By Jason McCammon Live Longer Naturopath Doctor Toxins in our environment September 14, 2023

Understanding EMF: Risks, Sources, and Health Implications

1. Introduction to EMF

What is EMF?

Electromagnetic frequency, often referred to as EMF is an important topic. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it, but I’m going to share a basic overview in a two-part series here to help you understand it, because it can be a little bit mysterious, and a little bit overwhelming. Some people think it’s scary – so what should I be worried about? I’d like you to be a little bit more informed and understand the topic.

So, let’s get started. Basic overview: almost all forms of energy that we interact with is EMF or electromagnetic frequency. Some people call it electromagnetic field, and that’s basically the transfer of energy. It’s a term called radiation. So it can be a little scary because if you’re thinking radiation, like a nuclear power plant, that is certainly one form of it, but most of us are not going to come in contact with that. So when we say radiation, we’re mostly talking about the everyday, day-to-day radiation. Like even if you turn on your stove to heat up a pan, that’s radiation. That’s the gas being burned off and putting the energy into whatever you’re cooking on the stove, right from radiation. So don’t be too scared off by that at first, but just understand what’s going on.

The difference between natural and man-made EMF

Almost all forms of energy we interact with daily fall under the category of EMF. There are natural sources and man-made sources.

2. Everyday Sources of EMF

Natural sources: The Sun and its spectrum

The Sun, for instance, emits a spectrum of electromagnetic energy, from visible light and ultraviolet to infrared, radio waves, x-rays, and gamma rays. This natural exposure has been a constant throughout human history.

Man-made sources: Household appliances, cell phones, and 5G towers

However, with technological advancements come new sources of EMF. Some of the man-made versions that we get, or places we get too much EMF from sometimes, is going to be straight voltage or basically any circuit in your house, and a business is going to have a little bit of extra voltage. It literally just comes off the circuit. You don’t really feel it like an electric shock, but again, that’s EMF. It is affecting your cellular biology, which we’ll talk about a little bit later. Another one is called Dirty electricity. And that’s where we are actually on a Y grid system in America. In the US, you can look that up if you want to learn more, versus like the G system like in Europe. But the Y system, they put out the power through power lines, and they send it out to homes and businesses. And ideally, whatever’s not used would come back to the power station and make another lap, kind of make a circuit there. However, they built the system, just the way they built it, there’s not enough neutral wire to get all the power back.

So a lot of our power goes actually into the ground, believe it or not. And then just like water, electricity is going to take the path of least resistance. So it’s going to end up going through the ground, and if your home happens to be in the way, it can be going into your home and some of the piping, especially obviously metal is a great conductor. So for example, the pipes that bring water up from the city or from your well, that could be energized. Again, not high voltage but small dirty electricity. The issue is that again, you’re not going to get shocked, you know, like electrocuted like you would with a live wire off a telephone pole. The idea though is that you’re exposed to this over time. That’s the kind of dangerous part if you are someone who’s susceptible to it, which again we’ll talk about later. It’s the exposure over time that becomes a problem. Kind of like you can deal with pesticides from fruit and vegetables, but if you have quite a decent amount and accumulate that over 20, 30, 40, 50 years, it’s this cumulative effect. That’s what can really cause health problems.

3. The Health Risks of EMF Exposure

The silent epidemic: Why some professionals are concerned

Some professionals, including neurologists outside the natural health sphere, have raised alarms about the potential health risks of EMF. They argue that the data already indicates significant harm. I did see a doctor, a neurologist, present on this. She was really concerned that EMF was a problem, an epidemic that’s just kind of silent out there. There’s so many health problems that are happening and going to happen with EMF that she said it’d be even unethical to study it because there’s enough data to show how damaging it is to the body.

I did find a study over in Europe where they looked at a wound and they looked at an artificial wound in the lab. And basically, when exposed to EMF, there is almost no repair of that wound at all. And these are just regular cells like you and I are made of. So it’s a little scary, and I did read that study, it was actually well designed and small but well designed. So we’re going to see more and more evidence like that come out. So I want you to be informed about this.

Direct health implications: Infertility, cancer risk, and wound repair

So some of the issues that it can have, some of the major ones, are wide-ranging. This includes infertility risk most likely going up, cancer risk definitely going up, wound repair as I mentioned. And remember, not just wound repair from getting injured, but when you work out, you tear muscle tissue down. If you are exposed to a lot of EMF, you may not get that recovery. Sleep can be affected and this is huge because without really good sleep, you can’t fix any of the other problems in your body.

Mental and neurological health: The potential link to anxiety, depression, and more

There are some people that are showing that EMF is exacerbating mental health issues like different psychosis like anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and neurological conditions like ADD, ADHD, those types of things, autism spectrum disorder, things like that are most likely exacerbated, may not be causal, but exacerbated by EMF.

4. Symptoms of EMF Overexposure

Recognizing the signs: From sleeplessness to unexpected weight gain

So some symptoms that we could be looking at, again, this is going to sound very generic, it may cover a lot of different things. I deal with natural health or holistic health, and with almost any chronic condition you’ve heard of. So this may not immediately click with you, but some of the things people are reporting, remember it affects everybody differently, is sleeplessness, restlessness, just not feeling yourself, kind of anxious all the time, moody. If you have a change in your health without anything else changing like job or social or those types of things and you notice these symptoms, it might be good to consider EMF. Unexpected weight gain, lack of energy, poor recovery from workouts, and being susceptible to illnesses, just getting more colds and flus more frequently. Those are some of the kind of the symptoms or some of the attributes you might consider with EMF exposure.

The cumulative effect: Long-term exposure concerns

It’s not just immediate exposure that’s concerning. The cumulative effect of being surrounded by EMF sources, especially as our technological grid expands, can lead to long-term health issues.

5. Conclusion and Looking Ahead

The importance of being informed

As we continue to embrace technology, it’s crucial to stay informed about potential health risks. While not all EMF sources are harmful, understanding and mitigating risks is essential.

This topic is vast and ever-evolving. Stay tuned for part two, where we’ll delve deeper into mitigation strategies and ways to protect yourself from excessive EMF exposure.