Are you allergic to wireless internet?

Today wi-fi is everywhere with many cafes and pubs offering a free connection service so it has never been easier to access the internet while on the move. However, it may not be without its health hazards. Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity Syndrome (EHS) is a condition in which people are highly sensitive to electromagnetic fields and in an area such as a wireless hotspot, they experience pain or other symptoms.

Symptoms can include headache, fatigue, nausea, burning and itchy skin, and muscle aches and because there is such a variety of symptoms – and how widely their effects vary from one person to another – experts are divided about the validity of such claims.

There have been more than 30 studies to determine what link the condition has to exposure to electromagnetic fields from sources such as radar dishes, mobile phone signals and Wi-Fi hotspots but claims that there is such a thing as EHS is still viewed with scepticism by most scientists and medical professionals.

Sweden is among those countries that do take it seriously, and they even have an official association for the electronically sensitive that produces and distributes educational literature to raise awareness about the phenomenon around the world. In the UK, Mast Action is doing similar work and there are signs that acceptance is spreading, especially in Europe. Just last week, the French magazine Connexion reported that four libraries in Paris have turned off the WiFi connections they installed at the end of 2007 after staff claimed they were causing health problems.

Why is WiFi Potentially Worse than Other Radiation?

Electomagnetic fields are all around us from power lines, televisions, household electrical wiring, appliances and microwaves. Then you have the information -carrying radio waves of cell phones, cell phone towers and wireless internet connections. WiFi is a kind of radio wave that operates at either 2.4 or 5 gigahertz – slightly higher than your cell phone. Since they’re designed to allow for transmission of very large amounts of data, WiFi radio waves also emit greater amounts electromagnetic radiation.

Who is most at risk?

If you are highly sensitive to chemicals, have chronic fatigue syndrome, and have experienced mercury toxicity from dental amalgams then you are more at risk. Logically, this makes sense as your nervous system is a primary site impacted by both chemicals and electromagnetic fields. And if your nervous system has been damaged from toxic exposures you may also be more susceptible to EHS as well.

Common symptoms of EHS include:

1. skin itch/rash/flushing/burning, and/or tingling 2. confusion/poor concentration, and/or memory loss 3. fatigue and weakness 4. headache 5. chest pain and heart problems 6. Less commonly reported symptoms include: nausea panic attacks insomnia seizures ear pain/ringing in the ears feeling a vibration paralysis dizziness

Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt is convinced that there is a real problem here as he believes that it’s possible that some 50 percent of chronic infections are caused, and/or aggravated, by electromagnetic field exposure, leading to syndromes like chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and other chronic pain syndromes.

Why Your Laptop May be More Harmful than Your PC

If you have ever worked on a laptop for some time, you will know that one of their drawbacks is that they get pretty hot, apparently due to the size of the casing and fans that are built into them – the new Apple Air notebook is so thin you can’t imagine how there is room in there for the hard drive, let along fan – but that’s another story. Apparently, as your laptop heats up, the circuitry board out-gasses metals such as beryllium, and as the plastic warms it out-gasses flame retardants like PBDE, all of which adds to your toxic load.

The suggestion is that you only use your laptop short-term, such as when travelling, which is no help to me as that is what I do more of than anything else. However, one practical idea is that you position a desk fan near your laptop and adjust it so that is blowing air away from where you sit. The exact opposite in fact to what we normally do. Let’s hope the summer doesn’t get too hot!

What can you do?

Well apart from investing in a fan if you have a laptop, it’s important to have as uncontaminated a diet as possible to reduce your toxic load. Try having a day a week when you allow your system to detox by drinking only water and eating only fruit, if that’s not possible then aim for once a month or as often as you can manage. Two other factors that play a vital role here are: sleeping well and getting plenty of sensible sun exposure.

Why? Because sleep and sunlight have a direct impact on your melatonin levels, and melatonin is actually one of the most potent detox agents that eliminate metals from your brain naturally.

Increasing your melatonin production can be done in three ways:

1.Sleeping in absolute darkness

2.Getting at least an hour of safe exposure to bright daylight each day

3. Reducing the electro-pollution in your bedroom by removing as many electrical devices as you can. This would include your television, electric alarm clock, cordless and wireless phones.

Don’t believe me? Well a 1997 Australian Senate Discussion Paper found that even low level (12 milliGauss) exposure to 50-60 hertz electromagnetic fields can significantly reduce your melatonin production.

Article by AnnA