Atlas›Domain XII · Complementary, energy & biofield›Guide 092
Guide XII-092

Earthing and grounding

Clint Ober1998
A 26 · L 63 · M 1111 interventions in the Trinity explorer
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[source: …] where a claim comes from[uncertain] not confirmed in a primary source[synthesis] the writer's reconstruction

1. Introduction

Version followed: "Earthing" as its promoters publish it: the review by Chevalier, Sinatra, Oschman, Sokal and Sokal (2012), the book Earthing by Ober, Sinatra and Zucker (2nd edition, 2014), and the Earthing company's customer help pages. The psychotherapist works alongside this method and does not perform, sell, prescribe or recommend earthing. Section 4 covers the therapist's own work when a client uses it.

Not the same as psychological grounding. In trauma and anxiety work, "grounding" means attention and sensory techniques for bringing a client back to the present. Earthing or grounding in this entry means something different: physical electrical contact between the body and the Earth's surface, either barefoot outdoors or through conductive products wired to an earth connection. Keep the two apart in your own language and in your notes [synthesis].

What it is. Promoters say modern life cuts people off from the ground through insulating shoes, raised beds and insulated buildings. Earthing proposes reconnecting through barefoot contact with soil, grass or sand, or indoors through conductive sheets, mats and patches. These products are connected by cord either to the earth (ground) contact of a correctly wired wall outlet or to a rod in the ground outside. The company describes its products as "extension cords" that bring the Earth's energy indoors. [source: Earthing help page "Why do I need Earthing products…"; Chevalier et al. 2012]

Who developed it. A neurologist's critique attributes the idea to Clint Ober, a retired cable-television executive, and dates it to 1998. In the story as promoters tell it, Ober noticed that most people wore rubber- or plastic-soled shoes and wondered whether this was harmful [source: Novella 2012, NeuroLogica]. The book Earthing (Ober, Sinatra, Zucker) carries the subtitle "The Most Important Health Discovery Ever!" [source: publisher/bookseller listing]. The 1st edition is commonly dated 2010 [uncertain: not verified]. The Earthing Institute is a research and promotion body associated with Ober and with researchers including Gaétan Chevalier [uncertain: not verified; its structure and nonprofit status were not confirmed in primary sources].

Core idea of how change happens (as promoters hold it). Promoters describe the Earth's surface as a constantly replenished source of free electrons. In their account, grounding lets these electrons enter the conductive body and neutralise reactive oxygen species at sites of inflammation. The 2012 review calls this a "logical explanation", not a proven one. Promoters also say grounding brings the body to the same electrical potential as the Earth, reducing voltages induced on the body by household electricity. They claim effects on sleep, pain, stress, blood viscosity and other functions. [source: Chevalier et al. 2012] All of these are the method's own claims (attributed), not established fact. A neurologist's critique argues that the electron-antioxidant mechanism misunderstands how inflammation and antioxidants work [source: Novella 2012].

2. Framework

2.1 How the method is used (as published)

Earthing has no phases, stages or session structure in the clinical sense. It is self-administered by consumers. [source: Chevalier et al. 2012; Earthing help pages] The published routes are:

  • Outdoor barefoot contact: walking, standing or sitting with bare skin on soil, grass, sand or similar.
  • Indoor conductive products: sheets and bed pads, mats used under the feet or arms while working, and adhesive patches (studies placed them on the soles and sometimes the palms).
  • Connection: products are wired to an outlet's earth contact or to an outdoor ground rod. The manufacturer tells users to check that the outlet is correctly wired and earthed with an outlet checker before use. It also says homes with older two-prong wiring need either an electrician's update or a ground rod. [source: Earthing help page "Do I need an electrician…"]
  • Built-in safety feature: the manufacturer says its cords include a current-limiting resistor, meant to protect a user who touches a faulty device while grounded [source: Earthing help page on electrical devices]. Product settings, specifications and usage times are not given in this guide.

