On the Coast – Families Issue 103 I December 19/January 20 | Page 26

Electromagnetic
fields and modern
technology
Invisible sources
of stress on the body?
BY DIANA ARUNDELL
W
hat a wonderful modern
world we are blessed to be
living in. It seems as with
many modern, quick fix interventions
there may also be longer term
consequences to consider.
There was a time when a remote
control was considered an upmarket
fancy gadget, yet now the remote has
been superseded by voice control, keyless
entry and even using mobile phones to
connect to house hold appliances. All of
this plus quicker internet speed and the
elimination of messy cords and wires
may actually be negatively impacting our
bodies after all.
From a health perspective the first
obvious issue with all of this technology
is that we are encouraging the body to
move less and less while we are eating a
more calorie dense, unhealthy diet. This
combination is contributing to humans
becoming heavier and sicker. We have
gone from needing to get up off the
couch to change channels and from
getting out of the car to open garage
doors to using remote controls. We no
longer need to get up and use our hands
to flick through dictionaries and
encyclopaedias to find information as we
just ask Google. The act of turning pages
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ON T H E C OA S T – FAM ILIES
in a book is being phased out by reading
on kindle and tablets. At least remote
controls still required some hand/eye
coordination whereas now we are moving
from needing hand/eye coordination to
physically unlock a door with a key, to
using voice control and not even needing
to move fingers. So not only are we
requiring less movement from our bigger
muscles, we hardly ever use a pen to write
anymore and it seems our hands and
fingers will be moving less too. As with
our muscular skeletal system and our
brain – use it or lose it. Our bodies have
been designed to move in order to stay
strong and healthy, yet we are evolving to
move less and less. Movement leads to
engaging our muscles which keeps them
strong, increasing blood circulation to our
organs to keep the body nourished,
stimulating our lymphatic system which
helps eliminate toxins, and movement
increases our heart rate which like all of
our other muscles, needs to be exercised
to stay strong.
Other than encouraging our bodies to
move less, the electromagnetic fields
(EMF) associated with all of this modern
technology may also be impacting health
in other areas such as fatigue, dizziness,
headaches, photosensitivity and sleep
disturbances. The human body is made
up of charged particles so it is affected
like any other material made up of
charged particles. Often exposure to
toxins can be seen or smelt and therefore
we naturally avoid exposure, however
with radio frequency and electromagnetic
fields people are often unaware of
exposure. In 2018 the World Health
Organisation (WHO) released
classifications and definitions related to
low frequency electromagnetic fields and
potential carcinogenic impact on humans.
Some research is also linking EMF
exposure with insomnia (lower serum
melatonin), mood disorders, fertility
issues, Alzheimer’s and exposure may
disrupt our antioxidant defence system.
Building biologists are organisations that
can come and assess your home for the
measurement of EMF exposure.
How each individual reacts to
exposure to EMF can vary just as
individual reactions vary to exposure
to other toxins and infections. This
has to do with genetic expression
and detoxification pathways amongst
other things. We can’t avoid exposure
completely to EMFs however we
can become more conscious of our
exposure, as well as help our bodies to