DC Electric Fields

We’re all familiar with DC electric fields in the form of static electricity. Charges build up from walking across a rug in dry weather, you touch a metal doorknob, and zap. Static electrical discharge. What is this sudden discharge doing to your body? I remember a discussion on this in class 25 years ago, more raising the question than having any answers, and don’t recall the subject coming up, at least in my presence, since. However, it appears safe to say that since our bodies are electric, they are sensitive to the static discharge. As with any EMFs, avoidance is preferred to zapping.

How do you minimize exposure to static electricity?

• Use natural fabrics, carpets, and upholstery materials instead of synthetic;
• Aim for relative humidity about 30%, which is low enough to discourage the growth of mold, bacteria, and dust mites but high enough for healthy mucus membranes.

Question: What are the best types of humidifiers to use if the RH (relative humidity) is too low?

Answer: Air-O-Swiss steam humidifiers would be a good choice. xxx ultrasound? electrolysis UV light

AC Electric Fields

What are AC electric fields and how do they differ from AC magnetic fields?

We learned that magnetic fields expand in concentric circles of force from current flow and go through just about everything in their paths, including our bodies. AC electric fields are another type of EMFs. They expand outward from the electric system and from electric devices, whether turned on or off, and are attracted to antennas.

Since our bodies are mostly water, we make pretty good antennas. The closer we are to electric wiring or to something plugged into it, such as a reading lamp, the higher the level of AC electric fields that can be measured on the body.

Another difference between AC magnetic fields and AC electric fields is that there is cancelation of fields with AC magnetic fields, both in household wiring and in electrical devices. There is no such cancellation with AC electric fields.

Question: So what does that mean? that we should go back to a pre-electrical age?

Response: That would be impossible, but there are some work-arounds, such as:

1. In New York City, the city electrical code requires most buildings (except, now, for one and maybe two family houses) to be wired with metal-clad wiring (BX cable). Metal-clad wiring shields from AC electric fields. And why do they get to have metal-clad wiring while the rest of us do not? Because of the rats, who eat through plastic insulated wiring and cause fires. We are deficient in rats, though I have seen plastic-insulated wiring (ROMEX wire) partially eaten through by a squirrel. In New York City, I could measure AC electric fields coming from an outlet and get very low readings, compared to suburban readings.
2. One colleague, who also was a contractor, had an electrically and chemically sensitive wife. He built a house that would be electrically quiet at night. Here’s how he did it:
   • He had a detached garage (a good idea in itself) and put the electric box on the garage. At night, he turned the power off, so the house was off the grid.
   • He put a back-up battery-powered system in the house, to run whatever it ran. So they had some electricity at night, but it was DC, not AC.
   • He noted how his little boy’s mind was like a vise, such powers of concentration. Could our distractions be due in part to AC?
3. There are things we can do at our homes, especially in the bedrooms which are the most important locations, since the body restores itself at night, with cells dividing, and so on. We could identify which parts of the electric system (which circuits) most affect the bedroom areas and turn those parts off at night. Sal LaDuca, of www.emfrelief.com, speaks of us as living in electrified birdcages. We’ll be talking about how to make our birdcages more user-friendly below. We could turn off the wires that are the most responsible for AC electric field exposure at bedrooms.

xxx Years ago, I attended a conference organized by the Foundation for Advancement in Cancer Therapy. One European researcher was asked at the end of his session, what was the number one thing we could do to decrease the risk of cancer (this was before the days of pervasive wireless). His response: "Get rid of alternating current."

As we know, magnetic fields from alternating current are mostly cancelled in our electrical systems and in electric devices. But AC electric fields are different. They don’t get cancelled. xxx

xxx AC electric fields mean that electric fields are going back and forth, back and forth, with positives and negatives being reversed 120 times per second (based on 60 Hz x 2, for back and forth). What does this mean? You know how with a magnet, one end is positive and one end is negative? If you have two positives or two negatives in contact, they repel, but a positive and a negative attract. Now move that up to thinking about the body electric. If we are electric, would the positive and negative charges thereby alternate 120 times per second? Might this be a form of electrostress?

