Who Needs a Mattress? The Benefits of Sleeping on the Ground

If you have read my articles in the past, you may have noticed a somewhat recurring theme. Basically, my wife does something health-wise that most would consider weird, then I do some research and find out she is right.

She tapes her mouth shut when we sleep. Apparently great for improved sleep, dental health, nitric oxide production, etc.

She’s been cold plunging since long before the current trend.

When anyone in the house gets sick, “Here, just take this.” Some eye of newt/wing of bat type stuff. Inevitably, we feel better pretty quickly. Now, me being me, I still enjoy the research part of it, and it wouldn’t be a very good article without some science to back these things up.

The newest thing: She’s been sleeping on a grounding mat.

Grounding isn’t really a new thing, and it isn’t new to her, either. But, I wanted to check out the claims and see what the science says. Grounding – also referred to as earthing, for those who don’t know – is basically contacting some part of your bare body to the earth. The earth itself has a negative electrical charge. Scientists theorize that when in contact with the earth, there is a transfer of free electrons to the human body. So, what the possible benefits of this electrical conduction are is what we need to find out.

Many ancient cultures believed in the power of being physically connected to the earth, though they may not have called it grounding. The ancient Chinese referred to the earth’;s electric charge as earth qi (pronounced chee) and was the reason that exercises geared to strengthening the body and relaxing the mind were practiced without footwear.

In the late 1800s, a man named Adolf Just, who some consider one of the founders of naturopathy, wrote “of the great curative effect” of grounding. “Sleeping on the ground, consequently, more than by anything else, the entire body is aroused from its lethargy to a new manifestation of vital energy, so that it can now effectively remove old morbid matter … and receive a sensation of new health, new life, and new unthought-of vigor and strength.” I’m not sure what “morbid matter” really means, but “unthought-of vigor and strength” sounds pretty good. A French biophysicist by the name of Mattheo Tavera espoused the benefits derived from “electric nutrition.”

One of the most interesting figures in the world of grounding research is a man named Clint Ober. Ober was huge in the cable-TV industry in the 1980s and ’90s. He was the guy who did a lot of research in the development of the actual cable that comes into your house. In order for you to get a clean, crisp image on your TV, there can’t be any disturbances getting into or leaking out of that copper conductor. That is why there is a mesh shield surrounding that copper within the wire that is connected to the earth (grounded) so that the earth can donate or accept electrons to prevent the buildup of charges in the system. The earth stabilizes the system.

After he retired, Ober became interested in how these electrical properties may apply to the health of the human body. Could insulating your body from the earth’s connection (by wearing shoes, etc.) have broad health implications? He wanted to know, so he started funding research to find out. Funny how the guy who helped get us away from the earth and in front of a TV is now the guy funding grounding research.

In his first experiment, with the help of a nurse he identified volunteers with chronic sleep or pain issues. He then set up grounding mats of his own invention – which consisted of a metallic duct tape connected by wire to a ground rod outside the window – on all of their beds. On some, the rod was blocked so they were not actually grounded. The participants did not know that some were not really grounded. The results were significantly better in the grounded group in the areas of, time to fall asleep, quality of sleep, wake feeling rested, muscle stiffness and pain, chronic back and/or joint pain. His initial findings are what has sparked much of the research to date. Kate is probably onto something.

There seems to be a general paucity of research on the topic, but that doesn’t mean the benefits aren’t there. There have been a small number of studies claiming benefits such as a reduction in inflammation, increased vitamin D production, positively impacted gut bacteria, lower blood pressure, and reduced red blood cell clumping.

Kate thinks she is getting better sleep with her grounding mat. It’s a little more sophisticated than metallic duct tape, but it’s the same idea. I have not seen any research stating negative effects. Maybe increased risk of stepping on a bumble bee in the grass, or fire ants! (I once stumbled into some fire ants in Mexico – not a good time.) I personally think it is probably worth the risk.

I remember one of the best night’s sleeps I have ever had was on the beach in North Carolina (not in Stone Harbor, heavens). But what better a place to give grounding a try than in Stone Harbor in the summer? No grounding mat necessary. You just have to do it during the day and get some sun, too. There is definitely no sleeping on the beach in Stone Harbor, my heavens!