by Dr. Mercola

You should definitely listen to Camilla Rees, of Electromagnetic Health, interviewing Vicki Warren, the past executive director of the Institute for Bau Biology & Ecology. You’ll learn how to lower your risk of EMF exposure around your house.

Warren discusses residual magnetism, static build-up, power charges (the field emitted by the wiring in your walls), power frequency magnetic fields, wireless communication electrosmog, and radioactivity and its by-product radon. She reveals how she examines a house for EMF dangers, and what you should avoid.

You’re guaranteed to learn some things you didn’t know, and improve your health, your sleep, and your life.

Sources:

Electromagnetic Health

Dr. Mercola’s Comments:

If you’re a regular newsletter reader you’re probably well aware of the risks that come from using your cell phone. This and other wireless devices (including cordless phones) are among the worst electromagnetic field (EMF) offenders, but they are far from the only ones.

Right now we exist in an environment that has never before occurred in nature, one that is teeming with varying levels of electrical pollution, or “electrosmog.” It started with the rollout of the electrical grid a century ago, and now virtually everyone in a developed country is being bombarded with electrical frequencies from electronic devices.

Electrical Pollution Interferes with Your Body’s Cells

EMF should be considered a harmful invader to your body, just like any other environmental toxin. It interferes with your health at the cellular level because you are actually an electrical being.

Your body is a complex communication device where cells, tissues, organs and organisms all “talk.” At each of these levels, the communication includes finely tuned bio-electrical transmitters and receivers, which are tuned like tuning into a radio station.

What happens when you expose a radio antenna to a significant amount of external noise? You get static from the noise — and that is what is happening to your body in today’s electrosmog environment.

Two of the more well-known biological impacts from electrosmog are the interruption of your brain wave patterns leading to behavior issues and the interference with your body’s communication system (cytoskeleton) leading to abnormal neurological function, such as dementia, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.

At a cellular level, your cell membrane receptors (the brain of the cell) recognize electromagnetic fields at very low levels of exposure producing a stress response similar to that produced by exposure to heavy metals or toxic chemicals.

This can cause the cell membrane to go from an “active” or permeable state where it allows nutrients in and toxins out, to an “inactive” state where the cell membrane is impermeable.

During a normal day, your cells will change states thousands of time, but when under constant environmental stress, the membranes can be locked in the inactive state.

This is often referred to as “oxidative stress” as nutrients are able to enter into the cell, while toxins (free radicals) are not allowed to leave.

There is also real evidence that this inactive state can even have geno-toxic effects, meaning electrosmog is toxic by both damaging DNA and preventing your body from repairing DNA, which can be the first step to cancer.

For health, your body must be able to communicate within itself, that is, to be in harmony with the natural rhythm of the earth and all life. The chaotic and unpredictable patterns from electrosmog can create noise in your body and force your body out of harmony.

The Six Primary Types of EMF

In the interview above Vicki Warren explains the primary EMFs to check for around your home:

1. Static Electric Fields: These are made up of static electricity caused by ions released from synthetic materials in your home. When combined, they can make you feel unwell, which underscores the importance of choosing natural materials for your furniture, cabinetry, flooring and other building supplies.
2. Residual Magnetism: Most often this occurs from metal in your bed, which can change its magnetic field. Your body sleeps best in a constant magnetic field, rather than one impacted by metals. (If you hold a liquid-filled compass over your sleeping area, north should always be north; a spinning compass signals residual magnetism).
3. Power Frequency: This includes the wiring in your walls, electrical outlets, extension cords, lamps, and other electricity sources. They produce electric fields that essentially turn your body into a large antenna and interfere with your cells’ ability to communicate with one another. A bedroom disrupted with power frequency is especially unhealthy to sleep in, as cells cannot regenerate properly, potentially leading to insomnia and other diseases.
4. Power Frequency Magnetic Fields: These are caused by building wiring errors and also when power lines to your home run underground near your sleeping area. An electrical panel box located on a wall near your sleeping area or even a refrigerator or TV located on the other side of the wall from where you sleep can also lead to power frequency magnetic fields.
5. Radiofrequency/Communications: This includes a broad range of cordless phones, wireless devices, cell phones and cell phone towers, all of which can interfere with your health.
6. Radioactivity (and its byproduct radon): Radioactivity enters your home from building materials (such as granite — one-third of the granite in homes is radioactive) or radon gas coming up out of the ground.

