EMFs are Electro Magnetic Frequencies. They are invisible to us, yet we are saturated by them anywhere we go. EMF-free or low EMF spaces are hard to find, but it’s doable.

5G, 4G, 3G, LTE, cell phones, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microwaves, mobile base stations (cell phone towers), and smart meters are some examples of (HF) high frequency EMF radiation.

Bad electrical wiring (especially ungrounded wires), certain electrical appliances, and overhead power lines are some examples of ELF (Extra Low Frequency) and VLF (very low frequency) EMFs.

Are there naturally occurring EMFs?

Yes, there are. The reality is that Humanity has evolved over hundreds of thousands of years alongside natural EMFs such as UV (ultraviolet radiation), infrared radiation (both produced by the Sun), Schumann resonances aka the “Heartbeat of Our Planet”, and geomagnetic storms produced by the Sun’s solar cycles during Coronal Mass Ejections.

For the most part, our planet does a wonderful job at protecting us from these naturally occurring EMFs. And some may be even beneficial to our well-being, such as the Schumann Resonance.

The Schumann Resonance oscillates at about 8 Hz (Hertz), and coincides with our Theta-Alpha brainwave activity – a therapeutic state of being: a meditative state of calm, reflection, creativity, relaxation, enhanced learning, and even helps with depression.

On the other hand, unnatural EMFs have been linked to various health conditions, as documented by the Bioinitiative Report.

Therefore, reducing and eliminating unnatural EMFs is a health conscious step for a healthier life.

Medical Disclaimer: If you have a medical condition please speak to your doctor regarding any health concerns. Information in this article is not a prescription or medical advice. Affiliate disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Thanks for your support.

15 ways to reduce or eliminate harmful EMFs around you

In short, harmful EMFs (including 5G) can only be reduced by: turning off the source of radiation, increasing physical distance from the source, or using Faraday Cage type of physical barriers to block or reduce EMF radiation. There’s no known device or pendant that effectively blocks radiation around you, although research into scalar waves is interesting.

1. Find a “Low EMF” home, work, and school.

Location, location, location..

We go in great detail in this article on how to do just that. But in summary, the further away you are from the source of EMF radiation (especially cell phone tower, 5G tower, base station, or neighbors’ Wi-Fi, smart meters, even your own cell phone) – the less high frequency EMF radiation.

The only way to exactly know how much EMF radiation is around you is to measure it. We personally use Acousticom 2 and PF5 Power Frequency Meter. This EMF meter seems pretty cool too.

2. Turn off your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when not in use. Hardwire, if possible or increase physical distance away from it.

Reduce and eliminate your own EMF sources. This is by far the easiest way to reduce EMFs that you have direct control over.

Turn off your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when you sleep and when it’s not being used. Move it out of the bedroom or another area where you spend a lot of time in close proximity.

Having a Wi-Fi router that allows you to easily turn off Wi-Fi signal without turning off the wired Internet is very practical. We’ve personally tested and used this Netgear Wi-Fi router. We discovered that you can actually significantly reduce it’s Wi-Fi radiation by easily removing 1 to 3 of its antennae while still getting signal. This is practical for areas that don’t need large Wi-Fi coverage.

Disabling bluetooth in “smart” devices (including cars) will also reduce EMFs around you.

A lot of people unknowingly have their Bluetooth and Wi-Fi turned on on their mobile devices. Even though they are not using it, those settings create extra EMF radiation. Check your settings to make sure your Wi-Fi and Bluetooth is completely of when you aren’t using it.

Hardwiring your Internet router using ethernet cables is best, because it eliminates the need for Wi-Fi altogether, while boosting your internet speed for your computers.

The downside of completely hardwiring your Internet router is the fact that your cell phones and other mobile devices will have to be on mobile data, which creates a bit more EMFs from those mobile devices.

A compromise solution is to hardwire what you can, while having Wi-Fi available for your mobile devices. This Wi-Fi router allows you to do just that.

3. Increase physical distance between you and your cell phone.

Especially, avoid holding your mobile phone next to your ear (brain), heart, reproductive, and other vital organs. Use speakerphone or wired headphones instead.

“Holding your mobile phone next to your head increases you chances of brain cancer!”

Source: Study

Don’t sleep next to a cell phone, unless it’s on airplane mode or completely off. If you have to keep it on during the night, simply put it as far as possible from your body, but close enough so you can hear it if it rings in the middle of the night.

