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EMF & Environmental Stressors in D4

  • 16-02-2018 10:53am
    #1
    Registered Users Posts: 1,106 ✭✭✭


    Background:

    I've lived in a large old Georgian Apartment in Ballsbridge for 12 years. When I moved here, the whole area had a kind of calm ambience. I used to say that, it feels a bit like living in the countryside, only it is within walking distance of Dublin city center.

    Issue:

    In the last few years, and in particular, in the last 18 months, the area began to feel different.

    My apartment has felt different too... in certain rooms in my apartment, upon entering, I would feel disproportionately tired and/or it seemed to take a lot of effort to settle my mind or to stay settled.

    I didn't want to attribute this to some superstituous phenomena... I thought this was related to stress or perhaps nutrition.

    Then this last month, I had a lot of rest, did a lot of meditation and ate perfectly (I've studied nutrition and many people say my diet is outlier great and best of anyone they know...mild keto, paleo, organic superfoods, the best supplements...) yet despite what would usually fill me with vitality, I struggled to feel better.

    In particular, after more rest and perfect eating than ever, when I entered certain rooms, I'd instantly feel tired and stressed. Sometimes if I sat there, I would feel a bit "fried". Sometimes I would meditate for an hour, reach a state of deep calmness, then walk into a different room, and my stress levels would increase with no obvious trigger.

    As I had isolated nutrition and stress as a driver, I began wondering if this was a physical phenomena related to my environment, instead of a nutritional or psychological effect. This was because of how my well-being changed in different rooms.

    I made a list of possible environmental stressors, with suspects being:

    - Mould / airbourne mold toxins
    - Radon
    - CO / CO2 from my gas boiler
    - Geopathic Stress
    - EMF / Electrosmog
    - Air quality issues

    Then I began investigating.

    Several people I talked to described similar symptoms suggested mould could be a source. As the wallpaper is bubbling (a bit) in places and there was some mould in my neighbours apartment beneath mine, this seems possible. I haven't yet formally tested this.... but suspect this is a factor.

    It is possible that CO/CO2 is an issue but my carbon monoxide meter has never gone off. Jury is out on this one.

    It seems unlikely but not impossible that geopathic stress would have changed a lot since I moved here. Jury is out on this one.

    Ballsbridge is not an area rated highly for radon... but perhaps recent building work may have drilled into the bedrock with different release patterns. It seems unlikely this would create a big difference room to room, as I understand it. Jury is out on this one.

    So I haven't ruled the above factors out and suspect mould, but there is one that I can test for easily - being EMF. So, I ordered a highly rated EMF meter to test for electromagnetic pollution.

    According to preliminary research, EMF levels about 2-4 milligauss could be problematic. Literally, 2 mG is a threshold that scientists suspect could cause health issues such that they have done multiple studies on leukemia correlations with > 2mG levels of EMF.

    *ANYWAY*

    It turns out that in some rooms in my apartment, from ambient sources (with all my appliances/wifi disconnected etc) there are **extremely high levels of EMF** and **they are not originating from my apartment**

    Literally, in parts of my living room, in certain areas, I'm measuring up to 50 milligauss sustained readings and in other places, pulses varying from 4mG to 12mG just keep happening. I've taken these readings in my living room and in the lawn out front.

    On the road outside, in front of the Israeli embassy, this increases to over 100 milligauss in places.

    I have no reason to suspect the meter is faulty because it behaves as I would expect with very high consistency. E.g. it gets high right next to fuse board or a wifi router then drops as I move it away.

    So I now strongly EMF is a factor with multiple potential ambient sources:

    1) I suspect there are underground power lines in front of my apartment under the road
    2) Perhaps the Israeli embassy, opposite where I live, has some kind of radio transmiter that has an effect as they have a large aerial on their roof, opposite where I live
    3) On an office building approx 70 meters away (on the opposite side of the junction) there must be 10+ mobile phone masts.
    4) I'm guessing that neighbours wifi could be a minor contributory factor, but not one that could trigger such high EMF readings in rooms with no appliances and on the lawn outside, 20+ feet away from anything at all.

    EMF Levels are noticeably lower at the back of the building.

    To put the 50mG levels in my living room in context, this is a similar level to what a microwave generates at 1-3 inches whilst it is on. However, this is just in the air with nothing plugged in for 10 feet or more.

    Calibrating variance and reactions:

    A night ago, I spent an evening in a hotel in Wexford and slept there and my whole body / being felt different... with a sense of relief and my body felt calmer. In the hotel, the baseline EMF was 0 milligauss other than where I would expect it to be high, such as next to the wifi router.

    So I am wondering, if there are environmental and ambient sources of EMF above safe or comfortable levels (that I strongly suspect were not in place when I moved in here) who is responsible?

    Are mobile phone companies allowed to add more and more antennae?

    Are power companies allowed to increase the strength of underground power lines?

    Plausibly, could an embassy set up high power transmitters?

    I would appreciate your insights and anecdotes if you have faced similar issues. I would also appreciate qualified scientific skepticism as I'm interested in building accurate models of what is going on and I don't profess to be expert in EMF - I just haven't had space to study this beyond a high level review.

    I'm sharing this to get your feedback as well as point to something you may wish to investigate if you have had or are having experiences similar to mine.


Comments

  • Registered Users Posts: 2,187 ✭✭✭Fian


    Short answer: You have no entitlement to restrict electromagnetic radiation in your locality.

    Other short answer: I imagine your feelings have more to do with you and what's is going on in your life than ambient electromagnetic radiation. The issue may be more in your head than in your environment.

    You could try cycling/walking in the evenings before settling in to the apartment, it might help.

    Where did you get the meter? The guy in Better call Saul didn't even have one of those.


  • Registered Users Posts: 1,106 ✭✭✭turbot


    Fian wrote: »
    Where did you get the meter?

    It was a relatively inexpensive, highly reviewed meter from Amazon. In most regards, it behaves the way I would expect - with very high consistency. The level of EMF rises dramatically in close proximity to anything that is supposed to emit a magnetic field - be it my fuse board or wifi router etc. In a forest or countryside, it reads at 0. Thus, I have no reason to suspect that the data is nonsense.

    In time, I'll probably buy a higher grade EMF meter that differentiates between more frequences, as well as multiple sensors that let me calibrate as many environmental quality phenomena as possible (e.g. CO, CO2, particulate/air quality, geiger counter, radon detector...) because, you can't manage what you can't measure.

    Incidentally, on inspecting my building in detail, there are many areas that point to mould; bubbling paint and wall paper etc and minor visible mould around some windows etc. Based on reading other peoples anecdotal accounts of mould, I suspect this very strongly now. One of my neighbours also shared that since moving into the same building, she has had near constant sinus infections, something she never had an issue with before. This could also be attributed to mould.

    It is also possible that given the sheer amount of building work in my midst, where there are 10+ cranes within 0.5 km and multiple large buildings, it is possible there is a level of particulate matter in the air.

    As to my subjective sense of the area, obviously, this is hard to calibrate formally - thus my desire for building accurate models of my sensory experience.


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