Ask TreeHugger: Do Cell Phones Give You a Headache?
by Helen Suh MacIntosh, Cambridge, MA, USA on 10.19.07
Question: It seems that nearly every time I talk for a long time on my cell phone, I get a head ache. Am I being paranoid or is my cell phone doing this to me?
Response: It is possible that talking on your cell phone is giving you a headache, but most likely not because of the cell phone technology. Wireless telephones are essentially two-way radios that work by transmitting low levels of radiofrequency energy or radio waves from their antennas to and from nearby base towers that are connected to telephone networks. Cell phones emit a specific type of radio wave called microwaves, which are the longest waves in the electromagnetic spectrum. As a result, they are non-ionizing, which is considered to be harmless at the low levels emitted by the cell phones.
Despite this, cell phones and their base towers (that also emit these radio waves) have been a source of worry, especially for people who are frequent cell phone users or who live near cell phone base towers. Included in these worries are concerns similar to yours – that cell phone usage causes headaches, nausea, and a warmer than normal head.
Several scientific studies have recently examined whether radio waves emitted by cell phones and/or their base towers could be responsible for these symptoms. These studies have consistently found that the answer is no. In a recent large study in England, for example, scientists found that typical radio wave emissions from cell phone towers were not responsible for anxiety, tension, and tiredness in their study participants. The results from this study are particularly believable given its study design, which tested people who said that they were sensitive to the effects of radio waves and was double-blinded, meaning that neither the investigators nor participants knew if the radio waves were on or off when their health symptoms were assessed.
Findings from this and other studies provide evidence that your headaches are not due to radio wave exposures from your cell phone. This is not to say that your headaches are imagined. It is possible that using your cell phone is indeed causing your headaches, maybe for ergonomic reasons (such as your position when you talk on the phone) or even the heat from the battery. Or, it is possible that you remember the times that you get a headache after you talk on the phone more than times when you don’t – a common type of recall bias.
Regardless, it may be wise to limit your cell phone usage and see if your headaches go away. Reducing your cell phone usage will have the added benefit of reducing your exposure to radio waves, which is a relatively easy and prudent way to reduce any remaining anxiety and to protect yourself should there be any undiscovered harmful effects of cell phone radio waves (which scientists believe are unlikely). You can also reduce your radio wave exposures by using a headset with your cell phone, which will reduce your exposures by putting more distance between your body and your cell phone and its radio waves.
For more detailed information about cell phones and their health effects, you should check out this US Food and Drug Administration website, which I think is pretty informative. For updates on the latest cell phone gadgets, you can check out this post on cell phone battery chargers powered by your bike.
Previous Ask Treehugger columns can be found here.
Helen Suh MacIntosh is a professor in environmental health at Harvard University and studies how pollution behaves in the environment and how it affects people's health. Please keep in mind that her answers are just her interpretation of available information and should not be taken as the only viewpoint or solution to a problem. Use this column at your own risk. Having said this, please feel free to post any of your environmental health questions to Helen@TreeHugger.com. (Please use a descriptive email subject line and mention if you want to remain anonymous or not).
Dear Helen,
this was a classic piece of reckless
journalism for me. If you would PLEASE check out the information on this website:
http://www.wave-guide.org/
According to this report, here has been research on any type of EM field since the sixties. Quoting from the report: Amongst the hundreds of startling side-effects of cell phone RF, the blood-brain-barrier, if subjected to Pulsed cell phone RF of the ouptut of a fraction of what average cell phones put out, can be altered or broken down. Then all the "dirty" blood that the brain gets shielded from, can enter said brain circuit and, common sense tells me that this gotta have a severly adverse affect on our health. After all, said barrier was palced there by the creator for a reason.
http://www.wave-guide.org/library/studies.html
Above excerpts will take some research to "parrallelize" their data and make them comparable to the standard declarations of cell phone output but it will give you and others an idea why Lloyd's of London refused to insure some of the largest cell manufacturers against lawsuits arising out of bodily injury caused by cellphone radiation.
I myself had the experience of being unexplainedly sick with colds, coughs, asthma and headaches quasi without interruption for a period of almost 9 months, which abruptly stopped (within less than a week), when I started using Skype to perform my long distance calls.
If I use my computer via Ethernet connection, I am not subjected to any of this type of radiation - and my cell bills are down to a FRACTION of what they were.
My personal conclusion out of all this:
Cellphone usage not more than 15 minutes at a time, not more than 2-3 times a day with plenty of breaks between calls. But that's just me...