Also, avoid having your cell phone in close contact with your body, especially vital organs. This includes: front pockets, back pockets, chest pockets, bras, fanny packs, etc. unless it’s on airplane mode. Women can use purses and guys can use cargo pockets, or handbags, or anything else that creates more distance from vital organs.

There are also EMF blocking cell phone cases.

4. Reduce mobile phone time when driving.

Cell phones radiate more EMFs when you’re driving because they are forced to always look for a new mobile base station (cell phone tower) to stay connected, as you drive around.

Also, your cell phone has to work (radiate) slightly harder when you’re inside the car because your car is a weak EMF barrier, which your mobile phone tries to overcome to stay connected, so it radiates more.

6. Stop using wireless headphones, bluetooth headsets, and “smart watches.”

Wireless headphones, headsets, and “smart” watches create convenience (of not having wires) at the expense of exposing you to EMF radiation. Wireless headphones and headsets rely on wireless Bluetooth technology to stay connected.

Smart watches usually rely on mobile data and/or Wi-FI to stay connected. The trouble with these devices is that the person is actually wearing it, so there’s no physical distance to reduce the EMFs these wireless devices produce.

Smart watches, wireless headsets, and earphones can easily be substituted with their wired counterparts to completely eliminate EMFs radiating from them. For many years we’ve been using these excellent Sony headphones that function as a headset and offer superb sound quality for lovers of music.

8. Use Wi-Fi instead of cellular data whenever possible.

Mobile devices connected via cellular data instead of Wi-Fi tend to create more EMF radiation. This is likely due to the fact that cellular data relies on connecting to distant mobile base stations, rather than nearby Wi-Fi. Therefore, mobile devices have to work (radiate) harder, increasing EMFs.

9. Use wired connections instead of wireless whenever possible.

Wired devices such as keyboards, speakers, printers, microphones, etc. don’t radiate high frequency EMFs, since they don’t rely on Bluetooth or Wi-Fi. Wireless DECT phones should be replaced with wired telephones too.

Switching to wired versions of these appliances will eliminate high frequency EMFs. Just don’t forget to disable “wireless mode” after wiring.

10. Stop using the microwave oven.

We’ve completely stopped using the microwave oven about two decades ago. We consciously choose to forgo the convenience of quickly “nuking” our food in favor of nutrition and health.

Microwaving food not only destroys it’s nutrition, while exposing it (and us) to toxic packaging materials (which are usually nuked too), but it also creates a very high EMF environment in the kitchen. Although, microwaves are designed to contain most of the EMF radiation, it can still leak through.

Not surprising, since the microwave oven technology has it’s roots in WW2 microwave weapons technology.

To go around the microwave we’ve been relying on simply warming up food on the stovetop or the oven. A toaster oven is also a great substitute to the microwave.

11. Download music and videos instead of always streaming.

When you’re streaming music or videos you are increasing your exposure to EMF radiation. This is especially worrisome for kids who are glued all day to their iPads, tablets, or phones. Kids and babies absorb more EMF radiation.

To go around streaming – download music and videos in advance. Nowadays apps like Amazon Music (try Amazon Music Unlimited Free Trial), YouTube Premium, and Spotify Premium allow you to download music and videos to your mobile device.

It’s a great feature, which allows you to put your mobile device on “airplane mode,” thereby completely eliminating high frequency EMFs. As health-conscious parents we use this feature as much as possible not only for our child, but for ourselves, as well.

12. Opt-out of “smart” meters.

Smart meters are known to be constant sources of dangerous EMF radiation. They are usually installed by the electrical company to measure electrical use and wirelessly send data back to the company.

If it’s already installed some people put a smart-meter shield over it. The problem is that electrical company might take it down.

So if a smart-meter shield or moving is not an option, then a Faraday cage type of “shield” inside the home may need to be implemented. This type of smart meter shield is usually composed of large rectangular piece(s) of solid metal (such as copper) or wire mesh placed on the wall(s) near the smart meter. Please consult a licensed electrician for safe instillation.

13. Inspect for Extra Low Frequency (ELF) EMF radiation.

This is often an overlooked point, due to overemphasis on high frequency (RF) EMFs (i.e. from mobile devices, etc.)

