[grwebform url=”https://app.getresponse.com/view_webform_v2.js?u=wfNAY&webforms_id=57753701″ css=”on” center=”off” center_margin=”200″/]
What is Grounding or Earthing ?
What is grounding or earthing, and what do the practices have to do with getting a good night’s sleep? Read on to learn about this trend and decide if might be for you.
Sleeping is essential for our health and well-being. It enables our bodies to rest and repair, and it helps to consolidate memories and improve learning. While there are many mainstream ways to help you sleep, they don’t work for everyone. Not being able to sleep can be debilitating for those that it affects. So, they often turn to less conventional ways to help them sleep better at night.
Grounding or Earthing Practice
One of these less conventional sleep aids has to do with a process called grounding, or earthing. When you think of sleep, you might not think of the ground. But there is actually a growing body of research that suggests that spending time in contact with the earth can have a profound effect on your sleep patterns. The practice of grounding involves intentionally coming into contact with the earth’s surface. This can be done by walking barefoot on grass, sand or mud/soil, lying on the ground, or even wading in a lake or the ocean. Some people even sleep on special grounding mats that are designed to conduct the earth’s energy into their bodies. More on this later.
Grounding is the practice of connecting to the Earth’s natural energy. There is some scientific evidence that suggests grounding may provide health benefits outside of sleep quality. These include reducing inflammation, and decreasing pain levels. Grounding is considered safe and popular, but more research is needed to confirm its benefits.
How Does Grounding or Earthing Help?
Reducing Inflammation
One of the most common reasons many people have difficulty sleeping, is due to chronic pain. Pain is caused by inflammation, which can be caused by the build-up of free radicals. Free radicals are atoms, molecules, or ions with unpaired electrons in the outermost orbital. Free radicals are highly chemically reactive due to the unstable unpaired electron. This reactivity leads to chemical reactions that can damage cells, causing inflammation.
Advocates of grounding believe that it helps to reduce inflammation, and the research seems to back this up. The reason it works is because the earth has an abundance of electrons that can neutralize unpaired electrons in the free radicals.
Reducing Anxiety and Stress
Other reasons many people struggle to sleep is because of the effects of anxiety and stress. Again, grounding has been shown to help reduce these mental health issues.
As well as helping to ease pain, anxiety and stress to help you sleep, grounding has been shown to improve overall sleep quality. One of the mechanisms behind this is that it can help to reset the circadian rhythm, which regulates the sleep-wake cycle.
Grounding or Earthing and Blue Screens
Another reason people struggle to sleep is the effect of exposure to screens, such as laptops, mobile phones and television. These electrical devices all emit electromagnetic fields (EMFs), which can disrupt the production of the sleep hormone, melatonin. This can lead to sleep disturbances. Grounding has been shown to negate EMFs which is another great reason to give it a try.
Screens, as well as fluorescent lights, paint, and even some carpets and upholstery can give off positive ions. The harmful effects of these can also be reduced by the negative ions associated with grounding. However, you could just remove mobile phones and televisions from your bedroom and restrict their use to approximately an hour before you go to bed.
Grounding or Earthing: How Can You Employ It?
Ground Contact
Now that you know a little more about grounding, how can you use it to help you sleep better? As mentioned, you can practice grounding by walking barefoot outside. However, this is not always possible due to practicality and inclement weather.
Exposure to Sunlight
Having said that, one of the typical strategies to help you sleep better is getting plenty of exposure to natural daylight, especially first thing in the morning. Why not get out in your garden and walk barefoot for ten minutes or so every morning? You will be getting a double whammy of benefits to help you sleep. Natural daylight and grounding.
Products Such as a Grounding Mat
Our prehistoric ancestors used to sleep on the ground, in their caves, as well as walk around barefoot. Luckily, we don’t have to do that as there is such a thing as a grounding mat, manufactured specifically to help you sleep better, while in the comfort of your bed, using the benefits associated with grounding.
What Are Grounding Mats Made Of?
Grounding mats are made of conductive materials containing carbon. There is also a special kind of safety plug adaptor on these grounding mats to prevent you from getting an electric shock. Carbon is hypoallergenic, which is an additional benefit. Plus carbon is in every living organism, which is another reason that it is perfect for grounding. The idea is that when you lie on the mat, it will ground your body in the same way that sleeping on the ground does. It does this by simulating the electrical charge of the Earth by conducting negative electrons, which then balance out the electrons in the body.
Other Grounding Products
As well as grounding mats, grounding sheets, pillows or sleeping bags are also available. These have silver thread running through them. The benefits of using an earthing mat as opposed to a sheet are that it doesn’t need to be washed as often. In fact, it will only need a wipe down rather than actual washing. The other benefit is that the whole surface area of the grounding mat is conductive.
Despite the fact that silver is the most highly conductive metal known. the threads in the sheet are interspersed with the regular threads. This means that they have much less surface area, compared to the grounding mat, giving less earthing benefit overall.
No Scientific Support for Grounding Mats
There is some anecdotal evidence, in the form of reviews and testimonials that grounding mats and sheets can indeed improve sleep quality. However, there is no specific scientific evidence to support this claim. Indeed, all the online stores link to some of the studies referenced above regarding grounding, in general; but not regarding grounding mats, sheets, pillows or sleeping bags specifically.
Conductive Shoe Soles
These shoes have thin soles so that you can feel the contours ie bumps in the natural walking environment. These shoes are similar to moccasins.
Some people follow the indigenous practices of actually walking with moccasins. They claim that the thin leather sole of the moccasin connects them with the earth, and thereby provides the advantages of grounding.
Others wear a conductive sole, again mostly made from leather. And in the sole there is a copper button that transmits the earth’s electricity into the foot.
Negative Side Effects of Earthing
Scientists warn of ‘technical electrosmog’ that makes it unhealthy to ground into the earth or anywhere else if there is evidence of left over ‘dirty’ electricity’ . So if you are thinking of using grounding mats or any other device that literally plugs you into the earth’s or any other electricity source, you should perhaps do some research.
Otherwise, the practice of grounding seems reasonable and safe, and if some folks are feeling they are having great results, then what the heck, why not try it? One scientist did offer the opinion that if a person is thinking about going into a ‘green bath’ ie hike, of course they will have a better frame of mind and will feel better about their experience. The Earth might be the biggest placebo on Earth, but if it works, then who is going to complain about that!
For more grounding / earthing information, click here to check out Healthline’s article : “Grounding: Exploring Earthing Science and the Benefits Behind It”.
Click here to access our entire section of insomnia articles.
[grwebform url=”https://app.getresponse.com/view_webform_v2.js?u=wfNAY&webforms_id=57753701″ css=”on” center=”off” center_margin=”200″/]