The electricity which we switch on at home has travelled through many miles of cables to reach us. From the power station it passes along high-tension overhead distribution lines at a potential of several hundred thousand volts. It then travels through sub-stations and into local distribution lines (usually overhead in rural areas or underground in towns) the voltage dropping stage by stage.
Finally, at around a modest 110 volts in the USA (or 220 volts in Europe), it comes into our houses, where a network of cables takes it from room to room and from floor to floor. The way in which power is distributed within the home varies widely from one country to another. However, there are two basic methods.

        The simplest is to use a series of individual cables or 'spurs' radiating from a central distribution board. Each of these spurs will serve one or two rooms in the house and will be equipped with its own individual fuse link. It is not generally possible to supply more than one or two rooms in this way as the maximum potential load must remain within national safety levels for the cable being used. There is a further possible variation in that, whereas in many cases all electrical needs of the rooms in question will be supplied from one circuit (i.e. both power and lighting), in other countries the lighting circuits are separately supplied.

        The second common type of distribution circuit is that known in the UK as the ring main, and in Australia, the USA and some other countries as the ring circuit. This is generally used for power supplies as distinct from lighting. The principle is to link all the power outlets in one area (which may be one floor of a house, or part of a floor, depending on the size of the building) in one continuous circuit, using a loop of cable which runs from the distribution board through all the power points, returning to the same point on the distribution board. A typical arrangement is to provide one ring circuit for the kitchen which is often an area with a relatively high consumption of electrical power, another for the rest of the ground floor, and another for the floor above, making three in all). The advantage from an electrical point of view is that, because each socket is in effect being supplied by two cables, one from each direction, the total number of sockets which can be placed on one circuit is greater than would be allowed on a single spur.

        Matters can be complicated further as it is not uncommon for there to be short spurs off the ring supplying one or two sockets in more remote parts of the house. This is done primarily to save cable. The cabling of the ring may be run around the outer walls of the house, which is the worst possible arrangement from an electro-stress standpoint, or may run around an internal area such as a central stairwell or hallway with rather more spurs. When ring circuits are used, lighting is supplied through a separate network of cable, often run in the ceiling space above the ground floor, with spurs running up and down to supply the lights on the two floors, although a separate circuit may also be placed in the roof space to supply the upper floors.

        Every centimetre of cable on this journey will radiate electrical and magnetic fields at a frequency of 50 or 60Hz. To complicate matters, most appliances and electronic equipment also produce fields, adding their own different frequencies to the electromagnetic mixture. Some of this feeds back into the mains, building up complex frequency patterns, with unpredictable peaks of power.

        As a result, we literally never escape the steady 50/60Hz oscillations (mixed with many additional frequencies) from one day's end to the next. While the field strengths are generally low, as remarked before, 'low' can mean very different things in the contexts of engineering and biology.
 

Constant exposure to such 'extremely low frequency' (ELF) electrical fields has no history in evolutionary terms. Centuries are needed for organisms to adapt to even simple environmental changes and mains electricity is only four or five generations old. There is still a lot we do not know about its effects on basic body functions, but no-one can claim that it is natural for the body to receive continuous exposure to 50 or 60Hz.

        We spend around a third of our lives in bed. Few people spend as many hours in any other place. Even jobs centred on one place, for instance, working at a desk or a work bench, generally involve moving away from time to time. In bed, by contrast, we stay in precisely the same spot for six, seven, or eight hours at a stretch.
 

Anyone who looks objectively at the clinical evidence has to agree that there is a strong case for concluding that the ELF fields, especially those in the bedroom, help to trigger numerous minor health disturbances, particularly those which are related to that modern bogey — stress. For instance, some abnormally high mains frequency fields are found in the bedrooms of very many insomnia sufferers. My experience has shown that when these fields are eliminated or the sleeper is shielded from them using the methods described later, normal sleep patterns almost always return.
A similar picture will be found in many cases of people who regularly suffer restless, disturbed sleep, or who always wake up tired despite seeming to sleep soundly, or the countless individuals who are used to waking with headaches, stiff muscles or 'rheumatics'. Repeatedly, above average field strengths are found where they sleep and the symptoms improve when the fields are dealt with.

