Psychophysiological tests and provocation of subjects with mobile phone related symptoms
Wilen J, Johansson A, Kalezic N, Lyskov E, Sandstrom M · 2006
View Original AbstractPeople with mobile phone symptoms show different nervous system stress responses during cognitive tasks, suggesting genuine physiological differences beyond placebo effects.
Plain English Summary
Swedish researchers exposed 20 people who experience symptoms from mobile phones (like headaches or fatigue) and 20 people without such symptoms to 30 minutes of GSM cell phone radiation at 1 W/kg SAR. While the radiation exposure itself didn't cause measurable changes in either group, the symptomatic individuals showed different nervous system patterns during cognitive tests, suggesting their autonomic nervous systems may respond differently to stress regardless of EMF exposure.
Why This Matters
This study provides important insights into electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS), a condition affecting an estimated 1-10% of the population. The researchers found no direct physiological changes from the 1 W/kg SAR exposure (comparable to holding a phone to your head), but discovered that people with mobile phone symptoms have fundamentally different nervous system responses during cognitive tasks. The shift toward sympathetic nervous system dominance suggests these individuals may have heightened stress responses that could make them more susceptible to various environmental triggers, including EMF. What this means for you: if you experience symptoms around wireless devices, your nervous system may indeed be responding differently than others, validating your experience even when direct EMF effects aren't measurable in laboratory settings.
Exposure Details
- SAR
- 1 W/kg
- Source/Device
- 900 MHz GSM
- Exposure Duration
- 30 min
Exposure Context
This study used 1 W/kg for SAR (device absorption):
- 2.5x above the Building Biology guideline of 0.4 W/kg
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
The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of exposure to a mobile phone-like radiofrequency (RF) electromagnetic field on persons experiencing subjective symptoms when using mobile phones (MP).
Twenty subjects with MP-related symptoms were recruited and matched with 20 controls without MP-rela...
No significant differences related to RF exposure conditions were detected. Also no differences in b...
Show BibTeX
@article{j_2006_psychophysiological_tests_and_provocation_501,
author = {Wilen J and Johansson A and Kalezic N and Lyskov E and Sandstrom M},
title = {Psychophysiological tests and provocation of subjects with mobile phone related symptoms},
year = {2006},
doi = {10.1002/bem.20195},
url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/bem.20195},
}