Nakatani-Enomoto S et al. · 2013
Researchers exposed 19 volunteers to real or sham electromagnetic fields for 3 h before sleep on three consecutive days in a double-blind design. No significant differences were found in subjective feelings, sleep stage percentages, or EEG power spectra between real and sham exposures. The researchers concluded that the exposure had no detectable effects on human sleep.
Redmayne M, Smith E, and Abramson MJ · 2013
More frequent cellphone and cordless phone calls were associated with higher odds of headaches, wired headsets with tinnitus, wireless headsets with headache, feeling down or depressed, and waking at night, and being woken by a cellphone at night was strongly linked to daytime tiredness. The study reported that 36% of tested associations were statistically significant, more than the 5% expected by chance, and several showed dose-dependent patterns.
Perentos N, Croft RJ, McKenzie RJ, Cosic I · 2013
Seventy-two healthy volunteers underwent eyes-open resting EEG recording during four 20-minute exposure intervals (sham, pulsed modulated RF, continuous RF, and pulsed low frequency) in a counterbalanced, double-blind crossover design. Compared to sham, a suppression of the global alpha band activity was observed under the pulsed modulated RF exposure, and this did not differ from the continuous RF exposure. No effect was seen in the extremely low frequency condition. The results support the view that alpha is altered by RF electromagnetic fields, but suggest that the pulsing nature of the fields is not essential for this effect to occur.
Mohammed HS, Fahmy HM, Radwah NM, Elsayed AA · 2013
Researchers investigated the effect of chronic low-level non-thermal electromagnetic radiation on sleep EEG in rats. They used two types of radiation fields: 900 MHz unmodulated and 900 MHz modulated at 8 and 16 Hz, with exposure for one month at one hour per day. EEG power spectral analyses revealed that REM sleep was more susceptible to modulated radiofrequency radiation than slow wave sleep. The latency of REM sleep increased due to radiation exposure, indicating a change in the ultradian rhythm of normal sleep cycles. The authors concluded that exposure to electromagnetic radiation in awake animals can alter subsequent sleep structure and suggested cumulative irreversible effects.
Lustenberger C et al. · 2013
Sixteen male subjects completed two experimental nights, one with all-night pulsed radiofrequency electromagnetic field exposure at 0.25–0.8 Hz. Sleep efficiency exceeded 90 percent in both conditions. Slow-wave activity increased during pulsed exposure compared to sham toward the end of the sleep period. Spindle activity did not change. Motor sequence task improvement was reduced by 20.1 percent during exposure versus sham.
Pelletier A et al. · 2013
Researchers examined the effects of chronic RF-EMF exposure (900 MHz, 1 V m(-1)) on the main functions involved in body energy homeostasis, including feeding behaviour, sleep, and thermoregulatory processes. Thirteen juvenile male Wistar rats were exposed to continuous RF-EMF for 5 weeks and compared with 11 non-exposed animals. The frequency of rapid eye movement sleep episodes was greater in the exposed group independently of ambient temperature, with increases of 42.1% at 24 °C and 31.6% at 31 °C. Exposure also increased daytime food intake, and the researchers concluded that RF-EMF exposure can induce energy-saving processes without strongly disturbing the overall sleep pattern.
Lv B, Chen Z, Wu T, Shao Q, Yan D, Ma L, Lu K, Xie Y. · 2013
Eighteen subjects participated in a double-blind, crossover, randomized and counterbalanced experiment including real and sham exposure sessions. Resting-state fMRI signals were collected before and after exposure, with the radiation source placed close to the right ear. After real exposure, decreased ALFF values were found in the left superior temporal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus, right medial frontal gyrus, and right paracentral lobule.
Mohler E et al. · 2012
Researchers conducted a prospective cohort study with 955 participants aged 30 to 60 years to investigate whether sleep quality is affected by mobile phone use or other RF-EMF sources. Sleep quality and daytime sleepiness were assessed using standardized questionnaires at baseline in May 2008 and follow-up in May 2009. In longitudinal analyses, neither operator-recorded nor self-reported mobile phone use was associated with sleep disturbances or daytime sleepiness.
