As we near the time of year when kids are heading back to school, it’s more important than ever to be aware of an invisible threat that can be silently impacting their health. What is this invisible threat I’m referring to? EMFs – the fields of energy that emanate from technological devices.

As children spend more and more time on computers, cell phones, and tablets, while sitting in classrooms full of EMF-emitting devices, it’s crucial to protect them from these health-disrupting energy fields.

Today we’re going to look at exactly what EMFs are, how they exert their health-harming effects, why our children are particularly vulnerable, and most importantly – what you can do to protect yourself and your family. Let’s dive in.

EMFs Defined: What Is EMF Radiation?

EMF is an abbreviation for electromagnetic fields. These fields of invisible energy are created by the movement of electrical charges. This movement of electrical energy creates waves of energy as a form of radiation.

EMFs are everywhere – the sun, the earth, and even the cells that make up your body radiate some level of EMFs. But not all EMFs are created equally. While the natural EMFs emitted by the earth and your body can actually be beneficial, our reliance on technology has created an influx of harmful EMFs that are nearly impossible to avoid. Man-made EMFs are emitted at unprecedented levels from technological devices like:

  • Bluetooth
  • Cell phones
  • Computers
  • MRI’s
  • Power lines
  • Radio signals
  • Televisions
  • UV lights
  • Wi-Fi
  • X-rays

While we may not necessarily be able to see or feel these invisible fields of low-level radiation, the impact these rays of energy have on our bodies can be monumental.

EMF Effects on the Brain and Body

When you encounter EMFs these fields of energy are able to penetrate deep into your body. Once they make contact with your body, these EMFs begin wreaking havoc at the cellular level in a process that goes something like this:

  • Free radical levels spike: Free radicals are highly reactive and unstable molecules that can strip electrons from your healthy cells. Free radicals are perfectly normal and healthy when they’re balanced by an appropriate amount of neutralizing antioxidants. But if these harmful molecules are left unchecked and their levels spike, they can ravage your cells – stealing their electrons in a process known as oxidation.
  • Oxidative damage spreads: As free radical levels climb, they spread throughout your body – leaving a path of destruction in their wake. As they oxidize and strip your cells of electrons, it leaves your cells injured and unable to carry out their functions properly. And if the injury is severe enough, your cells can even begin to die off.
  • Permanent injury occurs: The oxidative damage induced by unchecked free radicals can destroy cellular proteins, lipids, and even the DNA that make up your cells. Over time, your cells can lose their ability to repair and bounce back from this damage. This can permanently maim your cells and their ability to function properly or reproduce. This permanent cellular damage is what can lead to the serious long-term health conditions linked to EMF exposure. 

Exposure to the low-level radiation emitted by EMF-producing technology is well-known to trigger a massive spike in these destructive free radicals. This influx of unstable free radicals spread throughout your brain and body – inciting damage and triggering inflammation as your body rushes to make repairs.

Our bodies are well-equipped to handle occasional spikes in free radical levels – with our detox and inflammatory pathways springing into action to neutralize the threat and restore balance. But when we are constantly bombarded with elevated levels of EMFs we reach a tipping point where our bodies can no longer keep up. This tipping point is what can lead to the health effects associated with EMF exposure.

EMF Radiation Health Effects

EMF damage is cumulative – exposure to these energy fields can wear our bodies down over time and make us more susceptible to irreversible damage. Once a tipping point is reached and your body can no longer effectively combat the damage incited by EMFs, your cells can become damaged to the point that they begin malfunctioning leading to symptoms like:

  • Burning or tingling sensations
  • Depression
  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Digestive issues
  • Dizziness
  • Fatigue
  • Heart palpitations
  • Insomnia
  • Muscle aches and pains
  • Nausea
  • Red skin

And over time, these symptoms and the underlying oxidative damage can digress into some serious life-altering, or even life-threatening, issues like:

  • Cancer
  • Chronic fatigue
  • Digestive issues
  • Muscle aches and pains
  • Neurological disorders and deficits
  • Reproductive issues
  • Skin conditions and rashes

What makes this particularly troublesome is that the longer you’re exposed to elevated EMF levels, or the more often you’re bombarded with higher-intensity levels of EMFs, the more accelerated this damage can be. And there is no subset of the population more frequently and more intensely exposed to unprecedented levels of EMFs than our children.

Why Children Are More Susceptible to Harmful EMFs?

Children are particularly vulnerable to the effects of EMFs for a few reasons including:

  • Smaller size: Children are obviously much smaller than adults – meaning it takes much less to disrupt the balance of their delicate, growing bodies.
  • Developing nervous systems: Because children’s nervous systems are still in the process of developing, their nervous systems are more easily dysregulated by the penetrating energy of EMFs.
  • Higher conductivity: We all know water is a potent conductor of electricity – but it’s also an excellent conductor of EMFs. And children are proportionately composed of more water than adults – with children often containing anywhere from 70-80% water and adults containing roughly 60% water.
  • Decreased skull thickness: The average adult’s skull measures in at approximately 2 millimeters in thickness. On average a 5-year-old child’s skull thickness will come in at about 0.5 millimeters and a ten-year-old child’s about 1 millimeter in thickness. This decrease in skull thickness means the EMF radiation is able to more powerfully penetrate into children’s brains. 
  • Elevated exposure: The amount of EMFs floating around in our world has increased exponentially in recent years – with no sign of slowing down anytime soon. That means our children have been and will be exposed to EMFs for a much larger percentage of their lives than most adults. Pair that with the fact that the average child uses numerous technological devices at home and in the classroom on a daily basis and you’ve got a recipe for exorbitant exposure levels over their lifetime.  

How Can We Protect Children From EMFs?

When it comes to EMF protection for kids, it’s best to take a two-pronged approach – boosting their body’s ability to cope with EMFs and reducing their overall exposure. Let’s take a little deeper look at both of these.

Boosting EMF-Coping Capabilities:

A couple of simple ways you can help bolster your children and pets’ ability to cope with the inevitable exposure to EMFs include:

  • Grounding or earthing: Direct contact with the ground and/or a natural body of water can help infuse your body with stabilizing ions from the earth – helping to neutralize the destabilizing effects of EMFs. Encourage your children to spend time outdoors walking barefoot, lying in the grass, or swimming in water to help stabilize their internal bioelectric environment.
  • Eating an antioxidant-rich diet: Antioxidants are molecules that can neutralize harmful free radicals. Ensuring your children are getting a healthy, well-rounded diet full of various health-promoting antioxidants can help mitigate some of the effects of EMF exposure.

While boosting EMF-coping capabilities is important, it’s only part of the equation.

Reducing Exposure to EMFs:

Some simple ways to reduce your children’s and pet’s exposure to EMFs include:

  • Encourage children to keep devices like tablets and cell phones away from their bodies when not in use and try to keep them from spending too much time in close proximity to technological devices
  • Ensure children’s devices (like their school laptops, game consoles, or cell phones) are off or at the very least in airplane mode when they’re not being actively used
  • Unplug your home Wi-fi router when it’s not in use
  • Use an ethernet cord instead of Wi-fi for devices when possible

While all of these steps are an excellent foundation for reducing EMF exposure, the truth is, there’s still a substantial amount of EMF exposure that’s entirely out of our control. But the good news is, there’s another powerful strategy you can implement to drastically reduce your children’s and pet’s EMF exposure.