Dangers of Wi-Fi

We all enjoy things that make our life easier. Like close transport links, instant access to emails, and apps that can increase your communication in work. But sometimes those things come with risks. Wi-Fi is one thing that makes your life easier, you can work and stay connected from anywhere. But what are the dangers of Wi-Fi?

What is Wi-Fi?

In order to understand why Wi-Fi can be dangerous, it’s essential to understand what it actually is. Wi-Fi is the name of your wireless network technology. Wi-Fi uses radio waves to provide wireless high-speed Internet and network connections.

Wi-Fi lets you connect one device to another without cables, you still get to access the network but not any of the physical connections.

Who is Affected by Wi-Fi?

Absolutely everybody and their children are affected by the potential dangers of Wi-Fi. For children, their cells are growing at a rapid rate, and their immune systems are forming. All of those are under development, and this makes them more vulnerable to the electrictromagnetic effects of Wi-Fi.

So it’s crucial to eliminate or limit exposure as much as possible for young children. And as we will review below, it is also vital that pregnant women are limited to their Wi-Fi exposure too.

Where Will I Be Exposed to Wi-Fi?

There are a number of ways that you have likely not thought of that you are exposed to the potential dangers of Wi-Fi. Some you have control over and others that you don’t. Here is a list of those which you can control to some extent – and thus do something about.

• The actual Wi-Fi
• Powerlines and phone towers
• Air travel including pre-flight scanners
• Household smart devices like security systems, thermostats, and anything else that connects to the Wi-Fi
• Microwave ovens
• Bluetooth devices like headphones, mice, keyboard, and speakers
• Phones and cordless phones
• Laptops

So as you can see, we are surrounded by a range of EMFs and ELF almost all day.

What Are Some of The Reported Dangers of Wi-Fi?

Like anything, when you know and understand the dangers of something, you know what you can do in order to protect you and your family from Wi-Fi health damage.

There have been numerous studies and reports detailing the impact that Wi-Fi can have on health.

Wi-Fi Can Reduce Male Fertility

A research article found that mobile phone radiation can induce reactive oxygen species production. And cause DNA damage in human sperm. What does this mean? It means the exposure to the EMF that is radiated from a Wi-Fi can cause DNA defragmentation in sperm cells and those slow sperm mobility.

If you often have your laptop on your lap, the heat emitted from that can actually kill sperm cells completely. All of this has a negative impact on male fertility.

Wi-Fi Can Reduce Female Fertility

A number of studies have shown that exposure to the magnetic field can increase the risk of miscarriage. Some research exposing female mice to ELF, extremely low-frequency magnetic field for the pregnancy indicates that the mice that had been exposed had less offspring, spontaneous miscarriages, as well as some deformities.

Slow development was also observed in the babies that had survived the pregnancy.

Not only can Wi-Fi affect female fertility, but some studies have shown that the radiation emitted from Wi-Fi networks, including phones, can negatively impact the developing fetus.

Many safety standards don’t take into account the effects of EMF radiation and a developing fetus within the womb.

Wi-Fi Can Compromise Children’s Health

From the other studies shown within this article, we can clearly see that Wi-Fi has an impact on developing a fetus, and the impaired development in young children. However, fetal EMF exposure has been linked to childhood asthma and childhood obesity. And we understand both childhood obesity and asthma can have a long-term health impact.

There are a number of studies that link EMF radiation in children to behavioral and neurological problems later in life. Specifically, memory, cognitive impairment, and ADHD, and other focus issues.

Children who had regularly begun using mobile phones before the age of 20 had more than four times increased risk of brain tumours are Swedish study found.

Wi-Fi Can Cause Insomnia

If you find yourself scrolling through your phone each evening, then you probably struggle with sleeping anyway. But it is found that Wi-Fi can impact your sleep.

If you have noticed that you suffer from disturbed sleeping during the night or struggle to get to sleep, Wi-Fi could actually be to blame.

People who often use Wi-Fi before they go to bed, complain they suffer from insomnia.

Many studies have shown that when exposed to EMF radiation, from Wi-Fi networks, it has a significant impact on sleeping patterns. Not only this, but long-term exposure could lead to further problems that are often associated with lack of sleep.

Including, but not limited to, hypertension and depression. Lack of sleep can cause severe impacts on other areas of your life, so it makes sense to want to limit how much impact Wi-Fi can have on your sleeping pattern.

Wi-Fi Can Impact Cell Growth

An experiment conducted in Denmark has revealed that Wi-Fi can have an impact on plants. Specifically, Wi-Fi can prevent plants from growing.

Students tried to grow plants in a room where there was no Wi-Fi radiation; this was the control. And they compare this group of plants to another set of plants that had been grown in a room where they are exposed to Wi-Fi radiation that was omitted from two modems.

Plants that were in the Wi-Fi free room had flourished, and the plants that have been exposed to the radiation, which is omitted by routers, didn’t grow at all.

