectrum of science, technology and especially medicine. View Source
• Decreased blood pressure among people with hypertension
• Reduced the clumping of blood cells
• Improved COVID-19 recovery Trusted Source Science Direct The leading platform of peer-reviewed literature that helps you move your research forward. View Source
• Chronic illness prevention and recovery Trusted Source Science Direct The leading platform of peer-reviewed literature that helps you move your research forward. View Source
• Slowed aging 
• Reduced pain Trusted Source Science Direct The leading platform of peer-reviewed literature that helps you move your research forward. View Source
• Improved mood 
• Enhanced blood circulation Trusted Source Scientific Research Publishing (SCIRP) View Source
• Reduced inflammation Trusted Source Dove Medical Press Dove Medical Press specializes in the publication of Open Access peer-reviewed journals across the broad spectrum of science, technology and especially medicine. View Source
• Faster wound healing
• Reduced stress Trusted Source MDPI Open Access View Source
• Improved nervous system function Trusted Source Science Direct The leading platform of peer-reviewed literature that helps you move your research forward. View Source

More in-depth, high-quality research is needed to determine scientifically whether grounding can provide these proposed benefits.

What Does Grounding Do to the Body?

There is not enough research to know exactly how grounding affects the body.

Proponents of grounding claim that the practice improves human health by reducing inflammation. This is thought to result from electrons flowing from the earth’s surface onto and throughout the body. Electrons are one of the three types of particles that make up an atom, and they carry a negative electric charge .

While inflammation is generally useful when a person experiences an acute illness or injury, chronic, low levels of inflammation may be a cause of various health problems. Some grounding researchers argue that a lack of grounding could be responsible for a variety of chronic illnesses people currently face and that intentional grounding may prevent or reverse these health problems. Trusted Source Journal of Environmental and Public Health View Source

What Does Grounding Do to the Brain?

Grounding researchers claim that grounding can calm the brain’s electrical activity. This calming is said to improve sleep quality and reduce stress. But these benefits have not been clearly proven in research studies.

As with grounding’s purported effects on the body, its effects on the brain are thought to result from a connection between the human body and the electric current on the earth’s surface.

Do Grounding Sheets Really Work?

Grounding sheets haven’t been widely studied. One study found that, after exercising, people who slept on grounding sheets experienced less pain and had lab results suggesting improved muscle recovery. However, the study only had eight participants, and the study authors concluded that a larger study should be conducted.

Another study confirmed that lying on a grounding mat altered the body’s electric field. This study didn’t explore potential benefits of grounding. Rather, the author confirmed that using an object like a grounding mat is in fact affecting the electric current running over a person’s body.

Other experts have acknowledged that a variety of factors can impact how well grounding objects like sheets perform. The type of fabric a person’s clothes are made of, whether or not their skin is moisturized, and the amount of humidity in the air are all thought to impact grounding. 

In addition, some grounding ports on electrical outlets don’t provide proper grounding, and grounding rods may not be driven deep enough into the soil to be fully effective. Seasonal changes, including moisture in the soil, can impact grounding, and grounding may not be possible in very dry areas, like deserts.

What Is the Science Behind Grounding Sheets?

Since the late 1800s, some have argued that connecting with the earth’s electric current provides benefits. Some research studies have looked at the potential health effects of ground. 

But most of these studies have not directly measured the actual electrical effects of grounding on the body. This makes it difficult to validate the health effects of grounding. Findings from these studies could be misleading because of a placebo effect or a problem with a study’s design. As a result, more research will be required to prove or disprove the science behind grounding and health.

Are Grounding Sheets Safe to Sleep on?

There is no independent data about the safety of grounding sheets. 

Manufacturers of grounding sheets say they are safe to sleep on. Online reviews suggest that, while some people may complain that the sheets don’t work, virtually none of those negative reviewers report negative side effects from using them.

Some companies that sell grounding sheets provide recommendations to ensure safe use of the sheets. For example, some recommend using an outlet checker to make sure your grounding port is actually grounded. Another recommendation is to unplug grounding sheets during thunderstorms when lightning might strike.

Are There Negative Effects of Grounding Sheets?

Because grounding sheets haven’t been widely studied, experts aren’t certain about either the positive or negative effects that may result from sleeping on them. 

Some companies that sell grounding sheets warn that there may be mild negative effects when you first begin using them, but these haven’t been verified by research. These alleged negative effects may include “detox-like symptoms,” such as fatigue and headache, but grounding sheet companies say they shouldn’t last long.

What Are Other Forms of Grounding?

Using grounding sheets isn’t the only method of grounding. People can also experience grounding by:

• Walking barefoot in the grass
• Walking barefoot on a wet, sandy beach
• Walking barefoot in cold water, such as ocean, rivers, lakes, and streams
• Exercising outdoors in ways that involve touching the ground
• Wearing grounding shoes with cotton socks outdoors
• Sleeping on the ground
• Using other grounding products, like mats, patches, and blankets

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