Holistic Healing: What Are EMFs And Why You Need To Reduce Your Exposure To Decrease Anxiety And Boost Sleep

What are EMFs?

EMF stands for electromagnetic field, which is a physical field that is generated by an object that is electrically charged. They are present nearly everywhere on our planet. Even our own bodies emit  EMFs. The issue is that artificial EMFs, the ones generated by things like power lines, cell phones, WIFI routers, TVs, are much more intense and not what our bodies evolved with over time.

We are exposed to low frequency EMFs on a much larger scale now than natural evolution ever anticipated. Low level EMFs, like the radio frequency radiation your cell phone emits, directly affects your body. California has even gone so far as to warn consumers now that cell phone use close to your noggin has shown to have long-term effects on the body like increasing your risk of cancer.

Disclaimer: I am not a doctor! I’m just a holistic living lady that likes to try stuff and share what she has experienced. I’m obligated to say please consult with your doctor when  making any changes that pertain to your heath.

What technology emits EMFs?

• Cell phones
• Television
• iPads/ Tablets
• Microwaves
• Computers
• Wi-Fi devices
• Anything with Bluetooth technology

Why are EMFs a threat to our health?

​Increasing your risk of cancer is the biggest issue when being exposed to low frequency EMFs for a prolonged period of time. One study focused on a neighborhood that lived within 10km of a high power radio station in Rome and found out the risk for childhood leukemia was unusually high. They then looked at the distance of various residences to the radio station and found that the closer families lived, the higher the risk of childhood leukemia.

Beyond the risk of cancer, there are neuropsychiatric effects, i.e., EMFs affect the way our brains function and communicate to the rest of the body. They also do some backdoor dealing with your DNA, causing changes that we don’t fully understand the consequences of just yet, but we can infer cancer again if you like! EMFs do a number on our immune systems, damper men's baby-making swimmers, and affect blood pressure.

How do EMFs affect sleep and increase anxiety?

​Our bodies are ruled by a circadian rhythm, otherwise known as a sleep-wake cycle. Think of this rhythm as a mainframe for what hormones do what when. Your circadian rhythm is affected most by light, and more specifically, specific wavelengths of light. Our circadian rhythm was created because of the 24-hour cycle the earth has as it orbits around the sun. Every living organism has a circadian rhythm, yes, even fungus. As the planet turns on a 24-hour cycle, different qualities of light are experienced by our eyes and even felt by our skin.

Our pineal gland is responsible for releasing melatonin at the end of the day to increase our feelings of sleepiness. While you may have read up about how blue light exposure can cause serious issues with our sleep-wake cycle, studies have shown that EMFs also affect our pineal gland's signaling. Lessening our exposure to EMFs as we prepare for bed is going to help your body’s natural sleep-wake cycle big time.

As for anxiety, the low level and prolonged exposure to EMF radiation triggers a stress response in the body. How does this happen? EMF exposure can increase free radicals, which then initiates a stress response and ultimately changes enzyme reactions. Okay, in laymen's terms now...

Think of free radicals floating around in our system like a bunch of crazy single party boys, they wreak all sorts of havoc on our bodies (called oxidative stress) if our body's don't have the resources to stabilize them. The body works to repair that oxidative stress by re-pairing up free radicals, like a wing man that brings a bunch of nice and mature girls to the party to get the crazy frat boys to pair up and settle down. Those reliable wing men are called antioxidants, which ultimate stabilize free radicals with an extra electron so they can't do harm to your body (like cause cancer!). This is why we eat things high in antioxidants.

So what's the issue with EMFs then? The magnetic field component of an external EMF can delay the "recombination rate" of free radical pairs. Magnetic fields thus increase radical life-times in biological systems. Although measured in nanoseconds, this extra time increases the potential to do more damage, ultimately triggering a never ending stress response in the body.

How do you lessen your exposure to EMFs?

So how to lessen our exposure to EMFs while not becoming all-out hermits? Here's a list to get you started:

• Set your phone or tablet on airplane mode while you sleep.
• Unplug your Wifi routers and extenders at night.
• Shutdown your desktop or laptop before bedtime.
• Use a grounding pad while working at your desktop computer or laptop.
• Get an EMF blocker for your smartphone, computer, or tablet. I personally love DefenderShield for their EMF blocking mats and phone cases.
• Try out negative ion therapy to help with your body's exposure to high-intensity EMFs. Negative ion therapy uses negatively charged ions to balance out your positively charged body (AKA that never-ending EMF bath). The ratio of negatively charged ions is much higher in nature versus our human-made office buildings and homes.
• The cheap version of negative ion therapy is to go outside where there's trees, water, and actual dirt. Go for a walk in a big park with lots of green, sit by a lake for a while.
• Ground yourself by standing barefoot in the grass for at least ten minutes. 

By slowly implementing these tricks, products, and habit changes, I hope you see positive results with your sleep and anxiety. It's definitely helped me sleep through the night, calmed my anxiety, and gives me peace of mind when it comes to the scarier threats like cancer.

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Want to learn more about EMFs from a professional? Check out our podcast episode all about EMFs with Daniel DeBaun, the founder of Defender Shield. Daniel’s concern regarding the health impact of electronic radiation emissions grew from over 30 years of engineering experience in the telecommunications industry, where he held a variety of leadership and executive positions at SAIC, Telcordia, AT&T and Bell Labs.

TUNE IN TO EPISODE 19

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