What is all the Fuss About?

Electromagnetic radiation constituting the soup of invisible electric and magnetic fields and waves that we all bathe in day and night.

Most of us are aware of their existence, and it seems an increasing number of us are being irritated by them. The number of people that are sensitive to electromagnetic fields appears to be growing.

The list of implicated health issues is so long it is easier to ask what is not affected by EMFs. This position is supported by a vast body of publications both from independent researchers and bodies such as the military. At this point it is impossible to rule out any health issue if only due to the fact that we know EMFs can effect the body’s immune response thereby implicating them in every single condition known to man. Many of these problems – as indeed does most disease – seem to stem from oxidative damage (ROS) causing inflammation. While inflammation is the the root cause, it is often the first symptom of disease.

Dirty Electricity

“Dirty electricity” refers to the overlap of multiple signals and frequencies that are being seen on the mains power AC line. It can be in present in the supply coming into your house, created by other users, including industry and local telecoms transformer, or it can be created in your own home by the many switching power supplies such as phone and laptop chargers, routers, TVs, lighting dimmer switches, CFL bulbs, and many more.

The above image is of a voltage trace I observed on a domestic supply. Ideally (which is very unlikely in the case in domestic supply) both the voltage and the current sine wave should look like this:

The switching of AC creates “harmonics” of the base frequency, so in the UK this will introduce harmonics of 150, 250, 350, 450 hertz and so forth. Unfortunately these types of harmonics are not eliminated by installing one of the many popular “dirty electricity” filters on the market because these only address frequencies of 4,000hz and above. This is problematic because the lower harmonics, such as the 100 and 150hz, are probably more bio-active, and are certainly of a higher strength.

The above image show the voltage harmonics measured on domestic supply. These frequencies range from about 50hz to 850hz. Notice the strong 249hz harmonic which is about 25% of the strength of the main 50hz (49.8) frequency shown. Our brains function at frequencies between 0.5hz and 100hz. Our muscles between 30hz and 200hz. There are many other known biological frequencies within the audio range – which is less than 4,000hz – and probably many biological frequencies we don’t yet know about. The fact that these off-the-shelf “dirty electricity” filters don’t filter out signals lower than 4,000khz would seem to be problematic.

So as far as quantity (number of peaks per second) the higher frequency harmonics (4,000hz and above) are more numerous – but as far as amplitude of voltage (and current) the lower harmonics are stronger and possibly more detrimental to health. Better solutions would be replacement power supplies that have correct in-built filtering.

It’s also important to know that the exposure guidelines for humans to non-ironising radiation were based on EMFs of continuous (sinusoidal) current. In reality most of the radiation we encounter from household appliances and from mobile devices is in pulse form – short bursts of current in the micro down to nano second time frames.

“Sharp edge” currents such as these pictured above are many times more biologically significant than sinusoidal currents. I will be devoting a new blog to just this topic in the next few weeks. Again, compare to the ideal sine wave shown in a previous image above.

Dirty electricity is particularly disruptive to the cells of our body. The way it is made is to sharply switch on and off a current. Imaging a door being slammed shut and the feeling that produces in you. On a cellular level the door is being slammed many times per second. Testing your mains electricity supply will identify problems caused by poorly designed (from a biological perspective) switching and charging devices.

Radio Frequency and Microwave Frequency

These include radio frequency radiation (RFR) emitting devices, such as mobile and cordless phones and their base stations, Wi-Fi, broadcast antennas, smart meters, baby monitors, and smart home devices controlling lighting, heating and CCTV etc.

An International appeal has been made to the World Health Organisation (WHO) for increased protection from non-ironising radiation. Around 250 doctors and professors from 45 countries were signatories. This is part of the text of their appeal:

“Numerous recent scientific publications have shown that EMF affects living organisms at levels well below most international and national guidelines. Effects include increased cancer risk, cellular stress, increase in harmful free radicals, genetic damages, structural and functional changes of the reproductive system, learning and memory deficits, neurological disorders, and negative impacts on general well-being in humans. Damage goes well beyond the human race, as there is growing evidence of harmful effects to both plant and animal life.” (https://www.emfscientist.org/index.php/emf-scientist-appeal)

Having your environment and appliances tested for radio and microwave frequency EMFs will identify issues that need remedies.

Other sources of high frequency EM files are AM and TV transmitters and these can be known and remedies provided.

Electric and Magnetic Fields

All electrical devices in your home emit and electrical field and a magnetic field. The strength of this radiation can be measure on an electric field meter and a gauss meter.

Localised fields will exist at the point of use – at the device – and these fields will dissipate quickly with distance as they obey the inverse square of distance laws. So putting a couple of metres between you and the device should be enough distance to mitigate acute levels of damage to your body.

When a current flows through a wire it creates an electrical field and also a magnetic field of an opposite polarity to the current flowing through the wire. So in your household AC wiring the live wire will create a polarised (let’s say North–South) oriented magnetic field as the current is flowing towards your electrical appliance. Now the neutral wire will have a current flowing in the opposite direction (let’s say South–North), back from the appliance to the breaker box. So when a live and neutral of an AC power supply are housed together in the same insulation the magnetic fields of both the live and neutral wires cancel out because they are polarised in the opposite direction N–S, and S–N.

Common problems include household wiring that creates localised electric and magnetic fields. For example the separation of the neutral line away from the live line prevents the cancellation of magnetic fields resulting in a permanent unbalanced magnetic field. Chronic exposure to this can be problematic. We can use a gauss meter to detect the presence of unbalanced magnetic fields.

To detect electric fields can use a suitable e-field meter, and/or we can measure body voltage in reference to a good earth connection.

Another example of how unbalanced magnetic fields can present themselves in our home is the grounding (to earth) of the household mains neutral line which prevents neutral line currents from fully returning to the neutral of the supply transformer. For more on this see my post magnetic-fields-from-household-wiring.

An external source of EM fields are overhead power lines. The magnetic fields produced by these lines are not balanced due to the fact that the return current wire is separated from the live wire.

When a magnetic field is present and you move through it the result is a small but disruptive electric current is induced in your body. If you are stationery but the magnetic field already moving – such as that created by AC frequency or pulsed DC currents – the same effect will take place. Likewise when an electric field is present and you move through it a small but disruptive magnetic field is induced in your body. Having your appliances and living space tested for electric and magnetic fields will show you which will need remedies to counteract these fields.

Sleep

It is while we sleep that our bodies go into restore and detox mode. This is the most important time for us to be in as close to zero EMF environment as possible so that we can recover from the onslaught our environment brings each waking day.

Consultancy is available to turn your sleeping area into a very low EMF environment, creating the possibility of 8-hours of healing each night.

Contact Mark today to book your Home EMF Survey.