Up At Night? How EMFs Affect Sleep

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A good night’s sleep is one of those things we often take for granted. When sleep is going well, we don’t seem to notice. When sleep is poor, however, it can feel like our lives have been turned upside down. 

Many people don’t realize that the source of their sleep issues may be lurking in the energy fields around their homes and workplaces. Yes, I’m talking about EMFs (electromagnetic frequencies). 

In this article, you’ll learn:

  • How sleep disturbance is on the rise in America
  • The crucial role that sleep plays in your health
  • The sleep and EMF connection
  • How EMFs can disturb your hormones, nervous system, and ability to handle stress
  • One of the easiest ways to protect yourself from EMFs

The Rising Issue Of Sleep Disturbance 

In the United States, it’s estimated that 50-70 million people have a sleep disorder. That means one every three people that aren’t getting enough sleep at night. Insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders, with about 30% of adults suffering from short term bouts of sleeplessness. 

Poor sleep can affect anyone; however, people in the 35 to 55 age bracket tend to be most highly affected[1][2]. 

While a poor night of sleep can lead to less productivity and maybe even some crankiness the next day, the real consequences of sleep deprivation are much more serious. 

The Importance Of Sleep

When you sleep, it gives your body a chance to catch up on your daily maintenance and repair. Constantly getting a good night’s sleep supports your immune system. It also helps you stay at a healthier weight, lowers your risk for health conditions like weight gain, poor blood sugar control, brain fog, and reduces stress allowing you to have better moods[3].

By affecting the activity of your hunger and metabolic hormones, sleep assists in the fight against obesity by normalizing your appetite[4]. And if you’ve ever noticed that your mind isn’t quite as sharp after a poor night’s sleep, that’s the effect that sleep has on problem-solving skills and memory performance[5]. 

It would be fair to say that sleep affects pretty much every system in your body, and consistently getting poor sleep is a set up for serious health issues. 

Unsurprisingly, with the increase in sleep disturbances, we are also experiencing an increase in the prevalence of EMFs(electromagnetic frequencies). Let’s take a look at the connection between poor sleep and electromagnetic frequencies.  

The EMF-Sleep Connection

EMFs (electromagnetic fields) can disrupt your body’s natural rhythms by impacting your body on an energetic and electrical level. Yes, your body has its own electrical currents and energetic field that are the basis for pretty much every function it carries out[6]. 

From an energetic perspective, there is a field of energy around your body called your biofield. Knowledge of the body’s biofield field dates back to ancient systems of medicine like Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda. These healing modalities have taken the energy body into account for over five thousand years[7]. EMF frequencies can impact your body’s natural energetic fields like your brain waves and your heart waves. 

From an electrical perspective, every cell in your body requires the use of electrical potentials to allow signaling and transmissions to take place. Through something called voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCC) your cells communicate with each other to carry out functions related to your heart, brain, muscles, and more. These subtle currents of electricity are the basis for much of the activity that happens in your body on a cellular level[23]. 

The impact of EMFs on your body can be diverse and range from mild to severe. When these nonnative frequencies disrupt your own field of energy and electrical potentials, your body has trouble communicating, and the functioning of systems in your body can become negatively impacted. 

As previously mentioned, there’s a rising prevalence of sleep disturbance in the United States (and globally). At the same time, there has been a marked increase in EMF technology streaming through our homes and workplaces. 

So what’s the connection? Could EMFs be to blame for the sleep issues that so many people are experiencing? Let’s take a look at some of the ways in which EMFs may be directly impacting your sleep. 

Melatonin and EMFs

Melatonin, also known as the sleep hormone, is a crucial component of your circadian rhythm. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, your circadian rhythm is your internal clock that alerts your body when to wake, sleep, and eat. When your circadian rhythm is in balance, your body knows when it’s time to go to bed, and you will fall asleep easily.

Melatonin plays a crucial role in alerting your body when it’s time to hit the hay. As levels of this hormone rise, your body gets the signal that it’s time to go into rest mode. It not only allows your body to shut down for the night but it helps you stay asleep so that you can wake feeling rested and ready for the day ahead[8]. 

Research in both humans and animals shows that EMFs can produce significant changes in your body’s ability to produce melatonin. This may be due to the fact that your pineal gland (which is responsible for producing melatonin) senses EMFs as light[9]. 

One of the ways in which your body stays on track with its circadian rhythm is by sensing light. If you think about this from an ancestral perspective, it makes a lot of sense. The sun goes down, and melatonin production goes up. However, if your body is sensing electromagnetic waves that are streaming through your home as light, this can cause a significant issue with your circadian rhythm, and especially your melatonin production[10].  

