In this blog post, Maria Rickert Hong explains how EMF dangers affect your child’s health.
Are EMFs Really That Harmful?
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.
Mitigating EMF Dangers
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, Documenting Hope.
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. She is a co-author of Reversal of Autism Symptoms among Dizygotic Twins through a Personalized Lifestyle and Environmental Modification Approach: A Case Report and Review of the Literature, J. Pers. Med. 2024, 14(6), 641.
Maria is also a Certified Holistic Health Counselor. Her work can be found on DocumentingHope.com, Healing.DocumentingHope.com, Conference.DocumentingHope.com and MariaRickertHong.com
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Sources & References
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Breitenkamp, A.F., et al. Voltage-gated Calcium Channels and Autism Spectrum Disorders. Curr Mol Pharmacol. 2015;8(2):123-32.
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Currenti, S.A. Understanding and determining the etiology of autism. Cell Mol Neurobiol. 2010 Mar;30(2):161-71.
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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.
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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.
