Before You Buy a Grounding Mat, Read This

What Is Grounding (Earthing)?

(Before you buy a grounding mat, read this): Grounding — also called earthing — is the practice of making direct, skin-to-earth contact. Think of walking barefoot on dewy grass in the morning, wading in the ocean, or digging your hands into garden soil. These aren’t just pleasant sensations. There’s growing scientific evidence that this kind of contact with the Earth’s surface has measurable positive effects on human physiology.

The Earth’s surface carries a mild but constant negative electrical charge. When your bare skin touches it, your body can absorb free electrons — nature’s own antioxidants. Researchers describe this as connecting to the planet’s global DC electrical circuit, a circuit that every living organism on Earth evolved alongside — until very recently.

Our ancestors were grounded constantly. They walked on soil and stone with leather-soled or bare feet, slept close to the earth, and worked outdoors with their hands. Today, we live insulated from the ground: rubber-soled shoes, raised beds, carpeted floors, concrete everywhere. Most of us have virtually no daily contact with the Earth’s surface. Some researchers believe this “electron deficiency” is a quiet but significant contributor to the chronic inflammation that underlies so many modern diseases.

The Health Benefits: What the Research Shows

Research into earthing has grown considerably over the past two decades, with peer-reviewed studies appearing in journals ranging from the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine to the Journal of Inflammation Research. While the science is still maturing — and mainstream medicine is cautious — the findings are consistent enough to take seriously. Here is what has been observed:

• Reduced Inflammation

Perhaps the most well-documented benefit. Peer-reviewed research has shown that grounding reduces the cardinal signs of inflammation — redness, heat, swelling, and pain — following injury. One study used medical infrared imaging to document rapid resolution of chronic inflammation in 20 case studies. The proposed mechanism is that electrons from the Earth act as natural antioxidants, neutralizing the free radicals that drive the inflammatory process.

• Improved Sleep & Normalized Cortisol

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study published in 2025 found meaningful improvements in sleep quality in participants who used a grounding mat for 31 nights. Earlier research also showed that sleeping grounded normalizes cortisol rhythms — the stress hormone that should peak in the morning and taper through the day. Many people find they wake feeling more rested and recover faster from physical exertion.

• Cardiovascular Support

Studies have found that grounding reduces blood viscosity (thickness), which is a significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Improved blood flow regulation and heart rate variability have also been reported. These are not minor findings — they suggest grounding could be a meaningful complement to heart health strategies.

• Stress, Mood & Anxiety Relief

A 2024 review published in Medical Research Archives examined grounding as an adjunctive treatment for anxiety, noting that it provides rapid regulation of heart and respiratory rates, reduced muscle tension, and calmer brainwave patterns. Participants in several studies reported lower levels of pain, stress, depression, and fatigue after regular grounding practice.

• Wound Healing

In a compelling example, research documented accelerated healing of an 8-month-old non-healing wound in an 84-year-old diabetic woman after just two weeks of grounding treatments — with visible improvement in circulation and tissue color within the first week. A separate study found 1 hour of daily grounding for a month accelerated wound healing in people with diabetes.

In short: Some researchers now refer to grounding as “Vitamin G” — a nutrient we’ve unwittingly removed from our daily lives by modernizing our living environment.

Natural Grounding: The Simplest Starting Point

The purest and most straightforward form of earthing requires no equipment whatsoever. If you can get your bare skin in contact with the Earth regularly — even 20 to 30 minutes a day — you may notice real benefits over time.

The best natural grounding surfaces include:

• Grass — especially when slightly damp from morning dew or rain
• Sandy beaches and shorelines
• Bare soil or garden earth
• Concrete or stone (these can conduct ground energy, though less efficiently)
• Natural bodies of water — lakes, rivers, the ocean

Swimming in the ocean is particularly effective, as salt water is an excellent conductor and your whole body is in contact with a naturally grounded medium.

⚠️  An Important Caution: What’s on Your Lawn?