2.2 What a client experiences

The client goes barefoot outdoors or uses a sheet or mat at home, typically overnight or while sitting. There is no practitioner, and nothing is felt by design. Clients report what they notice to themselves: better sleep, less pain, calm. The 2012 review's own studies rely heavily on such self-reports. [source: Chevalier et al. 2012]

2.3 Who practises or sells it

The method is sold mainly as consumer products: the original Earthing brand and many unbranded marketplace products. It is promoted through books, podcasts, wellness influencers and some integrative practitioners. No professional qualification or licensing exists for "earthing practitioners" [uncertain: no source found that describes a licensing route].

2.4 Regulation and status (one line each)

  • UK advertising: the ASA upheld complaints against an earthing-products advertiser (BEP Technology Ltd t/a Original Earthing, ruling of 6 February 2013). It found claims about sleep, pain, inflammation, blood pressure and other conditions unsubstantiated, and some liable to discourage people from seeking essential treatment. The advertiser was told not to make efficacy claims. [source: ASA ruling]
  • UK product safety: the Office for Product Safety and Standards (27 March 2025) classed one marketplace earthing bed sheet as high risk of electric shock because of its supplied plug adaptor's design. The product failed UK electrical-equipment and plug regulations and was rejected at the border. [source: OPSS product safety report 2503-0109]
  • New Zealand advertising: the ASA Complaints Board upheld a 2025 complaint against a grounding-mat Facebook advert. The advert claimed household devices emit harmful radiation causing disease and that the mat "safely blocks EMFs". The Board ruled these were unsubstantiated therapeutic claims and ordered the advert removed. [source: ASA NZ decision 25/172]
  • US / EU / Australia device status: [uncertain: not verified]. No regulator listing of earthing products as cleared or approved medical devices was found.
  • Evidence status (one line): mostly small pilot studies, many by researchers with commercial ties to an earthing company. These authors declare that they are contractors to, and minor shareholders in, an earthing sponsor. Regulators have found the health claims unsubstantiated. [source: Chevalier et al. 2012 conflict statement; ASA 2013]
  • No disease-treatment status: earthing is not a treatment for any physical disease or for any mental disorder. Health claims belong to its promoters.

2.5 The psychotherapist's frame (format of the therapist's own work)

There is no separate course of treatment. The work in Section 4 is woven into ordinary sessions: a routine question at intake and review, and a short exploration when the topic comes up. Coordination with the doctor or pharmacist happens with consent, especially where the client takes medicines the promoters themselves flag. The risk check is repeated when circumstances change. [synthesis]

3. Guiding principles

The principles below shape the therapist's stance. They draw on the sources above; where a principle is the guide's own, it is marked [synthesis].

  • Curiosity, not verdicts. Ask about earthing as you would about exercise or diet. In practice: no eye-rolling, no endorsement, record it. [synthesis]
  • Attribute, don't adjudicate. Describe the theory as "how earthing explains it". In practice: say "the people who promote it say…", neither "it works" nor "it's nonsense". [synthesis]
  • Outside your role to do or recommend it. You do not suggest, demonstrate, sell or supply earthing products. In practice: if asked "should I try it?", explore the person's reasons and point to their doctor for medical questions. [synthesis]
  • Medicines go to the prescriber. Promoters themselves report possible interactions with blood-thinning and thyroid medicines and say a physician should supervise [source: Chevalier et al. 2012]. In practice: never comment on doses; encourage the client to tell the prescriber or pharmacist.
  • Electrical safety is a real-world risk. In practice: if a client uses wired products, note the manufacturer's own outlet-check instruction and the UK safety report, and suggest an electrician for wiring doubts [source: Earthing help pages; OPSS 2025].
  • Nature contact is separate from earthing claims. Time outdoors, sensory contact with grass or sand, and walking can be valued for mood and wellbeing without the electron theory. In practice: support outdoor activity as part of ordinary care, and see Domain XV for nature-based approaches. [synthesis]
  • Keep medical care in place. In practice: watch for earthing replacing assessment or treatment for symptoms such as pain, sleep disorders, blood pressure or diabetes [source: ASA 2013, risk of discouraging treatment; synthesis].
  • Watch for anxiety-driven use. Fear of household electricity, wifi or "EMFs" can drive purchases (see the NZ ASA case). In practice: assess for health anxiety or idiopathic environmental intolerance (cross-reference Domain II) [synthesis].
  • Autonomy and informed choice. Adults decide what they do with their bodies and money. In practice: help them weigh the cost, the claims, the safety points and their values; no coercion either way. [synthesis]
  • No conflicts of interest. In practice: no affiliate links, product sales or referral fees, and declare any personal interest [synthesis; see APA Ethics Code on conflicts of interest — https://www.apa.org/ethics/code [uncertain: not verified]].