Korpinen L, Pääkkönen R. · 2012
Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study by mailing a questionnaire to 15,000 working-age Finns and analyzed 6121 responses using logistic regression models. During leisure time, 13.7% of respondents reported close call situations and 2.4% reported accidents in which mobile phone use had a partial effect. At work, the corresponding percentages were 4.5% for close calls and 0.4% for accidents. Men, younger people, and employed individuals tended to have more mobile-phone-related incidents, and sleep disturbances with minor aches were linked to a slight increase in such incidents.
Vecchio F et al. · 2012
Eyes-closed resting EEG data were recorded in ten patients affected by focal epilepsy in real and sham exposure conditions and compared with 15 age-matched normal subjects from previous reference studies. The GSM device was turned on for 45 minutes in the GSM condition and off for 45 minutes in the sham condition, with the phone always on the left side. Spectral coherence evaluated inter-hemispheric synchronization across delta, theta, and alpha sub-bands. Compared with controls, epileptic patients showed significantly higher inter-hemispheric coherence of temporal and frontal alpha rhythms in the GSM condition versus sham. The authors suggest that GSM electromagnetic fields may affect inter-hemispheric alpha synchronization in epileptic patients.
Qin F et al. · 2012
Kesari KK, Kumar S, Behari J. · 2012
Researchers exposed Wistar rats to 2.45 GHz frequency microwave radiation for 2 h a day for 45 days, with a whole body specific absorption rate estimated to be 0.14 W/kg. Pineal melatonin levels were significantly lower in the exposed group compared with the sham-exposed group. Creatine kinase, caspase 3, and calcium ion concentration were all significantly higher in the whole brain of the exposed animals.
Sokolovic D et al. · 2012
Researchers exposed Wistar rats to microwave radiation for 4 hours per day and tested whether melatonin could counter any resulting changes in body mass or behaviour. A significant body mass reduction was noted in animals exposed to MW radiation when compared to controls after 20, 40 and 60 days (p<0.001). Exposed animals showed anxiety-related behaviour described as agitation and irritability after 10 days of exposure, and these changes became less noticeable after the radiation source was removed. Melatonin pretreatment significantly increased body weight in irradiated rats compared to irradiated rats without melatonin after 20 days (p<0.05), and melatonin administration caused a decrease in stress-induced behaviour.
Schmid MR et al. · 2012
Twenty-five young healthy men took part in a randomized double-blind crossover design, exposed at weekly intervals to different conditions for 30 minutes before sleep. The conditions were a 2-Hz pulse-modulated radio frequency field, a 2-Hz pulsed magnetic field, and sham. Radio frequency exposure increased electroencephalogram power in the spindle frequency range. Delta and theta activity during non-rapid eye movement sleep, and alpha and delta activity during rapid eye movement sleep, were affected following both exposure conditions. No effect on sleep architecture and no clear impact of exposure on cognition was observed.
Schmid MR et al. · 2012
Thirty young healthy men were exposed, at weekly intervals, for 30 minutes directly before an 8-hour sleep period to a 900-MHz RF EMF pulse-modulated at 14 Hz, at 217 Hz, or to a sham control. EEG power in the spindle frequency range was increased during non-rapid eye movement sleep after the 14-Hz pulse-modulated condition, while a similar but non-significant increase was also observed after the 217-Hz condition. No clear exposure-related effects on cognitive performance were seen, and the exposure-induced effect showed considerable individual variability.
Nazıroğlu M et al. · 2012
Researchers divided rats into four groups: a cage control, a sham control, a group exposed to 2.45 GHz electromagnetic radiation, and a group exposed to the same radiation while also receiving melatonin. The radiation-exposed groups received that exposure for 60 minutes per day for 30 days, after which brain cortex and dorsal root ganglion samples and EEG recordings were collected. Lipid peroxidation, cell viability, and cytosolic calcium values in dorsal root ganglion neurons were higher in the radiation-only group than in the control groups. The melatonin-plus-radiation group showed lower EEG spike numbers and higher brain cortex vitamin E concentration compared with the radiation-only group.
Loughran SP, McKenzie RJ, Jackson ML, Howard ME, Croft RJ. · 2012
Twenty volunteers each underwent two experimental nights in which they were randomly exposed to either an active or sham condition before a full night of sleep. EEG spectral power was increased in the sleep spindle frequency range in the first 30 minutes of non-REM sleep after active exposure. The increase was more prominent in participants who had already shown an increase in the original study, suggesting the effect is sensitive to individual variability.
