Can Electro Magnetic Fields Affect Us ?

Question

Can electro magnetic fields affect mood,sleep and perceptions? If you believe so, please give references

and an idea of what level the EMF can emit enough power to affect these things.

Answer 1

The best evidence is that there is no evidence that EMF's are actually harmful, and the claims that it causes cancer (whether directly or indirectly) are either unsubstantiated or false. The unsubstantiated ones seem outlandish, but nobody's actually proven them.

However, EMF's do have a measurable impact on the central nervous system at different frequencies. At lower field strengths with a "white noise" (randomized and changing) frequency, they have been shown to cause paranoia, hallucinations, feelings of uneasiness, nausea, vomiting, and even skin irritation. At higher strengths, the effects are more pronounced, and have been shown to actually be deadly to those who are sensitive to them when the field strength is above 10 kilogauss.

There is no evidence to suggest that there are any ill effects from these, though there is at least one study I'm aware of that's studying the effects of long-term exposure.

There are also varying degrees of sensitivity to EMF's, as some are more sensitive and some are less. I have a friend who has demonstrated that he can actually tell where electrical wiring is running inside of a wall without any gadget or piece of hardware. And he doesn't use his hands: he uses his forehead to "feel" them out. It was handy having him during a construction job one time, where I made him prove his claim. He said he gets a "tingle" when there's something there, and he's not often wrong. During the demonstration, he hit it without error.

Most EMF detectors don't detect field strengths above 20 microgauss, but some of the nicer ones can detect strengths up to 2 gauss. I've seen one that can detect fields from 0.1 picogauss to 20 gauss, but it was more expensive than some cars. Most ghost hunters use an EMF detector that costs less than a cheap iPod.

EMF frequencies are still being researched, but it is known that the "neural" frequencies (15kHz-35kHz) tend to have a significant disruptive impact on some people, while the ELF range (50Hz-1kHz) seems to have a simply negative impact. In some cases, disruption seems to have a beneficial effect.

Answer 2

No.  There was a big scare about this years ago, but never any actual evidence that it was true.  But how's this for evidence?  MRI machines emit enormous magnetic fields - they can pull a fire extinguisher clear across the room and into someone's head (at least one person has been accidentally killed this way in an MRI machine).  But baring that, they do no damage to us - and they are far stronger than any other EM field you'll ever run into.

Answer 3

Running current through your body is different than having a very weak EMF field hitting you. You're directly stimulating the nervous system by running current through it. That's not even remotely the same as walking through a magnetic field. Or even an electric field.

Take some physics courses, read some medical journals, come back when you have functional models of these phenomena.

Answer 4

I'm always watching the discovery channels and there have been studies done that even a cell phone can effect your brain. Scientists are saying that it is safer to use an ear piece instead of holding the phone to your ear. I have been in natural healing for several years and have found that even an alarm clock next to my head when i sleep at night interrupts with the work that i do. Also people who live near power lines seem to become more sick than those who don't. Anything that projects energy can mess with your magnetic field. Too many x-rays can cause cancer- this has been proven. That is why xray-techs where a small gadget that picks up on this.

Answer 5

No. Consider the people that live close to radio or TV transmitting towers. They live normal healthy lives and are exposed to fields many times greater than cell phones. There have been no successful law suites for any physical / mental problems. The levels that would affect us are extremely high like those in a microwave oven.

Answer 6

No, not at the levels that we experience in our daily lives, but there is evidence for this effect at much higher field strengths. I've included links to some interesting findings. What's particularly interesting is that high EMF can actually reduce the incidences of auditory hallucinations. The field strength is roughly that of an MRI scan, which is roughly 10 million times higher than an average EMF exposure in a typical home. Also, researchers have also found that transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can have a positive impact on depression and schizophrenia.

EDIT: ECT puts a flow of electric current through the brain, not an EMF field, and of course it's well known that inducing electricity into the brain this way can induce seizures and even kill.

Answer 7

There are some scientific experiments that do suggest that EM Fields can effect some people. One of the factors that determines the needed level of exposure is a measure called temporal lobe sensitivity. This work has been extensively done and published by cognitive neuroscientist Michael Persinger (links below). This also correlates with many people's sensitivity to psi experiences.

I am unaware of any long term studies that attempt to correlate normal EMF exposure (PC use, TV watching, microwave oven use, etc) with sleep or mood disorders so I can't provide references for that one way or the other.

Psiexploration

Answer 8

No, there is no evidence EMF has any effect on health one way or another.  There have been some interesting experiments where they have used electromagnetic fields applied to the temporal lobes to create out of body and spiritual experiences.

A reporter back in the early 80's (Paul Brodeur) was the one who started the whole EMF panic after there appeared to be a cluster of rare childhood cancers in some people living near power lines. (it later turned out to be a statistical blip, that disappeared with more careful analysis...but never let the truth get in the way of a good story)  He wrote a few books and articles.  Got a few class action lawsuits going.  There was an exhaustive and extensive research done, and a definitive report showed no relation whatsoever.

Physicist and skeptic writer Bob Parks weekly science update had a bit on cell phones last week, so I'll just paste it:

CANCER: WHAT EINSTEIN KNEW ABOUT CELL PHONES.

By now everyone has heard the news frenzy over Ronald Herberman, Director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, advising faculty and staff to limit cell phone use because there is no proof that it’s not a cancer risk. Nonsense!  All cancer agents act by disrupting chemical bonds.  In a classic 2001 op-ed LBL physicist Robert Cahn explained that Einstein won the 1905 Nobel Prize in Physics for showing that cell phones can’t cause cancer.  The threshold energy of the photoelectric effect, for which Einstein won the prize, lies at the extreme blue end of the visible spectrum in the near ultraviolet.  The same near-ultraviolet rays can also cause skin cancer.   Red light is too weak to cause cancer.  Cell-phone radiation is 10,000 times weaker.

EDIT

ECT uses microcurrent of electricity, not EMF. Similarly defbrillators use small currents of electricity to restart fibrillating hearts.  Apples and oranges.

Answer 9

I have workedf in huge power stations where there are very high power generators making electrical power by electromagnetsB.ut I read some where that staying near high voltage power lines are harmfull.

MRI scanners use high power electromagnets and are said to be not dangerous as X rays!