Brain Health - There's A Gauss In The House!

Brain Health – There’s A Gauss In The House!

I just recently moved to another house. I’d placed my furniture and appliances just where I wanted them. Now I’ve decided to move things around… for my brain’s sake!

Wondering why? Well, I’ll explain in a moment or two.
But first I want to touch on a subject that I’ve raised many times before… the bioelectric field in the human body. That field travels through the body’s meridians and visits all the major organs and glands including the brain.
In a perfect environment all would be balanced and the bioelectric field would help create harmony in the body.

Once we directly, or indirectly, start playing around with it we may disrupt the balance and cause disharmony. For the brain that disharmony can express itself, in particular, through the actions of the pineal and pituitary glands and the hypothalamus.

So what’s all that got to do with re-arranging the furniture and appliances? Plenty!

You see, I’ve bought myself a Gauss Meter. And no, before you ask, it’s not just another toy for the boys!

A gauss meter measures electromagnetic fields (EMF). EMFs occur naturally, for example, from the earth’s magnetic field and as a result of electrical storms. These background fields have always been in existence, are part of our natural energy balance and do not in themselves pose a threat.
It is when we add to those fields that we create potential problems. Power lines, televisions, electric razors and other home appliances all emit EMF.

Accepting the importance of maintaining a balanced bioelectric field in the body I used my gauss meter to measure EMFs in and around my home. I also measured the fields in the neighbourhood where I do my walking and other exercises.

Here’s some of what I discovered:
1) Neighbourhood
When I’m walking I follow a path alongside an electric overhead train line. The track is about 20 meters from the actual power line so I was interested to get an idea of the strength of the field to which I was being exposed. I was somewhat surprised to find that it was in the range that is deemed to be safe (more on safety levels later).
Across the road from the track there’s sidewalk. I had considered that in the event of an unsafe reading from the walking track I would walk on the sidewalk instead.
Well, I got a real surprise when I measured the fields on the sidewalk. Above the sidewalk are wires that carry electricity to houses in the street as well as some TV cables. I found the resultant field to be considerably higher than that measured along the railway track. Just as well I don’t need to walk there!

2) Outside my house
Like most people I have an electric power line connected to my house. I tested the field around that and found it to be in the ‘safe’ zone. The previous owners had cable TV and the connection was still in place. The fields detected around that were considerably higher than those around the power line. Elsewhere around the house and garden fields were very low.

3) Inside the house
Wireless technology
This is a good point to talk about wireless technology. Wireless communication is the transmission of information through the air – that is without the use of wires. As such it includes: AM and FM radio; TV; cell phones; cordless phones; all types of remote control units like TV and garage door, wireless computer mice, keyboards and headsets; two-way radios and so on.

The thing about wireless technology is that it creeps up on you. One gets seduced by the convenience and, on occasions, that tends to over-ride rational thought. Anyway, I was surprised to find how much had crept into my life despite a conscious effort to avoid its use. To my shame I have a cordless phone, have the standard wireless TV reception and use a remote control for the TV and garage door.
Okay, back to testing
…
* Electricity meter box
Wow, the pointer shot to the top of the scale and the unit let out a high pitch screeching noise. Right, that meant an armchair that I had positioned to view the distant mountains had to be moved.

* Incoming power and TV cables
These are connected via the meter box to all parts of the house. They lie on the ceilings and in the house walls. I used the meter to track their presence and their emission levels. By and large I didn’t find anything to be concerned about. However there was one concentration where both cables actually entered the roof and ran along inside the roof to the meter box.

Now that was a bit of a problem because I often use to put a chair there and sit on it while I was working. Also, a part of the dining table and chairs extended into the concentrated field area as well. Fortunately, there was enough room to move the table away from the immediate area.

* Appliances
Microwave
This turned out to be my ‘public enemy number 1’ I really had to get out of the kitchen to reduce the meter reading to a ‘safe’ level Now it may well be that my microwave is not a new model and that the latest models are low emission – I’m going to look into that. Anyway, I use it so little because in my opinion it doesn’t cook food… it destroys it! But we’ll save that discussion for another day.

Blender
Beware the blender. Don’t snuggle up to your blender, I needed to move about 5 feet away to get to a ‘safe’ level.

Electric clock/radio
If this is at your bedside you need to position it to reduce the field. I found that a distance of 2 feet was fine. This action is important because you spend about 8 hours sleeping with it nearby.

Cordless phone
I don’t know why but the intensity of the field surprised me. Its impact is aggravated by the fact that it is held directly against the head and sometimes for lengthy periods.
I resolved to use it less, for shorter time periods and hold it away from direct contact with my head (about 3 inches away reduced the field significantly but is not very functional).
I shudder to think about the fields emitted by cell phones and when I observe them almost permanently attached to a young person’s head.

Remote control units
I tested both the TV and garage door remote control units. While it is true they do emit fields above background levels the saving factor maybe they are not in continuous use. The field fell away at about 2 inches – not that that fact is of much use practically.

Of course, the simple solution is to throw them out they are not necessary since the actions they perform can easily be done manually. No doubt someone will counter by saying that to change TV channels manually would expose one to EMFs from the TV!

LCD TV
I have an LCD TV which by the nature of their design are low emission The test reading I took confirmed that was so.
Computer, computer monitor and modem

As I said previously I try avoid wireless technology. When I tested my computing devices I found that at a distance of 2 feet the readings were well in the ‘safe’ zone.

Refrigerator
Obviously I waited until it was running before doing the test. It was comfortably within the ‘safe’ zone.

There are probably other items I could have tested like the washing machine, dishwasher and power tools. With regard to the latter – I’m a lousy handyman so naturally try to avoid using them.
4) Safe level
Finally, I want to address the matter of the ‘safe level’ of exposure. My view is that we don’t really have much idea as to what level can be considered safe. Most of the literature cites readings of 0-2mG (milligauss) as the safe range while 2 -7 is considered medium and above that as high risk.

But you have to ask the question – what is that based on? I mean, if one of the potential risks of prolonged exposure is brain cancer, for example, it could take 20 to 30 years to fully develop.

And what if that didn’t necessarily need a so-called high level of exposure… what if readings in the so-called safe range produced the same effect. Could they? The answer is that no-one really knows.

Maybe one could argue that readings consistent with those naturally occurring will be safe because we’ve evolved in the presence of those. Maybe you could argue that but have we previously had such levels pressed directly up against our head and in addition to those natural fields.
The safe bet is the take steps to reduce your exposure as much as practicable.

I should qualify this article by saying that what I’ve reported is unique to my house and surroundings and is only provided for information not as some definitive guide to be followed. If it serves to get you thinking about the issue then it will have done its job