Light and sound are also part of the EMF spectrum, so if you’re near a highway or airport that surrounds your home in artificial light or excessive noise, you can also be impacted by that, although this is less common than the EMF sources listed above.

When Dealing with EMF, Start in Your Sleeping Area

It’s during sleep that your body regenerates and detoxifies, so you want your bedroom to be a sleeping sanctuary with very low EMF issues. It’s a given that you’re going to be exposed to varying levels of EMF during your waking hours, so giving your body a break during the night is really important.

First, make sure that your bed does not contain any metal. The vast majority of beds (90-95 percent) contain metal springs and/or frames. Unfortunately, these metal frames and metal box springs can amplify and distort the earth’s natural magnetic field, which can lead to a non-restful sleep along with a range of other symptoms including:

• Headaches
• Hyperactivity
• Nightmares
• Depression and fatigue
• Eyestrain
• Muscle cramps

Research has shown that for your body to properly detoxify during sleep it must be alkaline, and high electromagnetic fields lead to acidity. This is especially true for heavy metal detoxification.

To find out if your bed contains residual magnetism, I encourage you to use the compass trick that Vicki Warren describes (if a liquid-filled compass spins when held over your bed, it means residual magnetism is present). You can further make your bedroom a low-EMF sleep sanctuary by:

• Turning off all the fuses at night (or at least those that are in your bedroom).
• Shielding your bed with a special metalized fabric to protect yourself from harmful frequencies that can disrupt cellular communication.
• If you are constructing a new home or renovating one and the walls are being rebuilt you can install radiant barrier, which is a tough type of aluminum foil that will also very effectively screen out the EMF. This is what I did for my own bedroom.
• At minimum, moving your bed so that your head is at least 3-6 feet from all electrical outlets. If you are constructing the walls you can put the wires inside pipes, which will virtually eliminate the fields that are generated in the room when the current runs through the wire.
• Turning off and unplugging everything electrical in your sleeping area, including your computer, WI-FI, cell and portable phones.
• Sleeping on a non-metal bed and mattress.

More Tips for Creating a Healthy, Low-EMF Home Environment

There are several more steps you can take to lower your EMF burden right now:

• Beware that cell phones and WI-FI are not the only EMF sources you need to be cautious of. Essentially, most all electronics will generate EMFs, including the wiring in your home, electric alarm clocks, electric blankets, computers and lamps, just to mention a few. For best results, avoid using electric blankets and electric heating pads, and unplug all electrical appliances when not in use. Even better, turn off the fuses directly.
• Protect yourself from cordless phones. A cordless phone base station placed about two feet from your head and plugged in for three minutes at a time can significantly disrupt your health, including your heart rhythms.The base station of a DECT phone always transmits at full power, so this is not a device you want sitting on your nightstand next to your bed, on your kitchen counter or even on at all if it is not necessary.If you do use a conventional cordless phone, be sure to keep the base station at least three rooms away from where everyone sleeps and where you spend the most time during the day. Or simply keep it off except in the limited circumstances where you feel you need to use it.
• You can read my full list of tips to protect yourself from cell phone radiation here.

For additional EMF information, please follow EMF.mercola.com for the latest news and updates.

Read the Full Article Here: http://emf.mercola.com/sites/emf/archive/2011/02/09/powerful-and-simple-tips-to-help-lower-your-emf-risks.aspx

Copyright Dr. Joseph Mercola, 2011. All Rights Reserved.