Earthing mat is making me ill !

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Earthing mat is making me ill !

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sunnyod

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Hi All


Sorry for the lengthy first post and use of any non-standard terminology. I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to electronics, hopefully I've done enough due diligence so I'm not asking anything too silly lol ?


I've bought a Grounding mat that plugs into the mains (earth wire only) which I use for grounding my body during the day and overnight. Problem is I'm waking up in the middle of the night and my I feel like i've got an electric charge wherever my body is in contact with the mat. I've only been using it for a few days so far and the seller is saying it'll pass, however i'm not sure. I'm also sometimes getting head & neck in the morning. It's a mat like this one... Grounding mats, Earthing Yoga and Fitness mat - https://www.groundology.co.uk/earthing/grounding-mats.


I've done a bit of research into this and found that it's possible that I've either got electro hypersensitivity, or there could be some electrical interference on the earth in my house (or maybe something else?). I've got a multimeter and have tried to compare the earth with a baseline source (earthing rod in garden) and I can't see much AC current coming off of it, but I do notice that it's frequency is 50hz (I'm in the UK), so maybe it's picking up some EMF or something not sure. I've tested all plug sockets with a socket tester and all seems to be fine, earth is working normally apparently. I've got a couple of options from what I can tell


  1. Find out if the mains is faulty and fix that. Socket tester shows it's clean, so not sure if there's anything else I can do to test this?
  2. Upgrade the cable that I'm using to connect the mains to the mat. Guess it would need to be shielded from EMF and also filter/block out any AC current that might on the mains earth and is leaking onto the mat
    Here is an example of a product that already does this and Video here, but I'm not sure what components would be needed to replicate this. Maybe it's a ferrite core to filter any leaking current? Any recommendations for what shielded cable to use? I guess it's not advisable to use something like speaker cable that can carry too much voltage, for safety reasons? Btw, I'm trying to save money otherwise I'd just buy the example cable above (I'm looking at a multi room setup so would work out a lot)
  3. Fit a grounding rod like this one (3/8in (9.5mm) x 4ft (1200mm) Copperbond Earth Rod with Cable Clamp - https://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/229310) and connect it with shielded cabling into the house
    Can I use thicker cable initially so I can split it and connect up a few rooms (then use thinner (safer) cables to join with connections to the mats)? Again, I'm guessing both types of cable would need to be shielded?

Thanks so much for any help guys! Reason I'm doing this is because I've recently found a skin melanoma and noticed that the EMF levels (high and low) in the house are really high. I'm trying to reduce them all as much as I can


Cheers


Sunny
 
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sunnyod said:
Hi All


Sorry for the lengthy first post and use of any non-standard terminology. I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to electronics, hopefully I've done enough due diligence so I'm not asking anything too silly lol ?


I've bought a Grounding mat that plugs into the mains (earth wire only) which I use for grounding my body during the day and overnight. Problem is I'm waking up in the middle of the night and my I feel like i've got an electric charge wherever my body is in contact with the mat. I've only been using it for a few days so far and the seller is saying it'll pass, however i'm not sure. I'm also sometimes getting head & neck in the morning. It's a mat like this one... Grounding mats, Earthing Yoga and Fitness mat - https://www.groundology.co.uk/earthing/grounding-mats.


I've done a bit of research into this and found that it's possible that I've either got electro hypersensitivity, or there could be some electrical interference on the earth in my house (or maybe something else?). I've got a multimeter and have tried to compare the earth with a baseline source (earthing rod in garden) and I can't see much AC current coming off of it, but I do notice that it's frequency is 50hz (I'm in the UK), so maybe it's picking up some EMF or something not sure. I've tested all plug sockets with a socket tester and all seems to be fine, earth is working normally apparently. I've got a couple of options from what I can tell