4. Intervention inventory

These are the psychotherapist's own interventions alongside a client's use of, or interest in, earthing. None involves doing, demonstrating or recommending earthing. Unless a source is cited, the structure and wording are the guide's own [synthesis]. All example language is illustrative.

4.1 Routine, non-judgemental inquiry and recording

  • Purpose / when: to learn about complementary practices the client uses, including earthing, without signalling approval or disapproval. Ask at intake and at reviews, and whenever sleep, pain, inflammation, "EMFs" or wellness routines come up. [synthesis]
  • Steps:
    1. Ask about practices broadly (supplements, devices, diets, body practices), so earthing is not singled out.
    2. If the client uses earthing, ask how they use it in their own words: outdoors barefoot, indoor products, or both; since when; what they paid; and who introduced it (practitioner, book, influencer, friend).
    3. Ask whether their doctor or pharmacist knows, and whether they take regular medicines (no advice; just record).
    4. Record it factually in the notes ("Client reports using an earthing sheet at night; introduced by a friend; GP not aware"), without evaluative words.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Lots of people use things outside conventional medicine — supplements, devices, routines. Is there anything like that you're using at the moment?" / "Tell me how you use it and what you've noticed."
  • Watch for: guardedness, which may come from past dismissal by clinicians. The client may hear the question as a test. It is working when the client discloses freely and returns to the topic unprompted.

4.2 Exploring meaning, hopes, expectations and explanatory model

  • Purpose / when: to understand what earthing means to the client: control, hope, closeness to nature, distrust of medicine, identity, or belonging to a community. Use it once use is disclosed, or when the client is weighing buying products. [synthesis]
  • Steps:
    1. Ask what drew them to it and what they hope it will change.
    2. Elicit their explanatory model of the problem ("What do you think is causing your poor sleep or pain?"), using the client's words.
    3. Ask how they will know whether it is helping, and what they would do if it doesn't.
    4. Reflect the underlying values: for example, wanting to feel less dependent on medicines, or wanting a calmer daily rhythm.
    5. Note any themes that belong to the main therapy (loss of control, fear of illness, mistrust after medical harm) and work with those directly.
  • Example language (illustrative): "What was it about earthing that made sense to you?" / "If it worked the way you hope, what would be different in a month?" / "It sounds like part of this is about wanting to feel more in charge of your own health."
  • Watch for: hopes that are all-or-nothing ("this will fix my illness"), and a sense of being let down by medicine. Grief or anger may lie underneath. It is working when the client can name the need beneath the purchase and talk about it in the therapy.

4.3 Separating nature contact from device claims

  • Purpose / when: for clients who enjoy barefoot time outdoors. Wellbeing activities such as being outside, sensory contact with grass or sand, walking and daylight can be supported as ordinary self-care without endorsing the electron theory. Cross-reference Domain XV for nature-based approaches. [synthesis]
  • Steps:
    1. Ask what the client experiences outdoors (calm, pleasure, mindfulness, movement, connection).
    2. Build on those experiences as behavioural activation or mindful attention, framed in your own terms.
    3. Avoid confirming or attacking the earthing mechanism; describe it as "the earthing explanation" if it comes up.
    4. Check for physical safety outdoors where relevant (for example, foot injuries in people with diabetes or reduced foot sensation); route medical questions to their clinician.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Whatever the reason, it sounds like those barefoot minutes in the garden are a part of the day you really enjoy. What happens in you when you're out there?"
  • Watch for: the client hearing your interest as endorsement of products. Feeling pushed to defend the theory is a sign to step back. It is working when outdoor time becomes a valued activity the client describes in experiential, not mechanistic, terms.