Here is where I have to put on my Building Biology hat for a moment. Before you kick off your shoes and step onto your lawn, please consider what has been applied to it.

Pesticides, herbicides (including glyphosate-based products like Roundup), synthetic fertilizers, and lawn treatment chemicals are commonly applied to residential grass — and they remain in the top layer of soil and on grass blades for days, weeks, or longer depending on conditions. Absorbing these through the soles of your feet is not a trade-off you want to make.

My recommendation: if your lawn is treated — or if you are unsure — opt for natural grounding on an untreated surface. A sandy beach, an organic garden bed, or a park or nature preserve is almost always a safer choice. And if you want to ground on your own property, shifting to organic lawn care is an investment in your health that pays dividends well beyond grounding.

Similarly, if you live near areas where agricultural spray drift is possible, or where soil contamination is a known concern (near old industrial sites, for example), barefoot outdoor grounding on that soil may not be wise without knowing more about the soil composition.

Quick tip: Moist sand at the water’s edge on a natural beach is one of the best grounding surfaces available — highly conductive, free of chemicals, and absolutely free of charge.

⚠️ Earthing Mats & Indoor Grounding Products: A Double-Edged Sword

For those of us who live in urban environments, work long hours indoors, or simply can’t get outside every day, earthing mats and grounding products offer an appealing alternative. These devices — which include floor mats, desk mats, bed sheets, and body bands — contain conductive materials (typically carbon fiber or silver threads) that connect via a wire either to the ground port of an electrical outlet or directly to a grounding rod driven into the earth outside.

Many users, including my own Building Biology instructor Oram Miller* (BBEC, EMRS), report real and lasting benefits. Oram has personally used a grounding pad on his bed for years and describes meaningful improvements in energy, morning vitality, and post-exercise recovery. The research team at the Earthing Institute has conducted studies showing significant health improvements even when other electromagnetic exposures are present.

One particularly interesting mechanism they’ve documented: when you are earthed through a mat, your body effectively becomes what physicists call a Faraday cage. Electrons from the mat align on your skin, creating a protective shield that may buffer your internal organs from some of the effects of ambient electric fields. This is a compelling finding, especially for those of us who spend many hours at a desk or computer.

⚠️  The Critical Caution: Your Ground Must Be Clean

This is where my work as an EMF consultant and the Building Biology perspective becomes essential — and where earthing mats carry a risk that is almost never mentioned in consumer marketing.

When you plug an earthing mat into the ground port of a wall outlet, you are connecting your body to your home’s electrical grounding system. Under ideal circumstances, that ground is a clean, neutral reference — just a wire running to a rod driven into the earth outside your home. But in the real world, that is frequently not what you get.

Two specific concerns deserve your attention:

• Dirty Electricity on the Grounding Path

Dirty electricity refers to high-frequency voltage spikes and harmonics that travel along household wiring — generated by switching power supplies, LED dimmers, solar inverters, variable-speed appliances, smart meters, and many other modern devices. These distortions are not just on the hot and neutral lines. They can and do appear on the ground wire as well.

If your home has significant dirty electricity, connecting an earthing mat to a standard outlet could mean introducing those high-frequency distortions directly onto the surface of your body. For a healthy person this may be a minor concern, but for anyone who is electromagnetically sensitive (EHS), this can trigger real and uncomfortable symptoms.

Before using an earthing mat via an outlet, I strongly recommend measuring dirty electricity levels in your home — particularly on the circuits near where you plan to use the mat. A Satic Shield EMI meter can give you a quick read of DE levels (use discount code “HIC10” at checkout). A Graham-Stetzer or Greenwave meters can also be used.  If levels are elevated, DE filters on that circuit may help, or you may want to consider the alternative below.

• Stray Currents and Neutral-to-Ground Voltage

Stray voltage and “net current” on the grounding system is more common than most homeowners realize, particularly in homes on grid power in densely populated areas. Utilities use the earth itself as a return path for current under some conditions, meaning your home’s ground rod — and by extension, your electrical ground — may carry small but measurable amounts of current.

