Curious if grounding really works? You’re not alone.
We know it can sound unconventional — connecting to the Earth to improve sleep and reduce stress. But the science behind grounding is real, and growing. Researchers have explored its effects on sleep, inflammation, cortisol, and the nervous system. Below, you’ll find a summary of the most credible studies to date. This isn’t hype or hearsay — it’s a closer look at what the data actually says.

The Science of Grounding (Earthing) and Your Body

Definition:
Grounding (also called earthing) means making direct skin contact with the Earth, or with a conductive system connected to the Earth (for example, a grounded sleep mat or patch).

This page summarizes what peer-reviewed research (last 10–15 years) tells us about grounding and the human body.

1. Executive Summary

Across multiple small but carefully run studies, grounding has been shown to:

• Improve sleep quality and normalize night-time cortisol (stress hormone)

• Shift the nervous system toward “rest and digest” (higher HRV, lower stress)

• Reduce pain and speed recovery from muscle damage and injuries

• Reduce inflammatory markers in the blood

• Improve blood flow by reducing “stickiness” of red blood cells

At the same time:

• Most studies are small (tens of people, not hundreds).

• Many are early-stage and need larger, independent replications.

• Grounding is not a cure-all, and not a replacement for medical care.

What the data do suggest is that being electrically connected to the Earth nudges the body toward balance: calmer, less inflamed, better blood flow and more stable daily rhythms.

2. How Has Grounding Been Studied?

Researchers have tested grounding using:

• Grounded sleep mats / mattress pads connected to Earth ground

• Adhesive patches on the feet, hands, or legs

• Grounded recovery mats used after exercise

• Sham (fake) devices that look identical but are not connected to ground

Typical study designs include:

• Randomized controlled trials (RCTs)
  Participants are randomly assigned to real grounding vs sham grounding. Both the participants and the researchers often don’t know who is in which group (double-blind or even triple-blind).

• Pilot and observational studies
  Everyone is grounded; before-after changes are measured (e.g., hormones, pain, inflammation, thermography).

Outcomes measured:

• Sleep quality questionnaires (e.g., PSQI)

• Salivary cortisol over 24 hours

• Heart rate variability (HRV)

• Blood markers: inflammatory cytokines, white blood cell counts, creatine kinase (muscle damage), blood viscosity, zeta potential

• Pain scores and functional measures

• Thermal imaging of inflammation

3. Key Findings With Quantified Outcomes

3.1 Sleep & Cortisol Regulation

Study examples

• Ghaly & Teplitz, 2004 – Sleep and cortisol (pilot study)

  • 12 adults with sleep and stress complaints slept on grounded mattress pads for 8 weeks.

  • 24-hour saliva samples showed:

    • Night-time cortisol levels fell substantially (in many subjects roughly halved vs baseline).

    • Cortisol rhythm shifted toward a normal pattern: low at night, clear peak in the morning.

  • Subjectively, most participants reported:

    • Faster sleep onset

    • Fewer night awakenings

    • Less pain and stress on waking

• Lin et al., 2022 (Healthcare) – Grounding in mild Alzheimer’s (double-blind RCT)

  • 22 patients with mild Alzheimer’s used either a grounded mat or an identical sham mat for 30 minutes, 5×/week, for 12 weeks.

  • Sleep (Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, PSQI):

    • Grounded group: ≈3-point improvement on a 0–21 scale

    • Sham group: ≈0.3-point change (minimal)

    • 62.5% of grounded patients achieved a clinically meaningful improvement vs 14.3% in sham.

  • Anxiety and depression scores showed no clear difference in this short trial.

What this suggests
Grounding during rest or sleep can:

• Improve subjective sleep quality

• Help normalize the daily cortisol rhythm (especially reducing inappropriate night-time cortisol)

• Support better sleep even in challenging populations (e.g. Alzheimer’s patients)

3.2 Stress, Nervous System Balance & HRV

Key measures: heart rate variability (HRV), especially high-frequency (HF) power (parasympathetic/vagal activity).

