You already know that you should not be on your smartphone and other devices at least one to two hours before you plan to go to sleep. This is because blue light emitted from them interferes with melatonin – a sleep hormone – production.
However, did you ever think that there could be something else sinister in your home that is negatively impacting your sleep and overall health? It’s something that you cannot see, but it’s ever-present almost everywhere you go, including your bedroom. It is electromagnetic waves!
But What Exactly are Electromagnetic Waves?
These are waves that travel through space and are present here on earth. Various kinds of these waves exist. Your favorite radio station and garage door opener operate on radio waves. Your microwave oven uses microwaves.
You are also familiar with X-ray machines which use X-rays to “see” inside you, as well as ultraviolet, and visible light. Electromagnetic energy falls on a spectrum from lower frequency to higher frequency, the latter of which X-rays and gamma rays fall into.
What is the Problem with Electromagnetic Waves?
As technology advances, our homes have been equipped with computers, laptops, cell phones, smart televisions, and more items! The more items you introduce into your home, the more chances of affecting your brain and body, which in turn, can affect many aspects of your health, including your sleep.
Here is a list of other common items in your home, that emit electromagnetic waves:
- Wireless routers
- Wireless modems
- Wireless printers
- Cordless phones
- Bluetooth devices
- Wireless baby monitors
- Smart meters
- Digital alarm clocks
- Wireless home security systems
As you can see, you are inundated with electromagnetic radiation every day. Cell phones can be the biggest culprits. Although each device on its own may emit a small amount of radiation, it’s the cumulative effects that are concerning. Some experts have even coined the term, “electrosmog.”
Sleep is supposed to be a time when your body restores its energy, repairs tissues, and increases the function of your immune system, which is responsible for fighting illnesses such as colds, and other more serious diseases.
More research still has to be done, but fatigue and disrupted sleep cycles appear to be linked to this wide, everyday exposure.
So, What Can You Do to Improve Your Sleep?
- Consider not using wireless devices at all. You can get your internet hardwired (by way of Ethernet). If you cannot eliminate all wireless devices, limit the number of them that you have in your home.
- If you do continue to use wireless devices, put your router in an isolated location in your home, away from your bedroom and away from where you spend most of your time in your home.
- Turn the Wi-Fi completely off when not in use, such as when you are sleeping.
- Do not keep wireless baby monitors in your home. Not only is it not good for you, it is definitely not good to expose your young baby to the effects of electromagnetic radiation. Instead, consider using a webcam that is linked to the Ethernet (hard-wired).
- Unplug your television and computers when not in use. Otherwise, in standby mode, they continue to emit potentially harmful waves that disrupt your body’s systems and sleep.
- Keep digital alarm clocks and radios at least two feet away from your head while you sleep.
- Do not keep a cordless phone beside your bed. Better yet, do not use cordless phones at all in your home. If you want a phone beside your bed, use a phone with a wired landline.
- Turn your cell phone off when you are home. Definitely power it down when it is beside you or if it is in your bedroom as you sleep. If you need to use it at home, limit its use, and then turn it back off. During use, use the speaker feature so that you do not have to hold the phone against your head.
- Do not use CFL’s (compact fluorescent lighting) – These bulbs emit electromagnetic radiation.