MEASURING AC ELECTRIC FIELDS

Let’s talk about measuring AC electric fields now. This is a simple exercise to do. You measure between the person on the bed (or chair or wherever) and the earth. The earth is “ground zero” (even though it really isn’t, as we’ll see a little later, but it is close enough). You stick a meter between the two (the person and the earth), with one wire going to the person and the other wire to the earth.

The meter used is called a multimeter, because it does a multiple of things. We’ll be using it to measure AC voltage. Voltage?? Voltage is another word for electric fields. The multimeter can measure DC voltage and AC voltage. You are familiar with using a multimeter or a DC volt meter to measure DC voltage if you have ever checked the remaining charge in a battery.

You will be able to find an assortment of multimeters, from about $12 on up, on-line and in local home supply stores. I have a Fluke multimeter, about $450, but my far less expensive meter also works. Just confirm that the AC voltage range reads to a low level of mV (millivolts), like lower than 20 mV.
(As an aside, an AC volt meter specifically for measuring the voltage on a body is available at www.lessemf.com, for under $100, if you prefer just a one-function meter.) xxx

So, you have your multimeter now. The meter will use “voltage” instead of “electric fields.” You already know that the symbol for AC is a sine wave, like a squiggle on its side. So look for “V” with a sine wave over it. That’s the reading you’ll be using.

Some multimeters will have just the V with the sine wave, such as my professional Fluke meter. Some will have a range of numbers, with letters after them. Go for the lowest level that gives you a reading. The lowest level might be either on a micro level (like a little u-shaped symbol) or a millimeter (m). If there is a choice like this, go for the lowest millimeter level. If it doesn’t give you a reading at that level, bump it to the highest millimeter level.

For your information, after the millimeter ranges, there would be V (volt) ranges. My multimeter gives you a choice of 2 or 20 volts. These are above the range that I’m interested in, because the final reading should be down in the millivolt range.

Question: What numbers are we looking for?

Answer: Readings that I get an average bedroom typically range from about 1500 mV to 2500 mV. (These would be 1.5 V to 2.5 V, considering that there are 1000 mV in one volt.) While it’s true that we will never get to zero, our aim is to get as low as we can, taking reasonable steps to achieve that.

Why do we want to reduce AC voltage at the bed?

Exposure to AC voltage affects the sleep of many people. As always, people are different, and they respond in different ways. Further, exposure to AC electric fields has not been much studied, to my knowledge, but since our bodies are electric, it makes sense to reduce exposure to all sorts of EMFs. If you had the choice of two beds, and identical bedrooms, except for levels of AC electric fields, where one bed measured 20 mV and one bed measured 2,000 mV, which would you choose to sleep in? I rest my case.

SOME AC VOLTAGE STORIES

My dad was a restless sleeper. When I started this business, I measured their bed, and AC electric fields were average, probably around 2000 mV. In those days, we were less aware of controversies relating to grounding fabrics. These will be discussed later. However, I set one up at my parents’ bed, and it helped. My dad began to sleep peacefully.

Sometime later, my brother’s kids visited, played hide-and-seek, and knocked off the grounding wire. No one realize this, but my mother asked me afterwards if I would check the setup, because my father had begun to thrash around again. I reconnected the ground line, and he slept peacefully. This turned out to be a pretty good blind study.

One mother reported that her five-year-old daughter had stopped bedwetting, when the AC voltage was reduced at the child’s bed.

Another client sent me a holiday card, giving thanks that he been able to sleep for the last year by using grounding material. He told me that he even traveled with fabric and wondered why it didn’t help everyone the way it helped him.

Another client, who had had a stroke, had tried a grounding material prior to my visit and had given up on it. He said that it was as if an electrical current was running through his body. Another electro-sensitive client had previously given a similar report and was unable to use a grounded material.