• Chevalier & Sinatra, 2011 (Integrative Medicine)

  • 28 adults in a randomized crossover design: 40-minute grounded session vs sham.

  • HRV monitored continuously.

  • Results during grounding:

    • High-frequency HRV power (vagal tone) increased by roughly 30–40%.

    • Overall HRV (SDNN) increased more in grounded sessions vs sham.

    • Sympathovagal balance (LF/HF ratio) shifted toward parasympathetic (“rest and digest”).

• Chevalier, 2015 (Psychological Reports) – Mood RCT

  • 40 adults, 1-hour grounding vs sham.

  • Grounded group showed:

    • Larger reductions in tension/anxiety and anger

    • Greater overall improvement in mood state than sham group.

What this suggests

• Grounding can produce rapid shifts in nervous system balance – within minutes.

• HRV improvements are similar to or greater than those seen with typical relaxation interventions.

• Subjectively, people feel calmer, more relaxed, less tense.

3.3 Inflammation & Pain

3.3.1 Post-Exercise Muscle Damage (DOMS)

• Brown et al., 2010 (JACM) – DOMS RCT

  • 8 healthy men performed strenuous eccentric exercise to induce muscle soreness.

  • Randomized to sleep and recover for 3 nights either:

    • Grounded (patches + grounded sleeping bag), or

    • Sham-grounded.

  • Findings:

    • Pain at 48 hours: grounded group rated soreness about 30–40% lower than sham.

    • Blood markers:

      • Creatine kinase (CK) – less muscle damage in grounded group.

      • White blood cells (especially neutrophils) rose much less in grounded participants.

• Müller et al., 2019 (Frontiers in Physiology) – Recovery in athletes (triple-blind RCT)

  • 22 male athletes performed downhill running to induce muscle damage.

  • Slept on either grounded or sham mats for 10 nights.

  • Results for grounded vs sham:

    • Muscle strength at 48–72h: grounded athletes retained ~90% of baseline vs ~80% for sham.

    • Creatine kinase at 72h: CK rise about 40% lower in grounded group.

    • Subjective soreness: lower in grounded group, especially on day 2.

    • Inflammatory markers (e.g. IP-10, MIP-1α, sP-selectin) increased far less in grounded athletes.

3.3.2 Chronic Pain & Everyday Discomfort

• Massage therapists study, 2019 (Explore)

  • 16 therapists (physically demanding job, high pain/fatigue).

  • Stepped-wedge, double-blind design: 4 weeks grounded vs 4 weeks sham.

  • During grounding:

    • Pain severity decreased by about 2 points on a 0–10 scale.

    • Pain interference with work and daily life dropped by ~20–30%.

    • Tiredness and depressed mood also significantly decreased.

  • Some benefits persisted a month after stopping grounding.

• Case reports & thermography

  • Thermal imaging of injuries and chronic pain sites shows:

    • Reduced heat and redness (less inflammation) after 30–60 minutes of grounding.

    • Faster resolution of chronic inflamed wounds in some long-term grounding users.

What this suggests

• Grounding reduces acute inflammation and muscle damage after stress or exercise.

• It can also reduce chronic pain and stiffness, particularly for people with physically demanding work or chronic musculoskeletal issues.

• The effect appears in both subjective reports and objective blood/inflammation markers.

3.4 Blood Viscosity, Zeta Potential & Circulation

Chevalier et al., 2013 (Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine)

• 10 healthy adults grounded for 2 hours via patches on hands and feet.

• Blood samples before and after:

  • Zeta potential (electric charge on red blood cells)

    • Increased (more negative) by an average of ~2.7 mV.

    • More negative charge = cells repel each other more.

  • Red blood cell aggregation

    • Measured under microscope; clumping decreased by about 25–30%.

Implication

• Less RBC clumping → lower blood viscosity → easier blood flow.

