As you know I’ve tested many different products when it comes to sleep and something I’ve really got into for the past few years is grounded bed sheets.

If you’re not familiar with the term grounded it essentially means being connected to the earth. Some people call it “earthing”. They’re pretty much the same thing. My goal each day is to spend as much time grounding as possible, especially if I’m sitting in front of a computer.

I’ve been using grounded bed sheets going back to 2014.

If you think about it, whether or not you believe that God created us or we evolved, there is no doubt that being connected to the earth via our skin is how we lived for thousands of years.

In modern times we have become increasingly disconnected from every aspect of nature to our own detriment.

I’ve been teaching for years that the more you reconnect to nature the healthier you will be. You’ll live longer, have less oxidative stress and sleep better.

Modern Americans spend about 90% of their time indoors. This is a real (and often overlooked) problem.

By being indoors you’re being exposed to indoor air pollution, nnEMF like wifi,  and blue light toxicity while at the same time being deprived of free electrons, full spectrum sunlight and clean air.

Being inside has a two fold reduction in health. You’re exposed to all the toxicity but you’re also being deprived of the very thing that heals us, Nature.

It’s like filling up your stomach with junk food. You deprived your body of key nutrients while at the same time putting in poison. It would have been half as bad, if you did avoided both the healthy food and the junk food. But you replaced one with the other making it twice as bad.

Same with being inside.

If you look at studies about forest bathing that are starting to come out, you’ll notice a direct impact on mental health, nervous system health, digestive health and so much more.

Being outside is healing because nature itself is healing.

What is Grounding or Earthing?

Grounding or earthing has been practiced daily by mankind for thousands of years. It used to be called “living naturally” in our environment. It’s not until we disconnect from nature, and get sick, until we actually go back and study what happens when you reconnect to nature.

Grounding really means skin to earth contact. Ideally you would do this through walking barefoot on conductive surfaces. These surfaces include sand, soil, rock, stone, grass, wood, gravel or anything in between.

It’s how we lived for thousands of years. The creation of the rubber sole shoe is when we officially disconnected from nature. Along with the invention of electricity and the light bulb in 1879, that’s when our health problems starting becoming a concern.

Look up graphs online on the rise of diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart disease and neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s and dementia. Around 1900 they were extremely low. Nobody really knew anybody that died from these more modern dis-eases.

As we lived in electrical cities with blue light, we at the same time disconnected from the healing electrons from the earth.

The Science Behind Grounding

Around the world, lightning strikes Earth 8 million times per day. What do you think happens to that voltage? Where does that electricity go? The earth absorbs that electrical charge and that current provides free electrons to our body, if we stand on it barefoot.

The surface of the earth carries a negative electrical charge. When the skin of our feet come into contact with these electrons they pass into our body neutralizing reactive oxygen species and free radicals. This helps to restore the electrical state of cell membranes, tissues and organs. These electrons have an even bigger impact on the outer mitochondrial membrane within each cell.

These electrons combined with discharging static currents in our body seems to (according to studies) have a positive impact on our autonomic nervous system. This is the parasympathetic arm of our nervous system and reduces the fight or flight response.

Grounding to the earth is like taking a deep breath after you’ve been swimming under water. It allows the entire body to come back into homeostasis and normalize. The longer you do it the more effects you’ll get. Ideally we’d be grounded 24 hours a day.

How Grounding Works

According to Chinese Medicine Meridian charts there are more electrical receptors on the bottom of your feet than anywhere in the body. The bottom of your foot is like a the end of a plug to a lamp. The outlet is the earth. Every time you stand on the ground with the bottom of your feet touching the earth, you’re “plugging into” nature.

When you look at the bottom of your foot you’ll notice that according to TCM each part of your foot corresponds to different organs and systems within the body. My theory is that the free electrons from the earth travel through electrical meridian systems directly to those organs for healing.

Electrons are what antioxidants use to function and quench oxidation.

What are antioxidants?

Antioxidants are molecules that protect cells from damage caused by free radicals. Here’s a list of the different “kinds” of free radicals in the body.

• Hydroxyl Radical (OH•)
• Superoxide Anion (O2−•)
• Nitric Oxide (NO•)
• Peroxyl Radicals (ROO•)
• Alkoxyl Radicals (RO•)
• Singlet Oxygen (¹O2)
• Hydroperoxyl Radical (HO2•)
• Lipid Peroxides (LOO•)
• Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2•)

How do antioxidants protect against these free radicals? They donate electrons to keep the molecule stable. Generally according to the octet rule molecules that are “stable” tend to have 8 electrons on their outer shell or membrane. But there can be exceptions like…

• Hydrogen and Helium: These elements are stable with 2 electrons in their outer shell.
• Transition metals: Often do not follow the octet rule due to the involvement of d orbitals.
• Expanded octet: Elements in period 3 or higher can have more than 8 electrons (e.g., phosphorus in PF5, sulfur in SF6).

