Best Earthing Sheets Review: Do Grounding Sheets Work?

OVERVIEW: What are grounding sheets? Do they work? And if so, what are the best earthing sheets to purchase?

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Are you having trouble getting a full night’s rest?

Or are you struggling with inflammation or chronic pain?

If so, read on. This earthing sheets review offers a surprisingly simple solution you can try right away.

CONTENTS

The History of the Bed

Most folks used to sleep on the ground.

The Egyptian pharaohs and their cohort were the first humans to sleep on raised beds.

Just like the first high-heel shoes were worn by royalty, sleeping at a level disconnected from the earth was a trend set by a single class of people.

And this trend led to the ubiquity of raised beds—the farther off the ground, the better.

What do raised beds have to do with chronic disease?

To answer this question, we first need to understand one of the primary causes of chronic illnesses.

The Source of Chronic Illness

About half of the world’s population suffers from a chronic disease.

Medical science is beginning to understand that a primary cause of chronic illness is inflammation.¹

Inflammation is a biological response to harmful stimuli like pathogens, environmental irritants, and damaged cells.

Inflammation is the body’s attempt to remove internal threats and facilitate healing.

The immune system deploys free radicals when inflammation sets in. But when inflammation becomes chronic, we have a host of problems.

These electron-hungry molecules swarm around the area of inflammation, feeding not just on pathogens and damaged tissue (the bad guys), but on healthy cells too. This results in a deficiency of electrons.

The Science of Earthing

According to Clint Ober and the other authors of Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever (paperback), electron deficiency IS chronic inflammation. And this inflammation is the precursor to virtually every known disease.

With chronic inflammation, our bodies become starved for negatively-charged electrons.

Like in a good drama, the solution to the problem is right in front of the protagonist (us)—if only we can look down and notice it.

Earthing is the process of connecting your skin directly to the Earth.

The theory behind why earthing works comes down to the fact that negatively-charged free electrons flood the Earth.

Oceans, rivers, waterfalls, and lightning create these particles (sometimes called negative ions).

Did you know that lightning strikes the Earth 100 times every single second?²

The Earth is like a big, round battery, getting recharged with negative electrons thousands of times per minute.

How to Eliminate Chronic Inflammation

Humans used to walk barefoot on the Earth.

We also used to sleep directly on the ground, or natural materials like grass, straw, or animal skins.

Evidence suggests that earlier humans were far stronger, taller, and with larger brains.³

We have to wonder if chronic illness even existed back then.

Could the solution to our electron deficiency simply be to ground ourselves and reconnect with the Earth?

The Earth has an unending supply of these vital electrons.

But our rubber-soled shoes are insulating us from these electrons. It’s why we feel so much more relaxed when we’re walking barefoot on the beach.

So walking barefoot is one solution to this electron deficiency. Wearing earthing shoes is another.

But What About Grounding While We Sleep?

Sleeping is one of the primary ways our bodies mitigate internal threats.

But now, we’re attacked by excessive pathogens even when we sleep.

Most of our modern environments fuel inflammation.

Harmful electromagnetic frequencies (EMF) from our electronic devices, WIFI, smart meters, and power lines bombard us while we sleep.

As a consequence, chronic sleep problems where individuals experience pain and wake up frequently are becoming “the norm.”

Thankfully, there’s a new solution to this modern problem: Earthing sheets (also called grounding sheets).

What Are Grounding Sheets?

Earthing sheets are regular bedding sheets with a conductive material woven through them.

Most often, this material is silver thread because silver is an excellent conductor.

Oftentimes, this conductive material connects to a wire you plug into the grounding port on a standard electrical outlet (it’s the third prong; that semi-circular hole beneath the other two prongs).

How Grounding Sheets Work

Every household outlet has a ground wire that connects the electricity in the house to the ground outside (a copper rod buried in the ground).

In case there’s a short circuit, the ground absorbs the electrical current in the grounding wire.

Without a ground wire, your body touching the device—electrical box, appliance, power tool, etc.—may complete the ground path, resulting in a shock, if not electrocution.

Grounding sheets and earthing mats operate by a similar principle.

By “earthing” your bedding to the grounding wire in a household outlet, you’re theoretically grounding yourself to the Earth, allowing electrons to scavenge your excessive free radicals.

Instead of absorbing additional inflammation from electromagnetic radiation while you sleep, now you’re neutralizing this inflammation by introducing new electrons into your body.

Do Grounding Sheets Really Work? Here’s the Evidence.

The results of a preliminary study published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine are compelling.⁴

Dr. Maurice Ghaly found that participants who slept with a grounding pad showed a reduction in cortisol levels (a hormone associated with stress).

Ghaly and his team also found that participants’ circadian rhythms began to normalize.

Participants reported improved sleep and reduced pain and stress.

The current research on grounding is promising. Twenty-two peer-reviewed research studies show the positive effects grounding has on the human body.