  1. Find out if the mains is faulty and fix that. Socket tester shows it's clean, so not sure if there's anything else I can do to test this?
  2. Upgrade the cable that I'm using to connect the mains to the mat. Guess it would need to be shielded from EMF and also filter/block out any AC current that might on the mains earth and is leaking onto the mat
    Here is an example of a product that already does this and Video here, but I'm not sure what components would be needed to replicate this. Maybe it's a ferrite core to filter any leaking current? Any recommendations for what shielded cable to use? I guess it's not advisable to use something like speaker cable that can carry too much voltage, for safety reasons? Btw, I'm trying to save money otherwise I'd just buy the example cable above (I'm looking at a multi room setup so would work out a lot)
  3. Fit a grounding rod like this one (3/8in (9.5mm) x 4ft (1200mm) Copperbond Earth Rod with Cable Clamp - https://www.cef.co.uk/catalogue/products/229310) and connect it with shielded cabling into the house
    Can I use thicker cable initially so I can split it and connect up a few rooms (then use thinner (safer) cables to join with connections to the mats)? Again, I'm guessing both types of cable would need to be shielded?

Thanks so much for any help guys! Reason I'm doing this is because I've recently found a skin melanoma and noticed that the EMF levels (high and low) in the house are really high. I'm trying to reduce them all as much as I can


Cheers


Sunny
Click to expand...
I’ve got to ask, can you not just use a piece of rubber mat with no grounding
 
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Lucien Nunes said:
0.08 volts, 80 millivolts. That's the sort of reading I was expecting. There are some caveats about its accuracy but the main one (measurement lead resistance) has been dealt with already when you showed the resistance reading. The other important one is that the meter will be reading only the voltage present at frequencies within its measurement capability, which includes all electrical power lines. However if you were under the mast of a radio or TV station transmitter, that might not be a sufficient indication that there were not strong fields at radio frequencies inducing a voltage that the multimeter cannot sense.

I think you need to look carefully at what other factors could be influencing your sensation of the effects of the mat; they can be real effects, and again I must say I am not doubting what you experience. But 80mV w.r.t. true earth, contacting the body in at one point only and relying on the stray capacitance to earth to complete the circuit, cannot realistically pass enough current to create a sensory effect.

The stray capacitance of a body is typically less than 1nF, more likely around 200pF. It will be less to true earth if part of your environment is shielded from earth by the mat at mains earth. Let's call it 500pF anyway.
At 50Hz, 500pF will have a capacitive reactance of 1/(2*PI*50*5e-10) ~6MΩ
0.08V between mat and true earth gives a touch current between you and the mat of 0.08/6M = 13 nanoamps. I can just about feel a current of 10,000 times that, when concentrated in my finger and I brush it over a surface to maximise the sensory response to muscular reaction (like a dowsing rod). It takes about 100,000 times that current to feel as an actual electrical tingle.



I will watch the whole thing. I have just watched the first two minutes and counted six factual errors or abstract ideas presented as facts.
Click to expand...
Thanks for taking the time to work that out for me Lucien, really appreciated. I can't lie though, it will probably take me a couple years before I can understand what was said lol. My high level understanding is that you're saying that any current in the mat caused by connecting to mains earth should be imperceptible based on the readings I've given. I don't doubt your understanding on this subject, but there is definitely something waking me up for the past 3 nights at 5am, 5am and 4am last night. Maybe there's something happening on the system at that time, no idea, but I never wake up before 6:30am! I dunno, I feel like the brother from Better Call Saul!!! :D

I've noted down what you said and will try and get my head around it. Thanks for watching the vid, let me know what you think once you've seen it all. Interested to hear where its flaws are.... cheers again bud!
 
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If you are going for earthing to the outside world -- a Volt stick
could be a useful friend.
---
Tingly items in my life include --DVD players and Cheap phone chargers .
(since we got rid of 50Hz transformers --Down hill)

.. Just like self diagnosis from Medical symptoms --- Some things you read on the internet --will take your imagination --Unhealthy places.

(the above one -medical is fun when you look it up for someone-else...
..Then start to convince yourself)

Go out to the country side .
And do think --is some one getting under my skin to sell something.
---
Gas cental heating -- dry some washing on radiator -and wear cotton.
 
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sunnyod said:
You'll probably still think I'm crazy after watching this, but it could be really eye opening for you too

Click to expand...
I just carried out a quick case study. My son ironically has colic also, so after standing outin my garden for nearly 10 minutes I can confirm that he has not stopped crying or showed any intention of doing so, and the inflammation in my lower back has in no way got any better.
 