If a molecule becomes damaged through direct tissue destruction or it encounters a pathogen, chemical, toxin or heavy metal it will lose an electron on the outer shell causing it to have an uneven amount of electrons.

If it had 8 electrons, now it only has 7.

Nature does not like things to be uneven. There’s a Yin and Yang to everything.

In the case of a molecule with 7 electrons, an antioxidant will come along and donate an electron to stabilize this molecule. It’s important to note that when the antioxidant donates its electron, it also becomes destabilized and needs a donor itself.

The cascade continues forever.

The other way molecules can lose electrons is due to oxidative stress caused by living in the modern world, eating poor food, not getting enough sleep, and being indoors. All stress creates oxidative damage that require electron donors to repair the oxidative damage. This is inflammation inside the body.

I find it fascinating that you’re creating oxidative stress by being in an office under blue light. You’ll lose more electrons the higher up you live or sleep, causing more oxidative stress. If you sleep on the 2nd floor, I would consider moving your bedroom to the ground floor.

What are electrons?

Electrons are subatomic particles with a negative electric charge that orbit the nucleus of an atom. Protons and neutrons are also the main parts of an atom.  What’s interesting about electrons is that they are how atoms conduct electricity.

The fascinating thing is that electrons (and lack thereof) are the reason we get old and die. It’s why we get gray hair and become fibrotic as we age. You could say a lack of electrical charge is responsible for rapid aging.

When you ground to the earth, you’re conducting an electrical charge with free electrons coming out of the earth. If you have no shoes on, these electrons are passed transdermally through the pores on the bottom of your feet.

These electrons can then be used by the antioxidants to lower inflammation (the cause of all disease and sleep issues like insomnia) all throughout the body.

Health Benefits of Grounding

If you read books like The Invisible Rainbow or one of my favorites called Earthing, you’ll learn how grounding impacts almost every area of health. When you understand there is really only one disease and that is a lack of ATP production in your mitochondria you’ll start putting the puzzle pieces together.

How does ATP get created? Electrons pass over the outer mitochondrial membrane from complex 1 to complex 4 (cytochrome c-oxidase) to great 1 molecule of ATP and then it travels to ATP synthase (complex 5) to either create fourth phase water or hydrogen peroxide.

When you ground to the earth, you’re flooding the body with free electrons from the earth that the body uses to create energy and lower inflammation. Since all disease stems from a lack of energy combined with increase inflammation, you could say grounding potentially is effective for helping ALL DISEASE.

Here are some health benefits of earthing you can read about…

• Improves sleep
• Reduces pain
• Mood regulation
• Wound healing
• Autoimmune diseases
• Inflammation
• Immunity
• Thyroid health
• Glucose regulation
• Reduces muscle damage
• Repairs muscle fibers
• Improves vagal tone in preterm infants
• Lowers blood viscosity leading to cardiovascular diseases
• Increases blood flow
• Increases circulation & oxygenation

Are Grounding Sheets Safe?

Some people have brough up safety concerns about grounded bed sheets. There’s quite a bit of context and nuance to the idea of grounding. Dr. Sam Milham in his book Dirty Electricity argues that the ambient static electrical field we’re living in, causes our bodies to become a ground for these fields. This means your body is used by electricity to find ground.

This presupposes that the ambient electrical charge in our environment from dirty electricity, wifi signals, smart meters and routers is STRONGER than the electrical voltage of the earth. I would argue that the earth’s magnetic and electric field is stronger than man made electrical fields.

With that being said I would not ground if I had cell phones, computers, wifi routers and other electronic devices in the room I’m sleeping in. Some people will go so far as to turn off their circuit breaker to their entire bedroom during sleep.

They find they sleep much more sound. In general grounding mats and grounded bed sheets are incredibly healthy for sleep and for your overall health.

When you purchase some of these grounded bed sheets, they’ll tell you that you can plug it into the 3rd prong in any outlet of your bedroom.  I would caution to avoid doing that. I like doing what’s called “Rod to Earth”. I run the chord outside my window. I took my screen off and ran the grounded wire (connected to a metal rod) directly into the earth.

A couple times per week I’ll go out there and water the ground where the rod is.

How To Ground Yourself

Ideally it is best to always be grounded if you live in the correct environment. If you’re using grounded bed sheets, they’ll be lined with silver thread in them that will conduct electricity coming from the earth to your skin.

The silver threads typically will run the entire length of the bedsheet which is what you want. If the silver thread for example ran left to right on half the sheet, then you would only be getting skin contact from your waist down. Many people will wear shorts or long pajamas to bed which would hinder the conductivity of the electrical charge.

You need to have naked skin touching the silver threads of the grounded bedsheets. The more skin you can expose to those silver threads, the more electrons you’ll be able to gather during the night.

