Summary
Results of my attempts to identify and measure sources of EMF in my various domiciles and pinpoint its mental and physical effects on me. (1083 words)
See also part 1 of my electrosmog reduction experiment.
For the past five years, since reading Zapped by Ann Louise Gittleman, I have tried to control my exposure to electromagnetic fields aka EMF as much as I can without going batty.
Such is the glacial progress of EMF awareness in the general public that I can post this record of my EMF experiment from five years ago and not worry about it being outdated.
Effects I’ve noticed
I have definitely sensed EMF’s effects. I wrote about a few of those experiences in part one of this experiment. In another episode I spent a week suffering from mysterious waves of fatigue, similar to blood-sugar drops, after I moved my TV-binge-watching spot from one side of my couch to the other (because adventure). When I realized I was sitting 18 inches from the 85-year-old fuse box — the 1929 building I was living in still had its original wiring — I moved back to the other side of the couch, five feet away, and voila, problem solved.
One day last year I seemed to notice the moment a wi-fi signal turned on at an empty Starbucks patio. I had been there alone for almost an hour when my mood switched abruptly to agitation and restlessness. I looked up to see that a patron about ten feet away had just opened her laptop.
What follows herewith is a belated followup report to that first 2012 experiment. About a year later I finally got around to buying EMF measuring gadgets from lessemf dot com and spent a few weeks analyzing the radio, microwave, magnetic, and electric fields — which we’ll just collectively call “electrosmog” — in my apartment. For information on safe ranges for these fields, I referred to Zapped, FAQs on the website lessemf dot com, and the label on one of the meters.
A link to mold or metal poisoning
Most of Zapped’s EMF-sensitive profilees had been exposed to whopping big amounts of the various radiation types, or were very young. That was not my situation. I seem to be in the same boat as moldies in discussion forums who report that their EMF sensitivity seems linked to mold and/or metals poisoning. Some have reported that it significantly abated once they detoxed thoroughly, which can take a couple of years.
Figuring out what meters to buy
The meters I bought for part 2 of the electrosmog reduction experiment were a flat-frequency TriField meter, model 100XE ($150), and a 3-Axis RF Meter ($200). While researching them, I discovered that lessemf’s staff were knowledgeable but not really customer-service material, so there were a few frustrating moments. The site now features a meter FAQ page, which might save you some of that aggravation, especially if you are suffering from cognitive messed-uppedness. Amazon reviewers of the same gadgets also had valuable info and recommendations on their own electrosmog projects.
Very basically, the TriField meter measures the magnetic and electric fields of power lines, electricity, wiring, etc., and the RF meter is for wi-fi.
The car had the highest levels
Although I did measure most of the parameters and living areas recommended in Zapped, my records were lost in a move, so the following account is by memory only. I don’t even remember the name of the energy units for each type of meter and I’m too lazy to get up and find them. A brief investigation of the two autos I’ve owned since then indicated they were more EMF-y than my domicile, and I wasn’t ready to handle it just then or now, so I pray that my minimal commute time will protect me.
Worst areas of apartment were avoidable
In my apartment, the area around the fuse box was very high, as was the front half of the bathroom. Luckily I was able to avoid these areas much of the time. Various appliances registered as high when they were on, but were easily avoided and the EMF dropped off quickly with distance anyway. I was especially worried about the white cylindrical transformer on a utility pole 100 feet from my fifth-floor dining-room window, but the meter did not register anything alarming. I detected the wi-fi from each next-door neighbor and the downstairs neighbor’s ceiling fan registered in the center of my bedroom floor, but the levels were not horrible and I didn’t spend much time in either area.
My sleeping area had sort-of-high RF, presumably due to my neighbor’s wi-fi, so I purchased wire mesh material sold by lessemf dot com to block this. It did indeed significantly reduce the RF levels in my sleeping area to a negligible level but I didn’t use it long enough to determine an effect. In my next apartment, minimal wi-fi RF registered in the bedroom and I did not notice a difference. I now use a similar mesh barrier over my wi-fi router, since routers tend to blast out a lot more power than is required.
Biggest problems: router and 1930 fuse box
In the new apartment, the fuse box was in a less avoidable place but luckily the levels were nowhere near as high. The wi-fi around the AT&T Universe router was astronomical and a high-traffic area, so I switched to an ethernet connection and turned off the wi-fi. I lived alone so I could do that without arguments. For many people, the biggest obstacle to reducing EMF exposure is not technical difficulties but obtaining cooperation from housemates.
The crystal connection
If you’re a crystal person, you already know that metaphysical and rock and mineral stores sell stones purported to have EMF-blocking or -transforming properties. I used to have a collection of tiny shungite pyramids around the workspace. Sadly, the attrition rate due to small animal attacks is high.
I have never been able to detect an effect from them. I just like them.
Speaking of crystals and electromagnetic waves, the author of Lost Star of Myth and Time shares an interesting theory about why kings, pharoahs, emperors, etc. became associated thousands of years ago with wearing large gemstones on their heads. It is just one short chapter in a much longer discussion of the theory that our sun is in a binary relationship with Sirius, and that as Earth moves through that orbit, further from and then closer to Sirius, the EM environment changes significantly, and along with it our consciousness.
When this content was published or posted
The content on this page was first published in July 2018 and updated in April 2023.