However, ELF radiation has been linked to severe health conditions such as childhood leukemia (blood cancer). – Source

Childhood leukemia mostly occurs in children ages 2-5 years old. When I found this out I was alarmed because my child was in this age group and our rental unit had ELF radiation averaging 8mG and as high as 20mG!

I used the PF5 Power Frequency Meter to measure it.

Considering that the average home has ELF radiation in the range of 0.5 to 1mg and the fact that the risk of childhood leukemia increases at levels of 1mG and above I was shocked. No pun intended.

I suspected that there was an ungrounded or improperly wired stray electrical current that was being picked up and dispersed by the metal framework inside of our unit’s flooring and walls.

In time, we ended moving out of that unit into a home where ELF EMF radiation was within normal range. I definitely felt relieved and re-lived, since ELF EMFs clearly have an effect on adults, as well. And it’s not just “in the head.”

But the reality is that basic non-wireless electrical devices produce ELF EMF radiation when in use. This could be the fridge or the blender, the heater or the convection stovetop.

The good news is that ELF radiation from these appliances drops off significantly with distance. Meaning only a distance of a few feet makes a huge difference in exposure levels.

Having that said, “some close-proximity” devices like ungrounded laptops are a concern. So properly grounding your laptop (or another ungrounded appliance) will make a huge difference.

It’s easy to ground a MacBook laptop using this type of cable. It basically needs to have a third prong for grounding. Plugging in small ungrounded appliances such as essential oil diffusers, air purifiers, etc. into grounded extension surge protectors will reduce their (ELF) EMF radiation.

Also, unplugging your laptop power adapter when it’s fully charged and running it on battery power will reduce these ELF EMFs.

14. EMF-proof your house.

For those living within several blocks distance to a cell phone tower and when moving is not an option, EMF proofing would be the only solution to reduce outside EMF exposure.

EMF proofing the house basically entails turning your home into a Faraday Cage to a degree. It all depends on what degree.

Most people wouldn’t want to live in a Faraday Cage type house because they want their cell phones to work. A full on Faraday Cage would block out all or most EMFs. This is too extreme for most people, but not all people are like most.

Having that said, properly installed copper roofs, EMF blocking paint, fine wire mesh made out of aluminum or copper, and special EMF blocking fabric would reduce high frequency (RF) EMFs inside your home.

The hard part is blocking ELFs coming from electrical substations and overhead wires (in the street). ELFs can penetrate the above mentioned materials, whereas microwaves and RF (radio frequencies) are effectively reduced.

ELFs (Extra Low Frequency) radiation needs magnetic type of shields in order to be reduced or blocked.

15. Spend more time in Nature.

Cities are inundated by harmful EMFs, so to escape this environment we must spend more time in nature away from the city. Plants and trees reduce and block EMFs plus they produce fresh oxygen.

Nature also psychologically breaks down the hyper-structured, artificial, rectangular, “box-like” monotony of the city vibe.

In this article we went out and measured EMFs throughout Honolulu in search of a Low-EMF-Environment. Our findings confirmed that there are significantly less or no harmful EMFs when we are surrounded by Nature.

The sad reality was that in August of 2020 the State of Hawaii made going to Nature mostly illegal due to COVID-19 by closing all public hiking trails, beaches, botanical gardens, community gardens, parks, and playgrounds while keeping shopping malls open.

Luckily this sad reality (above) is over, but there’s another threat to our open spaces that needs your urgent input.

“5G ROLLOUT IN U.S. NATIONAL PARKS”

– URGENT: please sign petition to STOP 5G in U.S. National Parks

In a unimaginable move, the U.S. National Parks and Forests are now a target of the 5G rollout. This is simply unnecessary and unacceptable. Our natural spaces must remain the way nature intended it – EMF free.

Please spread the word and sign the petition. Mahalo!

The truth is EMFs are impossible to avoid completely. But they can be reduced. Thus, a safer “low EMF” home, work, or school can be found with some research and proper tools.

Generally, the further you are from mobile base stations aka cell phone towers – the less high frequency EMF (RF) radiation you will experience.

