10 Simple Ways to Reduce EMF’s at Home

I always knew that EMF’s (electromagnetic fields) were probably bad for us but I had no idea what that really meant or how to reduce my family’s EMF exposure. That is, until last year when I attended a presentation on EMF’s and Wireless Radiation as it relates to autism by Peter Sullivan at AutismOne.  You can view that presentation here.

I had no idea EMF’s had any link at all to autism or ADHD but now I believe EMF’s probably are part of the reason for the rise in behavioral and learning issues in our kids, and physical symptoms including cancer after long term exposure. Our schools are suddenly equipped with Wifi in every room, and here our kids are given iPads and Chromebooks starting in Kindergarten!

While sadly there’s not too much you can do about the Wifi and EMF exposure in schools (other than homeschooling), you can reduce your child’s EMF exposure at home and especially where they sleep as this is the most important.  During our sleep our bodies repair themselves from not only toxins in general but also from the barrage of EMF’s we’re exposed to all day long, which puts our bodies under stress. Many parents will tell you that their kids behave better when they limit their child’s exposure to their devices or video games. I believe the issue is two-fold. While the fast-moving images and scenes of violence can certainly affect their brains negatively, I also think part of the problem is the EMF exposure which can also cause behavioral issues. Some gaming systems like Xbox and Wii utilize Wifi and emit a high amount of EMF’s.

So, below are 10 simple ways to reduce your EMF exposure that you may or may not have heard of before. I’m using the term “EMF” loosely. I know there is a difference between EMF’s, radiation, radio frequencies (RF) and dirty electricity (DE). For simplicity’s sake, I’m just going to say EMF’s. They’re all bad in my opinion.

1. Turn off all iPads/tablets, laptops, computers, game systems, and cell phones at night. This may seem like a no-brainer but we weren’t doing this. While these devices are on, they are sending out much stronger signals then when they are off. You should also leave all devices on a separate floor from where you are sleeping.  All our bedrooms are upstairs so we leave phones  and iPads downstairs. The phones are still emitting some frequencies even when turned off and EMF’s travel through walls so don’t think you can just put it in your closet and be fine.

My son’s friend was sleeping over and he went to sleep with his phone right next to his head. Like a good friend, my son moved his phone while he was sleeping. 🙂 His friend thought he was crazy when he woke up in the morning and couldn’t find his phone. Phones emit the most EMF’s the first 6 inches or so around them and then it tapers off. So you don’t want to be sleeping with your cell phone on your night stand as I’m sure many people do. If you have to have your phone on (I understand, I have a 16-year old), at least place it far enough away from where you are sleeping, but where you could still hear it if it went off (or turn the volume on the ringer up as well). The other option is to get a land line corded phone installed in your bedroom so that you can still get emergency calls in the middle of the night.

If you need to use your phone for an alarm, put it in sleep (airplane) mode first. The alarm will still go off. Sleep mode tells the phone to stop searching for a signal and disables the Wifi. If you let your kids play with your phone, put it in airplane mode first if they’re not using the Wifi. It’s still better though to turn off the phone completely at night and keep it as far away from you as possible because it always gives off some kind of signal. This is how it’s able to turn back on or to be found on “Find My iPhone.” There’s a short cut on iPhone’s at least for airplane mode. I swipe up from the bottom of my phone and there’s an airplane icon where you can turn airplane mode on and off.

2. Get rid of any cordless phones in your house.

We did this after last year’s AutismOne. I went to BestBuy and introduced my kids to corded phones. 🙂 They thought it was a novelty. They had to show all their friends our new phones. The looks on the neighbor’s kids’ faces were priceless when they had to use our phone to call home. Cordless phones emit frequencies throughout the entire house constantly from the base, whether they are in use or not. As you know, they extend even outside your home, maybe for about 50 feet or so. So, if you live close to another house, you could also be getting some EMF exposure from their cordless phones, if they have them. But the farther you are away from the base unit of cordless phones, the better. If you do have cordless phones, at least move the base as far away from where you sleep as possible. Definitely should not be in the bedroom.

Some people are moving toward cell phones only and getting rid of their land lines, however, that means they’re using their cell phones more which isn’t good. The best option is to get a land line with corded phones and only use your cell phones when needed. The corded phones I’ve found aren’t great quality. Had to replace one already because it started getting static. For the kitchen, I bought an long, extended cord so that I could walk around the kitchen on the phone (think 80’s when we’d stretch the phone into the bathroom when we wanted to have a private phone conversation!)