And many scientific studies have shown that EMF radiation can impact damaged cells.

Practical Steps to Minimise Exposure to Dangers of Wi-Fi

One of the most common misconceptions is that you will have to give up some of the modern-day convenience in order to reduce your exposure to Wi-Fi when actually that’s not true.

You can make some easy changes that have little to no impact on how your family lives, here are some actionable tips that can help minimise your Wi-Fi exposure.

Phone and Laptop

Almost everyone has a phone with them all day. However, you can adjust your habits without giving up the convenience that your phone brings to your life.

Here are just a small number of things that can help you decrease your exposure, and still enjoy your phone.

• Get a phone shield case that minimises your exposure
• Always carry your phone in a bag or purse rather than on your person, many people tend to carry a phone in their jean pockets – break this habit.
• Use the speakerphone function to talk on your phone instead of holding the phone to your ear, or you can use headphones then plug into your handset instead of the Bluetooth function and Bluetooth headphones
• Switch off Bluetooth on all of your devices and don’t use any Bluetooth peripherals with them
• Set device limits for yourself and your family. This might be the most difficult one, but it also has the most significant impact. Explain the reasoning, and have tech-free time every day.
• Try not to place laptops and tablets on your body while in use.

You can opt to turn your Wi-Fi devices off, or you can simply unplug them.

Make sure that any electronic devices are plugged into a power strip with a timer, this means that it will be on when you need them and off when you don’t – making this automated change will mean you have less to think about.

Old-school Solution to a Modern Problem

One of the most simple and effective ways to solve this high-tech problem is with an old-school solution. And that solution is to hardwire all of the goods within your home if you can.

It doesn’t take much to replace some Wi-Fi using products with a hardware counterpart.

There are adapters that are available that will allow you to plug your smartphone directly into your home’s network, this means they can access the Internet. Allowing you to turn off your cellular antenna and Wi-Fi, and still able to make calls via the Internet.

If you have a laptop, if you don’t often travel around, you can buy a USB to ethernet adapter. Most new laptops are too thin to have the old school ethernet connection. This will allow you to connect your computer directly to your printer or the Internet with these.

While a Wi-Fi printer is useful, it’s not a necessity. So where possible, either turn the Wi-Fi off on the printer or opt for one that needs to be plugged into your computer to work.

Your router has the capability to have the Wi-Fi turned off, or if it doesn’t, you can purchase one that gives you that option – or doesn’t have Wi-Fi at all. This gives you full control of the amount of Wi-Fi that you have within your home. It is usually a single button that will allow you to turn the wireless component off on your Internet modem or router.

This means you can just simply hardware all of your laptops and computers to the router. Although this isn’t an ideal solution for many.

Some Research Says Wi-Fi is Safe, Should I Switch off my Router at Night?

You can disconnect your router at night when you’re not using it; not only does it suck up energy, which costs you money, but you’re simply not using it. And the fact still remains that even if you believe Wi-Fi to be safe, there will still be EMF every minute it is on.

So it just makes sense in all aspects to turn your Wi-Fi off in the evening.

What About Wi-Fi in Schools?

So far, much of the studies point to the fact that Wi-Fi can have a negative impact on our children’s development from an early age. And with the number of schools that use technology like tablets and laptops in order to teach, Wi-Fi within the school environment is becoming more common.

Although using Wi-Fi is an effective way to ensure that all children do have Internet access, there is a need for more consistent evidence on how much of an impact it will have. In the meantime, it is prudent for you to ensure that you have taken the correct steps to teach Wi-Fi safety to your children.

This includes equipping them with phone shields and EMF blocking tablet or laptop cases.

The Dangers of Wi-Fi are Actually Cumulative

Bluetooth systems, wireless routers, and more give up that electromagnetic radiation in the low gigahertz frequency. This is a level that is considered dangerous to people. And the danger is, unfortunately, a cumulative effect. Here are a number of factors that increase the impact of Wi-Fi danger.

• Many people do not turn off their Wi-Fi routers at night, so not only are you exposed during the day, but you are exposed all night when you’re not even using the Internet.
• Just like wireless signals, EMFs do pass through walls. So in almost any building, anywhere you are likely to be affected by these wireless signals.
• And following on from that last point, you are not simply exposed to your own home Wi-Fi connection. In fact, when you click the Wi-Fi button on your computer or laptop, you are likely to see a list of other wireless networks that you can join. Every single one of these is emitting EMF.

In the end, there is research showing that there are many potential implications of long-term exposure to the waves emitted by your Wi-Fi. And like everything in life, it is essential that when equipped with the facts and statistics that you take steps to protect yourself and your family from the long-lasting impact of those dangers.

Understanding more about the effects of Wi-Fi, even if you have to disconnect your own router, will give you some insight into how we are all affected by the dangers of Wi-Fi.