Wellbeing: UNCONNECT
Another way to help protect good mental and physical health
The audio version can be found at the bottom of this essay and is for paying subscribers only.
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?”
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.”
What Is Grounding?
Grounding is any activity that allows you to reconnect with the natural world by having direct skin contact with the uncovered ground. This is why a 2024 paper published in the Journal of Inflammatory Research, titled “The effects of grounding (earthing) on inflammation, the immune response, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases,” is so important.
The Abstract reads:
Multi-disciplinary research has revealed that electrically conductive contact of the human body with the surface of the Earth (grounding or earthing) produces intriguing effects on physiology and health. Such effects relate to inflammation, immune responses, wound healing, and prevention and treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. The purpose of this report is two-fold: to 1) inform researchers about what appears to be a new perspective to the study of inflammation, and 2) alert researchers that the length of time and degree (resistance to ground) of grounding of experimental animals is an important but usually overlooked factor that can influence outcomes of studies of inflammation, wound healing, and tumorigenesis. Specifically, grounding an organism produces measurable differences in the concentrations of white blood cells, cytokines, and other molecules involved in the inflammatory response. We present several hypotheses to explain observed effects, based on current research results and our understanding of the electronic aspects of cell and tissue physiology, cell biology, biophysics, and biochemistry. An experimental injury to muscles, known as delayed onset muscle soreness, has been used to monitor the immune response under grounded versus ungrounded conditions. Grounding reduces pain and alters the numbers of circulating neutrophils and lymphocytes, and also affects various circulating chemical factors related to inflammation.
The Introduction reads:
Grounding or earthing refers to direct skin contact with the surface of the Earth, such as with bare feet or hands, or with various grounding systems. Subjective reports that walking barefoot on the Earth enhances health and provides feelings of well-being can be found in the literature and practices of diverse cultures from around the world.1
For a variety of reasons, many individuals are reluctant to walk outside barefoot, unless they are on holiday at the beach. Experience and measurements show that sustained contact with the Earth yields sustained benefits. Various grounding systems are available that enable frequent contact with the Earth, such as while sleeping, sitting at a computer, or walking outdoors.
These are simple conductive systems in the form of sheets, mats, wrist or ankle bands, adhesive patches that can be used inside the home or office, and footwear. These applications are connected to the Earth via a cord inserted into a grounded wall outlet or attached to a ground rod placed in the soil outside below a window. For the footwear applications, a conductive plug is positioned in the shoe sole at the ball of the foot, under the metatarsals, at the acupuncture point known as Kidney 1.
From a practical standpoint, these methods offer a convenient and routine, user-friendly approach to grounding or earthing. They can also be used in clinical situations, as will be described in the section entitled Summary of findings to date.1
This may all seem very hippy-dippy, but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that being outside can bring extraordinary relief to the mind and body. Of course, in order to be grounded outside, one must leave the cell phone behind.
Unconnect Yourself
This all brings me back to the title of this essay. To unconnect is important for mental and physical health.
This is even more true for our children.
Yesterday, the US Surgeon General came out with a strong statement about the dangers of social media for children, in an opt ed in the New York Times. In that piece, he wrote:
One of the most important lessons I learned in medical school was that in an emergency, you don’t have the luxury to wait for perfect information. You assess the available facts, you use your best judgment, and you act quickly.
The mental health crisis among young people is an emergency — and social media has emerged as an important contributor. Adolescents who spend more than three hours a day on social media face double the risk of anxiety and depression symptoms, and the average daily use in this age group, as of the summer of 2023, was 4.8 hours. Additionally, nearly half of adolescents say social media makes them feel worse about their bodies.
It is time to require a surgeon general’s warning label on social media platforms, stating that social media is associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents. A surgeon general’s warning label, which requires congressional action, would regularly remind parents and adolescents that social media has not been proved safe.
His suggestion that Congress act now to put such a warning label on social media platforms is good, as far as it goes. But I think we all know it isn’t enough. One just has to review the data on increasing rates of gender dysphoria in the pediatric population to know that something is very wrong.
The truth is that cell phones do not belong in the classroom. We should all advocate for removing cell phones from children under the age of sixteen, whether at our local school board, at the state level, or even through an act of Congress.
Even computers do not belong in every classroom. New research has recently documented that children and adults do not learn as well using computers.
Multiple peer-reviewed studies point to the benefits of learning by book, paper, and pencil (the studies are linked to the bulleted points below):
This peer reviewed study shows that writing and tracing out ABCs, as opposed to typing them, leads to better and longer-lasting recognition and understanding of letters.
Another study documents that handwriting over typing improves recall and the ability to learn words.
Another peer-reviewed study shows that laptop note-takers tend to transcribe lectures verbatim rather than processing information and reframing it in their own words, which is detrimental to learning.
Sweden is the first country to embrace going back to basics on paper.
“There’s clear scientific evidence that digital tools impair rather than enhance student learning,” Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, a highly respected medical school focused on research, said in a statement in August on the country’s national digitalisation strategy in education.
“We believe the focus should return to acquiring knowledge through printed textbooks and teacher expertise, rather than acquiring knowledge primarily from freely available digital sources that have not been vetted for accuracy.”
Schools should be places where children have time and space to learn without being bombarded by social media, flashing lights, games, etc. Children’s brains are growing at a rapid rate, so we need to allow children to develop in places where there is a minimum of toxicity. That not only includes chemicals but also electromagnetic frequencies. Even low frequencies of EMFs, when compounded over devices and years, can add up to a toxic brew.
Furthermore, the low barriers, combined with peer pressure to act out on the computer via porn, violence and addictive gaming is too great for many children. There are almost no limits on many children's cell phones. This is not healthy and not only influences that child, but all those peers who interact with that person and are also exposed to the same malignant influences via sharing apps and just plain old looking over one’s shoulder.
I am not advocating that we all throw our cell phones and computers into the dust bin of time.
I am advocating that each of us take personal responsibility for our own mental and physical health and those of our families and unplug for a while. Get outside and enjoy life.