By Lindsay Christensen
Nutritionist @ The Pratt Clinics
3/7/2019
In Part 1, part 2, and part 3 of this blog series, I explained what EMFs are, the problems with our current EMF safety standards, and the adverse effects man-made EMFs have on your health. In this fourth and final installment of the blog series, I’ll provide you with simple, actionable steps you can take to protect yourself from excessive EMF exposure.
How to reduce your exposure to EMFs
While it is essentially impossible to avoid man-made EMFs completely, there are practical ways to reduce your exposure.
Keep your laptop off your lap!
Many studies demonstrate adverse effects of working with a laptop (especially one connected to WiFi) directly on the lap. If you must work with your computer on your lap, I recommend investing in a DefenderShield. This device sits underneath your computer and shields your reproductive system from the heat and radiofrequency radiation emitted by laptops.
Practice cell phone etiquette
Practicing proper cell phone etiquette can reduce your exposure to radiofrequency radiation and protect your brain and reproductive systems from harm.
Step 1: Never talk with your cell phone against your head. Instead, talk on speakerphone or invest in a set of air tube earbuds, such as those made by DefenderShield, which connect to your phone and transmit sound to your ears via hollow silicone tubes; these minimize the transfer of EMF from your phone to your head. Also, consider getting a wired landline to use at home.
Step 2: Don’t keep your cell phone in your pocket or bra. Cell phones were never designed to be held immediately against the body for hours on end; in fact, the fine print in your smartphone clearly states that the phone should never be held against the body. However, if you like the convenience of keeping your cell phone in your pocket, consider buying a DefenderShield cell phone case.
Step 3: Disable 4G/LTE on your smartphone unless you need extra download speed and put your cell phone in airplane mode whenever possible. This will further reduce the amount of radiofrequency radiation to which you’re exposed.
Switch to ethernet
Switching to ethernet at home is an excellent step towards significantly reducing your EMF exposure. Using an ethernet extension allows you to turn off your Wi-Fi and prevent your entire family from being exposed to its radiation 24/7. However, when you switch to ethernet, be sure to go into your computer settings and turn off Wi-Fi even if no devices are connected; if you skip this step, your router will continue to emit radiofrequency radiation regardless of whether you have devices connected to WiFi.
To further reduce EMF radiation from your laptop or desktop computer, make sure your computer has a grounded three-prong plug on the charger. If the charger does not have a three-prong plug, you can buy an adaptor that does.
Special note for Xfinity users: Xfinity has recently rolled out Xfinity xFi pods; these pods are essentially little routers that Xfinity wants you to put in every room of your house to extend your WiFi range. DO NOT purchase these pods! They will substantially increase the number of unhealthy EMFs in your home.
Create a low-EMF sleep zone
Sleep is intended to be a time for your body to detoxify and restore itself; EMFs hamper that process by disrupting melatonin production and impairing deep sleep. Create a low-EMF sleep zone in your bedroom by removing all electronic devices (smartphones, TVs, digital clocks, etc.) from your room. If you use Wi-Fi, I also highly recommend turning off your router at night so that you aren’t blasting your body with EMF while you sleep.
If you want to reduce EMFs in your bedroom even more, you can shut down the circuit breakers to your bedroom at night.
Optimize your home environment
If you suffer from chronic health issues or have young children, I recommend hiring a building biologist to assess your home’s EMF and dirty electricity burdens. After the assessment, the building biologist will offer solutions for remediating dirty electricity and reducing your EMF exposure.
Keep your kids safe
Children are highly susceptible to the harmful effects of man-made EMFs, so I recommend limiting your children’s EMF exposure as much as possible. Reconsider whether you toddler or child really needs to play with an iPhone or iPad and find some sort of non-electronic form of entertainment instead. If your school-age child attends a school where every student has an iPad or laptop, think about whether this environment is really conducive to your child’s health; I know parents who have had their child switch schools after their academic performance declined precipitously at “techy” schools where children were reading and working on iPads all day.
Make your child’s bedroom as low-EMF as possible by removing TVs, gaming consoles, and other devices to a separate area of the house.
Nutrition for EMF protection
Eat more magnesium.
Calcium-channel blockers have been found to mitigate the harmful effects of man-made EMFs on voltage-gated calcium channels. However, you don’t need a pharmaceutical calcium-channel block to achieve this effect! Oral magnesium supplementation is a highly effective, natural calcium channel blocker. To protect your body against EMFs, I recommend you eat plenty of magnesium-rich foods and potentially supplement with 200-400 mg magnesium glycinate or magnesium threonate as well.
Magnesium-rich foods:
• Green leafy vegetables
• Pumpkin seeds
• Almonds
• Cashews
• Legumes
• Asparagus
• Brussels sprouts
• Dark chocolate
Eat foods that activate Nrf2
To mitigate the oxidative stress caused by EMFs, I recommend eating foods that trigger one of your body’s most important antioxidant pathways, the Nrf2 pathway. The Nrf2 pathway is stimulated by berries (blueberries, raspberries, blackberries), cacao, cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli sprouts (see my previous blog series on broccoli sprouts for more information), turmeric, and dark green leafy vegetables.
Eat vitamin C-rich foods
Foods rich in vitamin C can also help mitigate the oxidative stress-inducing effects of EMFs. In fact, vitamin C supplementation has been found to have protective effects on the bodies of animals exposed to Wi-Fi! I recommend eating the following vitamin C-rich foods to optimize your vitamin C level:
• Citrus: Oranges, lemon, grapefruit
• Kiwi
• Broccoli and cauliflower
• Bell peppers
• Papaya
• Cantaloupe
• Strawberries
The topic of EMFs can feel scary and overwhelming, but it is one that we all need to be aware of due to its far-reaching impacts on our health. Rather than throwing your hands in the air and leaving your health up to chance in this EMF-inundated world, consider taking the simple steps I’ve outlined above one-by-one. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me here at The Pratt Clinics.