More electrons = lower inflammation.

When I got my grounded bed sheet,  it looks just like any other cotton or linen bed sheet. The main difference is the silver threading of course but there’s a little male dot/plug in one of the corners which snaps into the female part of the wire. It snaps on much like you’d snap buttons on a shirt.

You’ll want to connect the other end of that wire to the rod vs plugging into the ground plug in your wall socket.

I popped out the screen in my bedroom and ran the metal rod directly into the moist dirt outside my bedroom. Then I put my screen back on and it worked perfect.

I just ran the wire behind the bed and tucked the unused wire away so nobody could see it.

You would never know we have grounded bed sheets on our bed as part of our sleep sanctuary aka bedroom.

What I’ve Noticed After 30 Days

• Falling asleep faster
• Recovering quicker from my workouts
• Less sore muscles
• Less waking up in the middle of the night
• Feeling more rested in the morning
• Stronger immunity and less colds and flus during the Winter
• The ability shut my mind off easier when trying to fall asleep

Expert Opinions

“Among the many surprising revelations this book holds is an obvious, fundamental, and yet overlooked answer to the question of inflammation—recognized as the central health issue of our time—that surely will lay the foundation for many academic investigations and doctoral projects well into the future. I say that without equivocation, as an experienced academic cell biologist and biophysicist who has published dozens of articles in some of the world’s leading scientific journals. The research in this book puts forward, and from a completely unexpected direction, a powerful reason for the proliferation of inflammation and, most importantly, what we can do about it”. – James L. Oschman, Ph.D., Author of Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis

“Sleeping grounded gives me sound uninterrupted sleep. I awake feeling refreshed, even with all my traveling”. – Miranda Kerr, Supermodel

“She [a yoga instructor with severe arthritis] came to the laboratory and we grounded her for a half hour. When she left, she told us she didn’t feel any pain. I see her every week at yoga class, and after several months she said that the pain in the thumbs never came back. She now walks on the beach for at least a half-hour every day and also sleeps grounded”. – Gaetan Chevalier, Ph.D., Visiting researcher at the Developmental and Cell Biology Department, University of California at Irvine

“Steve encouraged Clint to stick with it and pursue research, particularly the connection with inflammation, which had been recently found to be the probable cause of heart disease”. – Steve Sinatra, M.D., Cardiologist

“Earthing is a revolutionary health breakthrough that will change your life. Read this book, get grounded, and start the process of breaking the stress and illness cycle”. –  Martin Gallagher, M.D., D.C., Author of Dr. Gallagher’s Guide to 21st Century Medicine:

“Persist he did. Eventually, Clint found open-minded experts in the fields of medicine, physiology, and biophysics, and inspired a series of research projects showing that the surface of the Earth is like one gigantic anti-inflammatory, sleep booster, and energizer—all wrapped up in one”. – Stephen Sinatra, M.D., Integrative Medicine Specialist

“Earthing has been a huge boost for me and the recovery process from injuries and exhaustion. I’m able to come back a lot stronger and feel a lot better”. – Chris Lieto, Three-time Ironman Triathlete Champion

“The electric potential (in volts) generated on the body by the EMFs at 60Hz was recorded on both the ungrounded and grounded body using a specially designed high-impedance measurement system. Earthing, either with the patches or the bed sheet, reduced the immediate environmental electric potential by a factor of at least 70”. – Roger Applewhite, Electrical Engineer

Grounding FAQs

Why can’t I use the 3rd prong?

I don’t trust the electrician who grounded my home. Even though you can test the third prong I still don’t trust it. 5G from cell towers in your area are what’s called “jump conductors” which means they can jump onto the wiring in your home. It’s safest to go rod to earth.

What if it’s raining?

If it’s raining or there’s an electrical storm, I recommend simply unplugging the end of the wire that’s attached to your bed sheet. You don’t want to risk electrocution from lightning strikes. Whenever it’s raining (whether there is lightning or not), just to be safe I’ll unplug my grounding sheets.

What if I’m on the 2nd or 3rd floor?

If you’re on the third floor of your own house, you are losing electrons by being above the earth. If it’s a controlled environment like your own home, you need to ground more. If you’re in an apartment building with wifi and routers everywhere, I would recommend not grounding in that case and finding a new place to live.

Sleep is THAT important.

Conclusion

I highly recommend trying grounded bed sheets and seeing how you feel after 30 days. The proof is in the pudding. Each bedroom, home and living situation is unique but in general I do think sleeping on grounded bed sheets is something to consider. I like stacking the odds in  your favor. Sleeping grounded (if it is good for your environment) is something that’s easy and passive with massive upside.

Questions

1. Have you ever slept grounded?
2. How long did you sleep grounded?
3. What effects did you notice?

Comment below.