At another house, the man reported that he could not sleep in the home, but he could sleep elsewhere. His voltage readings were far above the average, topping out at 35,000 mV. When the cause was identified, the high-voltage was traced to the furnace, two stories below. The breaker to the heating unit was temporarily turned off, until an electrician could make the repair. The man was then able to sleep.

Another client had a similar story. She could not sleep in her bed, but she could sleep out of the house. With her bed, the 18,000 mV turned out to be due to a reading lamp clamped to her bed frame xxx and to an electric blanket. Both were removed, and she slept fine.

You will understand these stories better, after we finish our discussion of measuring and reducing AC electric fields, plus going into the pros and cons of grounding materials.

EQUIPMENT NEEDED TO MEASURE AC ELECTRIC FIELDS

Note: Some companies sell kits for measuring body voltage, so you have the supplies you need already assembled for you. Check www.lessemf.com, www.slt.ca and www.EMFSleepSafe.com.

A multimeter, or the dedicated meter for just AC electric fields available at www.lessemf.com (Less EMF) and www.slt.ca (Safe Living Technologies in Canada)

A grounding plug, about $15 at www.lessemf.com

Lamp wire about 15 or 18 AUG. Instead of searching for this, just order a similar wire from LessEMF or Safe Living Technologies. Estimate the number of linear feet of wiring you will need, between the bed and the outlet. Bearing in mind that the outlet may prove to be unusable, get a longer piece of wiring that would extend between a GFI circuit in the bathroom or reach to the ground below.

A package of medium-sized alligator clips, also available from the above. If they don’t have the medium ones, like an inch and a half long, get what they have. You will need two sets of clips. One set is comprised of a wire with two clips, one on either end.

A long screwdriver and, if planning to try a grounded conductive material, a ground rod

A piece of metal for the person to hold. I bought a 6 inch piece of copper pipe in the plumbing department of a home supply store. A dinner knife could also be used.

HOW TO SET UP TO MEASURE AC ELECTRIC FIELDS

Ideally, the measurement would be made between a person sitting on the bed, near the pillow, and the earth outside. However, rather than deal with windows and screens, I typically take a shortcut and plug-in to the grounding lug at a nearby outlet. The ground line of the electric system should be grounded, so could be a stand-in for the earth outside.

Warning: I would never use the grounding lug to permanently plug in grounding material. You don’t want something so close to your body to be connected to the household electrical system, in case something goes wrong.

But first, notice that I said that the ground line of the electric system “should” be grounded. What if it isn’t? Either I won’t get a correct reading, or I even may get a shock if there is a wiring error. My first step is to confirm that the wiring is correct at the outlet and that there is a true ground.

Here’s how to do that:

1. A conventional outlet tester would have indicator lights for “correct” wiring. However, this conventional outlet tester would not pick up on certain wiring errors that relate more to the grounding of the entire electrical system. In other words, you could get a “correct” indicator light reading and still not have a true ground for your grounding material. One or more potential wiring errors could even be hazardous.
2. A better outlet tester is one that does the conventional test, plus also has a ground test. The outlet tester (also known as a socket tester) is plugged in, you should get the two red lights showing wiring is correct, and then you place a finger on the silver button in the lower right corner labeled “GRD TEST” and see if a warning triangle comes up in the window at the top. If there is no warning triangle, you are good to go, using that ground lug for your measurements.

   This outlet tester is available at www.lessemf.com, for around $15. If you can’t find it on their website, give them a call at 888-537-7363.

OK, you now have a workable outlet. (If your bedroom outlet is not usable, then plug-in at the GFI outlet in a bathroom.)

You may recall from above, we spoke of one connection at the multimeter going to the ground and the second to the person. Concentrate on one connection at a time. Let’s say we do the connection to the earth outside or the ground lug of the tested outlet.