Additionally, in homes with wiring issues, the ground wire can carry elevated voltage relative to true earth. Before trusting your outlet ground as a clean reference point for your body, it is worth measuring with a multimeter between the ground port of your outlet and a separate grounding rod driven into the earth well away from your home’s electrical system. Any significant voltage difference is a red flag.

The Safer Alternative: Direct Earth Connection

If you want to use an earthing mat and you are concerned about your outlet ground, the cleanest option is to bypass your household wiring entirely and run a dedicated wire from the mat directly to a grounding rod driven into the earth outside. This rod should be placed at least 20 feet away from your home’s electrical system ground rod to minimize any crossover. This gives you a true earth connection, independent of your home’s wiring and any EMF distortions it may carry.

Oram Miller* takes this approach himself — he grounded his bedside earthing pad directly to the earth rather than relying on the house outlet. Combined with reducing electric field exposure in the bedroom (by turning off circuits at the breaker panel or using a demand switch), this represents the Building Biology ideal.

A Note on Electrically Hypersensitive (EHS) Individuals

If you are electromagnetically sensitive, please approach earthing mats with extra caution. Some EHS individuals report initial discomfort when first using a mat — tingling, increased sensitivity, or other sensations. In some cases, this reflects a healing response as the body re-equilibrates; in others, it may indicate that the grounding path is not clean.

For EHS individuals, the recommended sequence is: (1) reduce electric fields in your sleeping and working environment first; (2) ground any unshielded electronics; and (3) then introduce an earthing mat via a clean, direct earth connection. Taking these steps in order tends to yield much better outcomes.

Quick Reference: Grounding Do’s & Don’ts

NATURAL GROUNDING — DO:

• Walk barefoot on clean, untreated grass, sand, or bare soil
• Swim or wade in natural bodies of water
• Garden with bare hands in organic, uncontaminated soil
• Aim for 20–30 minutes of daily contact when possible

NATURAL GROUNDING — THINK TWICE:

• Lawn treated with pesticides, herbicides, or synthetic fertilizers
• Soil near old industrial sites or known contamination zones
• Areas with agricultural spray drift

EARTHING MATS — DO:

• Measure your home’s dirty electricity levels before using one
• Consider a direct-to-earth connection (dedicated grounding rod) for the cleanest result
• Reduce electric field exposure in the room where you plan to use the mat
• Start slowly if you are electromagnetically sensitive — give your body time to adjust

EARTHING MATS — CAUTION:

• Do not plug a mat into an outlet without first verifying the ground is clean
• If your home has solar panels, a smart meter, or significant dirty electricity, test before connecting
• If you notice worsening symptoms when using a mat, stop and investigate the grounding path

My Perspective

Grounding is one of those rare health practices that is simultaneously ancient and newly rediscovered, completely free in its natural form, and backed by an increasingly solid body of research. I encourage everyone I work with to incorporate it into their daily lives — even something as simple as five minutes of barefoot walking on a clean surface each morning can be a meaningful starting point.

The earthing mat question is more nuanced, and this is where the EMF consulting lens matters. I have seen clients genuinely benefit from indoor grounding products, and I have also seen situations where a mat plugged into a “dirty” ground made things worse. Context matters enormously — which is exactly why I encourage you to reach out before investing in one.

As always, I am here to help you navigate these questions. Whether you want to know more about measuring your home’s electrical environment, reducing your EMF exposure, or simply figuring out whether a grounding mat makes sense in your specific situation, I am just a call or email away.

Wishing you: health, clarity, and many barefoot mornings

If you have questions or want to discuss your EMF issues, click HERE to schedule a free mini-consult where I can offer a few tips.

If you want to purchase a meter to measure dirty electricity or other EMF related products, click here:

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*Further reading: Oram Miller BBEC, EMRS — Position Paper on the Use of Earthing and Grounding Mats