• This is relevant for cardiovascular health:

  • High viscosity and RBC aggregation are associated with hypertension, clot risk and heart disease.

  • Grounding appears to be a natural, mild “blood-thinning” influence by improving electrical properties of blood, not by directly affecting clotting factors.

Other pilot work and case series suggest:

• Slight reductions in blood pressure in some hypertensive individuals grounding for many hours per day.

• Improved microcirculation (including facial microcirculation) after short grounding sessions.

3.5 Stress, Mood & General Well-Being

Across multiple studies:

• Grounded participants report:

  • Less stress and irritability

  • Improved mood

  • Less fatigue and more energy

• In Alzheimer’s patients, mood scales did not change strongly in 12 weeks of short grounding sessions – suggesting mood in severe neurodegenerative disease may be less responsive, or may require longer or more intensive grounding.

Overall, grounding appears to support mental well-being primarily by:

• Reducing physiological stress load (cortisol, sympathetic activation)

• Improving sleep

• Reducing ongoing pain and inflammation (which themselves drive low mood and fatigue)

4. How Might Grounding Work? (Mechanisms in Plain Language)

Scientists propose several overlapping mechanisms. These are still being refined, but they are consistent with known physics and biology.

4.1 Electron Transfer & Antioxidant Effects

• The Earth’s surface carries a negative electric charge: a huge reservoir of free electrons.

• When your bare skin contacts the ground (or a grounded conductor), your body:

  • Equalizes to the Earth’s potential

  • Allows electrons to flow into areas of positive charge (for example, inflamed tissues full of free radicals).

Why this matters:

• Inflammation and tissue damage involve reactive oxygen species (ROS) – “electron-hungry” molecules.

• Electrons from the Earth can neutralize these ROS, similar to antioxidants from food.

• This may:

  • Limit collateral damage to healthy cells

  • Help resolve inflammation faster

  • Support faster healing

4.2 Electrical Stabilization of the Body

The body is an electrical system:

• Heart: electrical impulses (ECG)

• Brain: electrical activity (EEG)

• Nerves and muscles: voltage-dependent signals

Modern indoor environments often expose us to:

• Alternating electric fields from wiring and devices

• Static charge buildup when insulated from ground

When grounded:

• Your body’s voltage relative to Earth drops to near zero.

• Induced noise from surrounding electric fields is dramatically reduced.

• This may:

  • “Clean up” electrical noise in the nervous system

  • Make brain and heart signals more stable

  • Contribute to the quick improvements seen in HRV and muscle tension

4.3 Calming the Nervous System (Parasympathetic Activation)

• Studies show grounding leads to:

  • Higher HRV (especially high-frequency power)

  • Lower LF/HF ratio

  • Reduced muscle tension and subjective stress

This pattern indicates activation of the parasympathetic (vagal) system – the “rest, digest and repair” arm of the nervous system.

Effects include:

• Slower heart rate

• Lower blood pressure (in some cases)

• Improved digestion

• More readiness for healing and regeneration

This also helps normalize hormones:

• Less chronic sympathetic “fight or flight” drive →
  Better control of cortisol throughout the day (lower at night, appropriate peak in the morning).

4.4 Better Blood Flow Through Charge Effects

• Red blood cells (RBCs) carry a negative charge on their surface.

• More negative charge → RBCs repel each other → less clumping → smoother flow.

• Grounding increases that surface charge (zeta potential) in human studies.

Results:

• Lower blood viscosity

• Improved microcirculation

• Potential reduction in clot risk and blood pressure over time

This is a simple physical effect: more electrons → stronger repulsion between cells → blood behaves more like a smooth liquid than a sticky sludge.

