Which earthing product suits you? An honest comparison

First the most important thing, because it saves you a lot of comparing: they all earth equally well. There is no product in this list that connects you to the earth better or faster than another. They are all the same connection, just in a different form.

The difference is elsewhere. In whether it fits your mattress. In how often you want to wash it. In whether you lie directly on it or put a sheet over the top. And in how much you want to spend in one go to see whether it is for you.

If you want to try it without any fuss

Take the pillowcase. You change nothing about your bed, you pull it over your normal pillow and that is it. Contact runs through your head and neck.

It is the smallest step and the cheapest, and if you want more later you connect a second product to the same socket with the splitter.

Drawback: the contact area is small. If you sleep on your front or move around a lot, you touch less of it at night.

If your mattress is an odd size

Take the sheet. It lies loose on your mattress and does not have to fit exactly. You tuck the edges under the mattress and that is it.

That is why this is the most chosen product: it almost always fits. Two sizes, 203 by 99 and 203 by 180. The narrow one fits a single bed, or your half of a double bed, or crosswise if you sleep alone.

Drawback: a loose sheet can shift if you toss and turn. That is what the sheet clips are for.

If it must never shift

Take the fitted sheet. It pulls tight around your mattress and stays put whatever you do.

The price of that is that the size has to be right. Two sizes, 200 by 160 and 200 by 90, both for mattresses 20 to 33 cm deep. Measure your mattress before you order.

If you do not want to change anything about your mattress

Take the duvet cover. It earths from above while you lie underneath. Your bottom layer stays exactly as it is.

Handy if you have a topper, a special mattress protector or a boxspring you would rather not put anything between. Also pleasant if you share it with someone but do not both want to lie on the same sheet.

If you want to wash as little as possible

Take the sleeping mat. It is vegan leather and never needs the machine. A damp cloth over it and that is that. Elastic straps hold it in place.

That is at once the biggest difference from the textiles: no washes also means no wear on the silver thread. A mat therefore lasts longer than a sheet.

Drawback: vegan leather feels cooler than cotton. Put an ordinary fitted sheet over it if you find that unpleasant, and it is gone while everything still works.

If it is not about your bed

The blanket for the sofa or over your legs. The desk mat for the hours you are sitting anyway, under your forearms or under your feet. The yoga mat for yoga, stretching or meditating.

These three do not replace anything in your bed, they cover the rest of your day.

If there are two of you

Then there are three ways.

The wide size of the sheet, fitted sheet or sleeping mat, which you both lie on. Or a pillowcase each. Or the double set, which contains a wide sleeping mat and two pillowcases.

If you only have one earthed socket by the bed, you connect two products to the same point with the splitter. They do not weaken each other.

If only one of you wants to earth, take the narrow size and put it on your own half.

Cotton or vegan leather

This is the choice it often comes down to in the end.

Cotton (sheet, fitted sheet, duvet cover, pillowcase, blanket) breathes and feels like bedding. It does have to be washed, and every wash costs a little conductivity. Count on two to three years with normal use.

Vegan leather (sleeping mat, desk mat) never needs washing and therefore lasts longer. It feels cooler and does not breathe.

A middle road many people take: vegan leather underneath, with an ordinary fitted sheet over the top. You then only wash that ordinary sheet, and the earthing works through it.

What to check before you order

• Is there an earthed socket in the room? If not, it can still be done with an alligator clip on a heating pipe or an earthing rod outside in the ground. See earthing without an earthed socket.
• How far away is that socket? There is 4.6 metres of cable in the box. If it is further, the extension lead bridges another fifteen metres.
• How thick is your mattress? Only relevant for the fitted sheet.
• Will you lie directly on it? Direct skin contact conducts best, but through pyjamas or an ordinary sheet it works too.

If you still cannot decide

Start small. The pillowcase or the narrow sheet cost the least, ask nothing of your bed, and you can always add something later with the splitter. That is a cheaper way to find out whether it is for you than going straight for the largest size.

What you can and cannot expect from earthing is in what you can feel and expect. All the products side by side are in the shop.