Cell phone towers radiate very strong EMF signals at a very high frequency RF range anywhere from 2G, 3G, 4G to LTE. They enable our mobile phones to work properly by giving us reception and the Internet. But living in close proximity to cell phone towers has been linked to adverse health conditions ranging from minor ones like insomnia to major ones like cancer and DNA damage. (Source: Bioinitiative Report)

Therefore, it is prudent to live as far away from cell phone towers as possible. The trouble is that in an urban setting mobile cell phone towers can be spaced every few hundred feet apart. This ensures that you always have great signal, but at the expense of everyone being exposed to these harmful EMF frequencies. 

It’s not easy to find a “low EMF” home, work, or school in an urban environment, but the effort is worth it in the long run. Especially for individuals with electromagnetic sensitivities (ES).

Some people are more sensitive to EMFs than others. In fact, some people are so sensitive to EMFs that they choose to abandon their work and home and live in the country where EMFs are the least. They become EMF refugees.

A great example of this is a story of a former Ericsson cell phone engineer Per Segerback who ditched the city life to escape the EMFs by living in the woods. He became an EMF refugee. Popular Science article

How to Find a Safer “Low EMF” Home, Work, and School

The Search Begins: Preliminary Research

We can only do our best to find a place to live, work, and go to school, that’s as far as possible from the nearest cell phone tower by doing preliminary research on the area.

If you’re moving to a new home, looking for a new place to work, or go to school you can use this awesome Cell Phone Tower Map Tool to look for cell phone towers nearby. For 5G towers locations you can use this Hawaii 5G towers map courtesy of Stop 5G Hawaii.

It’s also smart to double check the area using Google Maps in satellite and street view to look for objects that look like cell phone towers, since the Cell Phone Tower Map Tool did miss some cell towers.

In Hawaii cell phone towers are usually placed tall poles or on top of buildings’ elevator shafts – on the roof! They are usually white or gray thick rectangular antennas spaced closely and parallel to each other. 

Why would they put cell phone towers on top of peoples homes? It’s because the building makes extra money from renting out that space to a cell phone company. At the expense of exposing people living nearby to these harmful EMFs. 

What’s even worse is when the cell phone towers are placed right across from child daycare centers, schools, and hospitals where children and the sick are even more susceptible to health risks associated with EMFs.

Scouting the Area in Person

If the prospective area looks good on the map, next step would be to go there in person to make sure that there are definitely no cell phone towers nearby. Satellite and digital street maps are not in real time. And sometimes it’s hard to spot cell phone towers just from the map. 

Going in person and scouting the area within at least a 300 foot radius of the proposed home, work, or school is a good idea. Again, special attention must be paid to building roof tops as well as tall poles with cell antennas. 

Some mobile cell towers are camouflaged as trees! In Hawaii these fake trees are usually large palm trees or large pine trees. Their antennas will be painted dark green towards the top of the tree.

Affiliate disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. You don’t get charged extra and I make a small commission that supports Organic Hawaii. Thanks for your support.

How to Measure EMFs: HF, VHF, and RF

HF, VHF, and RF stand for “high frequency”, “very high frequency” and “radio frequency.” Microwave frequency is also part of this range.

Having an EMF meter like the Acousticom 2 is very helpful and recommended since it can show actual exposure levels in the immediate area. It’s extremely easy to use and it fits in the pocket.

The Acousticom 2 measures high frequency EMFs in the RF (radio frequency) microwave range from 200MHz – 8GHz. This range catches cell phone towers, Wi-Fi, smart meters, radar, cell phones, and common 5G frequencies. It even lets you hear these dangerous EMFs, which is helpful in determining its source. The audio function can be turned on and off.

When we were apartment hunting we brought the Acousticom 2 to every potential apartment to test it during the previews. We turned down a few apartments due to high EMF readings from nearby cellphone towers.

The one we settled on had the lowest EMF readings and not a cell phone tower in the line of sight! We were so happy to find such a rare place in an urban environment of Honolulu. 

Another way to test the area for (RF) EMFs is by looking at how many bars of reception you have on your cell phone. Generally, the less bars you have the further away a cell phone tower is, the less exposure from the tower.

How to Measure ELF and VLF Power Frequencies

ELF stands for Extra Low Frequency and VLF stands for Very Low Frequency.

To measure low frequency EMFs (ELF and VLF) from electricity inside the walls, substations, power meters, and electrical devices we use the PF5 Pocket Power Frequency Meter.

It’s the same size as the Acousticom 2, so it easily fits in the pocket. Most importantly it’s very easy to use with just one button and a clearly labeled scale. Basically you don’t have to be an engineer to interpret the results.

