The Case: 

• Molly is 37 and over the past few decades she’s become less and less comfortable in her body.
• She’s experiencing anxiety, uneasiness, restless leg syndrome, headaches, eye sensitivity, difficulty concentrating, and trouble falling (and staying) asleep. 
• She often had to leave work early and was growing frustrated with her body. 

The Investigation

I could see how difficult life had become for Molly. She told me that she’d often felt overly-sensitive growing up but these latest developments were unbearable.  The more we talked about her lifestyle, the more I noticed that she was extremely connected in a digital sense. She constantly wore a bluetooth earpiece, she had many devices that she used frequently and she boasted about her super-high powered router. 

I became suspicious that all of these technological conveniences might be an important part of solving this health mystery. 

The potential health threats from exposure to Electromagnetic Fields (also referred to as Electromagnetic Frequencies or EMF) has been in serious question since the 90’s when studies were done about possible links between power lines and childhood cancer. Over the decades, our exposure has significantly increased. The volume of electronic devices in homes and public spaces has increased and the generation of wifi is also significantly grown. Wifi is all around us and the signals are getting stronger and stronger (from 2G to 5G) with technological development and increased consumer demand .    

Dr. Catherine Clinton is a licensed naturopathic physician and the founder of the website WellFuture. She is also an author, speaker, pediatric health advocate, and is in the process of completing a book about the impact of EMF on human health. She joins me in this episode to discuss Molly’s case. 

 

Human Bodies Generate Electromagnetic Fields 

When we think about EMFs, most of us think about wifi and electronic devices, but our bodies also generate EMFs. Dr. Clinton explains that EMFs in the body are small electrical signals between the cells in our body. We witness these if we get an EKG (which measures the currents of the heart) or an EEG (measuring the currents in the brain). But, these are just the most common. Every cell in our body, and especially in our organs, communicate using electrical signals or frequencies. This is important to understand when we look at how outside EMFs might disrupt or interfere with our internal EMFs. 

And, that’s not all. Plants and the earth also have a natural EMF that our bodies are conditioned to interact with. 

 

Potential Symptoms of EMF Disruption

If our body’s EMF frequencies have been disrupted, the body can respond in a variety of ways. This makes it difficult to diagnose the problem because the symptoms could be caused by a myriad of other things. Potential symptoms caused by over exposure to external EMFs include: 

• Fatigue
• Headaches
• Lack of energy
• Low immune system
• Irritation
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Autoimmune issues

 

This list is by no means complete. 

For kids, symptoms might include: 

• Difficulty sleeping
• Attention and focus issues
• Behavioral problems
• Mood problems

EMF and Autoimmune Disease

EMF disturbances tend to cause issues wherever the body is weakest, so if you already have a propensity for gut issues, then this is how it might present. Autoimmune patients are more susceptible, too. In fact, Dr. Clinton shared a study that looked at patients with autoimmune disease. The study found that 90% of autoimmune patients felt better with the removal of some of the EMFs in their environment. 

 

Sources of EMFs

Cell Phones might be the first thing that comes to mind when we talk about EMFs - everyone seems to know that these devices generate electromagnetic fields. However, Dr. Clinton revealed that there are many other sources. Here are a few common examples:

• Electric blankets
• Wifi routers (in your house and surrounding houses)
• Smart meters
• Computers
• Video gaming systems
• Cell towers
• Refrigerators
• Electric devices (can openers, shavers, hair dryers, etc)

If you are uncertain about the volume of EMFs in your home environment, there are companies that can test it for you with an EMF meter. 

 

It’s Science. Not Woo.

While there is always a need for more research, currently research is proving that this topic is not “woo” but based in real science. Dr. Clinton explains how, on a quantum physics level, these EMF frequencies can affect the cells in our body. This research is proving that there is electric communication between cells, within cells, in the proteins on the outside of the cellular membrane - they're all set up to work in a certain electrical electromagnetic frequency. And when you start changing that, even the smallest changes have big effects cellularly.When we start to look at that on a very small level, what's happening with the electrons, what's happening with the molecules, we start to see how the body is really made up of these phospholipid bilayers. And they have this communication that's dependent on water and electricity and the proteins being in the right configuration. When we have the water in the right amount and we have the electron conduction from whatever kind of source, we're talking about an electromagnetic frequency that is actually driving energy into the cell.

 

How do you Reduce EMF Exposure? 

After realizing how significantly EMFs from our environment can impact our body and our well-being the next question is what can we do about it? These EMFs are everywhere! Here are a few ways to decrease exposure:

• Hardwire your computers to eliminate the need for wifi in the house
• Turn off routers at night
• Put your phone in ‘airplane mode’ when not in use
• Say no to 5G
• Don’t use your cell phone in the car (or charge it)
• Don’t leave electronics plugged in where they’re not in use

 

Reverse Effects of EMF Exposure

It is possible to reverse the effects of EMF exposure by reconnecting with electromagnetic frequencies in nature. This might include spending some time with your hands in the dirt, walking barefoot on the ground, and just get some safe UV exposure by being outside. Sitting by a fire can also help your natural EMFs restore. 

 

Our EMFs are closely connected to mitochondria function (which is critical to our health as it controls the production of free radicals). So, one additional way to reverse the effects of electromagnetic fields is to increase our intake of antioxidants. This can be done through a diet with whole food (grown in the earth and under the sun) and supplements. Additional supplements for countering the effects of EMFs include milk thistle, curcumin, resveratrol, phosphatid...