        I must stress that it is the quality of your sleep that should concern you. I find that many, if not most people, when questioned say that they sleep well. By this, apparently they mean that they are not conscious of lying awake for a long time before dropping off; they are not aware of disturbance during the night and they feel that they stay asleep for enough hours. However, if asked how they feel when they wake up, they more often than not admit that they rarely if ever feel really refreshed. If this picture fits you, then you are not sleeping well, whatever you may believe.

        If people who suffer from poor quality sleep are observed during the night they will generally be found to be restless, to show signs of dreaming, to talk in their sleep. If their brainwaves were monitored with an EEC (Electro-encephalogram) then it would be found that their brain activity does not show the necessary periods of relaxation. While there can be physical causes for such a sleep pattern, it is highly likely that at least part of the reason that such people do not relax is because their brains are continuously stimulated by electromagnetic fields in their environment, especially in the bedroom. Tackling these will very often bring about dramatic improvements.

        Allergies, irritability, lack of energy, inability to concentrate, hyper-activity in children are some other modern complaints that have been blamed on stress resulting from sensitivity to mains frequency radiation. Once again, reducing environmental electromagnetic field levels is very often found to be a key factor in bringing about improvements.
 

Bedrooms are a particularly common source of electro-stress problems because of the layout of the wiring in most houses. Cables for the lights in ground floor rooms run in the ceilings, which are, of course, the floors of the bedrooms above. The cables for the upstairs power supply run in the bedroom walls and wiring for the upstairs lights will be found in the ceilings above. Every appliance has its own flex, which is usually left plugged in and so is live as well. In short, most beds lie within a cocoon of mains wiring, which radiates 50Hz or 60Hz electrical fields, day and night.

        In many cases, strong sources outside the dwelling can be partly to blame. Pylons or other high-tension cables may be close enough to produce a significant effect in the bedroom. A nearby factory or workshop may have electrical equipment producing strong fields. Even if the factory is closed at night, transformers that radiate powerfully are often left on around the clock. Apartment dwellers are subject to radiations from their neighbours' wiring and equipment, which is generally always left plugged in even if turned off, and so on.

        As if all that were not enough, the modern bedroom tends to boast more electrical apparatus than almost any other room in the house. Bedside or bedhead lights, radio alarms, telephones, television sets (often with remote controls), electric blankets or duvets, water beds, all of these produce fields at mains and other frequencies and they all bring their own particular problems.

        For instance, lights, clock radios and telephones are generally close to the bed-head. Although the fields that they produce lose power very rapidly as you move away, the brain of the sleeper is often near enough for there still to be a measurable effect. You should be particularly careful about anything containing a transformer or magnets, including telephones and many clock radios, as these will produce more powerful and persistent radiations.

        Television sets give off strong fields too. Since most viewers sit ten or twelve feet away, the living room TV does not expose most people to high field levels, but they are often more of a problem in the bedroom. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, bedroom televisions are typically placed at the end of the bed, and as the viewer is lying down or stretched out, his or her feet will be close enough to pick up a relatively high field and conduct it into the body. Secondly, the majority of bedroom televisions are, for the sake of convenience, equipped with remote controls. The trouble with remote controlled TV is that it is always 'live' and so electrical fields can remain very high all night, even though the set is apparently turned off. In these ways, sets in the bedroom can cause much electro-pollution and electro-stress.

