The Invisible Fields Affecting Your Health

In today’s world, we are more connected to other people all around the world than our grandparents, or even parents, ever were. We have computers and cell phones that allow us to write letters that can instantly be received by someone in a location halfway across the world, make video calls to loved ones, friends, and colleagues, and communicate and complete tasks at a moment’s notice.

These technological advances have enabled us to have vast amounts of information at our fingertips, complete our work more efficiently, and stay in contact with those whom we’re not able to see on a regular basis. However, along with all of these great benefits, there is another side that you may not be aware of. All of those fabulous electrical devices in your home and work environment may be slowly disrupting your body’s normal functions.

Anything that uses electricity creates an electric field. Electric fields are created by voltage, or the measurement of the potential difference in charge between two points in an electrical field. With all the information available on the potential dangers of cell phones, you may not think about the other “everyday” items that also emit electrical radiation, such as electrical outlets, any cord that is plugged in for a television, lamp, appliances, or a home alarm system. An electric field exists even when there is no current flowing, i.e. when your television or lamp is not turned on for use. Higher voltages create stronger electric fields.

Magnetic fields are created by the flow of an electric current. Stronger electric currents create stronger magnetic fields. If there is no current flow of electricity, no magnetic field exists; however, the electric field is always constant wherever electricity exists, whether or not there is a flow of electricity.

Electromagnetic fields are classified by their frequency or the number of wavelengths that occur within a specific unit of time. The shorter the wavelength, the higher the frequency. To better visualize this, think about laying down a rope on the ground. As it lays on the ground, you begin to form waves with the rope. You can either choose to create a lot of waves that will be shorter and closer together, or you can choose to create longer waves that will be further apart. If you choose to create more waves that are closer together, you have simulated a higher frequency field. On the other hand, the longer and further apart the waves are, the lower the frequency.

In the electromagnetic spectrum, there are 7 types of electromagnetic radiation, or the emission of energy from the electric field, listed below in order from the lowest frequency to the highest.

Source: Wikipedia Commons

 

Radio Waves, created by a transmitter, are the waves used by your local stations to broadcast directly to your car or home radio. These waves are also emitted by the stars and lightning. High exposure can potentially cause cancer, leukemia, and other disorders.

Microwaves are radio waves with a higher frequency and are made by different types of transmitters. In your cell phone, the transmitters used are the phone’s chip and antenna. That’s right! Your cell phone uses microwave energy. In microwave ovens, the transmitter is a magnetron. Microwaves, like radio waves, are also emitted by the stars. Extensive exposure to microwaves can cause cataracts in your eyes and damage human cells and tissue.

Infrared rays are given off by hot objects. You often see infrared rays used in heating devices such as space heaters. Infrared rays are often used in remote controls, in therapeutic services such as healing injuries, and in night vision devices that detect heat from objects and people. These rays are given off by lamps, fire, the stars, the sun, and anything else that radiates heat. Too much exposure to infrared rays may result in the body overheating.

Visible Light is the only part of the spectrum that we’re able to see with the naked eye. It’s given off by anything that is hot enough to produce a glow like the sun. In technology, we’ve been able to convert visible light into lasers which are used in printing devices, like CD and DVD players. Too much light can cause eye damage, which is why you never want to look directly at the sun.

Ultraviolet Rays are naturally produced by the sun; however, advances in technology have allowed us to reproduce these rays with special lamps. UV lamps are often used in tanning booths, in the detection of forged money, and in nail salons to cure manicures. They’re also used in hospitals to sterilize objects. The sun emits the most UV light which is used by the body to create Vitamin D.

X-Rays have a very high frequency, which allows them to pass through many substances. For this reason, they are often used in medicine to create an image of the body’s inner anatomy. They are also used by airport security to check for unapproved substances and devices. Naturally, x-rays are given off by the stars. If used inappropriately, or with high exposure, x-rays can cause cellular damage and cancer.

Gamma Rays are the highest frequency ray in the spectrum. Given off by the stars and some radioactive substances, these rays emit a very high dose of energy. In fact, the energy emitted by gamma rays is so high that it is very difficult to block its penetration. Often, lead and concrete are used to block it. Gamma rays are used to sterilize food in a process called irradiation as well as in radiotherapy to kill cancer cells. However, gamma rays can also cause cellular damage, cancer, and mutations in growing tissue.

