Grounded Sleep and Recovery After Downhill Running

Downhill running places a high load on muscles as they lengthen under tension. That makes it useful for studying delayed onset muscle soreness and the loss of strength that can follow strenuous exercise.

In a 2019 study, Müller and colleagues assigned 22 healthy participants to sleep on either grounded sheets (12 people) or identical sham sheets (10 people). Everyone completed 20 minutes of intense downhill treadmill running. Over the next 10 days, researchers measured muscle soreness, blood creatine kinase (CK), leg strength and jump performance.

Both groups became sore and showed a drop in performance. The grounded group had smaller reductions in leg strength and countermovement jump performance. Their CK levels also rose less during recovery. CK is an indirect marker of muscle disruption. Reported soreness increased in both groups, with no significant difference between them.

The researchers also examined detailed blood samples from four participants. Red blood cell count, hemoglobin and hematocrit rose in the sham group but remained near baseline in the grounded group. Several inflammation related markers, including IP-10, MIP-1α and soluble P-selectin, were lower with grounding. Those blood findings are interesting, though four participants are too few to establish the mechanism behind the performance differences.

The clearest result is that grounded sleep was associated with less loss of strength and jump performance and a smaller CK increase after strenuous downhill running. The study did not find a significant reduction in how sore participants felt.

That’s all for today! As always, if you’re interested in learning more about grounding, check out Earth & Water.

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