        There is no doubt that the greatest villains of the modern bedroom are often electric blankets, and especially the electric duvet or water bed, both of which are designed to be left on all night. In these cases the whole bed is criss-crossed with yards of mains cable, giving off a very dense electromagnetic field, close to the body. To make matters worse, loops of wiring produce especially high field levels, far higher than a straight cable. Measurements show that high residual electromagnetic fields can remain, e
ven when blankets are switched off, and if they must be used, the only sensible advice is to unplug         them rather than just switch off before going to bed. Of course this advice negates the whole purpose of electric duvets or water beds and sadly it is better to do without these modern luxuries!

    The use of electric blankets by pregnant women has been linked by Wertheimer to an increased incidence of miscarriages.1 Some doubts have been raised as to whether the miscarriage rate could be linked to increased body heat which would obviously be associated with use of an electric blanket. Wertheimer's later study of the use of electric heating cables in ceilings seem, however, to strengthen her case. As we shall see later, these have a uniform field as high as lOmG on a long-term basis and Wertheimer states that she has found a similar increased incidence of miscarriages amongst women whose homes are heated in this way. In this case a link with body heat cannot be argued since there is no correlation between levels of miscarriage and other forms of domestic heating giving the same temperature levels.

        It is a sad fact that many of the most devoted users of electrical methods of heating the bed are people who suffer from rheumatism and hope that the extra warmth will relieve their aching joints. 1 have found that if asked to analyse how they felt before and after starting to use an electric blanket, many will admit scant improvement and very often will realise that they have in fact got worse. Consistently unplugging their blanket or duvet before going to bed will in such cases generally bring much relief and will avoid the need to discard it altogether. A hot water bottle will provide a sustained source of warmth during the night without unwanted side-effects.
 

Even accepting that the electromagnetic environment in many bedrooms can be so unfriendly, there must be other considerations to explain why exposure to radiating fields at night should be such a uniquely important health factor. After all, many people also spend their days in highly electrically charged places. The modern office or shopping precinct can be just as bad as a factory and it is quite possible that local field strengths may be even higher than those to be found at home.

        In fact, there are several additional reasons why the origins of electro-stress are so often to be found in the bedroom. As we have noted, we spend a long time in one place at night. Most people move around a lot during the day, so that even though they may encounter some high field strengths, they generally do not stay within range of them for very long. Obviously, there are exceptions linked to particular occupations and we will look later at some of these, such as electrical workers and VDU operators. However, for most of us, spending anything up to eight or nine hours out of every twenty-four in the typical bedroom provides the biggest single source of electro-stress.

    Even more crucial is the role of sleep itself. Although sleep is clearly essential for everyone, its real purpose, as the time when our body repairs and regenerates itself, has only been definitely established fairly recently. Researchers were puzzled when they first examined the pattern of sleep in detail. A key question concerned what is known as 'REM1 or rapid eye movement sleep. It is also sometimes called paradoxical sleep. These names derive from the observation that at the very time when sleep appeared to be at its deepest, as measured by pulse rate, breathing, etc., there was paradoxically a huge amount of brain activity. It was also observed that during this period the eyes of the sleepers moved to and fro very quickly, but with no obvious pattern or purpose. We now believe that all this is a sign that during these periods the brain is busy maintaining and repairing the body.

        Every day, billions of cells in the body die and must be replaced. Some, such as skin cells, last for a few months and even the longest lived have a life span of only seven years, so that none of us has in our body a single cell left which existed seven years ago. The huge job of repair and maintenance is undertaken while we sleep. Information gathered by the brain during the day about which cells need replacement is turned into a rebuilding plan to be carried out at night.

        At least some of the massive amount of information which has to be sent to and from the brain to achieve this travels along the nerve fibres. However, there is a physical limit to the speed with which such messages can pass along nerves, and hence how much 'traffic' can be carried in this way. The sheer volume of information seems just too great for the neural network to be the only route. Coghill believes2 that it is likely that in order to get so much information around the body the brain must be acting like a radio station, sending information directly to the cells. As radio waves travel at the speed of light, this would clearly make things a lot quicker.