4.4 Supporting informed, values-based decisions

  • Purpose / when: when a client is deciding whether to buy, keep using or stop products, or is weighing earthing against a medical option. [synthesis]
  • Steps:
    1. Ask what information they have and where it comes from (seller, book, podcast, peer-reviewed source).
    2. Offer, neutrally and only if they want it, publicly available facts: UK and NZ advertising regulators found health claims unsubstantiated [source: ASA 2013; ASA NZ 2025]; much of the supporting research comes from authors linked to an earthing company [source: Chevalier et al. 2012]; and a UK safety report found one earthing sheet a high shock risk [source: OPSS 2025].
    3. Help them weigh cost, hoped-for benefits, safety points and their values; use a simple pros/cons or values list in your own words. No published decision aid specific to earthing was found [uncertain: not verified].
    4. Make clear that the decision is theirs, and that they can bring medical questions to their doctor.
    5. Revisit the decision at an agreed point.
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'm not going to tell you what to do with it. Would it help to look together at what you know, what it costs you, and what matters most to you?" / "Regulators in the UK and New Zealand have looked at some of these adverts — would you like to know what they said?"
  • Watch for: your own pull to persuade, in either direction. Look for shame if the client has spent a lot. It is working when the client can state their reasons in their own words and feels free to change course.

4.5 Coordinating with the doctor or pharmacist (with consent)

  • Purpose / when: when the client takes regular medicines. The promoters' own review reports anecdotes of raised INR in people on warfarin and says the combination must be physician-supervised. It also reports that some people on thyroid medication described symptoms such as palpitations after starting grounding. [source: Chevalier et al. 2012] Use this step for any client on prescribed medicines or with a chronic condition being managed medically. [synthesis]
  • Steps:
    1. Tell the client that the method's promoters themselves advise medical supervision for some medicines. Do not interpret what this means for their treatment.
    2. Encourage them to tell their prescriber or pharmacist; offer to help them prepare what to say.
    3. With written consent, and if the client prefers, send a brief factual note to the GP stating that the client reports using an earthing product. Do not add evaluation or advice.
    4. Never suggest starting, stopping or changing any medicine; route all such questions to the prescriber.
  • Example language (illustrative): "The people who promote earthing say it should be watched by a doctor in people taking blood thinners or thyroid medicine. I can't advise on your medicines, but would you be willing to mention it to your GP or pharmacist?"
  • Watch for: a client adjusting medicines themselves because of perceived effects. This is a risk: encourage same-day contact with the prescriber. It is working when the prescriber is informed and the client feels the conversation went well.

4.6 Electrical and product safety check-in

  • Purpose / when: when the client uses products wired to mains outlets or ground rods, especially low-cost marketplace products. [synthesis]
  • Steps:
    1. Ask, without technical detail, whether the product came with safety instructions, and whether the outlet and wiring have been checked. The manufacturer itself tells users to test outlets and to call an electrician for unearthed or older wiring. [source: Earthing help page]
    2. Mention, if relevant, that the UK safety regulator found one marketplace earthing sheet a high risk of electric shock because of its plug adaptor [source: OPSS 2025].
    3. Suggest that a qualified electrician answers any wiring questions; do not give electrical guidance yourself.
    4. If the client has an implanted medical device, is pregnant, or uses products on a child, suggest they ask the relevant clinician first [synthesis].
  • Example language (illustrative): "I'm not an electrician, but I do know a UK safety regulator flagged one of these sheets for shock risk. Has anyone checked the plug and the wiring it's connected to?"
  • Watch for: reports of tingling, shocks, damaged cords, or use with improvised adaptors. Route these to an electrician and the product-safety regulator (4.10). It is working when the client knows how to check products and where to get them checked.