 

What Are The Effects of Electromagnetic Radiation on the Body?

While many studies measure the thermal, or heat effects of electromagnetic radiation, there are other biological changes that occur in the body with exposure. Studies have shown that there are quantum electrodynamic effects that actually occur where electromagnetic radiation can set up oscillations within the body that are in phase with the frequency of the electromagnetic radiation, where the frequency may become imprinted into our own systems.  These are frequencies that are not native to our own bodies, and can, therefore, interfere with our bodies’ proper functioning.

In a study published by The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), it was concluded that exposure to radiofrequency radiation at 1800 MHz could cause oxidative damage to mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) in primary cultured neurons which may explain the neurotoxicity of RF radiation in the brain. The NCBI also concluded, in another study, that after two hours of exposure, the electromagnetic radiation emitted by cell phones (microwaves) alter the permeability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) which results in albumin (the main protein of human blood plasma) leakage immediately, and up to 14 days, after exposure. Leaky brain, or an increased blood-brain permeability, is linked to many disorders such as brain fog, Alzheimer’s disease, autism, seizures, schizophrenia, and depression.

According to a 2011 article published by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, the World Health Organization (WHO) has classified RF emissions as a group 2B carcinogen. The items classified in this group are said to possibly cause cancer in humans. There have also been studies that have shown that cell phone use in rural areas is directly linked to an increase in malignant brain tumors. Other studies have shown that RF exposure impacts chromosomal stability, gene expression, blood lymphocytes, sperm, red blood cells, lung cells, bone marrow, and causes gene mutations and adverse developmental functions.

Our body’s cells use electric currents to communicate with each other to function. This cellular communication can be interrupted and altered by EMF radiation because it also generates electric currents in the body which may cause cellular confusion. It’s almost like having a phone call with a good friend and having that call interrupted by a crossed line, where you can hear someone else’s conversation in the middle of your phone call. Your conversation is now halted and is taken in a completely new and unexpected direction because you’re distracted by the interloper on your line. When your cells are disrupted by EMF radiation, they react in the same way. They are no longer doing what they know to do, they are now going in a completely new and unexpected direction, which can lead to altered, or even broken DNA, gene mutations, inflammation, and cancer.

 

What are Your Main Sources of Harmful Electromagnetic Radiation?

If you’ve noticed that you’re finding it increasingly difficult to go to sleep, or remain asleep, at night, you may want to take a look at the electrical devices in your bedroom. Electromagnetic radiation has been proven to impact the melatonin production in your body. Low levels of melatonin have been linked to several diseases, including cancer.

Household Appliances.  While some of the major contributors to EMF radiation include most communications devices, like WiFi, Bluetooth, and power lines, there are many common household appliances, like washers and dryers, air conditioners, microwave ovens, blenders, coffee makers, alarm clocks, vacuum cleaners, fluorescent lights, television, and yes, even your hair dryer, which emits as much radiation as your refrigerator. The EPA recommended safety levels range between 0.5 to 2.5 milligauss (mG), the unit of measure of magnetic fields. The average EMF emission from a hair dryer at 4 inches falls somewhere between 60 to 20,000 mG.

Home Cordless Phone.  This is one that is easily overlooked as you may be have become accustomed to speaking throughout your home through cordless phones.  While they offer a conference over the older corded phones, they have exponentially increased your exposure typically in the 900 MHz to 2.4 GHz range.  Some of these phones come with multiple handsets and charging stations, exposing you to further EMFs.  I have personally taken my entire house off of these phones and have plugged back in the older land line phones with the curly wire between the handset and phone.

Cell Phone.  In order to make a call with your cell phone, the phone must send a radiofrequency wave from the antenna to the nearest cell tower, where the cell tower then returns radiofrequency waves back to the phone’s antenna. When you’re holding the phone directly to your ear, your head on that side is absorbing approximately 70 percent of the RF waves from the antenna. According to the Environmental Health Trust, the blood-brain barrier is compromised by the use of wireless electromagnetic radiation.  Two separate studies were conducted to determine the effects of carrying a cellphone in a bra.  A 38-year-old vegetarian woman was used in one study, while a 21-year-old healthy woman was used in the other study. Both had carried cell phones in their bras for a number of years. In both women, an aggressive cancer developed in the same spot where they carried their phones.  These two cases point to the fact that diet may be irrelevant if your environment exposes you to toxic levels of EMFs.