1. Near the bottom of the multimeter, there will either be two wires coming out, one black and one red, or there will be a few holes to plug wires (known as “leads”) in. The black wire gets plugged into the black hole. Think “dirt” for black, and you will remember that that wire is for grounding.
2. At the other end of the wire plugged into the black hole, there will be a metal piece. Attach one end of the alligator clip to that metal piece. Always attach metal to metal, not metal to plastic insulation on a wire.
3. Attached the other end of the alligator clip to the grounding plug, and then plug the grounding plug into the ground lug (round hole) at your tested outlet.
4. Now you should have a wire connection that extends from the black hole of the multimeter to the ground lug of a properly grounded outlet. You are halfway done.
5. Next, worked with the red lead. Either put it into the red hole in the multimeter that is marked for AC voltage, or, if the red wire is permanently affixed to the multimeter, you’re good to go. Follow the same procedure. Attach one end of an alligator clip to the end of the red wire. Attach the other end to the metal pipe or kitchen knife. You are finished with the setup.

HOW TO MEASURE AC ELECTRIC FIELDS

Someone else, or you yourself, should sit near the pillow or lie on the bed and hold the metal pipe or kitchen knife.

Move the gauge on the multimeter to AC voltage.

Take your reading in millivolts. As said before, a common range in a suburban home (or any home outside of a city requiring BX cable) would be around 2000 mV, give or take. In an old home, with less wiring, it is likely to be lower.

Let’s say you got a reading of 2000 mV. We want to get as close to zero as we can, without shutting down the whole house electrical system every night. What steps might we take to reduce the exposure? Let’s use numbers for an example:

• 2000 mV . . . initial reading
• 1000 mV . . . unplug from outlets near the bed
• 900  mV . . . ground a metal bed frame – see note below

That does it for the bedroom. Everything has been done that could be done, at least in the bedroom, and the AC voltage (also called “body voltage”) is still at 900 mV.

Remaining options for reducing body voltage at the bed

The best option

Remove the reasons for the elevated voltage. That is, identify which circuits are affecting the bedroom and turn them off at night. It’s possible to have a licensed electrician install a relay box and move the few breakers/circuits over to that, so that you could turn them off remotely from the bedroom. We’ll talk soon about how to ID the guilty circuits (not hard at all).

The controversial option

What it is: Using a conductive material under you in the bed. The material, which is a better antenna than your body is, is grounded to a ground rod out the window. Thus, you have a better antenna under you, so voltage heads for that and is drawn off and out. This concept is also known as "earthing." The theory goes that your body is connected to the electrons in the earth as if you were walking on the beach in bare feet.

PROS TO USING CONDUCTIVE MATERIAL

1. You might get a dramatic reduction indeed in the 900 mV – like as low as 2 mV. But whether that is completely good news or not has some controversy.

   Also, you only get the 2 mV with skin contact. Depending on the conductivity of your bottom sheet, the reduction may be between 150 mV and 700 mV, not nearly as dramatic as two – and often not a whole lot of different from unplugging electric devices near the bed.

2. Some people report better sleep, alleviation of arthritic pain, etc., through using grounded conductive materials on their beds. Check out www.earthinginstitute.net for results from various research studies.
3. It needn’t take a lot of money to try.

CONS TO USING CONDUCTIVE MATERIAL

1. If you have an overhead light or fan, the voltage from that will also head for the better antenna, which is now the conductive material under you, probably under your bottom sheet or mattress cover.

   So what happens to the voltage when it comes to your body? It converts to a minute electrical current and flows through on the way to the grounded conductive material. This happens whether the overhead installation is on or off.

2. Remember the stories above about the sensitive folk who tried some sort of earthing product and reported feeling a current in their bodies? Is their experience an anomaly or might they be canaries for the rest of us? Are we getting currents in our bodies, only we are not sensitive enough to detect them?

   These minute currents could happen even if there is no overhead fan or light. The voltage a fraction of an inch from our body could induce an electric current in the body. If this is so, then the greater the reduction of AC voltage, the greater the strength of the induced current. A dramatic reduction to 2 mV may be reflected in more electrostress in the body.