Brain Wave Interference

Due to the nature of EMFs (being frequencies themselves) they can have a direct impact on your brain waves. In fact, research shows that EMFs can interfere in the whole spectrum of brain waves including delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma[24]. 

Whether you realize it or not, throughout the day and while you sleep your brain waves shift into different states. This is what allows you to fall asleep at night (shut down), and wake up in the morning. You experience different brain waves while you study, listen to music, daydream, and engage in a conversation. 

During sleep, your brain goes into theta when you’re dreaming and delta when you’re in deep, restorative sleep. If your brain isn’t able to reach these frequencies then you’ll miss out on the benefits that these stages of sleep provide[25] . 

Therefore, EMF exposure and the resulting dysregulation of brain waves can further contribute to sleep disturbances. Even if you are able to fall asleep, EMFs may be preventing a deep, restorative sleep. 

Stress and Mood Disorders

Another common issue that can throw off your sleep cycle is stress. Have you ever felt completely exhausted, and yet once your head hits the pillow, your mind seems to think it’s time to review every worry you could imagine? 

Stress can come from many different sources in your life, but the way you deal with stressors comes down to your ability to calm your mind. This can be twice as hard if you’re experiencing mood swings.

Studies show that exposure to EMFs can increase the likelihood of experiencing mood swings — and thus may increase sleep disturbance due to mental agitation[11].

One potential mechanism for this increase in mental disturbance is due to the impact that EMFs have on your neurotransmitters. Studies suggest that EMF exposure can disrupt the normal function of neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin, which are crucial mood regulation[12][13].

Sympathetic Nervous System Dysregulation

Your sympathetic nervous system is responsible for a myriad of functions related to your stress response. Sweating, increased body temperature, and increased blood pressure are just a few of the functions that fall under the guidance of your sympathetic nervous system. 

When your sympathetic nervous system is active your body is in a state of “fight or flight.” In other words, it senses there’s danger and it becomes cued up to assist you in surviving whatever threat it perceives. As you can imagine, this is not an ideal state to be in when you’re trying to fall asleep[14]. 

Your parasympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, creates the ideal conditions for sleep. When your body is in the parasympathetic mode, it slows your heart rate, lowers your blood pressure, and relaxes your muscles[15]. 

When you’re exposed to EMFs, your body’s sympathetic nervous system is upregulated, meaning its activity increases. At the same time, your parasympathetic mode is downregulated[16]. 

This dysregulation is a common underlying issue when it comes to disturbed sleep, as your body and mind rely on the functions of your parasympathetic nervous system to quiet them down[17]. 

I think that most people today are in a constant state of fight or flight. This contributes to so many health issues and prevents getting well. Even with all the yoga, meditation and other ways people calm themselves down, they quickly revert back to fight or flight in the constant presence of EMF. It’s an uphill battle. 

Sex Hormone Disruption

As you’re likely aware, nothing in your body happens in a vacuum. Subtle changes to one system can create disturbances in another. This is especially true when it comes to your hormonal systems. 

Due to their complex interplay with the other hormones in your body, your sex hormones like estrogen, progesterone and testosterone are another system that plays a role in sleep regulation. In men, testosterone levels peak during the night and are thought to support restful sleep. In women, estrogen and progesterone influence the sleep cycle[18]. 

For many women, one of the side effects of going through menopause is a disruption in sleep. That’s because low estrogen and progesterone levels are intimately tied to sleep issues, and during this time in the life cycle both estrogen and progesterone levels tend to plummet[21]. If you have low estrogen, you will have trouble sleeping. 

Research shows that exposure to EMFs can lower estrogen and progesterone (much like what happens in menopause), with the effects being most significant in women who have gone through menopause. Animal research also shows that EMF exposure can decrease testosterone levels in male rats and may even result in male infertility[19][20][22]. 

Therefore, EMFs may also contribute to sleep disturbances through the imbalance of sex hormones. 

How To Protect Yourself From EMFs and Get a Good Night’s Sleep

If sleep has been a struggle for you, as it has for many people, it may be time to look at your EMF exposure. Once you start taking stock of where EMFs are coming from in your environment, it may quickly become overwhelming — they’re everywhere. 

Even if you shore up your home environment against EMFs, once you step outside your door, you’re once again vulnerable to the effects of EMFs coming from your office, WiFi, powerlines, car electronics, etc. 

