Reconnecting with
the earth
Sleeping on an Earthing sheet supports health and wellbeing.
What is earthing?
There are three very important things to understand about earthing, or grounding, before it makes sense.
Firstly, there is very good evidence that the root of all chronic illness is inflammation. Inflammation, at its root, is caused by free radicals in the blood. That is why there is a big and lucrative market in anti oxidant remedies: anti-oxidants remove free radicals. However, the way nature has designed us to wipe up free radicals is by contact with the earth. Free radicals have a positive electrical charge and the earth has a large negative charge. Every time our skin makes contact with the earth, we connect to a huge sea of negative charged ions, which quickly clear the body of positively charged free radicals. That is why there are so many testemonials of healings brought about, over time, by this. The way we sleep grounded, the time that the body heals, is to use an earthing bed sheet.
Secondly, as is described in the section on Geopathic Stress, the time our bodies rejuvenate and heal is at night while we sleep. It is wonderful and healing to walk barefoot on the earth, but it is during the long period of sleep that we need to be earthed. This is when healing takes place. Rubber and plastic soled shoes insulate us from the earth. Wooden floors and carpets insulate us. Most human beings go from one week to the next now without ever being earthed, natures fundamental healer.
Thirdly, a new and relatively recent challenge to health is the electro smog in which most of us now live. More and more questions are being asked about the health effects of continuous wi-fi, 4g and 5g mobile signals and the mass of electromagnetic fields being given off by all our electrical gadgets and appliances, to mention a few. Every time our body picks up an electrical charge, that charge stays in our body until it can be released through grounding. We live in an environment now that is filled with electromagnetic pollution, and alongside this, we are insulated from the earth continuously by our modern shoes and houses. Every time we earth, it allows the electrical charges we have picked up, to be drained away. Again, this happens most fully at night, while we sleep with a grounding bedsheet.
We are, quite literally, of the earth.
For most of human history, people would have spent their lives — including their sleeping hours — in direct contact with the ground. There was no insulation between the body and the earth in the way there is today.
Modern life has changed that.
We sleep on mattresses and beds, above floors and foundations, and are surrounded by materials that separate us from the earth. We may occasionally walk barefoot on grass, sand or soil, but that contact is usually brief.
Why an earthing sheet?
The earth carries a massive natural negative electrical charge, while free radicals are positively charged. The earth’s negative charge is primarily caused by lightning storms, taking place continuously around the globe, and by solar winds. When positive charged free radicals come in contact with negatively charged electrons from the earth, they are neutralised.
An earthing sheet is designed to reconnect the body electrically with the earth while you sleep. Conductive threads within the sheet are connected to the earth connection of a properly grounded socket, allowing electrons from the earth to reach the body.
According to the earthing model, these electrons can neutralise positively charged free radicals. It is, as Clint Ober, co-author of ‘Earthing’ states; ‘The lost connection to our planet’s natural flow of surface electrical energy and the electron deficiency in our bodies that this creates.’ (My italics).
The idea is simple: Earth → electrons → neutralising free radicals → supporting the body's natural healing processes.
Rather than trying to force the body to heal, the principle is to give it the conditions and resources it needs to do what it is naturally designed to do.
Sleep + healing = maximum opportunity to heal, restore and regenerate
I place particular importance on earthing during sleep, rather than relying solely on occasional barefoot contact during the day.
A ten-minute barefoot walk may be enjoyable and beneficial in its own right, but an earthing sheet can provide a continuous connection for the entire night: the very period when it is naturally focused on healing, restoration and regeneration.
Earthing bed sheets can be obtained from the website www.royriggs.net They are cheaper than others out there, machine washable and last indefinitely. Please note that I have no affiliation with the website.
Walking barefoot is wonderful — but it doesn't provide the same continuous connection as earthing while you sleep.
Sleep is when the body has its greatest opportunity to rest, repair and regenerate. So this is when maintaining a connection with the earth becomes particularly important.
Further reading
The theory of earthing is explored in detail in Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever? by Clinton Ober, Stephen T. Sinatra and Martin Zucker, which I draw on as a starting point for anyone wanting to read further into the subject.
Core themes in Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?:
Disconnection from the earth — the idea that modern life (rubber-soled shoes, elevated buildings, synthetic and wooden flooring) has physically insulated humans from the earth's surface in a way earlier generations weren't.
Free electron transfer — the central mechanism the authors propose: that the earth carries a supply of free electrons, and skin contact allows these to transfer into the body, acting as antioxidants that neutralise excess free radicals.
Inflammation — a major focus of the book; the authors argue chronic low-grade inflammation underlies many modern illnesses, and that earthing may help regulate it.
Sleep and cortisol rhythms — the authors describe small studies suggesting grounding normalises cortisol secretion patterns and improves sleep quality.
Blood viscosity and circulation — the book cites research suggesting grounding reduces blood cell clumping ("zeta potential" changes), which the authors link to cardiovascular benefits.
Pain and chronic conditions — case studies and anecdotal reports throughout the book link earthing to reduced pain, faster wound healing, and improvement in various chronic conditions.
A "back to nature" narrative — a broader wellness philosophy that reconnecting with natural elements restores something modern life has stripped away.
"We can never have enough of nature."
— Henry David Thoreau, Walden (1854)