You lie down at night trying to sleep, you toss and turn, and your eyes are wide open. But who would ever guess – the problem’s right there in your walls! The head of your bed, as in most homes, is next to a wall in your bedroom, and in that wall is a bundle of electrical wiring emitting electromagnetic fields. This is important because researchers have recently confirmed that there is overwhelming evidence that electric and magnetic fields (EMFs) significantly reduce melatonin levels in the body. And it’s well known that lowered level of melatonin cause sleep problems.
If you think you don’t have a problem with electric fields in your bedroom because the lights are off at night, think again! Even with the lights turned off, AC electrical current is in the wires in the walls of your whole house and projects electric fields about 3-5 feet into the room! And where’s your head when you sleep at night? Generally it’s within 12 inches of the wall! But even if only your toe or one finger is in that field, EMFs will be conducted in and onto your whole body because the human body, which consists mostly of water, is a great conductor! It acts like a huge antenna! To stop electric fields from circulating in your walls, you’d have to turn off the circuit to that wall or the main breaker to the whole house – but who’s going to do that!!
And wiring in the walls is not the only culprit. If you have any kind of electrical device or appliance within 3-5 feet of your body at night, like a clock radio, lamp, or TV, the electric cord from that appliance also conducts electric fields – even turned off! You actually have to unplug appliances from the wall to prevent exposure. Electric blankets and heated waterbeds are the worst offenders! An average clock or lamp cord may emit anywhere from 1/2 to 3 volts. But electric blankets and heated waterbeds often conduct 15 volts or higher! Always unplug them before lying down – or better yet, get rid of them!
Reduction of melatonin, from exposure to EMFs has serious consequences for the body because it is one of the body’s primary endocrine hormones. It affects all vital organs, including the brain, hypothalamus, central nervous system, lymph system, immune system, heart, lungs, kidneys, uterus, testes and fetus – because all these organs have melatonin receptors. The cellular signaling system that regulates melatonin levels is disrupted by EMFs which are, essentially, foreign electrical interference, and this interference alters the body’s own cellular signaling system (a system which is electrical in nature).
Where’s the proof? Try this – a form published in 1995 by your own government, the U.S. Department of Energy and National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences which states: “AC fields create weak electric currents in the bodies of people and animal. Effects of 60-Hz EMFs: (1) changes in function of cells and tissues (2) decrease in hormone melatonin (3) alterations in immune system (4) accelerated tumor growth (5) changes in biorhythms (6) changes in human brain activity and heart rate.”
So if, like 65% of all Americans, you don’t sleep well at night or you wake up unrested, the cause is right there in your own home – EMFs – invisible and ever present. -Wendy Rose Pearson