Dear Helen,
this was a classic piece of reckless
journalism for me. If you would PLEASE check out the information on this website:
http://www.wave-guide.org/
According to this report, here has been research on any type of EM field since the sixties. Quoting from the report: Amongst the hundreds of startling side-effects of cell phone RF, the blood-brain-barrier, if subjected to Pulsed cell phone RF of the ouptut of a fraction of what average cell phones put out, can be altered or broken down. Then all the "dirty" blood that the brain gets shielded from, can enter said brain circuit and, common sense tells me that this gotta have a severly adverse affect on our health. After all, said barrier was palced there by the creator for a reason.
http://www.wave-guide.org/library/studies.html
Above excerpts will take some research to "parrallelize" their data and make them comparable to the standard declarations of cell phone output but it will give you and others an idea why Lloyd's of London refused to insure some of the largest cell manufacturers against lawsuits arising out of bodily injury caused by cellphone radiation.
I myself had the experience of being unexplainedly sick with colds, coughs, asthma and headaches quasi without interruption for a period of almost 9 months, which abruptly stopped (within less than a week), when I started using Skype to perform my long distance calls.
If I use my computer via Ethernet connection, I am not subjected to any of this type of radiation - and my cell bills are down to a FRACTION of what they were.
My personal conclusion out of all this:
Cellphone usage not more than 15 minutes at a time, not more than 2-3 times a day with plenty of breaks between calls. But that's just me...
I don't get headache, but I do get "phantom" vibrations on my skin, on the side and area of my pants' pocket where I usually put my phone, even if my phone is not inside my pocket!
Microwaves are very short electromagnetic waves. FM and AM radio waves are much longer, for example. Microwaves happen to be used in microwave ovens due to their ability to heat water, so they definitely are a cause for more concern than longer waves would be.
Could it be the person on the other side of the line that is causing the headache?
@Chris: That's a recognizable problem. I have exactly the same. I read about it in an article considering 'ringxiety', which was about people who heard their ringtone when it was not actually there. I always have it on vibrate, and I've heard it called 'vibranxiety'.
"Martin Conaghan, a cell phone user in Glasgow, Scotland, thinks that phantom vibrations are psychosomatic.
“When your phone actually does vibrate, you get a bit of a startle every time, until you get used to it; so perhaps your brain starts anticipating a vibration, so that you don't get startled (and embarrassed in public) when one arrives.""
From: http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2005-05-03/orso-phantomvibes/
Don't know if this is as much a problem as headaches though ;)
Microwaves do not have the longest wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum, but they do have the second longest. Radio waves are longer.
So they don't, as mdl stated, have very short wavelengths either.
See this diagram for more information:
http://lot.astro.utoronto.ca/images/spectrum.png
Note that all the kinds of radiation we view as harmful are (ultraviolet, x-ray, gamma ray) are on the right side of the spectrum. Even visible light contains more energy than microwaves!
Microwaves work by causing polar molecules, especially water, to vibrate, thus heating them up (this is different from genetic damage caused by higher energy radiation). The amount of radiation emitted by cell phones is far less.
Finally, at one point during my life I was on a cell phone for hours nonstop every day, and I have thus far suffered no negative effects. I almost never get headaches and I've seen no correlation between the few I've had and cell phone use. So I seriously doubt there are any effects, and if there are, they would have to be long term.
I work in a call center. My head hurts WAY more at the end of the day then yours ever will from using a cellphone.
But that's what happens when you use a telephone for 8 hours straight - or any long length of time. Things are much worse if the volume is particularly high, or is unbalanced (unusually loud high-frequency vs midrange, etc).
cell phones cause aids and other harmful disease.
bye bye
Just recently I've been experiencing some mind-numbing headaches when I answer the cell phone (almost migraine-like). I really hope it isn't related to the cell phone...!
I had really strong migraines for 8 years (starting at 16 years old). I went from doctor to doctor and nobody could tell me why and all they could offer was drugs (which I didn't take). It was pretty hopeless. Until I started doing my own research and read that some people eliminated their migraines when they stopped using their cell phones. It never crossed my mind that it could be the cell phone - but I started recalling that my migraines started exactly two months after I got my first cell phone. Ironic! So I decided to quit and so far haven't had any migraines for half a year! I used to get them at least once a month....this is such a relief, I will never go back to using a cell phone. We do great with a corded home phone and it is nice that people don't bother you as much as when you have a cell. Some people are just more susceptible to the waves emitted than others (especially babies and children), I guess I am one of them.