Here are a few simple tips to reduce EMF in the bedroom:

  • Turn off your cell phone
  • Don’t charge it near your bed
  • Turn off the WIFI router at night
  • Turn off your circuit breaker in your bedroom
  • Remove TVs, alarm clocks and other electronics from the room

These are all great tips, but they still will not mitigate other sources of EMF in your environment, like your neighbor’s EMF and AC units running in the bedroom, which you may need. You can’t escape power lines near your home or cell phone towers. Then there are the “smart meters” in your home and your neighbors homes that can send out signals as far as 25 miles! There can be many other sources as well. 

This is why one of the number one things I recommend to minimize the stressful effects of EMF is the Harmoni Pendant. The Harmoni Pendant is a wearable pendant that can help mitigate the impact from EMFs when you’re not able to eliminate them entirely in your environment. 

Research shows that it is able to protect against the stressful bodily effects of harmful EMFs by 48%. This personal EMF pendant travels with you wherever you go, giving you peace of mind that your body is protected from the stressful effects of EMF to a large degree. 

A recent study of the Harmoni Pendant showed that people enjoyed:

  • A 530% increase on average in energy
  • A 700% improvement on average in their heart rate variability (HRV) score – a measure of stress
  • Enhanced regulation of the body’s autonomic nervous system on average by 310%
  • Improved bodily and circadian rhythms by an average of 160% (aka improved sleep)

The pendant was designed with the scientific understanding of electromagnetic frequencies and sacred geometry. This allows the Harmoni Pendant to not only help you combat some of the stress caused by EMFs, but it can also help you release negative energetic blockages in your field caused by physical and emotional stress. 

This is why we’re hearing thousands of people wearing the Harmoni Pendant report they have better sleep, more energy, feel less stressed and feel less effects from EMF. All with wearing a beautiful piece of functional jewelry. 

In fact, the number one benefit that Harmoni Pendant wearers mention is that they get the best night of sleep they’ve had in years after wearing the pendant. 

One Harmoni Pendant enthusiast said: 

“So, I activated the pendant Friday night…I have a LOT of problems sleeping… a LOT (hip pain, monkey brain, etc) and normally by about 2 in the afternoon i’m literally falling asleep sitting straight up I have slept better, with less pain, the last 3 nights than I have in the last few years and I haven’t had to nap – it’s been months since that has happened. So, the pendant is really the only change…. could it be helping that much? Dunno, but not taking it off lol” – Dee

And the best part is that the benefits can be experienced almost immediately, as another Harmoni Pendant user shared:

“That very first night when I went to bed, I fell asleep within ten minutes! I have not been able to do that in years. And since then, I fall asleep quickly and sleep longer without waking up multiple times during the night. It had been so long since I slept like that–that I had forgotten what it felt like to have a deep, relaxed and restful sleep. I feel my anxiety decreasing over time and my energy increasing over time. I am eternally grateful!” – Gail Lynn Mattingly

Supporting your energetic field can produce truly profound results, as another fan of the Harmoni Pendant shared:

“It’s truly amazing. It helps me feel extremely relaxed and tired in the evening and I want to fall asleep, which is very new for me.” – Amy Swanson

Again, taking care of your home and the environments that you spend a good deal of time in is crucial in the battle to protect your body against the harmful effects of EMFs. However, this can quickly become complicated, expensive and frustrating. But it’s something that must be addressed. 

I advise people to start with a Harmoni Pendant and then graduate to doing other things. So at least they are protected while investing in the learning curve to minimize EMF in their environment. 

If you think you are dealing with electrohypersensitivity, there is no product or practice I recommend more than regular wearing of a Harmoni Pendant.  I’ve worn my Harmoni Pendant for 3 years and I will NEVER take it off!

Takeaway

Sleep issues in the United States are on the rise, and the use of EMF technology is trending right along with them. By negatively impacting your hormones, brain waves and nervous system, EMFs can directly affect the quality of your sleep.

If you’ve spent years up at night tossing and turning it may be time to look to EMF protection as a way to calm your nervous system and finally get the sleep you need and deserve. This is a huge overlooked underlying cause of sleep disturbances and really should be the first thing that is addressed if you are having trouble falling or staying asleep.

 

*These statements have not been reviewed by the FDA. The Harmoni Pendant is not designed to treat, cure, or prevent any disease. It is not intended to replace any medication or healing modality prescribed by your medical doctor. 

Citations

  1. https://www.sleepassociation.org/about-sleep/sleep-statistics/#:~:text=50%2D70%20million%20US%20adults,once%20in%20the%20preceding%20month

  2. https://www.cdc.gov/sleep/data_statistics.html

  3. https://health.gov/myhealthfinder/topics/everyday-healthy-living/mental-health-and-relationships/get-enough-sleep#panel-2

  4. Taheri, Shahrad, et al. “Short sleep duration is associated with reduced leptin, elevated ghrelin, and increased body mass index.” PLoS Med 1.3 (2004): e62.

