SHE Talks Health is for women interested in wellness and, more specifically, in women’s health. We aim to finally give you clarity around the widespread health issues plaguing women today, from the rise in infertility to epidemically high numbers of chronic illness like endometriosis and Hashimoto’s to the intricates of the female libido, hormonal fluctuations, the birth control pill and regaining optimal mental health for women. SHE Talks Health helps women reclaim their health through learning practical nutrition and holistic lifestyle changes. The show also empowers women by educating and exposing them to foremost leaders and experts in the world of Functional Medicine so they can finally have straightforward answers to their most mystifying symptoms and confidence to do the right things for their health.
Since the evolution of electricity and the power grid, humans have been exposed to harmful electromagnetic fields, or EMFs, almost nonstop. As technology has progressed, it has been increasingly difficult to free ourselves from this harmful radiation and set boundaries around when we interact with it. This week, I’m talking with R Blank, the CEO of Shield Your Body, to discuss how EMFs became so prevalent in the world today, the negative impact that has had on our bodies, cells, and DNA, and how we can set healthier boundaries around technology so that we can reduce our exposure to harmful EMFs.
R and his company have been featured on Dr. Phil, ABC, Inc. Magazine, and even more to spread the word about protecting ourselves from EMFs and living healthier lives by educating ourselves about our everyday surroundings.
In this episode, you will learn:
- Why we should care about EMFs
- What are the different types of EMFs and what emits them?
- The ways that EMFs affect our body, cells, and DNA
- How research funding sources skews the negative effects of EMF radiation
- When did this all start?
- The diseases that didn’t exist before the power grid
- Evaluating your toxic load
- How to set boundaries around technology
Listen
Watch
Transcript
Sophie Shepherd 0:04
Welcome to the she talks health podcast your source for information about all things women’s Hormonal Health. I’m your host, Sophie Shepherd. I’m the founder of she talks help, and the CO creator of the 12 week empower her group gut and hormone program. I’m a certified functional health coach and a holistic menstrual health educator. This podcast was created to give you clarity about how to take control over your Hormonal Health using safer natural options. I created this podcast to cover the widespread and complex health issues plaguing women today. From the rise of infertility to the epidemic, the high numbers of women with autoimmune disease to menstrual cycle problems, digestive issues, anxiety, weight gain, food sensitivities, mental emotional and energetic imbalances, and so much more. If there’s a topic that you need answered, I encourage you to write us at podcast at she talks health.com. And we will try our absolute best to cover that subject. My greatest mission in life is to help women radically change their health and their lives by teaching them how they can use their hormones as their superpowers. So with that in mind, I hope you enjoy today’s episode.
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As always, ladies, this podcast and the information being provided to you is for educational and informational purposes only, and it should not be taken as medical advice. It is not intended to treat or cure any specific illness and it is not to replace the guidance provided by your own medical practitioner. This information is to be used at your own risk based on your own judgment. And if you suspect you have a medical problem, we urge you to take appropriate action by seeking medical attention. Welcome back, everyone to the she talks health podcast. This is your podcast host Sophie Shepherd, founder and creator of this podcast and she talks health brand. And I’m really excited because we have a topic we haven’t discussed at all on this podcast and something that I don’t even know enough about. So I’m really excited to get educated alongside you. So we’re welcoming to the show R blank. Thank you for coming on to the show our Hi
R Blank 2:25
Sophie, thank you so much for having me. It’s a pleasure.
Sophie Shepherd 2:27
Yeah, of course I’m really excited. We’re we’re going to talk to our about EMFs today, a topic that is kind of like who you know people are kind of confused about what is EMF? How does it even affect us? Is this even true? So we’re gonna dive into all of that but before we do I just want to introduce our two he is the CEO of shield your body whose mission is it? It is to make technology safer love that, with hundreds of 1000s of customers in over 30 countries and having been interviewed on platforms ranging from ABC television to electric sends our is an internationally followed expert on issues of EMF health and safety. He was inspired to create CYP when he co authored the best selling book overpowered with his father, Dr. Martin Blanc, one of the world’s leading EMF scientists, he has degrees from Columbia University and UCLA and now hosts the new healthier tech podcast. Welcome to our podcast. So happy to have you.
R Blank 3:23
Thank you so much. I appreciate I appreciate that.
Sophie Shepherd 3:26
Yeah, what an incredible biography here. And let’s just let’s dive right into this topic of EMF. And hi, let’s talk about why should we even care about EMF like, How is this even affecting us? Because I do think people think it’s not not real, right? Like there’s not enough science. Yeah,
R Blank 3:46
no, I hear that. I hear that sometimes, too. And just as a starting point, a quick definition. EMF stands for electromagnetic field. It’s a form of energy that’s made up of both electricity and magnetism. And for essentially, the history, the entire history of life on Earth, the only forms of EMF that all life were exposed to was sunlight, and other cosmic sources, other stars where the radiation reaches us. Lightning was a source and the Earth itself has a very weak magnetic field, it’s our compasses work. Those were really the only sources that were you know, we’re talking about for billions of years that life on Earth evolved to cope with
Sophie Shepherd 4:30
well, and now we are in the technology age.