5. How Strong Is the Evidence?

Where Evidence Is Relatively Strong

Supported by multiple controlled studies (including RCTs) with objective measures:

• Inflammation & recovery from muscle damage

• Pain reduction in physically stressed populations (athletes, massage therapists)

• Short-term shifts in HRV / autonomic balance

• Changes in blood properties (zeta potential, RBC aggregation)

Where Evidence Is Promising but Early

Supported by small pilot trials and/or limited RCTs:

• Improved sleep quality and normalized cortisol rhythm
  (pilot plus one small RCT in Alzheimer’s patients)

• Mood improvements in healthy adults
  (1 RCT with short-term outcomes)

• Blood pressure reductions in hypertensive individuals
  (pilot data, case reports)

Major Limitations

• Small sample sizes – typically 8–30 participants per trial.

• Limited long-term data – most studies run from days to weeks, not years.

• Concentrated research groups – a number of studies are from overlapping teams; more independent replications are needed.

• Publication mostly in complementary / integrative medicine journals, not yet in large cardiology/endocrinology journals.

Safety

• To date, peer-reviewed studies report no significant adverse effects from grounding.

• Grounding is essentially equivalent to safely touching the Earth; it is considered low-risk for most people.

• People with implanted medical devices or unusual electrical environments should follow their doctor’s advice and ensure any grounding products are properly installed and tested.

6. How to Interpret Grounding as a Customer

Based on current evidence:

• Grounding is not a miracle cure and does not replace medical treatment.

• Grounding does appear to reliably nudge the body toward:

  • Lower inflammation

  • Better nervous system balance

  • Healthier blood flow

  • More stable daily stress rhythms

For many people, that translates into:

• Better sleep

• Less pain and stiffness

• Feeling calmer and more resilient

Because it is very low-risk and can often be done for free (barefoot contact with natural ground), grounding is increasingly viewed as a foundational lifestyle practice, similar in spirit to:

• Adequate sleep

• Time in daylight

• Movement / exercise

• Contact with nature

7. Key Studies (For Those Who Want to Look Deeper)

(All are peer-reviewed unless noted; years and journals are given so interested readers or practitioners can look them up.)

• Ghaly & Teplitz, 2004. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.
  “The biologic effects of grounding the human body during sleep as measured by cortisol levels and subjective reports.”

• Brown et al., 2010. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.
  “Pilot study on the effect of grounding on delayed-onset muscle soreness.”

• Chevalier & Sinatra, 2011. Integrative Medicine: A Clinician’s Journal.
  “Earthing: Health implications of reconnecting the human body to the Earth’s surface electrons. Effects on HRV.”

• Chevalier et al., 2013. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.
  “Grounding the human body improves blood viscosity and zeta potential.”

• Chevalier, 2015. Psychological Reports.
  “The effect of grounding on mood.”

• Chevalier et al., 2019. Explore.
  “The effect of grounding on pain, fatigue, HRV and inflammation in massage therapists (stepped-wedge RCT).”

• Müller et al., 2019. Frontiers in Physiology.
  “Earthing (grounding) improves post-exercise recovery in physically active males: triple-blind randomized trial.”

• Lin et al., 2022. Healthcare.
  “Effects of earthing on sleep, anxiety and depression in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease: randomized controlled trial.”

• Oschman, Chevalier & Brown, 2015. Journal of Inflammation Research.
  “The effects of grounding on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing and prevention/treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.”

Final Takeaway

Grounding reconnects your body to the Earth’s natural electrical charge.
The best current evidence suggests this connection can:

• Calm your nervous system

• Reduce inflammation and pain

• Improve blood flow

• Support healthier daily stress and sleep rhythms

The science is encouraging but still evolving. For now, grounding is best viewed as a simple, low-risk practice that can complement—not replace—standard care and a healthy lifestyle.

The results may be early, but they’re promising.
From improved sleep to reduced pain and more balanced stress levels, the evidence points to grounding as a simple, natural support for your health. At BioGrounded, we’re here to make that connection easy — no lifestyle change required. You don’t have to understand the science perfectly to feel the difference.
Feel it for yourself.