   Question: Yet some folk sleep better with grounded conductive materials. How do you explain that?
   Answer: I don’t. We are all different. This is why I present pros and cons, to help readers decide if this is something they want to try. But first, here’s another point for the “con” side.

3. The conductive material would have to be grounded to the earth outside a window, i.e., “ground zero.” But is the earth actually ground zero? No, there is voltage in the earth…less so at a country house backed to a preserve, to be sure, but most of us don’t live in a location like that.

What is happening if there is a metallic connection (wire) between the ground in the earth and the conductive material under your body? Could that voltage be reflected back to your area? The concept of “earthing” is to connect with rejuvenating electrons from the earth…but voltage is there as well and drawn to better antennae, at the speed of light.

You could easily measure the voltage in the earth under your window. Place two long screw drivers in the earth at least 10’ apart. Connect one to the black lead of the AC electric meter and the other to the red lead. This is similar to the set-up at the bed, only instead of plugging into a grounded outlet, you are “plugging into” a long screwdriver.

A typical reading might be around 12-15 mV or somewhat higher. Voltage varies at different locations and may be higher deeper down. I’ve never gotten a reading under 5 mV, as I recall.

Sal La Duca explained that about 20-25 years ago, power companies stopped running return wires back to the plant. Instead, the return wire from your house goes down a pole or three, heads into the earth, and stops there. The current runs back to the plant on its own, or wherever it runs. This is a main cause of voltage in the earth.

Cows are more sensitive to this voltage than we are, and steps had to be taken at some dairy farms in Wisconsin and other areas to reduce the exposures the cows were having.

HOW WOULD YOU TRY "EARTHING" IF YOU WANTED TO?

You would place your conductive material under your sheet, in one scenario. Attach a grounding wire, perhaps by alligator clip, to the conductive material. Run the grounding wire out the window. (The wire is so thin that the window and screen should be able to close on it.) At the earth, with another alligator clip, attach the end of the wire to the ground rod. The ground rod should not be placed near the electric box, AC unit, or other electrical device outside.

Note: You must have metal-to-metal connections for this to work. Assuming the connecting wire has insulation on it, the insulation must be peeled back an inch or so for a metal-to-metal connection.

www.earthing.com offers an array of grounding products. Be aware that if you have skin contact with the product, such as a conductive fitted bed sheet, you have to wash the product. The more you wash it, the more conductive fibers wash out, and the weaker the effect becomes. As you monitor with your multimeter, you may become disappointed with the reductions measured as time goes by.

I bought a TitanRF Faraday Fabric just to try for radio frequency shielding ($25 on Amazon) and hooked it up to the ground line of the testing apparatus. When measuring body voltage at a client’s bed one day, on a whim, I used the Titan metallic fabric to see what would happen. I hooked it up, using a set of alligator clips, to the ground line (metallic-metallic connection, remember).

The result was dramatic indeed – down to 2 or 3 mV. Why even bother turning off breakers when you get such low numbers? Well, as we spoke about above, the greater the reduction, the greater might be the current induced in the body. And, also as mentioned above, this reduction was with skin contact – not so dramatic when under a bottom sheet and much less than that under a mattress cover. I would mention, though, that in the example at my parents’ bed, the grounded conductive cloth was placed under the mattress cover, and that worked to cure my dad’s restless sleep.

THE BETTER OPTION: REDUCING THE SOURCES OF THE VOLTAGE

This is a two-person job, unless the electric panel box is near the bed. Otherwise, you’ll be doing a lot of running back and forth. One person is at the bed, getting the body voltage readings on the multimeter. The other person is at the panel box. You will need some method of communication (shouting, cell phones, walkie talkies ...). First, observe these cautions:

• Do not attempt this if you have an old fuse box. That should be upgraded.
• Do you see any rusting on the box or water or water stains on the floor under the box? If so, have a licensed electrician check the box first.
• Wear rubber-soled shoes.
• Brush the box with the back of your hands. This way, if you get a shock, your hand will pull away from the box, not curl toward it.
• Be aware that you will be turning breakers on and off. If the breakers are old, or even if they aren’t so old, there is a risk that what gets turned off doesn’t go back on, and you might have to call in an electrician. I try to remember to mention this to the homeowner before any breakers are turned on or off. At the least, when finishing the exercise, check refrigerators and freezers, to make sure they start up again and you don’t end up with spoiled food. I never turn off the main power switch for this reason, too. It would not be so cool for the electrical system to die on my watch. Some power switches are old, and replacement might not be so easy.

