A Priest Life ((((,,)))): Wellbeing: UNCONNECT

Tuesday, June 25, 2024

Wellbeing: UNCONNECT

Unconnect Yourself

“To unconnect is important for mental and physical health.

This is even more true for our children.”

Read in the Substack app

Another way to help protect good mental and physical health

Jill, my wife of 45 years, and I don’t have many rules. But we do have one in particular, that we are pretty strict about. We do not have any electronic devices in our bedroom or even in the part of the house near our bedroom. That includes TVs, computers, phones, radios, wifi routers, microwaves or other appliances. We even keep our cell phone and watch chargers at the other end of the house!

There are two reasons for this. One is the obvious - things that blink, buzz, light up, or in some way or another affect sleep, or cause us to wake up in the middle of the night, do not belong in the same space as where we sleep.

Another reason is that, yes, they are “watching” us. Smart thermostats, even the new refrigerators, can monitor our every sound, sleep pattern, conversation, and life. We just don’t know who may be listening in. Take, for example, the recent news that the auto insurance companies have been paying car manufacturers to surreptitiously send in our driving data to insurance companies - so that they can determine who has been “naughty and nice” and charge us accordingly.

Furthermore, Pegasus I and II (and who knows what other) smartphone listening apps are out there, and there is almost no way for non-specialists to detect them. We prefer not to give any entity an opportunity to get into our mindscape because, speaking frankly, those who deploy these technologies don’t actually have our best interests at heart.

Then there is the fact that these devices are not healthy for us to be exposed to 24/7. Almost any artificial electromagnetic frequency (EMFs) emissions are a real health risk at some power level. The science and pharmacotoxicology are not resolved regarding low-frequency EMFs and the dangers posed to human health; knowledge, experience, and “the science” are still in flux. But most scientists agree that too much is never good. The question is, how much is “too much?”

From Healthline:

IARC operates under the World Health Organization (WHO). It convenes working groups of scientists from around the world regularly to evaluate the cancer risks presented to humans by environmental and lifestyle factors.
The current IARC evaluation from 2011 pointed to a possible link between RF radiation and cancer in people, particularly glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer.
This conclusion means that there could be some risk. The report emphasized that the link between cellphone use and cancer risk needs to be carefully monitored by the scientific community. It said more research was needed into long-term, heavy use of mobile phones.
Some researchers feel there’s already enough evidence of harm from long-term, low-level exposure to non-ionizing radiation that the IARC should upgrade the classification to a Group 1, a known carcinogen.
Researchers began substantial research into the potential link between cellphones and cancer in 2000 in what would become the largest study to compare cancer cases in cellphone users and nonusers.
The researchers followed cancer rates and cellphone use in more than 5,000 people in 13 countries. There was an association between the highest rate of exposure and glioma.
However, this research also mentioned various potential biases and confounding variables that make the potential association difficult to interpret.
The gliomas were more often found on the same side of the head that people used to speak on the phone.
Even so, the researchers said that the connection wasn’t strong enough to conclude that cellphone use caused cancer.
In a smaller, more recent study, researchers analyzed data over almost 2 decades and found that people exposed to high levels of extremely low-level frequency magnetic fields (ELF-EMFs) over a long duration showed an increased risk of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a type of leukemia in adults.
European scientists also uncovered a possible link between EMF and leukemia in children. In a literature review of previous studies, they suggested that between 1.5 to 5 percent of childhood leukemia can be attributed to ELF-EMFs.
But they noted that the result was inconclusive because monitoring of EMF was lacking. They recommended more research and better monitoring.
One review of more than two dozen studies on low-frequency EMFs suggests that these energy fields may cause various neurological and psychiatric problems in people.
In one study, researchers found that an electromagnetic pulse (EMP), or a short burst of electromagnetic energy, can affect nerve activity in rats.
They suggested that long-term EMP exposure could be harmful to cognitive ability and may induce pathology similar to that of Alzheimer’s disease. They added that more research is needed.
Also, tentative research suggests that the body’s tissues and its nervous system may be affected by the heat generated by RF-EMFs. A study conducted on rats and mice suggested that the heat from cellphones affected body tissue heating and nerve activity. Again, researchers said more study is needed.
Another research review suggested that radiofrequency EMFs might contribute to neurological cognitive disorders. But since the reported research was performed either on cells or animals, its results don’t necessarily apply to people.

Given all this data, why would anyone expose themselves- and especially their children- to EMFs all day and night? So Jill and I try hard to live by the rule that electronic devices do not need to be attached to us. They are not an appendage. They are not clothing. When not in use, electronic devices should be placed elsewhere.

One way to protect yourself from the negative effects of EMFs is to allow yourself to be “grounded.”

Read the rest: https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/wellbeing-unconnect