  5. Walker, Matthew P., et al. “Cognitive flexibility across the sleep–wake cycle: REM-sleep enhancement of anagram problem solving.” Cognitive Brain Research 14.3 (2002): 317-324.

  6. Pall, Martin L. “Electromagnetic fields act via activation of voltage‐gated calcium channels to produce beneficial or adverse effects.” Journal of cellular and molecular medicine 17.8 (2013): 958-965.

  7. Rubik, Beverly, et al. “Biofield science and healing: history, terminology, and concepts.” Global advances in health and medicine 4.1_suppl (2015): gahmj-2015.

  8. Zisapel, Nava. “New perspectives on the role of melatonin in human sleep, circadian rhythms and their regulation.” British journal of pharmacology 175.16 (2018): 3190-3199.

  9. Halgamuge, Malka N. “Pineal melatonin level disruption in humans due to electromagnetic fields and ICNIRP limits.” Radiation protection dosimetry 154.4 (2013): 405-416.

  10. Bouché, Nicolas F., and Kevin McConway. “Melatonin Levels and Low‐Frequency Magnetic Fields in Humans and Rats: New Insights From a Bayesian Logistic Regression.” Bioelectromagnetics 40.8 (2019): 539-552.

  11. Bagheri Hosseinabadi, Majid, et al. “The effect of chronic exposure to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields on sleep quality, stress, depression and anxiety.” Electromagnetic biology and medicine 38.1 (2019): 96-101.

  12. Kim, Ju Hwan, et al. “Decreased dopamine in striatum and difficult locomotor recovery from MPTP insult after exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields.” Scientific reports 9.1 (2019): 1-13.

  13. https://www.omicsonline.org/open-access/effect-of-exposure-to-electromagnetic-fields-emfs-on-monoamine-neurotransmitters-of-newborn-rats-2168-9652-1000156.php?aid=54578

  14. https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/sympathetic_nervous_system.htm

  15. https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/parasympathetic_nervous_system.htm#:~:text=The%20parasympathetic%20nervous%20system%20is,muscles%20in%20the%20gastrointestinal%20tract

  16. Havas, Magda. “Radiation from wireless technology affects the blood, the heart, and the autonomic nervous system.” Reviews on Environmental Health 28.2-3 (2013): 75-84.

  17. Jerath, Ravinder, Connor Beveridge, and Vernon A. Barnes. “Self-regulation of breathing as an adjunctive treatment of insomnia.” Frontiers in psychiatry 9 (2019): 780.

  18. Lord, C., Z. Sekerovic, and J. Carrier. “Sleep regulation and sex hormones exposure in men and women across adulthood.” Pathologie Biologie 62.5 (2014): 302-310.

  19. Bahaodini, Aminollah, et al. “Low frequency electromagnetic fields long-term exposure effects on testicular histology, sperm quality and testosterone levels of male rats.” Asian Pacific Journal of Reproduction 4.3 (2015): 195-200.

  20. Clark, M. L., et al. “Residential Radiofrequency Exposure and Estrogen Production Among Pre-And Postmenopausal Women.” Epidemiology 17.6 (2006): S436.

  21. https://www.sleepfoundation.org/articles/menopause-and-sleep

  22. Yüksel, Murat, Mustafa Nazıroğlu, and Mehmet Okan Özkaya. “Long-term exposure to electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones and Wi-Fi devices decreases plasma prolactin, progesterone, and estrogen levels but increases uterine oxidative stress in pregnant rats and their offspring.” Endocrine 52.2 (2016): 352-362.

  23. Catterall, William A. “Voltage-gated calcium channels.” Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in biology 3.8 (2011): a003947.

  24. Henz, Diana, Wolfgang I. Schöllhorn, and Burkhard Poeggeler. “Mobile phone chips reduce increases in EEG brain activity induced by mobile phone-emitted electromagnetic fields.” Frontiers in Neuroscience 12 (2018): 190.

  25. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-sciences/brain-waves

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Dr Wendy Myers, ND is a detox expert, functional diagnostic nutritionist, NES Bioenergetic Practitioner, and founder of Myersdetox.com. She is the #1 bestselling author of Limitless Energy: How to Detox Toxic Metals to End Exhaustion and Chronic Fatigue . Additionally, Wendy is the host of The Heavy Metals Summit, the Myers Detox Podcast, and the Supercharged Podcast. Passionate about the importance of detox to live a long and healthy life, she created the revolutionary Myers Detox Protocol , and Mitochondria Detox kit after working with thousands of clients, as well as a range of supplements to help you detox from everyday living and maintain a healthy lifestyle!

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