In this blog post, Maria Rickert Hong explains how EMF dangers affect your child’s health.
Chronic exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs) puts your child’s body in a state of stress, even when resting. If you live in a city, your child’s EMF exposure is much higher. Chronic stress can wear out your child’s adrenal glands, making them more anxious, prone to temper tantrums and prone to sickness. Chronic stress also leads to chronic inflammation, a hallmark of a chronic illness.
Research shows that EMF can cause changes in both the sympathetic nervous system as well as the parasympathetic nervous system. Researchers described the top 10 symptoms of EMF dangers as:
- Memory problems
- Difficulty concentrating
- Eye problems
- Sleep problems
- Feeling unwell
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Tinnitus
- Chronic fatigue
- Heart palpitations
- Fluorescent lights
- Cell phones
- Cordless house phones
- Baby monitors
- Wi-Fi systems
- Smart meters
- Large electric devices such as refrigerators
- “Dirty electricity” from off-phase electrical systems in houses and buildings
EMFs make fungi (mold and yeast) more virulent, and this was known at least as far back as 1980. Dietrich Klinghardt MD, PhD, is a huge opponent of EMF dangers.
Two top sources for understanding this issue in more detail are Ann Louise Gittleman’s book Zapped: Why Your Cell Phone Shouldn’t Be Your Alarm Clock and 1,268 Ways to Outsmart the Hazards of Electronic Pollution and the Electric Sense website.
In the meantime, here are some simple things you can do to mitigate EMF dangers:
- Get rid of wireless phones and use corded phones
- Remove Wi-Fi at home or at least turn it off at night
- Get rid of baby monitors
- Keep electronic tablets and cell phones on airplane mode as much as possible, especially if children are playing on them
- Use electronic devices as a babysitter as little as possible
- Use grounding mats while using electronic devices
- Use grounding sheets and pillowcases while sleeping
- Installing Stetzer filters to reduce “dirty electricity”
- Make sure your child’s bed isn’t within a few feet, even on the other side of a wall, of a large electric device like a refrigerator or oven because these appliances generate large electromagnetic fields
About Maria Rickert Hong CHHC
Maria Rickert Hong is a Co-Founder of, and the Education and Media Director for, Epidemic Answers, the 501(c)3 sponsoring non-profit of The Documenting Hope Project.
She is a former sell-side Wall Street equity research analyst who covered the oil services sector at Salomon Smith Barney and Lehman Brothers under Institutional Investor #1 ranked analysts. Later, she covered the gaming, lodging & leisure sector at Jefferies & Co. and Calyon Securities. She quit working on Wall Street when her first son was born.
Prior to working on Wall Street, she was a marketing specialist for Halliburton in New Orleans, where she also received her MBA in Finance & Strategy from Tulane University.
She is the author of the bestselling book Almost Autism: Recovering Children from Sensory Processing Disorder and the co-author of Brain Under Attack: A Resource for Parents and Caregivers of Children with PANS, PANDAS, and Autoimmune Encephalitis. Maria is also a Certified Holistic Health Counselor. Her work can be found on EpidemicAnswers.org, DocumentingHope.com, Healing.DocumentingHope.com, Conference.DocumentingHope.com and MariaRickertHong.com
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Sources & References
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Aldad, T.S., et al. Fetal Radiofrequency Radiation Exposure From 800-1900 Mhz-Rated Cellular Telephones Affects Neurodevelopment and Behavior in Mice. Sci Rep. 2012;2:312.
Breitenkamp, A.F., et al. Voltage-gated Calcium Channels and Autism Spectrum Disorders. Curr Mol Pharmacol. 2015;8(2):123-32.
Büsselberg, D. Calcium channels as target sites of heavy metals. Toxicol Lett. 1995 Dec:82-83:255-61.
Carlo, G.L., et al. Wireless radiation in the aetiology and treatment of autism: clinical observations and mechanisms. Journal of the Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine, 26(2), 3–7.
Currenti, S.A. Understanding and determining the etiology of autism. Cell Mol Neurobiol. 2010 Mar;30(2):161-71.
Dasdaq, S., et al. Effects of 2.4 GHz radiofrequency radiation emitted from Wi-Fi equipment on microRNA expression in brain tissue. Int J Radiat Biol. 2015 Jul;91(7):555-61.
Davis, D., et al. Wireless technologies, non-ionizing electromagnetic fields and children: Identifying and reducing health risk. Curr Probl Pediatr Adolesc Health Care. 2023 Feb;53(2):101374.
Faber, S., et al. A cleanroom sleeping environment’s impact on markers of oxidative stress, immune dysregulation, and behavior in children with autism spectrum disorders. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2015 Mar 19:15:71.
Havas, M. Dirty electricity elevates blood sugar among electrically sensitive diabetics and may explain brittle diabetes. Electromagn Biol Med. 2008;27(2):135-46.
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Herbert, M.R, et al. Autism and EMF? Plausibility of a pathophysiological link–Part I. Pathophysiology 20.3 (2013): 191-209.
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Hosseinabadi, M.B., et al. The effect of chronic exposure to extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields on sleep quality, stress, depression and anxiety. Electromagn Biol Med. 2019;38(1):96-101.
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Koyu, A., et al. Effects of 900 MHz electromagnetic field on TSH and thyroid hormones in rats. Toxicol Lett. 2005 Jul 4;157(3):257-62.
Lathe, R. Microwave Electromagnetic Radiation and Autism. E-Journal of Applied Psychology. June 2009;5(1):11-30.
Li, D.K., et al. A population-based prospective cohort study of personal exposure to magnetic fields during pregnancy and the risk of miscarriage. Epidemiology. 2002 Jan;13(1):9-20.
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Pall, M.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.
Pall, M.L. Microwave frequency electromagnetic fields (EMFs) produce widespread neuropsychiatric effects including depression. J Chem Neuroanat. 2016 Sep;75(Pt B):43-51.
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Resources
Articles
Documenting Hope. The Invisible Health Hazard That Is Easy to Miss.
Klinghardt, Dietrich. Autism May Be Linked to Electromagnetic Radiation Levels in Mother’s Bedroom During Pregnancy.
Books
Gittleman, Ann Louise. Zapped: Why Your Cell Phone Shouldn’t Be Your Alarm Clock and 1,268 Ways to Outsmart the Hazards of Electronic Pollution. HarperOne, 2011.
Lambert, Beth, et al. Brain Under Attack: A Resource for Parents and Caregivers of Children with PANS, PANDAS and Autoimmune Encephalitis. Answers Publications, 2018.
Presentations
Pall, Martin. EMFs and Chemicals as the Main Drivers of the Autism Epidemic: Mechanisms of Action. AutismOne Conference, 2017.
