Alterations of human electroencephalographic activity caused by multiple extremely low frequency magnetic field exposures
Cvetkovic D, Cosic I. · 2009
View Original AbstractMagnetic fields at household appliance levels can measurably alter human brain wave patterns within minutes of exposure.
Plain English Summary
Researchers exposed 33 people to extremely low frequency magnetic fields at different frequencies (4-50 Hz) for 2 minutes each and measured their brain waves using EEG. They found that magnetic fields at specific frequencies could synchronize with and alter corresponding brain wave patterns, particularly in the alpha and beta frequency ranges. This suggests that magnetic fields can directly influence brain activity in measurable ways.
Why This Matters
This research provides compelling evidence that even brief exposures to extremely low frequency magnetic fields can measurably alter human brain activity. The study used rigorous double-blind methodology and found that magnetic fields at 0.02 milliTesla - a level you might encounter near household appliances or power lines - can synchronize with natural brain rhythms. What makes this particularly significant is that the effects persisted and even increased during a second exposure session an hour later, suggesting the brain doesn't simply adapt to these fields. While the researchers frame their findings as potentially therapeutic, the reality is that involuntary exposure to ELF fields from our electrical infrastructure and devices may be influencing our brain function in ways we're only beginning to understand. The science demonstrates that our brains are not immune to electromagnetic interference, even at relatively low exposure levels.
Exposure Details
- Magnetic Field
- 0.02 mG
- Source/Device
- 4–50 Hz
- Exposure Duration
- 2 min
Exposure Context
This study used 0.02 mG for magnetic fields:
- 1,000x above the Building Biology guideline of 0.2 mG
- 200x above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 1 mG
Building Biology guidelines are practitioner-based limits from real-world assessments. BioInitiative Report recommendations are based on peer-reviewed science. Check Your Exposure to compare your own measurements.
Where This Falls on the Concern Scale
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...
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_238,
author = {Cvetkovic D and Cosic I. },
title = {Alterations of human electroencephalographic activity caused by multiple extremely low frequency magnetic field exposures},
year = {2009},
doi = {10.1007/s11517-009-0525-1},
url = {https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11517-009-0525-1},
}