        Whichever mechanism is in use, the messages are clearly electrical, and all electrical processes can suffer interference or jamming from external sources, just as television or radio reception can be distorted by sun-spots, atmospheric conditions, or a neighbour's electric drill. It is not really surprising that such interference, regularly experienced by the body at night, can produce stress and the stress-related illness we have described. If the situation persists for long enough the obvious risk is that the immune system becomes weakened, laying the body open to infection or even to the proliferation of 'wrong' cells that may turn out to be malignant.

        In view of all this, anyone investigating possible electro-stress should always look at the electromagnetic conditions in the bedroom. (We must not forget that stressful electro-magnetic fields are amplified by any geopathically stressful lines.) In many cases, clearing up problems here will produce such significant health improvements that very little more will need to be done. Even for those people who suffer significant daytime exposure to electro-stress (for instance, VDU operators), the night time exposure will almost always still prove to be a significant factor.

        There are various ways of determining whether any area may be a source of electro-stress.

First, simply look! Any electrical apparatus is potentially suspect, although the hazard varies greatly from one device to another (see Table 4). As a general rule, it is sensible at night not to have any of the electrical items we have mentioned too near to you, particularly to your head. Nor should the flexes (cords) attached be forgotten. With modern built-in bedroom furniture, remember that wires are very likely to be hidden in the headboard.

        It is impossible to predict precise 'safe' distances as even different makes of the same sort of appliance can produce very different field levels. However, as a rule, most domestic apparatuses will not disturb people if they are at least 3ft. (91 cm) away from the body. This sort of guidance has to be interpreted carefully if, for instance, there are several devices connected to the mains at night, in which case the separate fields are cumulative.

        Even if all the electrical equipment in the bedroom is moved or unplugged, disturbing field levels may still persist in the bed. These most often come from the mains cables which run in the walls, ceilings and floors of the room. Sometimes this will be because the cables run near the head of the bed, but it may also be because the wiring layout is such that several cables are grouped in one area, resulting in a high total field level. Short of removing floorboards or plaster, you are unlikely to know where the cables run and some sort of detection meter is needed.
Source

SOURCE High tension power lines - under the lines                                              - 55 m distant  Electric shaver - 0.5 in. (12 mm)  Vacuum cleaner - 10 cm  Electric blanket  60 watt  light bulb - 2 in (5 cm)                               - 6 in. (15 cm) 10 watt florescent tube (110 volt)  2 in. (5 cm).                                                      -  6 in. (15 cm).  60 watt fluorescent tube (220 V) - ceiling  Electric hot plate - 0.4 in. (1cm)                                            - 18 in. (46 cm) Skirting heater - 6 in. (15 cm)                            - 3 ft. (91 cm) Ceiling heater - entire room

Typical Field Strength 220 1 2-400 600 50-100 0.3 0.05 6 2 80 500 50 23 1 10

Simple, relatively cheap, wiring detectors, widely available in DIY shops to help you avoid putting nails through cables, will tell you where the wires are, but will not give any indication of field strength. !t is still worth using one just to check where the wiring is located. More specialist meters are available to measure ELFs (fields up to 10OHz) which, of course, includes mains electricity. They give direct readings of the levels of both electrical and magnetic field components as well as an audible signal and will give clear indications of the 'hot spots' in an area. You can also get meters to measure other bands of interest, such as radio and microwave frequencies. There are even some combination meters available covering all of these bands. Some of the organisations listed in the 'Suppliers' appendix may be able to supply a suitable meter. All of these meters can be relatively expensive, however. There are one or two cheaper if less sophisticated alternatives available, but not all of these may give reliable indications. A few specialist companies offer a consultancy service and it is possible that meters may be offered for hire if you wish to do your own investigation.