3.  Don’t carry your cell phone on your body.

This is especially true for pregnant women! As I mentioned, the first 6 inches from the phone gives off the most EMF’s so you want to keep the phone as far away from your body as possible. My son still likes to carry his phone in his front pocket but I yell at him all the time. Boys and men, you are killing and damaging your sperm by doing this! I’m sure it also puts you more at risk for prostate cancer. Same goes for laptops. Don’t put them directly on your laps. Try to at least put them on a table or desk. I’m sure this is part of the reason for the increase in prostate cancer.

Ladies, don’t ever carry your cell phones in your bra strap! Watch this video from an episode on Dr. Oz where Dr. Oz warns women to never carry their cell phones in their bra. This 21-year old girl who was perfectly healthy got breast cancer in the EXACT spot she was carrying her cell phone in her bra! I saw another very similar video on YouTube last year. Perfectly healthy, in shape woman (ran every day) with no family history of breast cancer, and she gets breast cancer in the exact spot where she carried her phone in her bra. Coincidence? I think not.

So where should we put our phones? In a purse or cell phone carrying case is better than directly on your body. Kids – maybe in backpacks instead of the pant pockets. My son carries his backpack around school all day. If you have to carry it on you, at least try to put it in airplane mode until you need to use it. Hard for me to do though because I always want to be available in case something happens with one of my kids, so I don’t do this very often. But sometimes I will turn it to airplane mode, and then I just turn it on to check for messages every hour or so. I usually carry my cell phone in my left hand. I’m too scared to carry it in my pocket and I don’t know too many people who have gotten hand cancer! So if I have to get cancer, I’ll take hand cancer over ovarian or breast cancer! Or I carry it in my back pocket instead of my front pocket. Seems the EMF’s have farther to go to get to my ovaries from the back! 🙂

I have had problems with my left hand though! When my son was first diagnosed with Lyme, I was spending a lot of time reading on my phone. I hold my phone in my left hand. I started having pain in my hand, almost like arthritis. I put some frankincense and lemongrass oils on it and it got better after a couple days but it will still do that every once in a while, or my hand will start to tingle if I hold my phone too long. I try to set the phone down now when I’m reading, either on a pillow, or a lap pad for laptops. Or I try to read on my computer instead.

Have a FitBit? I’d love to get one. My 13-year old daughter really wanted one so I did some research first. Those also utilize Wifi and give off EMF’s. Sorry honey. Never getting one. The new Apple watches? Not getting one of those either. These devices are in direct contact with the skin and the FitBit users are encouraged to sleep with their FitBit’s on to track their sleep. Ahh!

I use an iPod Touch when I work out instead of my phone. It doesn’t have Wifi capabilities.

4. Don’t let kids use tablets, laptops, or phones while they are charging.

Charge phones and tablets at night. When it is charging, there are much more EMF’s and dirty electricity coming through, and they usually have the iPads sitting directly on their laps too. I had no idea this was problematic. My kids did this all the time. Now we make sure to fully charge at night. And I try to get my kids to use a pillow or lap pad designed for laptops, etc. so the iPads aren’t directly touching them.

5. If you need to use a baby monitor, get a corded one, not the cordless.

See this article here on baby monitors. Same reason as the cordless phones. Just make sure you keep the corded monitor out of baby’s reach to reduce the risk of strangulation with the cords. Or you could move the baby’s room to right next to the master bedroom and leave the doors open. I imagine this is what they had to do back in the day before baby monitors! Thankfully I’m done with baby monitors so I just threw ours out. I did have a wireless one which is not good.

Same thing goes for many other wireless devices such as wireless mouses, keyboards, and wireless printers. All wireless devices utilize Wifi and give off a lot of EMF’s. I bought a corded mouse to replace our wireless one that we were using with our laptop.