Thomée S, Härenstam A, Hagberg M. · 2011
The study included 4156 young adults aged 20-24 who completed questionnaires at baseline and 1-year follow-up. Mobile phone exposure variables included frequency of use and qualitative aspects such as demands on availability, perceived stressfulness of accessibility, being awakened at night, and personal overuse. Cross-sectionally, high mobile phone use was linked to stress, sleep disturbances, and depression symptoms in both sexes; prospectively, high use predicted sleep disturbances and depression symptoms in men and depression symptoms in women, while overuse predicted stress and sleep disturbances in women and high accessibility stress predicted stress, sleep disturbances, and depression symptoms in both sexes.
Chaturvedi CM et al. · 2011
Prochnow N et al. · 2011
Researchers applied UMTS radio-frequency signals to male Wistar rats at whole-brain SAR levels of 0, 2, and 10 W/kg for 120 minutes. They measured stress hormones corticosterone and ACTH and recorded hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD). Cage exposure increased corticosterone and ACTH levels and was associated with generally decreased LTP and LTD. At 2 W/kg the rats showed no difference from sham in LTP and LTD, while at 10 W/kg a significant reduction in both was observed.
Lowden A et al. · 2011
Researchers investigated the effects of a double-blind radiofrequency exposure on sleepiness and EEG measures during sleep. Forty-eight subjects with a mean age of 28 years underwent three hours of controlled exposure prior to sleep, followed by a full-night polysomnographic recording in a sleep laboratory. Following exposure, slow-wave sleep decreased by 9.5 minutes and the latency to Stage 3 sleep was prolonged by 4.8 minutes compared to sham. No differences were found between subjects who had previously reported mobile phone-related symptoms and those who had not.
O'Connor RP, Madison SD, Leveque P, Roderick HL, Bootman MD · 2010
Researchers used a high-throughput imaging platform to monitor calcium changes in cells exposed to 900 MHz GSM fields at specific absorption rates of 0.012–2 W/kg. The study examined resting calcium, agonist-evoked calcium signals, calcium store emptying, and store-operated calcium entry. GSM field data were compared with continuous wave fields and no-field controls. No changes in calcium signals were detected even at the highest field strengths, which exceeded typical phone exposure levels. The researchers concluded they could not detect any consequence of RF exposure under their experimental conditions.
Mohler E et al. · 2010
Researchers assessed self-reported sleep disturbances and daytime sleepiness in a random sample of 1,375 residents of Basel, Switzerland. Environmental far-field RF EMF exposure was predicted for each individual using a validated prediction model, and mobile and cordless phone use were also considered. Multivariable regression models adjusted for confounders showed no association between far-field RF EMF exposure and sleep disturbances or excessive daytime sleepiness. The 10% most exposed participants had an estimated risk for sleep disturbances of 1.11 (95% CI: 0.50 to 2.44) and for excessive daytime sleepiness of 0.58 (95% CI: 0.31 to 1.05). Neither mobile phone use nor cordless phone use was associated with decreased sleep quality.
Thomas S et al. · 2010
The study included 236 adolescents who completed both examinations. Mobile phone ownership and weekly voice calls and SMS increased from baseline to follow-up. Participants with more voice calls and SMS at baseline showed smaller reductions in response times across computerized tasks. Increased voice calls and SMS over the year were associated with changes in response time on a simple reaction and a working memory task. No associations were found between mobile phone exposure and the Stroop test.
Danker-Hopfe H, Dorn H, Bornkessel C, Sauter C. · 2010
Researchers conducted a double-blind, sham-controlled, randomized cross-over study with 397 residents exposed to GSM base station signals and sham exposure at home for 12 nights. No significant differences in objective or subjective sleep measures were found between real and sham exposure conditions. During sham exposure nights, participants with concerns about health risks from base stations had significantly worse sleep efficiency, wake after sleep onset, and subjective sleep latency than those without concerns. The authors concluded that EMF from base stations did not affect sleep quality, but the presence of base stations themselves may negatively impact sleep.