WiFi.  Your WiFi router also uses microwaves, or high-frequency radio waves, to transmit data. According to Scientific American, your WiFi router uses a frequency between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Your microwave oven, if you happen to use one, which I would not recommend, uses a frequency of 2.450 GHz to heat up food. Vickie Warren, former Executive Director of the Bau-Biologie Group for the United States, who now heads up the non-profit organization Wings of Eagle Healthy Living, recommends having as many walls between you and your WiFi router to reduce your exposure. She also suggests using reflective barriers such as metal foil or certain types of metallic paint.  I’ve taken my entire house off of WiFi and am using a modem only for internet connectivity without a router.  To do this, you’ll need to get an ethernet cable, which I would recommend ensuring that is shielded as well.

Smart Meter.  Another significant source of RF and microwave radiation is the smart meter. Electric companies have now begun placing smart meters on homes so that they can check usage from remote locations. You can think of these meters as cell phones or mobile devices placed on your home. Because these meters are relaying information to locations away from your home, they also add to the electromagnetic radiation in and around your living quarters. Smart meters are typically radiating in the 900 MHz to 2.4 GHz range at about a power of 1 W or less. Some of the most frequently reported symptoms resulting from exposure to smart meter radiation include insomnia, headaches, tinnitus, fatigue, cognitive disturbances, abnormal bodily sensations, and dizziness.  It’s recommended that if you do have a smart meter on your home, choose another room in which to sleep that doesn’t share a wall with the smart meter. Depending on where you live, you may be able to request that the smart meter be uninstalled for a recurring monthly fee.  I was able to switch out the smart meter with a regular meter without any added expenses.  You simply have to call your electric utility company and request this.

 

How else can you protect yourself?

Distance. Because the radiation emitted by wireless devices decreases with increased distance, it’s best to put as much space between you and your wireless router as possible. Use your speakerphone when using your cell phone, keeping as much distance between you and the cell phone as possible to reduce the amount of radiation. Using earphones greatly reduces the amount of radiation absorbed by your head, but the wires from your phone to your ears still carry radiation. Some companies have created ear tube technology to counter this since there is no electric wiring going directly into your ears, but rather a hollow tube that the sound waves are carried through, thereby reducing the radiation carried into your head.

Turn off and unplug devices when not in use.  Even if your device is turned off (i.e. lamps, television, or router) there is still a flow of energy, which will emit magnetic fields.  To cut off that flow of energy to the device, unplug it when you’re not using it.  Additionally, you may consider shutting down the electrical circuit, especially for your bedroom because you’re most vulnerable during sleep as your body works to cleanse and repair itself.

Avoid wireless technology whenever possible.  It’s understandable that people want to reduce the number of power cords around them for aesthetics and convenience; however, doing this only increases the EMF radiation around you. Avoid using wireless earphones and speakers. It’s best to use your speakerphone when you’re in the environment to do so, or to even start using the old-fashioned landline telephones again in your home.

Grounding is very effective in reducing the toxic electromagnetic load on your body.  By taking a barefoot walk (without your mobile devices) on grass, soil, or sand, and getting back to nature, the earth can stabilize the currents running through your body, bringing them back to a current that is similar to the Earth’s natural frequency of 7.83 Hz, known as the Schumann Resonance, named after physicist Dr. Winfried Otto Schumann in 1952.  What’s interesting is that this is the same frequency of the human brain’s average alpha waves shown in electroencephalography (EEG). It is considered to be a healing frequency and one where humans experience greater creativity.  According to Nobel Prize winner, American theoretical physicist, Dr. Richard Feynman, when the body is grounded, it is the same electric potential as the Earth’s, thereby canceling, reducing, or pushing away electric fields from the body.  By incorporating grounding into your daily routine, you can help your body reduce the adverse effects of electromagnetic radiation.

