Alterations of human electroencephalographic activity caused by multiple extremely low frequency magnetic field exposures.
Cvetkovic D, Cosic I. · 2009
View Original AbstractMagnetic fields can alter human brain waves at matching frequencies within minutes, demonstrating direct electromagnetic influence on neural activity.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed 33 people to extremely low frequency magnetic fields (ranging from 4 to 50 Hz) and measured their brain waves using EEG. They found that specific magnetic field frequencies could alter brain wave patterns in corresponding frequency bands - for example, 10 Hz magnetic fields changed alpha brain waves (8-12 Hz). The changes depended on timing and sequence of exposure, suggesting these fields can influence brain activity in predictable ways.
Why This Matters
This study provides compelling evidence that extremely low frequency magnetic fields can directly influence brain wave patterns in humans. What makes this research particularly significant is the demonstration of frequency-specific effects - magnetic fields at 10 Hz altered alpha brain waves, while 13 Hz fields affected beta waves. This suggests a resonance-like interaction between external electromagnetic fields and our brain's electrical activity. The reality is that we're constantly exposed to ELF magnetic fields from power lines, electrical wiring, and household appliances operating at 50-60 Hz. While the researchers suggest potential therapeutic applications, the findings also raise important questions about unintended neurological effects from everyday EMF exposure. The fact that these changes occurred within just 10-16 minutes of exposure underscores how quickly our brain activity can be influenced by external electromagnetic fields.
Exposure Information
Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study. The study examined exposure from: 4, 8.33, 10, 13, 16.66, 50 Hz Duration: 10-16 min, 60-65 min
Study Details
This study aims at extending our ELF pilot study to investigate whether MF exposures at ELF in series from 50, 16.66, 13, 10, 8.33 to 4 Hz could alter relative power within the corresponding EEG bands
33 human subjects were tested under a double-blind and counter-balanced conditions. The multiple rep...
The results from this study have shown that narrow alpha1 (7.5-9.5 Hz) and alpha2 (9-11 Hz) bands, a...
The final outcome of our result has shown that it is possible to alter the human EEG activity of alpha and beta bands when exposed to MF at frequencies corresponding to those same bands, depending on the order and period of MF conditions. This type of EEG synchronisation of driving alpha and beta EEG by alpha and beta sinusoidal MF stimulation, demonstrated in this study, could possibly be applied as therapeutic treatment(s) of particular neurophysiological abnormalities such as sleep and psychiatric disorders.
Show BibTeX
@article{d_2009_alterations_of_human_electroencephalographic_1736,
author = {Cvetkovic D and Cosic I.},
title = {Alterations of human electroencephalographic activity caused by multiple extremely low frequency magnetic field exposures.},
year = {2009},
url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19707808/},
}