What Exactly is EMF?
Electromagnetic Fields (EMF) are a form of non-ionizing radiation (their frequency is somewhere between microwaves and radio waves). This radiation is invisible, but can be measured by hand held EMF detection meters. Common sources of EMF in the home include televisions, mobile phones, computers, remote controls, radios, WiFi routers, baby monitors, microwave ovens, smart lighting and smart meters, power lines and electrical wiring.
What Exactly Do EMFs Do to the Body?
Exposure to this low frequency radiation disrupts the homeostasis of the cell by negatively impacting calcium voltage channels located in the cell membrane. EMF exposure causes calcium to flood the intracellular space leading to an overproduction of pro-oxidative molecules called super oxide (SO) and nitrous oxide (NO). While NO and SO are helpful at normal physiologic doses, excessive amounts of these pro-oxidant molecules interact with each other… producing two even more devastating molecules called peroxynitrite and the hydroxyl radical.
How Does EMF Hurt Us?
These intracellular “bad guys” cause many downstream problems including inducing direct and indirect DNA damage, devastating our mitochondria’s ability to produce energy and accelerating the overall aging process. Put simply, EMF exposure increases our production of molecules of oxidation, and drains our body’s antioxidant stores and disrupts our DNA repair systems.
Our bodies and our health work in a delicate balance called homeostasis. We rely on a balance between pro-oxidative activity to kill and neutralize infective and toxic agents, while also producing antioxidants to help to aid in the elimination of these products of toxic and biotoxin exposure. EMF exposure creates additional oxidative stress, depleting antioxidant activity, leading to anxiety, depression, stress and fatigue as well as increasing the risk for developing many other chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, many types of cancer.
How Do I Protect Myself and My Family from EMF Exposure?
While EMFs affect everyone, there is growing evidence that our kids may even be more at risk to prolonged EMF exposure. California’s environmental health investigations says that EMFs penetrate deeper in to children’s brains and may mean that their developing nervous systems are even more susceptible to EMF exposure!
Reducing your total EMF exposure is tool number one to safeguarding your health. How do you go about doing that? Here are a few suggestions to help you start to detox your family from EMF exposure.
- Try turning your phone to airplane mode when it is not in use. It is recommended that cell phones not be kept at the bedside, unless it is in airplane mode.
- Use a barrier when using laptop devices. When we use our laptop on our lap, EMF frequencies are emitted very close to our reproductive organs. Consider using a shielding pad like the ones sold here.
- WiFi routers are responsible for large amounts of EMF radiation exposure. Make sure your homes WiFi router is not located in anyone’s bedroom.
- Create a sleep sanctuary. Another great solution is to turn off your home’s WiFi routers at night or putting your router on a timer so that it automatically turns off between 11pm-7 am
- Encourage your kids to limit their exposure by teaching them to put their phones in airplane mode while they are at school or when they are not using their phone.
- Pregnant and nursing women are encouraged to limit cell phone and laptop use as EMF exposure is especially dangerous the developing nervous system of the fetus and newborn.
- Reduce your exposure and use of Bluetooth devices. Choose “wired” appliances as much as possible: wired mouse for your computer, wired headphones and baby monitors over wireless versions of these devices
- Several products have been shown to harmonize (not block) EMF activity. BIODOT and can be placed on your handheld devices (laptops, cell phones, iPads etc)
- Defender shield cases for cell phones help to reduce EMF exposure
EMF Protection and Repair supplements:
- Liposomal Melatonin at bedtime. The brain’s clean-up crew called the glymphatic system works at night while we sleep. Melatonin has been show to be neuroprotective by preserving this clean up process.
- Increasing Magnesium supplementation. Magnesium acts as a calcium channel blocker, protecting cells from the influx of calcium caused by EMF
- Molecular Hydrogen Quicksilver H2 Elite. Having available hydrogen quenches the nasty peroxynitirite molecule, helping to protect from the damage from EMF
- NAD+ support: NAD+ Gold by Quick Silver Scientific. Supplementing NAD+ (using products that contain NR, NMN) may have benefits in protecting us from EMF damage. NAD products are considered anti-aging, improve mitochondrial function, energy metabolism, repair calcium homeostasis, aid in antioxidant production, and improve gene expression.
Other natural EMF detoxification strategies:
- Take a walk in nature. Grounding or Earthing is deeply healing and helps to detox from EMF
- Eat detoxifying foods. Rosemary and cilantro have known EMF protection abilities.
- Keep EMF detoxifying plants in your home. Cactus, Spider plants, Snake plants, and Aloe Vera plants are considered EMF protective.
- Visit the Environmental Working Group at ewg.org to check pollution in your neighborhood.
When approaching any patient suffering from a chronic illness, we talk about reducing the total body burden of toxicity or finding ways to empty “bucket” of toxicity as a means of finding higher ground. This becomes especially true in those patients who have become sensitive to many things. In light of recent scientific findings regarding cell phone and Wi-Fi risks, limiting EMF exposure just makes sense.
Visit these sites for more information on the effects of EMF exposure:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3780531/
https://www.ewg.org/search/site/EMF
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16061584