Test the amount of radiation in your home.  In order to determine the amount of electromagnetic radiation in your home, I would recommend using a TriField® meter. With this particular meter, you can measure three types of electromagnetic fields – AC electric field, AC magnetic field, and radio/microwaves. Most other meters only measure one field at a time. According to Home-Biology.com, it’s best to avoid areas during the day with values greater than 200 nanotesla (nT) or 2 milligauss (mG). During your sleeping hours, it’s best to avoid areas with a value greater than 100nT or 1mG.

Avoid using electric appliances or devices in your bedroom. Electromagnetic fields can disrupt the production of melatonin, which can lead to lack of sleep and prohibit your body from completing its natural detoxification process that usually occurs in the overnight hours. To improve your sleep and creating a better environment for your overnight detox, remove cell phones, televisions, and other disruptors from your bedroom.

Shield your home. To clean up the electric fields in your home, consider using a device like the Greenwave Dirty Electricity Filter. This filter cleans up the erratic electricity that radiates throughout your home from wiring in your walls and plugged in devices.

Shield your body.  For your communication devices, such as your laptop, tablet or cell phone, there are shields that can be placed on your devices that will block harmful radiation like the Quanthor EMF protection shield. This is simply a sticker with grounding technology that brings your body’s field into a state closer to that of the Earth’s natural energy field. For laptops, you can use this shield or a laptop pad like the DefenderShield.  However, please note that while this shield may protect you from emissions from below your laptop, it does not eliminate the EMFs emitting towards your hands and body, if you type directly on your laptop.  To resolve this, you can use a separate keyboard that’s connected to your laptop via a USB connection as well as a USB connected mouse or trackpad.

For additional protection, I carry a small disc called the SafeSpace II. This is a simple, flat one-inch diameter disc on it that has a holographic etching on it that harmonizes the harmful EMFs around you to frequencies that are more biocompatible. I usually keep this device in my purse to protect myself from environments with which I’m not familiar.

Be sure to do your research to determine what may work best for you. Unless you’re living in a remote area, completely isolated from all forms of man-made electricity and devices, you’re going to have electromagnetic radiation around you, whether in your home or in your workplace. While you may not be able to completely eradicate electromagnetic radiation from your surroundings, you can definitely take steps to reduce it and its harmful effects.

 

For more information on this, you can read the following books:

Disconnect: The Truth About Cell Phone Radiation, What the Industry is Doing to Hide It, and How to Protect Your Family – Devra Davis, PhD, MPH

Overpowered: What Science Tells Us About the Dangers of Cell Phones and Other WiFi-Age Devices – by Martin Blank, PhD

Zapped: Why Your Cell Phone Shouldn’t Be Your Alarm Clock and 1,268 Ways to Outsmart the Hazards of Electronic Pollution — Ann Louise Gittleman

The Body Electric: Electromagnetism and the Foundation of Life — Robert O. Becker, MD and Gary Selden

Radiation Nation: The Fallout of Modern Technology – Daniel T. DeBraun and Ryan P. DeBraun

EMF Freedom: Solutions for the 21st Century Pollution — Elizabeth Plourde, PhD, and Marcus Plourde, PhD

The Invisible Rainbow:  A History of Electricity and Life — Arthur Firstenberg

 

Ready to make your health a priority?  Contact me here to schedule your consultation.

 

Sources:

https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/toolbox/emspectrum1.html
http://www.who.int/peh-emf/about/WhatisEMF/en/
http://emwatch.com/what-emf-does-to-your-body/
http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/07/09/vickie-warren-on-effects-of-electromagnetic-fields.aspx
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19879861
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19345073
https://bioemf.pl/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/1994-2000.pdf
http://nutritionalbalancing.org/center/environment/articles/emf-emr-health-effects.php#ref-04
http://www.who.int/peh-emf/about/WhatisEMF/en/index1.html
https://draxe.com/electromagnetic-radiation/
https://selfhacked.com/blog/blood-brain-barrier-causes-tests-leaky-brain/
https://www.liftable.com/virgialaniz/link-between-cell-phones-breast-cancer/
http://products.mercola.com/blue-tube-headset/
http://www.home-biology.com/electromagnetic-field-radiation-meters/safe-exposure-limits
http://brainworldmagazine.com/tuning-in-to-the-earths-natural-rhythm/
https://www.safespaceprotection.com/news-and-info/microwave-oven-dangers/
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-does-wi-fi-work/