4.7 Risk recognition and response

  • Purpose / when: to notice when earthing use carries more than financial or minor risk. Re-check when health, finances or relationships change. [synthesis; ASA 2013 on discouraging essential treatment]
  • Steps / risk areas:
    1. Delay or replacement of medical care: ask directly whether earthing is being used instead of seeing a doctor for pain, sleep problems such as snoring with daytime sleepiness, blood pressure, blood sugar or other symptoms. If it is, encourage medical assessment and explore barriers such as fear, cost or past experiences.
    2. Medicines: see 4.5. Any self-adjustment of medicines needs prompt prescriber contact.
    3. Children: ask whether products are used on children, and whether a child's medical care is being replaced. Deprivation of needed medical care is a safeguarding matter: follow local safeguarding procedures. Discuss the child's assent and parental consent for any health decision. Never name or record unnecessary identifying details of the child in shared notes.
    4. Pregnancy: encourage the client to tell their midwife or obstetric team about any devices they use.
    5. Financial exploitation: expensive product bundles, affiliate or multi-level selling, recruitment to sell, or tiered paid courses. Ask about spending and pressure to recruit.
    6. Group pressure: online communities where questioning is discouraged or medical care is disparaged. Explore the client's freedom to disagree.
    7. Anxiety-driven use: see 4.8.
  • Example language (illustrative): "Is earthing something you're doing alongside seeing your doctor, or instead of it at the moment?" / "Has anyone asked you to sell these products or bring in friends?"
  • Watch for: worsening untreated symptoms, secrecy, rising spending, and isolation from people who disagree. It is working when risks are named, medical contact is in place, and safeguarding duties are followed where they apply.

4.8 Health anxiety, somatic symptoms and fears about electricity or "EMFs"

  • Purpose / when: some marketing frames household electricity and wireless devices as harmful and grounding products as protective [source: ASA NZ 2025 decision describing the advert]. For clients whose use is driven by fear of electromagnetic fields, persistent bodily symptoms or health worry, use established psychological approaches. Cross-reference Domain II (health anxiety, somatic symptom presentations, idiopathic environmental intolerance). [synthesis]
  • Steps:
    1. Assess the pattern: worry about illness, checking, reassurance-seeking, avoidance of places or devices, symptom attribution, and the impact on functioning.
    2. Build a shared formulation of how fear, attention, bodily sensations and safety behaviours interact, in the client's words.
    3. If indicated, offer the evidence-based approach set out in Domain II, such as CBT for health anxiety with gradual reduction of safety behaviours and avoidance.
    4. Treat product use as one possible safety behaviour to explore, not something to ban. Let the client decide on any change.
    5. Keep medical review in place for new or changing symptoms.
  • Example language (illustrative): "It sounds like being near the router brings on a lot of worry and some strong body sensations. Could we map out together what happens, step by step, when that starts?"
  • Watch for: rising avoidance (rooms, workplaces, travel), new purchases to "protect" against exposure, and functional decline. It is working when worry and avoidance reduce and the client's world widens, whether or not they keep the product.

4.9 Clarifying "grounding" in trauma and anxiety work

  • Purpose / when: when you use psychological grounding techniques (for example, attention to the senses or the feet on the floor) with a client who also uses earthing products. The shared word can blur the two. [synthesis]
  • Steps:
    1. Name the difference plainly: your techniques are attention and orientation skills, and they do not depend on any electrical contact.
    2. Ask whether the client finds a physical sense of contact with the floor or ground helpful as a sensory anchor, and use that experience on its own terms.
    3. Do not combine your in-session techniques with the client's earthing products, or bring products into sessions.
  • Example language (illustrative): "When I say 'grounding' in here, I mean a way of bringing your attention back into the room through your senses — it's different from the earthing products you mentioned."
  • Watch for: the client crediting the product for in-session skills, or feeling unsafe without it. It is working when the client can use the skills anywhere, without equipment.