        You should not forget  that the problem fields may be originating outside the dwelling. Overhead power-lines are clear to see, but in towns distribution is usually underground, and factories, transformer stations and other sources may be important too. So it cannot be assume that because nothing obvious is visible from the window there is no cause for concern. If you live in anything other than a detached house you must never overlook what may be coming from the adjoining flat or house. For instance, a TV placed against the neighbour's party wall will produce strong fields in your adjoining room (as with computers, fields behind televisions are generally stronger than in front of them). Nor of course should you forget the geopathic hot spots described later in the book.

What none of the meters mentioned so far can do is to predict how an individual will react to any given electric field strength, and this can be very important, as sensitivity is highly personal. A field that is low enough to be insignificant for one person may cause a great deal of disturbance to someone else. (There is an obvious and unsurprising parallel with allergic response). Also, it seems logical that a big person will be a more effective antenna than someone petite. So although direct measurements of field strengths give important information, other tests are also advisable.

        One useful test makes use of the fact that anything that can conduct electricity will have a circulating current and a voltage produced in it when it is placed in an alternating field. This is the principle used in the dynamo and alternator. The human body is a conductor, and so exposure to any mains field will provoke a response in the body. This is not in itself dangerous (we are not likely to give ourselves electrical shocks or produce sparks!), as the total amount of electricity produced is small. It does, however, mean that we will normally have a slightly higher voltage than the Earth, and any increase in that level can disturb the body. The stronger the field in which we find ourselves and the more readily we pick up such radiations, the higher the voltage that will be produced in our bodies. So if we can measure the voltage we will have an indication of both how strong the field is, and how much of it we are picking up. Why spend a lot of money on a sophisticated meter, when if you follow these simple instructions, you can use your own body to amplify a simple DIY meter, rather like a water diviner does with his rods?

        In essence, all you need is a sensitive AC voltmeter (one with a 1 or 2 volts range scale is ideal and need not cost a lot) with one terminal connected to earth and the other to a probe held in the hand. (fig.5) It is important that the meter has a high enough internal resistance — look for one that has 10,000 or 20,000 ohms per volt. The most reliable and convenient earth will generally be the earth pin on a mains plug, by means of a long enough flexible wire to allow movement over a reasonable area. (NOTE: Do be sure that you connect the wire to the earth [ground] connector. If in any doubt, get an electrician or someone who knows about electricity to connect it for you.) The other wire should be connected to a piece of metal tube about half an inch or more in diameter and a few inches long (a scrap piece of copper piping will do and you may be able to beg this from a friendly plumber). Do ensure that there is a good connection by cleaning the pipe with a file, sandpaper or wire wool. If you cannot solder the wire to it, then bare a good length, wind it tightly several times around the cleaned pipe and tape it firmly in place.

Fig. 5: Using a voltmeter to measure voltages included in the body

Equipped with such a meter, you only need to move around the room and other parts of the house holding the hand electrode and observing changes in the readings. As a test, stand over the wire connected to the mains earth (ground). The meter reading should rise - it may need a little practice and experimentation. The actual voltages recorded are not particularly significant, and will, in any case, vary from one meter to another even when used by the same subject in the same room, due to the different electrical characteristics of the meters. The deviation of the reading from the background field, not the actual reading shown, is relevant. (If you stand on a wire, it is likely to affect your reading. It just needs practice and experimentation.) If the value rises markedly in a particular position (such as when the subject is on the bed), then this indicates a place where the body is reacting to a higher radiated field level.

        If the readings are fairly uniform it should not be assumed that no hazard exists until the level has been checked in an area known to be relatively undisturbed. The ground floor is generally best for this purpose (not a kitchen or utility room of course!) provided all televisions, video recorders, etc., are unplugged or well out of range. Try several different locations, to get an idea of what is 'normal' for the particular house, subject and meter. If when you have done this, you find that the bedroom readings are also normal or only slightly higher then all is probably well. If not, you will need to take protective measures.

An alternative to using a meter is kinesiology (often referred to as muscle testing), which can also be used to test areas of geopathic stress.