6. Never put your baby’s crib or child’s bed up against a wall where your smart meter or Wifi router is. 

Smart meters are what your utility company (like ComEd) will install on the outside of your house to send them information about how much electricity you are using, for billing. Back in the day, they sent employees out to manually read the meters. These smart meters give off a lot of EMF’s. See this video here by Dr. Klinghardt on Smart meters. He starts talking specifically about smart meters around minute seven.  This is a GREAT video that I highly recommend you take the time to watch. I listen to YouTube videos on my phone or iPad while I’m cooking or driving so I don’t feel like I’m wasting time! 🙂 He talks about how he believes a woman’s chances of having a child with autism can be pretty accurately estimated by the amount of EMF’s she’s exposed to in her sleeping environment while pregnant. That’s fascinating. And scary.

You do NOT want your child to be sleeping directly next to a smart meter every night. Same goes for your Wifi routers. Remember, EMF’s travel through walls. We used to have our computer and router upstairs in our loft at our old house. Yikes! Way too close to where my babies were sleeping. Make sure your router is not placed directly on the other side of the wall where your kids are sleeping.

Luckily, we have a walk out basement so our electrical meter is not anywhere near where anyone sleeps. If you have a ranch, you could have a bedroom next to a smart meter. Not everyone has smart meters either. You will have to go outside and look on your meter, or measure it with a detector (more on that later). It usually will have a digital display. Luckily, I don’t think we have a smart meter, but they can add one at any time, without your consent. Just make sure no one is sleeping against that wall. For more info on smart meters, watch the documentary “Take Back Your Power.” See if your library has it or look for it online. You can try to have your smart meter removed, or “opting out” but it can be difficult to get your utility company to actually do it. You can also get a cover to go over your smart meter to block the EMF’s from getting into your home. I’ll discuss that more in my next blog post.

7. Turn off your Wifi at night.

Wifi routers give off an immense amount of EMF’s. Getting rid of your router completely and hard wiring your computer to the modem is the best way to go but most people don’t want to live without their Wifi. If you have your own router, chances are, you can just turn it off at night (power it down). We had a Comcast/Xfinity modem and router combined. Even if you power it off, it is still emitting the same amount of EMF’s (we had Anna from Healthy Home Environmental Testing and Consulting come out and measure and do an EMF assessment). There is no way to turn it off completely unless you get a new modem that is a router only, with the modem separate. This is what we did. I went out and bought my own router and requested an old modem of Comcast’s that was the modem only, and now I can shut off my router whenever we aren’t using the Wifi, which is usually at night, and then also during the day when the kids are at school. I have my computer hooked up directly to the modem now so I don’t need Wifi for my computer. I’ll be doing another post on this soon to explain how to set up your home to eliminate as much Wifi and EMF’s as possible based on what I learned from our EMF assessment. You can also learn more here at this Facebook group (EMF’s and Autism). You’ll need to double check with a meter to make sure the router you get is not emitting EMF’s after it’s powered off. Some still do, like Comcast’s.

 

 

8. Use a toaster oven instead of the microwave. 

Microwaves give off the most radiation when in use. We use a toaster oven to heat up leftovers, and we use a Whirly Pop style popcorn popper to make popcorn. Some toaster ovens can give off EMF’s when in use as well but we had ours measured with a meter and ours was OK. We still use the microwave for a couple things like if we need a quick microwavable meal like Ian’s GFCF Chicken Nugget Meals or Amy’s GFCF Baked Ziti but this isn’t often. Totally understand that sometimes we need a break from cooking or need a quick meal. I feel it’s still better than eating fast food where everything is microwaved and the ingredients are much worse. But when heating up food, we use the toaster oven. If you need to thaw out meat, never put it in the microwave. It destroys all the B vitamins in the meat. If I need to thaw meat, I put it in a big bowl of cold water. It will thaw in about 30 minutes. I’ve not tried it with chicken though. I try to remember to set out meat or chicken the night before. We also have no idea what eating food that has been radiated is doing to us. Or do we? Hmm.

9. When using your cell phone, try to use speaker phone whenever possible.

Like breast cancer, people are developing brain tumors in the EXACT spots where they hold their cell phones on their head. Most people use their phones on the same side (I always use my right ear). I try to switch it up if I’m on a long call and switch to my left ear occasionally.

 

Using speaker phone is even better as it puts more space between you and the (cancer causing!) phone. Placing your phone down on a desk is even better so you’re not holding it in your hand. Or better yet, get a land line and use a corded phone for phone conversations at home. Do NOT use a Bluetooth headset as Bluetooth emits radiation. Texting is better than using the phone as the phone doesn’t give off a strong signal while texting, except right as the message is being sent or received, and you’re not holding the phone directly against your head where your invaluable brain is. 🙂 Check out this article at The Truth About Cancer for more info on cell phone use and it’s relation to cancer and brain tumors.