4.10 Reporting routes

  • Purpose / when: when a product seems unsafe, advertising makes health claims, or someone is harmed or exploited. [synthesis, with regulators named from the sources]
  • Steps:
    1. Unsafe electrical products: in the UK, the Office for Product Safety and Standards and local Trading Standards handle such reports [source: OPSS 2025 report, notified by Trading Standards]. Elsewhere, report to the national product-safety regulator [synthesis].
    2. Misleading health advertising: in the UK, the Advertising Standards Authority [source: ASA 2013]; in New Zealand, the Advertising Standards Authority [source: ASA NZ 2025]. Elsewhere, report to the consumer or advertising regulator, such as the FTC in the US [uncertain: not verified].
    3. A registered health professional selling or making disease claims for earthing: report to their professional board [synthesis].
    4. Children deprived of needed medical care: follow local safeguarding procedures [synthesis].
    5. Discuss reporting with the client first, where safe; your confidentiality limits apply.
  • Example language (illustrative): "If you think the sheet gave you a shock, that's something the product-safety regulator would want to know. Would you like help reporting it?"
  • Watch for: reluctance to report from embarrassment or loyalty to a seller. It is working when the client knows the routes and decides with full information.

4.11 Documentation and boundaries

  • Purpose / when: throughout. [synthesis]
  • Steps: record the disclosure, the conversations about risk and coordination, consents obtained, and any safeguarding steps. Do not sell, link to or receive benefit from earthing products, and declare any personal involvement with them to your supervisor.
  • Example language (illustrative): "I don't sell or recommend products, so you can talk freely about this without wondering what I'm getting out of it."
  • Watch for: pressure from clients or colleagues to share products or join selling schemes. It is working when notes are clear and boundaries hold.

5. Handling problems

The sources do not address psychotherapy problems with earthing. All guidance in this section is the guide's own synthesis unless a source is cited. [synthesis]

  • Client expects you to endorse or debunk it. Name your role: you neither recommend nor rule on it, but you are interested in what it means to them. If pressed for facts, offer the regulator findings neutrally (4.4).
  • Client feels judged (rupture). Acknowledge it directly ("I think my question came across as doubting you — I'm sorry; that's not what I meant"). Return to curiosity about their experience, and repair before going on with the content.
  • Client stops seeing the doctor or skips tests ("earthing is handling it"). Explore the fears and past experiences behind the choice. Be clear that you cannot assess physical symptoms, and encourage medical review. If the person lacks capacity, or a child is involved, follow safeguarding procedures (4.7).
  • Client changes medicines on their own. Do not discuss doses. Encourage same-day contact with the prescriber or pharmacist and record the conversation. If there is acute risk, follow emergency routes.
  • Escalating spending or selling. Explore the financial impact and the pressure from sellers or the community, without shaming. Consider debt-advice signposting, and note any recruitment pressure (4.7).
  • Anxiety rises when you raise doubts or safety issues. Slow down and validate. Shift from content ("does it work") to process ("what happens in you when we talk about this"). If health anxiety or environmental intolerance is the core issue, move to the Domain II approach (4.8).
  • Non-adherence to the therapy plan in favour of products. Revisit the shared goals and ask what the products give that therapy does not yet give (immediacy, control). Adjust the plan collaboratively.
  • Family conflict over the method. Offer a family or couple conversation focused on values, fears and safety rather than the theory. Support the client in setting boundaries with relatives who push or ridicule.
  • Disappointment or regret after investing hope or money. Normalise it, and explore grief and self-blame. Keep the value of anything that genuinely helped, such as time outdoors or better sleep routines.
  • Physical incidents (shock, burn, damaged cord). Advise stopping use and getting medical attention for any injury. Suggest an electrician check, and offer reporting support (4.6, 4.10).
  • Confusion with in-session grounding skills. Clarify the terms (4.9), and practise skills that need no equipment.
  • Your own reactions (amusement, irritation, enthusiasm). Take them to supervision, and keep your personal views about the method out of the therapy unless disclosure is clearly in the client's interest.

Sources

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