        Start off in an area which is free of geopathic stress and electro-stress. The subject should stand with the right arm (if the person is right handed), held out to one side, thumb extended at right angles and facing down. Tell the subject that you are going to take the little finger of your weakest hand, normally the left hand, and curl it round the top of the subject's hand. Now tell the subject to push upwards against the pressure of your hand as hard as as possible. (S)he should usually be able to resist your pressure easily. Then try in another area, preferably one which has already been shown to have a stress problem. The difference in ability to resist pressure can be quite startling.

        This is kinesiology and, provided you try not to cheat by assuming that you know the worst areas and applying extra pressure when you expect a positive response, it can be surprisingly effective and accurate if no other means of assessment is available.

Whichever method you use, you will now have a better idea of how to locate 'hot spots' in a bedroom. As well as problems caused by bedroom equipment, old mains cables with porous rubber insulation behind a wall may give rise to high fields which can be transmitted along structures by wooden beams. Another source of trouble is often rising damp. Even if the wall is now dry, the mineral salts that have soaked into the plaster can still carry an electrical current.

        What you do next depends on where the problems are. If the bed stands in a problem area, the first option to consider is moving it to a better spot in the room. The difficulty in most bedrooms is lack of space to move far enough to get the sleeper out of the troubled area. Very often the whole room will give high readings.

        If the bed cannot be moved sufficiently, you will need to consider one or more of the protective methods which are described later. Before deciding which one to use, you must find out just where the problem fields originate. In general terms, you need to decide whether the fields come from inside the home, that is, from the wiring and appliances in the house, or if the principal source is outside, for instance a high-voltage power line, a factory, an electrified railway, or most often, neighbouring dwellings. A detached house is rarely affected by fields from the neighbours, but many semi-detached or terraced houses are. Those living in apartments are even more at risk as problems may exist above and below as well as to the side.

        The quickest way to check on this is to isolate the mains supply to the house, by turning off the main    supply switch at the fuse board, and then testing the problem areas again. If the situation is now acceptable, then intern ally-produced fields are the key consideration and demand switches, earthed conduits and protective undersheets are all worth considering. If the indications are still bad, then isolating your own wiring will not be enough, and since you can rarely do anything to remove external sources, the only alternative to moving house is shielding the bed, most easily with a protective undersheet.

        If affected areas of the house are used a lot during the day, and you find that isolating the mains produces an improved but still less than ideal situation, installing demand switches and conduits may be worthwhile as this will give a generally better daytime environment. At night, you will still be wise to opt for the greater protection of an undersheet.

    All of these methods of protection are discussed in more detail in Chapter 10.

NOTES
1.     Wertheimer, N. and Leeper, E., Bioelectromagnetics 7 (1986); p.13.
2.     Coghill, R., All Fall Down; Coghill Research Laboratories; (1992); p.6ff.
Click on Following Chapters to Read or Download:-

Electrostressress-
Chapter 01 Disease
Chapter 02 Vibrations
Chapter 03 Facts and Figures

Chapter 05 Around the House
Chapter 06 Power Lines
Chapter 07 Computers
Chapter 08 Microwaves
Chapter 09 Some Solutions
Chapter 10 The Positive Side?

11  Earth Stress, Earthquakes, Earth Sensitives
12 History of Ley Lines, Ionization Under Cancer Beds, Scientific Measurements
13 How to Use Divining Rods, Protect Yourself, Allergies
14 Unhealthy Earth Energies, The Hartmann Net and Curry Grid
15 Black Spirals, Crop Circles, Demons, Oscilloscope Measurement
16 Crossing Leys, Ion Effect, Allergic to Microwave Ovens, Graveyards, Quarries
17 Natural and Man-made Sources of Unhealthy Energies
18 Imprinting Your Own Energy
19 Eliminating Unhealthy Earth Energy
20 Cup-marked Stones or Petroglyphs
21 Human disease and Mother Earth

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