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The Evils of Electro-smog

I have been adamantly against electric blankets for years now, loudly sharing with you reasons, like "You'll cook your brain all night and wake up an idiot." Or, "Your cells will become all floobered (ancient medical term) and not work right." or even worse, "You'll compromise your immune system and get the bad cancer." All of this is, of course, based in the truth of all the research out there on EMF's. However, there is nothing like discomfort to knock me off a position and humble me a bit in the process.

But here's how I manage the electric blanket. Rather healthily, I might add. On the very cold nights, I pre-heat, i.e., turn it on while I am preparing for bed. Dr. Mercola of www.mercola.com says we should leave the room during pre-heating, but I think that's a bit OCD. We are not talking radioactivity here.

Now the bed is electrically heated and nice and toasty. I get in bed wearing my normal night wear (no hat, sweats or heavy wool sox), then I turn off the blanket. This means, no immediate EMF's frying my brain. I read for awhile and then turn off both the light and the electric blanket at the power strip. And that's the key. It's like unplugging everything. You turn off all the electricity at the source; you don't just turn the appliance switch off. I have to keep my computer in my room, so I also have a power strip for that. Therefore, I have zero electricity zinging about in my room at night as I am sleeping with both power strips in the off position.

Rule of thumb: Have nothing which emits low level electromagnetic energy - that is, anything which plugs into the wall - within 6 feet of your bed as you sleep. This includes clocks, radios, phones, TV's, computers. If you have to have something like that in your bedroom, then buy some power strips and turn everything off at the source.

We all know that stewing in electromagnetic fields all night is dangerous. Electro-smog is not to be taken lightly. We live in a stew of chemicals and electro-smog and the more we can do to reduce both is ideal. For example, cell phones have been linked to brain tumors. EMF's have been linked to infant SIDS, senility in the elderly has been linked to electro-smog as has lingering illness in the infirm. We are all equally blanketed by the electro-storm from Blackberrys, I-phones, Game Boys, WIFI's as well as refrigerators, electric heaters, microwaves and all the other "plug-ins" found in our homes. There are now 210,000 cell towers, providing 81% of the wireless penetration in America alone.

Ways to reduce EMF radiation in your home and life right now

1. Rise with the sun and go to bed early. Use the daylight and avoid using artificial light whenever possible.
2. Keep your immune system strong. The usual good diet, exercise, good sleep etc.
3. Make a chemical-free lifestyle for yourself: replace all your personal care and home-cleaning products with chemical-free versions. Start now.
4. Do things manually as much as you can. Open cans with your God-given muscles, juice lemons manually, use a broom. Think twice before plugging in anything.
5. Walk barefoot on the earth. It will ground you. Hug a tree. It will release excess EMF's into the earth.
6. Unplug all electrical appliances when not in use. Your blender, coffee maker, food processor, hair dryer. Just look around and see what's plugged in that you are not using this very second. Go unplug it.
7. Arrange furniture carefully. If you usually watch television in a certain chair or couch, make sure that there is not a huge operating power strip near or under you.
8. Dimmer switches can be nasty. Replace them with regular to eliminate high frequency radiation, sometimes called "dirty electricity".
9. Avoid the use of appliances with variable speed drives. The surges create dirty electricity.
10. Avoid the use of microwaves, hair dryers, electric toothbrushes, ELECTRIC BLANKETS (unless you do as I do above), heating pads, baby monitors and other routine electrical products.
11. Do not buy cordless DECT phones which emit a constant EMF signal even when not in use. Save cell phones for emergencies and use land lines whenever possible. Turn cell phones off when not in use and avoid using inside a car. This is a double whammy what with all the EMF's in cars today. Use all the safety gear out there for cell phone usage i.e., air tubes, shielding devises. Keep your cell phone chargers unplugged when not in use.
12. Use LCD computers and TV screens and avoid plasma TV's. Unplug your computer when not in use. This is easy with your new power strip.

I know you can't see it, can't feel it, can't smell it. But that doesn't mean it doesn't exist and won't hurt you. Start to re-frame your thinking about electro-smog as a "thing" and you will "get" it, I guarantee.

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