For example, grounding can:

So do ground sheets work? By this evidence, it certainly appears so.

How to Use Earthing Sheets

Using earthing sheets is easy. Simply make sure your bare skin is touching the ground bed sheet, earthing bed pad, or earthing pillowcase.

You can purchase fitted earthing sheets, a flat sheet, or even a half sheet.

You don’t have to have all of them. One earthing sheet or pad connected to a grounding wire is sufficient.

That said, it’s best to have your earthing sheets or pads beneath you when you sleep. This way, the weight of your body ensures you’re making a strong grounding connection.

You also need to test your outlet to ensure that it’s grounding. An outlet checker often comes with your earthing sheets.

What are the Best Grounding Sheets?

Earthing Elite Mattress Cover (Check pricing)

Clint Ober’s Earthing.com is the pioneer in this space and the original manufacturer to offer earthing sheets with a grounding mechanism.

While you can find various knock-offs on Amazon, I don’t recommend them. (More on why below.)

Earthing.com is a U.S.-based company with live customer support. All of their products are tested for safety.

Earthing.com has continued testing and improving its ground sheets and pads for years based on customer feedback and continuous R&D.

While Earthing.com developed the original silver-threaded, conductive grounding sheets everyone else uses, the company has pivoted away from this design.

The challenge with this original design was its durability. The original silver-thread sheets lost conductivity over time.

Now, they offer a newer carbon-based conductive mattress cover called Earthing Elite that solves this problem.

Sleeping on a grounding mattress cover ensures that you stay grounded as the weight of your body maintains a strong connection with the mattress pad (through your regular cotton sheets).

How to Set Up an Earthing Bed

So to clarify, to have an effective earthing bed system, your skin needs to be in contact with a conductive material connected to the grounding port in an outlet near your bed.

The Earthing Elite mattress cover, mats, and pillowcases are highly conductive. They are designed to provide 100% grounding with a fitted cotton or bamboo sheet over it. (Note: use only natural fiber sheets; no synthetic materials.)

The Elite Mattress Cover listed below was recommended to me by Martin Zucker, one of the co-authors of Earthing.

To make a grounding connection to your earthing bed, you’ll need one of three options:

Option 1: Earthing Elite Mattress Cover Kit (Check pricing)

Option 2: Earthing Elite Sleep Mattress Kit (Check pricing)

Option 3: Earthing Pillow Cover Kit (Check pricing)

Upgrade: Earthing Sheet Set (Check pricing)

Earthing.com also offers conductive sheets made from 98% cotton with 2% AG Flex solid silver strands woven into the cotton fibers.

These sheets are designed to increase conductivity when used with their grounding mattress cover.

NOTE: These conductive sheets alone will not ground you. Regular 100% cotton sheets should work fine too. However, if you’re looking for earthing sheets that will ground you, see the additional option below from Earth Harmony.

What Comes With Your Earthing Kit?

All three options above are conductive using a black carbon-based material. They are made with a Polyurethane resin that’s vinyl-free and phthalate-free.

Each option is a “kit” that comes with everything you need:

The earthing cover or mat
Earthing coil cord
U.S. outlet checker
U.S. safety adapter
Product tester

If you’re ordering from outside the United States, be sure to add an outlet checker and safety adapter for your specific country.

It’s important to always test your outlet before plugging in your grounding bed cover.

The Original Earthing Sheet Design

The original earthing sheets are made from cotton bedding with conductive silver threading laced throughout the sheets. One corner of the sheet is connected to a wire that plugs into a grounding port in an outlet near your bed.

As stated, Earthing.com moved away from its original earthing sheet design. Their updated carbon-based mattress covers and pads are more durable and likely to maintain a stronger ground connection over time.

However, the new design does have one drawback, in my opinion. I don’t love the idea of sleeping on Polyurethane. I realize the new version is PVC-free, vinyl-free, and phthalate-free. But ultimately, you’re still sleeping on a form of plastic.

I sleep on an organic mattress, so putting a Polyurethane cover on it seems counter-productive to me.

If this concerns you as well, consider going with the original design.

Earthing Harmony Grounding Sheets (Check Prices)

Earthing Harmony sheets are made of 95% cotton and 5% silver.

The conductive silver threads are woven into the sheets to ensure proper grounding while you sleep.

Their flat grounding sheets come in three color options: natural, gray, or earthy green.

Shipping is free in the United States.

4 Things to Keep in Mind …

If you decide to go with the original earthing sheet design, keep the following in mind:

First, these earthing sheets are not sold as “kits.” So you’ll want to pick up a separate outlet checker if you don’t already have one.

Second, I suggest you use a voltage meter to ensure your sheets are grounded. (Check them periodically.)

Third, if you go with this original design, whether fitted or flat sheets, I recommend sleeping on top of the earthing sheets. That is, even if you get a flat sheet, sleep on top of it. Why? Your body weight helps ensure a stronger grounding connection with the sheets.

