When we started our own grounding journey, we followed a well-trodden path that will be familiar to many of you.
We were interested in the health benefits of earthing and, what better way to do this than by sleeping grounded? Sounds perfect! ……but……. because we were new to the whole grounding thing, we were a little bit sceptical and didn’t want to spend a large amount of money only to find out it wasn’t the right thing for us.
We searched around and found lots of options on the internet and the vast majority of products offered the silver-threaded style cotton sheets which were reasonably priced. So we purchased one from an online company in the UK at about £100.
All seemed to go well. We started sleeping grounded on the new bedsheets, happy knowing that were connected to the earth for the whole night.
Fast forward a few months and some of the typical washing cycles we didn’t seem to be sleeping so well, and not as deeply.
We decided to invest in a Contintuity Tester and a Socket Checker to make sure everything was set up and “working”. The socket checker correctly showed the wall socket was indeed grounded, which was good news!…….but then we tried the continuity tester on the bedsheet and there was no green light! Argh! We’d not been sleeping grounded and had no idea how long for!
Wondering whether it was the brand of silver thread sheets, we searched around on Amazon for some alternative options and found a similar one which we thought would do the job……another £100 or so spent.
This time we got everything connected and used the Continuity Tester to check that the sheet was grounded, the green light said it was and so we began to sleep grounded once more.
Fast forward a few weeks and things just didn’t seem right – our light sleep had returned and we woke up feeling tired and drained. A quick test of the sleep sheet again showed that we weren’t grounded.
What could be the cause?
Having researched this thoroughly we discovered that cheaper grounding sleep sheets/mat available on the internet (Amazon and others) are typically made of cotton or a cotton/polyester mix bedsheet, with a silver-plated monofilament nylon fiber woven throughout the sheet as a grid.
This grid network ultimately connects to a metal popper sewn into one end of the sheet.
The connector cord is placed onto the popper which leads to the wall socket adapter to join up with the ground wire in your building. This creates your connection to the ground outside.
Silver is a great conductor but oxidises easily. which can degrade its conductivity over time.
Oxidation occurs when silver comes into contact with oxygen in the air, forming a layer of silver oxide on its surface. This layer acts as an insulator, hindering the flow of electrons and diminishing the effectiveness of the earthing sheet.
There are several factors that contribute to the oxidation of the silver threads in earthing sheets:
- Exposure to Air: Silver threads are exposed to oxygen in the atmosphere, leading to the formation of silver oxide over time.
- Moisture: Moisture can accelerate the oxidation process, particularly in humid environments. Sweat from the body or ambient moisture can promote the formation of silver oxide on the threads.
- Contaminants: Other substances present in the environment, such as pollutants or chemicals, can also contribute to the oxidation of silver threads.
- Handling and Washing: Handling the earthing sheets and washing them can also lead to abrasion and exposure to contaminants, accelerating the oxidation process.
To begin with, these type of sheets do enable you to be grounded at night however, over a short period of time, they are no longer conductive to the earth’s electrons – and you won’t really know unless you regularly test with a Continuity Tester.
Furthermore, if there is any break in the silver thread circuit close to where the popper is positioned, it renders the rest of the sheet useless as there is no connection to the grid to allow the electrons to flow.
So whilst these may seem a low cost option to begin with, you’re far better off investing in a higher quality sleep mat like the Earthing® Elite™ brand.
This has evolved from the original silver-thread grid pattern and now has a carbon infused top layer for better conductivity, longer durability, and improved sleep experience knowing that you are 100% grounded at night.
These pictures show the typical oxidisation of all types of silver-plated monofilament nylon fibres which lose conductivity in approximately 6 months, and why Earthing® discontinued production of this style of grounding sleep bedsheets.