Using the PF5 Pocket Power Frequency Meter we uncovered an ungrounded MacBook Pro laptop. It was giving off strong magnetic signals – for years! We were able to eliminate these high magnetic frequencies after properly grounding the laptop. It was a very quick and simple solution with immediate results.

More importantly, the PF5 Pocket Power Frequency Meter helped us uncover a very strong magnetic field running along our office wall and through our bedroom! In essence, affecting our entire home.

It’s probably caused by ungrounded or poorly grounded electrical wires running through the wall. This is something we need to closely investigate in the near future.

The reason for our concern about this strong magnetic radiation is because it’s been linked to childhood leukemia in amounts as low as 2 mG! Our average was around 8mG and as high as 20mG!!!

Wi-Fi from your neighbors

Love thy neighbor (but not their Wi-Fi)

Another area to consider is your neighbors’ Wi-Fi networks, since Wi-Fi is another high frequency EMF source that travels through walls. New modern Wi-Fi routers are very strong and can emit 2 bands of frequencies: 2.4 GHz and a 5 GHz at the same time!

The worst type of Wi-Fi environment would be where you have neighbors all around you, such as an apartment building or a high-rise. And they most likely never turn their Wi-Fi off! 

If feasible, moving to a corner unit might make some difference, but you may still have neighbors’ Wi-Fi below, above, and on two sides that you share walls with. I suppose that’s a bit better than being in the middle surrounded on all sides by the invisible sea of Wi-Fi.

In this case living in a single family home has a clear advantage of (hopefully) not having your neighbors’ Wi-Fi nearby.

One way to test this is to enable Wi-Fi on your smart phone, tablet, or laptop computer and see how many strong signal Wi-Fi networks it can pick up nearby. The more bars and the more Wi-Fi signals nearby – the more the radiation exposure from Wi-Fi EMFs.

Another way to test this is with an Acousticom 2 meter mentioned earlier. This will give you the actual measurement of all the high frequency EMFs (RF) around you.

Wi-Fi in Schools and Work

Wi-Fi in schools lately has become a subject of controversy. A child’s brain is more susceptible to the damaging effects of EMF radiation since their sculls are thinner than that of an adult. Plus their whole body is still developing!

Thus, EMFs can create problems in learning, productivity, behavior, and overall health of children. American Academy of Pediatrics article.

Because of this, certain health conscious, forward thinking schools such as Waldorf, Montessori, and many others have eliminated their school’s Wi-Fi use. Since our choices of schools are limited and the number of Wi-Fi free schools is very low we can only try to petition our local schools to at least reduce the number of Wi-Fi routers and instead use Ethernet cables to connect other devices.

At work this could be challenging too, so working as far as possible from a Wi-Fi router would be the simplest and quickest solution to reduce exposure.

Global Deployment of 5G

With the global rollout of 5G in urban areas it may be especially prudent to think ahead in terms of location of proposed and existing 5G towers. This map by Stop 5G Hawaii. shows 5G towers already in place in Hawaii! 

Although 5G is a very high frequency microwave signal, 5G signals don’t travel as far as standard mobile network signals like 3G, 4G, and LTE.

Of course, this doesn’t make 5G towers any safer since they are a much higher microwave frequency. Furthermore, 5G towers are placed closer together, and closer to the ground than the traditional cell phone tower.

If Moving is Not an Option

If moving to a location that’s lower in EMF radiation is not feasible, then there are things you can do to reduce your EMF exposure from cell phone towers and neighbors’ Wi-Fi nevertheless.

You can implementing a Faraday cage type of shield design using EMF blocking materials on the walls, ceilings, roofs, and floors such as fine metal wire mesh, EMF blocking fabrics such as curtains for windows, and EMF blocking paints. These special materials can help reduce external sources of EMFs you would otherwise have no control over since they all come from the outside.

Picking a low EMF location in the city can be one of the hardest, but effective in the long term ways of reducing EMF exposure. From cell phone towers, “smart” meters, Wi-Fi signals, to high magnetic fields from poor electrical wiring.

There are more steps you can take to reduce harmful EMFs around you. For example, you can escape to a EMF-Free zone. And in our next article we will list 11 ways EMFs can be reduced or even eliminated in your immediate environment.

Header photo: Casey Horner / Unsplash