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Just through pure curiosity and trying to understand why you believe in this grounding, I watched the video and also looked into papers of experiments and claims arising from them.

Noted, the video you posted is full of questionable claims and does make misleading claims, also making comparisons that are simply not connected and even work in different way yet pushes them as though the information matters.
Looking into a few papers of case studies I find they fall far short of any proper experiment, there is no control used, the same experiment was done on one group, they were told what was happening and what the claims are and there was no other groups subject to the same conditions without said information.

Psychological conditioning is already proven to reduce pain, there is nothing in these experiments to eliminate that or confirm it isn't the cause of the perception the patients get about reduced pain.

You say this has been peered reviewed, that means nothing without knowing the results of the peer review, I cannot find any peer reviewed basis to these claims that have been passed and accepted as real results due to grounding, please cite me this peer review you suggest so I can see what the results are of it.

From my life experience and career experience here I cannot believe there is any truth in this, no verifiable and repeatable evidence has ever been submitted, from what I can find where experiments has occurred I conclude they are poorly devised and lack any form of control subject which more or less make them worthless experiments.

It also doesn't give me a lot of positivity about this when the video's main characters have vested financial interests in this idea so the last person you want to trust with your money is the man selling snake oil.
 
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Just to add my little bit, I do have a good understanding of many things electrical.
I am not convinced by the video, I have watched it from start to finish.

however, there is some merit in the fact that if you think something is helping/ healing / good for you, It may well do so even if it has no active properties that do so.
the mind is a thing that we do not fully understand (not even close)

Depending on the exact method of grounding (earthing system) at you property, the device itself is in my opinion capable of doing the exact opposite to what you intend.

many homes can sometimes share the same earth cable and each of them will inject electrical noise into it.
some high frequency from power supply's to microwaves and tv's that Simpley cant be measured using a multi meter.
If these harmonic frequency's are indeed being carried by your earthing system then you are sleeping on an inefficient transmitter of them when you plug it in.
although they may not be transmitted particularly well, the fact you are so close to the transmitter will mean that you get a much higher dose than if they were kept in the cables required to supply electrical equipment that are some distance away from you.

Bottom Line,
If my wife gave me a new pillow and i had 2 nights of poor sleep with, it would not be there for the 3rd night.
If she put a different duvet on that did the same, it would have the same outcome.

Under no circumstances would I allow her to put a large aerial under our bed.

something that is supposed to make you better but in fact makes you worse is an item that should be sent back for a full refund ASAP, not given the chance to be tested until it is out of the cooling off period of sale.
 
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From all that has gone before I have to conclude that connecting myself to true earth is not going to help with the pain caused by my prolapsed disc and therefore I'll stick with my doctor's prescription of painkillers until I get the operation to sort it out.
 
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Thanks for all the entertaining and educational responses in here. I've been out and didn't expect to have ruffled so many feathers! Appreciate your responses and your taking the time to watch the vid. Sorry I couldn't sway anyone and it was a waste of your time!

I've since built a a contraption with a meat skewer, some phone cable, rubber bands and scotch tape. I've slipped the fandangled cabling through the bedroom window in the hope my missus doesn't see it and get deeply offended at the disharmony it's creating.

I wish you all a good night, please pray for me (i've got a video on that too I can share). You're probably expecting me to be dead tomorrow, so any atheists - please turn to God for me temporarily!!!

I'll be back soon with some more whacky ideas to keep you entertained :)
 
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Managed to watch about half the video, but couldn't get through it all.

It reminds me of a company called PWB, who sell snake-oil type products that claim to improve the sound of your hifi. Have a Google and see what you think. One of their best ones is a small metallic sticker which you place on the door frame, or on a favourite photo. I kid you not. They've been going for years, and I would say they are prime candidates to team up with this guy who thinks taking trainers off can cure MS.
 
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sunnyod said:
Thanks for all the entertaining and educational responses in here. I've been out and didn't expect to have ruffled so many feathers! Appreciate your responses and your taking the time to watch the vid. Sorry I couldn't sway anyone and it was a waste of your time!

I've since built a a contraption with a meat skewer, some phone cable, rubber bands and scotch tape. I've slipped the fandangled cabling through the bedroom window in the hope my missus doesn't see it and get deeply offended at the disharmony it's creating.

