Call Me Sleepless
Using a mobile phone just before bed may cause insomnia
Many
of us enjoy an occasional bedtime chat with a loved one who is far
away. But as more and more people trade in their landlines for mobile
phones, they may find that these late-night conversations are no longer
a good idea. According to recent studies, cell phone signals can alter
brain waves—and the consequences will keep you up at night.
Neuroscientist Rodney Croft and his colleagues at Swinburne
University of Technology in Australia strapped a Nokia 6110 cell phone
to the heads of 120 men and women and then monitored their brain waves.
When the researchers switched on the phone without the subjects’
knowledge, they saw a sudden power boost in the volunteers’ alpha brain
waves. Alpha waves normally surge as the mind shuts out the external
world and spins internal thoughts. Croft believes the heightened alpha
waves reflect the mind concentrating to overcome the electrical
interference in brain circuits caused by the pulsed microwave radiation
from cell phones.
In a different study, sleep researchers at Loughborough University
in England found that after a 30-minute exposure to cell phone signals
in talk mode, people took nearly twice as long to fall asleep as they
did when the phone had been off or in standby mode. The scientists
think the effect probably reflects the time it takes the brain to relax
after being agitated by the phone’s electrical field.
James Horne, one of the study’s authors, cautions that the effects
are harmless and less disruptive to sleep than half a cup of coffee.
Still, he wonders, “With different doses, durations or other devices,
would there be greater effects?”
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=call-me-sleepless
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