You may have never heard of EMF radiation, but it is something that you experience everyday. Radiation is always thought of as something related to nuclear activity. It feels much farther away from our lives than it really is. The reality is that radiation is all over the place, in public and private. Does this mean you should be scared? Of course not. A lot of radiation is found in various sources and varies in strength and effect.
The most important thing to know about anything you are unfamiliar with is that education is your best ally. For EMF radiation, this is a quick guide to help educate you. Knowledge is the key here, as there is a lot of fake information out there about radiation, especially in our digital age.
What is EMF Radiation?
The best place to start is explaining, briefly, what EMF radiation is. Electromagnetic Field radiation is a broad term for the waves of electromagnetic energy that carry with it the radiation in the forms of microwave, gamma rays, x-rays, infrared, and ultraviolet, among a few others. Positive and negative electrical charges make charges react in other fields, which creates exchanges of energy. The most common way to understand this is that electric devices are producing electrical fields, and an increase in power means and increase in the electromagnetic fields that can be produced.
Are there differences in EMF Radiation?
The differences in EMF radiation, aside from the strength of the field, come from their classification. There is low frequency, high frequency, non-ionizing, and ionizing. These frequencies can be observed as a wavelength. This wavelength is either shorter or longer, with the shorter wavelength looking like a much more constricted up and down, which is high frequency. The longer wavelength has more stretched out waves, and that is low frequency because it passes through space/air slower. The thing everyone wants to know is how these EMF radiation forms affect people. Non-ionizing is the low frequency wavelengths that are most common in our daily life, while ionizing are the high frequency waves that can very negatively affect you.
What are the dangers?
Continuing from the last point, EMF radiation can potentially pose health concerns, but it has to be specific kinds of radiation. There is always concern over our daily technology that it is leaking radiation out and causing harm, but there is not as much validity to it as we think. Non-ionizing EMF radiation is the most common form we are affected by, but it is low frequency and is considered very tame. This comes in the form of common appliances and devices. Microwaves, cellphones, computers, WiFi networks, Bluetooth/wireless connectivity. These are all common things that we have in or around our homes, but they only pose potential harm over prolonged exposure to an extent. Ionizing radiation is the harmful type.
UV, X-ray, and gamma rays are inherently higher frequency, but they are found in medical equipment and used in controlled environments. This is the type of radiation that can cause cellular damage, but it is not something you experience on a daily basis, except for UV from the sun, which can be protected against easily.
How can I protect myself from EMF Radiation?
This question gets asked a lot because people are scared, reasonably, about radiation harms. As you can see, there is not much radiation exposure you face in daily life that will cause serious damage, but it can result in some concerns. The information from EducateEMF is useful, because it helps home consumers understand how their devices might affect them, and simple tricks you can do to protect yourself. Keeping your phone away from you when you are not using it, or moving your wireless router to a less densely populated part of your home are simple ways to do so. Likewise, UV rays emitted from the sun can cause harm, but they are addressed by limiting too much exposure to the sun while outdoors for extended periods of time and using sunblock. You could also consider emf protection for cell phones because that will block the waves coming out of the cell phone from getting to you. Just one small step before you move your phone further away from you.
While the concerns about radiation are certainly real in 2020, you still should be educated before you start attempting to protect yourself. There is nothing to say that our modern digital age is not increasingly exposing us to radiation, but with the right information about it, you can help keep you and your family safe from any potential exposure. This quick guide provides you a base of knowledge that can help inform you on what devices emit radiation, and to what extent it is considered harmful.