I wish you all a good night, please pray for me (i've got a video on that too I can share). You're probably expecting me to be dead tomorrow, so any atheists - please turn to God for me temporarily!!!

I'll be back soon with some more whacky ideas to keep you entertained :)
Click to expand...
How did you sleep?
 
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James said:
How did you sleep?
Click to expand...
Terribly! However, I was serious about the cabling I used and how it was put together. I did it very late at night, after i had finished my order for the actual parts I'm using.

I tested my cabling in the morning for continuity and there was none lol, so I binned it. Will have a proper setup tonight though and will update again tomorrow... Thanks for asking James
 
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sunnyod said:
Terribly! However, I was serious about the cabling I used and how it was put together. I did it very late at night, after i had finished my order for the actual parts I'm using.

I tested my cabling in the morning for continuity and there was none lol, so I binned it. Will have a proper setup tonight though and will update again tomorrow... Thanks for asking James
Click to expand...

The cable had no continuity? That sounds unlikely, unless it has had some serious abuse.
 
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Is any paper work included ,
describing the mats Integral safety features ?
or a schematic diagram of its use.
(ie safely bleeding extraneous potentials ..thru a 500k / 1Meg ohm resistor ... )
..or even a nice CE sticker !
 
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Any feedback on what things were not correct in the video, anyone?
Click to expand...

It's slow and difficult to critique a video like that properly, based as it is on personal narrative, because it is deliberately made so that things are not presented as outright lies, just misleading and loaded. It would take me many hours to drill down and locate specific issues with it and I spent too much time on this already - I have electrical things to do!

As an example, look at the first 30 seconds. The guy says he grew up among native American people, and that one of them told him to take his shoes off because they would make him sick, and that at the time he didn't know why that would be. These are presented as though they are significant facts, and there is no reason to doubt them as facts. However, he does not say that the shoes made him sick, or that the person who told him had reliable evidence that they would make him sick, or that if they did make him sick, it was due to an electrical phenomenon.

This narrative is there to plant a seed of an idea, to get your curiosity aroused, so that when the link between sickness and grounding and shoes is later broached, you recall those 'wise words' and make a connection by yourself regardless of whether there is one or not. You infer that the native American knew through folklore that insulative shoes make you sick and now you seem to have a scientific reason for it, and you have used your powers of analysis to corroborate two independent sources to improve the reliability of your data. But actually, it's only one source, the guy who wants to promote his views on grounding.

"In simple terms, grounding is literally putting your bare feet on the ground."
Simple, but in an electrical context, not correct.

"Mother Earth is endowed with electrons." True, but misleading, as all neutral matter is endowed with electrons, including synthetic rubber shoes, the air, your body.

"These electrons are literally absorbed through your feet." Borderline false. Some exchange of electrons might occur but there is no net flow of electrons without electric current, and he does not state that they are absorbed through your feet only if you connect yourself to a source of a potential difference to drive the electron drift against the resistance.

"It's like taking handfuls of antioxidants." False. Antioxidants can participate in chemical reactions in which electrons are exchanged, but the mere presence of electrons does not cause the same chemical reactions.

I have to get on with some work now...
 
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Mike Johnson said:
so somewhere along the line he accepted it was a good idea.
Click to expand...
I had not realised ,that once we start losing sleep .
It's both irreplaceable ... and important to sound decision making.
.............................................======================...........
.. So worth forgiving the odd Sleepless & Stressed out mistake..
( I have a COVID gamer who occasionally robs me of some sleep )
 
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You are already at around earth potential due to capacitance between your body and the earth , i would expect this to increase when you lay down.

most of us are experienced electricians on this site and if a 50 HZ electro magnetic field can cause illness , would we not all be ill ?

sometimes i fall asleep with my under electric blanket on with no problems (other than getting a bit hot)

perhaps in the 19th people will be extraneous-conductive-parts.

on a serious note anything that connects you to the electrical system is a bad idea .
if a PME fault developed it would become live to some degree .
 
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if a PME fault developed it would become live to some degree .
Click to expand...

Although, in the equipotential zone in a building, everything else should too, so it's not dangerous. The trouble begins when one drags an extraneous earth in from the garden.
 
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