Fourth, read “How to Care for Your Grounding Sheets” below.

PRO TIP: If you want to extend the life of your silver-threaded sheets, add another 100% cotton fiber regular sheet on top of your grounding sheets. This will help reduce “wear and tear” as your body’s natural oils won’t interact directly with the earthing sheets and you’ll need to wash them less frequently.

Earthing Blanket: Another Way to Ground Your Bed

Earthing Throw Kit (Check Pricing)

Finally, in addition to grounding your bed with earthing sheets—or instead of—you can also use an Earthing Throw kit.

While you can put this over your bed, keep in mind that your skin needs to be either in direct contact with the blanket or be in contact with a conductive material that’s on the blanket.

This option is great if you want to ground yourself while you’re on the couch reading a book or watching television.

(Disclaimer: affiliate links above.)

Glowing Customer Reviews for Earthing Sheets

Interest in grounding sheets has exploded over the last few years. I’ve scanned hundreds of earthing sheet reviews on numerous websites. The overall feedback is extraordinary.

The most reported benefits from using earthing sheets are from individuals experiencing:

Chronic inflammation
Physical pain while they sleep
Difficulty sleeping through the night

In many cases, earthing sheets are proving to resolve these types of sleeping problems. Having reviewed the existing scientific literature on earthing/grounding, I’m not surprised.

(I’ll share my experiences using grounding sheets toward the end of this review.)

Why You Might Avoid Earthing Sheets Sold on Amazon

As soon as a product becomes popular online, loads of knock-off brands start popping up on Amazon.

This is the case with all of Earthing.com’s products, including earthing sheets.

I realize it’s tempting to buy one of these knock-off brands as they are often cheaper, but both quality control and design are factors to consider. Many of these knock-off brands come and go, so there’s no accountability here.

Plus, many of these companies are based in China and have limited customer support if you do have a problem.

A photo from Aaron’s review shows that his earthing sheets are not grounding

For example, here’s a review from Aaron Stafford on Amazon from another brand:

My main wire doesn’t have any continuity and I know that can be a rare fluke. In addition to that problem, the way the plugin snap is suppose to connect to the wires in the sheet is really bad build design. It relies on pressure from the mattress to push the wires in the sheet against the back of the snap in order for them to be connected. As a result, it has either no continuity between the snap and the wire or it is very weak connection… even when you push the snap against the wires.. bad design. In my pictures you can see a continuity test with and without pressure. It almost never has full continuity.

You might get lucky, I suppose.

Can You Feel the Grounding Effects with Earthing Sheets?

I used earthing sheets for years when I first got into grounding over a decade ago. But I didn’t notice any effects.

I still use a grounding pad when using a computer as I believe the principles behind earthing are sound.

However, except for earthing shoes, I can’t detect many, if any, effects from using these earthing products in the home.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that earthing sheets don’t work.

Had I not already optimized my sleep to support the pineal gland and removed harmful EMF from my home (see below), perhaps I would have noticed the effects.

My Dialogue with Martin Zucker

I had an extensive exchange with Martin Zucker, a co-author of Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever (paperback).

He also suggested that it’s likely because of my current state of strong health that I don’t feel the effects.

Surveying Your Sleeping Environment

Additionally, I live in a wooded environment where all the electrical wiring is underground.

There are no nearby cell towers (we don’t get a single bar). My Internet modem is shut off in the evening and there are no electronic devices in the bedroom. No WIFI, Bluetooth, or smartphones are permitted in my home.

All of this translates to super-low levels of electromagnetic radiation (EMF). As a consequence, something like earthing sheets may not be necessary in my situation.

However, if you are bombarded with EMF radiation, if you live in a city, or if you’re suffering from inflammation, chronic pain, or poor sleep, earthing sheets are certainly worth experimenting with.

See also: 30+ Powerful Sleep Hacks for Improved Sleep (including EMF suggestions)

How to Care for Your Grounding Sheets

When I originally purchased my first set of earthing sheets over a decade ago, it came with different instructions. The sheets needed special care, and even then, after a certain amount of washing, they eventually lost their connectivity.

Here’s how to care for the original earthing sheet design:

Wash in a washing machine with warm water.
Tumble dry gently on a low heat setting.
Do not dry clean or steam clean.
Avoid using bleach.

If you go with one of the original grounding sheets, be aware that body lotions and oils can tarnish the silver, reducing the conductivity over time. Fabric softeners can also build up on the silver, eventually ruining its conductive properties.

The new Earthing’s Elite Mattress Cover, however, is different. Much lower maintenance. Here’s what they recommend:

The Earthing® Mattress Cover should be wiped down with soap and water regularly to ensure good conductivity and avoid build up of skin oils.

Note: Keep in mind that many “eco-friendly detergents” contain oils that can potentially interfere with the conductivity of the silver threads. So check the label.