What is Electrical Sensitivity?

Like allergies to visible triggers, electrically sensitive people can have reactions to electrical, electromagnetic or radio frequency radiation.  Symptoms of electrical sensitivity can include:

• headaches
• heat in the skin, itchiness (especially in front of the computer or gaming station)
• hyperactivity
• nightmares
• depression
• fatigue
• eyestrain
• muscle cramps (including stomach aches and similar)

Electrical sensitivity can develop even after many years of not having any electrical sensitivity – your body reaches its limits and starts reacting, and you start feeling sick or sore or having nightmares, insomnia etc.  Some of these are also symptoms of chemical sensitivity, so you might want to consider that.

I think I’m electrically sensitive.  What do I do?

As you may have worked out, if you’re sensitive to electricity, or electromagnetic fields, or radio frequency (such as from mobile phone towers and wifi) then you need to reduce or limit your exposure to those fields. If you reduce your exposure, the symptoms should also reduce.

As the fields only radiate a certain distance away from their source (like the microwave oven, for example) then the easiest way to limit your exposure is to stay out of that range.  The field size varies depending on the type of appliance – dishwasher, rangehood, microwave – and the make, model, age, condition etc.  A gauss meter is used to measure the strength and the range of the field, which allows you to develop strategies to deal with the fields in your home or workplace.

This is a short, 2 minute video that I did of my microwave, in my kitchen.  I recommend that if you’re using the microwave, you switch it on and leave the room, don’t stand around watching it.  This is why…

If you’re worried about electrical, electromagnetic or radio frequency radiation, and would like to have your home assessed, please phone now on 0412 425 072 for a no-obligation, free talk about your situation.  Or you can email me with your query and I’ll call you.

Do I need to turn off all my electrical appliances?

It’s not feasible to stop using electricity altogether.  We are now using more and more electronic and electric devices, and it is “reasonable to assume that for the majority of people the use of electrical devices will continue even if it can be demonstrated that this use may be causing them harm.” (Bijlsma 2010)  Our Western / first world lifestyle can’t exist without electricity and the various devices we have like mobile phones, internet etc.

What we need to do is strike a balance.  Find out where the safe distance away from your TV is, and don’t spend a lot of time closer than that.  If you’re using the microwave, don’t stand in front of it and watch… turn things off when they’re not in use.  (This one has the added benefit of saving on your power bills too!)

Mobile Phones and Wifi

In June, 2011, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recognised the link between mobile phone use and brain cancer.    Whether mobile phones are harmful or not is a very hotly contested debate, and no, unfortunately I don’t have the definitive answer.  Mobiles are very useful tools for business and personal use, however a balanced and cautious approach can minimise the risks:

• Use the headphones that came with the phone instead of holding it up to your head.
• Don’t keep it beside your bed all night, or if you do, switch it to flight mode (so you can use it for an alarm clock if you like).
• If you need to have it on at night (for emergencies and the like) then have it away from your body and head – preferably in another room.  If you need to get up and answer the phone in the middle of the night, you’re probably going to want to be awake anyway.
• Try to text, rather than talk.  (Obviously not while you’re driving!)  Especially encourage children to keep the phone away from their heads.  Texting is ideal for this.

What about those huge power lines?  Are they a risk?

Yes, they are a risk.  You don’t want to be living too close to those – they emit quite a high electromagnetic field (EMF).  The actual intensity of the field depends on many factors, including how high the powerlines are, the voltage etc.

The house I’m looking at buying has those quite close.  Can you check them?

Yes.  A pre-purchase inspection is a very good idea – you don’t want to find the perfect house and move in only to have your family become sick!  I can conduct a pre-purchase inspection at the same time as your building and pest inspection.

Please call 0412 425 072  or email me for a free quote and to arrange a suitable time.

My workplace has a mobile phone tower just outside or on the roof – is that dangerous?

That depends on any shielding your windows and walls have.   Mobile phone radiation can have some serious health effects, and it’s not good to be sitting directly in line with a tower.  That said, I’d need to test it to see what levels of radiation you’re receiving.  A radio frequency meter indicates the strength and direction of the signal, as well as if it’s a phone or wifi or phone tower signal.

What about wifi and bluetooth?

These both have the same sorts of radiation as mobile phones and phone towers, so they can have the same effects.  Bluetooth headsets might emit a weak signal, but they’re attached to your head, inches from your brain, constantly searching out their base station (ie emitting). A scientist will tell you the human body – made up of 80 percent water – has a resonant frequency of around 2.4GHz. That means devices that emit waves of that frequency (like wireless modems, routers and bluetooth devices) could act on it and cause localised heating – to the extent that a very small amount of 2.4 GHz radiation could be worse than a lot more of another frequency.

If you’re worried about electrical, electromagnetic or radio frequency radiation, and would like to have your home assessed, please phone now on 0412 425 072 for a no-obligation, free talk about your situation.  Or you can email me with your query and I’ll call you.