Are electromagnetic fields dangerous? What is electromagnetic radiation? Am I exposed? These are some of the questions asked when first hearing about EMFs. If you have heard anything about EMFs you have been told that they are cancerous and to be avoided at all times. Or, you’ve either been told that they are completely safe and noninjurious and that claims of them being cancerous is simply a scare tactic. The truth is that in order to exist in today’s world you probably use a cell phone, tablet or computer to get around and these devices all emit electromagnetic radiation. If this isn’t enough, EMFs are an indispensable part of our life. Both electric and magnetic fields materialize naturally inside our bodies in combination with muscle and nerve activity. We experience the magnetic and electric fields from the earth as well. In addition to that, we also are taking in EMFs from man-made sources. The man-made forms of EMFs, power system voltages and electric currents dispense pollution. The pollution isn’t visible but it is dangerous for us to consume. So, if you haven’t already begun googling, “how to protect yourself from electromagnetic fields?” You’ll find there are a few functional ways to decrease EMFs but it all begins with assessing your daily life to what changes can be made to reduce your exposure. For many people, this most likely starts with learning how to reduce EMF exposure in your home, how to reduce radiation from cell phones and how to diminish this risk in your workspace.
How to Reduce EMF Exposure Inside the Home
There are a few ways on how to protect yourself from electromagnetic fields in your living space. It’s going to be hard to hear but one of the best ways to reduce EMF exposure in your home is to unplug devices when idle. When you get home, try unplugging power cords and devices that are not being used and place restrictions on how many electric devices to use in your bedroom. Any device plugged into an outlet with live electricity including seemingly harmless lamps, alarm clocks and wireless speakers emit a field of electricity. But, if an electric device is unplugged it won’t generate a magnetic or electric field.
Electromagnetic fields can repress the function of melatonin, a vital chemical for proper sleep. So cleaning up and eliminating the number of devices that require electric cords could mean the difference in a good night's rest. Another suggestion is to swap electrical clocks with battery-powered ones instead.
Another tip on how to protect yourself from electromagnetic fields is refraining from buying low-voltage halogen, energy-efficient compact fluorescent lighting, otherwise known as CFL lights. The energy-efficient technology in the transformer can emit EMFs. LED lights provide somewhat of a cleaner energy but these lights can also produce a high-frequency radiation that can emerge from the wiring in your home. This is also called “dirty electricity.”
There is, however, a light at the end of the tunnel. There are technologies being developed to provider cleaner lighting technology in the future. In the meantime, it is best to avoid lights with a dimmer and swap them for on/off switches. Lights with dimmers diminish part of the electrical current which discards it in the form of an EMF only to potentially pollute your home with dirty electricity.
How to Reduce EMF Exposure While Working
For many people, they spend their days in front of a computer or like many others in a growing trend work from home. Sometimes the lap is the best desk. It is always available. Instead, it is suggested that you use your computer on a table or a surface other than your lap because rather your computer is charging or not, the device will emit a strong EMF.
For additional measures covering how to protect yourself from electromagnetic fields in your workspace, try keeping the area around your feet and sitting area clean and free of electrical power cords, transformers, and power bars, as these things can potentially expose you to a large EMF.
How to Reduce EMF Exposure Outside of the Home
When you are seeking how to reduce EMF exposure in your home one of the hot topics you are likely to come across is also how to reduce radiation from cell phones or just in general, protection against wifi radiation. We are glued to our phones at all times and the old horror stories about links to cancer, brain tumors and more have been all but cleanly washed away from the Federal Trade Commission. For most states, they agree that cell phones, towers, and wireless networks are all harmless. This isn’t the case for states such as California that have recommendations in regards technology usage. It all gives a fairness to asking the question, “Are cell towers safe?”
Well according to a study led by Shahbazi-Gahrouei, they could be. The study tracked the conditions of people living near a mobile cell tower in Isfahan, Iran. The study concluded that mobile phone exposure was shown to have several effects on the functions of the immune system, mammalian brain, motility of sperm, hormone stimulation and neurological issues.
The results indicated that most of the men and the women in the study had symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, irritability, loss of memory, depression, sleep deprivation and lower libido levels for those living within 300 meters of the cell tower. The study was interesting because it was conducted in Iran there isn’t as much wireless connection as there is here in the states, meaning that the study clearly indicated the impact of the cell tower. At the same time if the study were to be conducted in America there would be so many factors to consider such as the number of wifi connections, towers, and external features to taint such findings.
For Isfahan, they are still working on how to reduce radiation from cell phones and educating their citizens on answering questions such as “are cell towers safe?” A great part of learning how to answer the questions and more is about learning the differences between wifi vs cell phone radiation. For some countries, without a reliance on wifi networks, it can be much easier to decipher the identification and protection against cell towers and identification and protection against wifi radiation. For Isfahan, they concluded that no one should live closer than 300m cell towers as the best way to reduce radiation risk. To answer the questions are cell towers safe?: I guess the answer would be that they can be if you are within an appropriate distance.