Also when the phone first rings, it gives off the most radiation in the first few seconds as it establishes a connection and gets a signal. I always try to answer the phone by putting it on speaker first, or just wait a few seconds after you answer the call before you put it up to your head if you are not going to use speaker. The people will hear silence first before you say hello but oh well.

10. Turn off the Bluetooth in your car if you have a Smart car. 

It’s easy to turn off the bluetooth in your car though the jury’s out on if it actually stops the car from emitting EMF’s. I turned mine off anyway though. I bought an auxillary wire to connect my phone to my car so I can listen to music or YouTube videos through my car speakers. If you have a choice, get a car without Bluetooth capabilities. That’s becoming hard to do if you buy a new car. Also, try to avoid using your cell phone while driving. It’s illegal anyway.  But when you’re driving, your phone is constantly searching for a signal because the car is moving. So, it’s sending out a stronger signal than if you were at home or in one location. Also, the signals are bouncing off the inside of your car as well. I try to put my phone on airplane mode while driving.

Most people think cell phones and EMF’s pose no threat. Even if you’re not sold on this idea, despite many cases and studies supporting this notion, are you willing to take that chance with your health and the health of your kids? I’m not. Some of the above things are very simple to do and a small price to pay to potentially avoid cancer and other issues that many people are seeing from EMF’s.

I first looked into EMF’s more closely a few months ago when my son who has Lyme started saying that he thought the EMF’s were causing his insomnia. People with Lyme (or any other autoimmune disorder, compromised health, or ADHD or autism) can become more sensitive to EMF’s because their immune system is already suppressed from fighting off other things.  EMF’s cause stress on the body because our bodies are made up of energy. Doctors like Dr. Klinghardt that treat Lyme and other disorders address EMF’s as part of their treatment protocols. He says the kids who recover from autism are the kids who follow his EMF protocols and eliminate the EMF’s from the child’s bedroom. That’s a powerful statement. One of the ways to do that is by getting rid of the Wifi router in the house or at least turning it off at night.

I’ll be doing a part II to this blog post, and explain what I learned from our EMF assessment done by Healthy Home Environmental Testing and Consulting at www.healthyhomewisconsin.com and suggestions that Anna made. Anna lives in south WI and does testing in northern IL and WI. I highly recommend her services. I learned a LOT and she has several different measuring devices (meters) that would costs hundreds and thousands of dollars to buy (and she knows how to use them! That would be my problem.).

 

Reducing the EMF exposure in your home can really help a child with autism or ADHD, and healthy individuals as well as of course, we’d like to stay that way! The rise in cancer in the last few decades is astounding. We are being bombarded with toxins through our food, the air, the ground, our water, and now everywhere due to the huge rise in cell phone towers, Wifi, and current technologies. I think this is very similar to cigarettes where everyone including doctors thought it was safe but now we know cigarettes cause cancer. The rate at which schools are installing Wifi and cell phone companies are putting up more and more cell towers is scary.

There are lots more things that people can do to protect themselves, and I’ll list a few more in my next blog post, but I wanted to put together a list of a few simple things that anyone can do right now. I’ll also be talking about cell towers and what you can do about them.

Taking the steps mentioned above should improve sleep as well. This is the initial reason I looked into EMF’s to begin with. And I’m glad I did! We’ve been doing biomed for 8 years, and we’ve never addressed the issue of EMF’s! How is that?! I’ve also been attending AutismOne conferences here and there for the last 8 years and the last two years a lot more focus has been on EMF’s and reducing EMF exposure in order to help kids with autism recover. I really do think it’s a bigger piece of the autism puzzle than many first expected.

 

Resources:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/07/09/vickie-warren-on-effects-of-electromagnetic-fields.aspx

http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/get-those-wireless-baby-monitors-out-of-the-nursery/

http://www.doctoroz.com/episode/why-you-should-keep-your-cell-phone-out-your-bra

https://thetruthaboutcancer.com/cell-phone-radiation-cancer/

http://www.clearlightventures.com/blog/2014/07/emf-reduction-for-autism.html

http://www.healthyhomewisconsin.com