The Benefits of Grounding, and How to Get Them Indoors

Grounding, also called earthing, is the practice of putting your body in direct contact with a conductive surface of the earth. The idea is simple. The ground carries a supply of free electrons, and skin contact lets them flow into the body.

The benefits of grounding are reported across a growing body of research. Most of us get very little of it. Shoes, floors and beds keep us insulated from the ground all day and all night, so the practice has to be deliberate.

What the Reported Benefits of Grounding Are

The main effects reported in the research literature cluster around inflammation, circulation and sleep. They are the reasons people try it, and the reasons many keep doing it.

The benefits most often reported

• Reduction of inflammation
• Increased circulation
• Normalization of blood pressure
• Less stress and anxiety
• Improved immune function
• Better sleep

We treat these as reported benefits, not guarantees. Grounding is a low-cost practice with a low risk profile, and for many people that is enough reason to try it.

What the research says so far

Much of the published work is gathered in a 2012 review in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health, "Earthing: Health Implications of Reconnecting the Human Body to the Earth's Surface Electrons". Its authors describe the findings this way:

The inflammation link is explored in a 2015 paper in the Journal of Inflammation Research on grounding, inflammation and the immune response, which its authors present as a hypothesis for other researchers to test. One author of the 2012 review also lists a company affiliation, Earth FX Inc., and that is part of why we call these reported benefits.

How to Ground Outdoors

The simplest way to ground is to walk barefoot outside. Grass, soil, sand, unsealed brick, tile, stone and concrete all conduct, and yes, that includes city sidewalks. Touching a tree or a plant on a walk grounds you too.

Why outdoors is not enough

Climate, geography, season and a modern schedule get in the way. Barefoot time is not practical every day for most people, and not practical any day for some. That is where indoor grounding comes in.

Grounding Indoors While You Sleep

Most of us spend about a third of our lives in bed. That makes sleep the most practical window for grounding, because it needs no extra time and no change in routine.

How indoor grounding products work

Grounding sheets, bed bands, pillowcases and mats are woven with conductive thread, often silver. A cord runs from the product to the ground pin of a wall outlet or to a ground rod outside. Silver thread has the added property of being antimicrobial, which helps the textile stay fresh between washes.

Before you plug anything in

• Test the outlet with a plug-in tester to confirm the ground is wired correctly
• Never connect a grounding product to an outlet that fails the test
• Keep the connection to the ground pin only, never to a live conductor
• Wash conductive textiles as the maker directs so the fibers keep conducting

Grounding and the Electrical Environment of the Bedroom

Grounding is one half of a healthy sleeping environment. The other half is what is in the room with you. Wi-Fi routers, phone chargers, power strips and wiring in the wall all create electric and magnetic fields, and bedrooms are where people spend the most continuous time in them. Our guide on how to reduce EMF at home and in the bedroom walks through the main sources room by room.

A grounded bed in a noisy room

A grounding sheet can couple your body to the electric fields in the room as well as to the earth. In a bedroom with a lot of unshielded wiring, it can make some people feel worse, not better. The fix is to lower the fields first, then ground.

Simple steps that pair well with grounding

• Move the router and chargers out of the bedroom
• Put phones on airplane mode at night
• Switch off the bedroom circuit at the panel if the wiring runs behind the bed
• Have the fields measured if symptoms persist

If the wiring itself carries high-frequency noise, the steps in what is dirty electricity are worth reading before you plug in a grounding product.

We measure these fields as part of our Healthy Home Inspections, and we design them out of new homes through our low-EMF electrical design principle. Grounding works best in a room that is already quiet.

Why Sleep Is the Payoff

Every benefit on the grounding list feeds into sleep, and sleep feeds back into everything else. It is the most important recovery process the body has. The rest of the house plays a part too, as we cover in home construction factors that impact sleep quality.

What good sleep supports

• Memory, learning and focus
• Mood and emotional balance
• Immune function
• Heart health and blood pressure
• Appetite hormones and weight management
• Muscle repair and recovery
• Daytime energy

A grounded bed in a low-field room supports both sides of that equation at once. It is one of the least expensive changes a person can make to a bedroom, and one of the first we suggest, right alongside the lighting and air quality choices in our healthy lighting guide.

Getting Started

Start outside, because ten minutes barefoot on grass or concrete costs nothing. If that is not practical, a grounding sheet or band on a tested outlet brings the practice indoors for the hours you are already lying down. Quiet the room, ground the bed, and give it a few weeks.