CHECKING CIRCUITS FOR THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE BEDROOM

The person at the electric box should not touch the main breaker but turn off all single breakers. I know, the temptation is just to turn off the breaker for the bedroom. Yes, that’s usually the highest voltage reading, but there could be some other unsuspected circuit that is also significant for the bedroom. In science, we deal with one variable at a time. We want to see the influence of each circuit, at least the single ones, separately.

So, all single breakers are now off. See what the body voltage is in the bedroom with all single breakers off. 30 mV might be an average level. If you get a much higher reading, however, you might want to turn off the double breakers to see if one in particular is responsible for the higher reading. (If the double breaker is split into two breakers, treat the two as single breakers.)

Start with the upper left and turn on the first breaker. In the bedroom, you will record the reading. Number the breakers – either 1, 2, 3, etc., or the way electricians number them, odd numbers on the left, even on the right. The box may already be numbered.

Turn off the first breaker. Turn on the next one down on the left. Record that reading. Turn that breaker off. Work your way down the left side with the single breakers. When you get to the bottom, keep all those breakers off, and proceed to the top of the right side of the box. Work down the right, recording the reading for each breaker singly.

After each single breaker has been turned on, the reading recorded, and the breaker turned off again, then you are ready to turn all the breakers to the “on” position, i.e., the way you found them.

The person at the bed studies the results. Here’s an example:

1 25    |  2 1500
3 27    |  4 250
5 30    |  6 30
7 25    |  8 150
9 600   |  10 140

With all breakers on, take a reading again. Record that. Let’s say the reading was 1500 mV.

Turn off breaker #2, record that. Maybe with this breaker off, the reading was cut in half, to 750 mV.

Leave breaker #2 off, and also turn off #9, the second highest reading. The reading at the bed drops to 300 mV

Leave these two breakers off, and also turn off #4, the third highest reading. The reading at the bed drops further to 150 mV

Next, leaving these three off, turn off #8. The reading goes up to 200 mV. That doesn’t help us, so turn #8 back on.

Finally, with the three top breakers off, turn off #10. The reading drops to 140 mV. That is, that breaker lowers the voltage, but just slightly more. Leave it on, because it doesn’t have much influence.

So, you have your answer. With breakers #2, 9, and 4 off, the body voltage drops from 1500 mV to 150 mV. That a 90% drop and not shabby.

Check out this site: More information/supplies can be found at www.EMFSleepSafe.com, with their sleep switch.

Note: You could also do both, i.e., turn breakers off and use a grounded conductive material, bearing in mind the controversial points listed above.

WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS’ BEDROOMS?

When more than one bedroom is involved, repeat the above exercise at each bed. However, if it is a given that you will turning off certain breakers for your bedroom, for example, turn them off first, see what you are left with for the next bed, and add in breakers as needed for that one. By the end of working with a few bedrooms, you may be adding in several more circuits.

FINAL AC ELECTRIC COMMENTS

There is frequently something new with electric systems. The scenario above is straightforward, but what if there is an anomaly? For example, when you are unplugging devices from the outlet, the body voltage reading goes up instead of down? This may be a case of reversed polarity. You identify the top circuits that affect the bedroom, as we did above, and then an electrician has to switch the neutral connections among them, until you get readings at the bedroom where the body voltage goes down when you unplug devices by the bed.

It is beyond the scope of this website to go beyond the basics, but there are additional resources available if you run into issues. See the Resource tab.