R Blank 4:33
Exactly. So that all started to change in the mid 19th century with the invention of the light bulb. And then once you had the light bulb, which is a source of EMF, you needed a power grid to power the light bulb. And once the grid was in place, you effectively have this platform for all these new awesome appliances that people could put in their homes and in their kitchens. And as all of this was rolling out, people are exposed to more and more and more of this stuff then eventually, they learn To that you could send information wirelessly using these same types of signals. So that led to radar and television and eventually, while an FM radio, an am radio and then eventually, of course, self cell networks, and Wi Fi, and Bluetooth and all of that we see around us. So all of these sources are what are often referred to as human made sources of EMF. And they are increasingly surround us now at the times at which these technologies were invented. It was long assumed that these forces these types of EMF were harmless. They were benign, right, because I mentioned sunlight to start us off. And that’s, that’s a type of EMF. Now there’s certain types of EMF with much more energy than sunlight. So much energy that they can knock electrons loose from the cells in your body. And I promise I won’t get too scientific here. Well, interesting to me. But yeah, so that’s yeah, those are things like X rays, and gamma rays. These are forms of EMF. They’re called ionizing forms of EMF, because they have, like I say, so much energy, they can ionize the cells in your body. Everyone knows that is incredibly harmful, even in very, very small doses. So the types we’re talking about here are called non ionizing forms of EMF, they have less energy than the sun. And because they have less energy than the sun, and they are non ionizing, it was long assumed that they were biologically inert forces that they were basically harmless to be around. And these
Sophie Shepherd 6:36
are the cell phone, the Bluetooth, the radio frequencies that that range of EMF. Exactly,
R Blank 6:41
exactly. But about 100 years ago, science started to emerge, showing that maybe that assumption wasn’t entirely accurate. And in the intervening century, the science has continued to build, but just by way of, you know, some perspective on this, my father, whom you mentioned in the introduction, who was a very important scientist and issues of EMF and health. He was a professor at Columbia University Medical School, when he went to graduate school, he was taught this stuff was harmless. And when he started teaching future doctors, he was teaching them this stuff was harmless. And it was in the course of his career, where he started to encounter science that showed him that that assumption was incorrect. Wow, that’s what he ended up spending several decades, researching himself and eventually advocating and becoming effectively a type of activist. So we’re now in a position where everything that runs on power, so that includes power lines, that includes your appliances, anything with a motor, these are all sources of EMF, and then anything that communicates wirelessly, like cell phones and Wi Fi. These are all forms of EMF. And so the amount of EMF in the atmosphere today is by certain estimates, trillions of times higher than what would be found in nature, and of course of a different type. And more to the point, it is increasing every year, because of the way in which we are adopting and deploying these technologies, right, with very poorly considered safety standards. So that that would be the introduction that I would start with now, it is true that many people dispute the severity of this issue. And a lot of that is due to what is called the it’s basic, there was a lot of science that has been funded by companies like the wireless industry, and before them the power industry, sure that were designed to show that this stuff is harmless. And so they flood the balance. That’s called the weight of evidence, right? So if you put out enough science that says this stuff is harmless, then people can just point and say look about, you know, half the studies say this is safe. And the other half say it’s bad, but that, you know, that means it’s up for debate,
Sophie Shepherd 9:08
you look at who is funding the research, where is that? Where are those research scholars going? Because yeah,
R Blank 9:13
exactly, exactly. And there are some scientists who who do that, who will do surveys of multiple studies and analyze the scientific methods analyze the funding sources, and they will find that the higher quality independently funded science tends to show that EMF is harmful, whereas the lower quality industry funded science tends to show that it is not. And this is, again, you hear it all the time. It is just the same thing that the playbook that was perfected by the tobacco industry, as they fought for decades successfully to fend off regulation. Sure. So
Sophie Shepherd 9:52
but but also, every almost every and I mean, you could probably make that case for processed foods and pesticides and all actly things. Yeah,
R Blank 10:01
exactly that, and we’re in it. We’re at the point now, where, you know, breaking through all of this, you know, controversy, where there are literally 1000s of high quality peer reviewed studies into this question demonstrating negative health outcomes. The World Health Organization lists these forms of EMF as a class to be carcinogen. Multiple courts in Italy have now ruled it is precedent, it is legal precedent that cell phones cause brain tumors. There are more and more and more of these
Sophie Shepherd 10:30
examples cell phone farther away from
R Blank 10:34
Well, that’s one of the Yeah, we’ll get to the tips. That’s one of the big ones. But so it used to be controversial, that doctors should wash their hands before surgery, there was a famous doctor named Dr. Semmelweis. And he came out and said, You know what, we should be washing our hands before helping women give birth. And it was and he postulated this idea of what became germs, he was laughed out of the field, eventually committed to an institution and then killed himself because of the ridicule. And so at the point in time, at which the first guy came up and said, We should wash our hands before help helping women give birth, that was considered controversial, there’s a lot of things that are considered controversial until they’re not controversial. And just because something is controversial, doesn’t mean it’s not true. And again, we’re now at the point where there are there are literally 1000s of studies showing really, really concerning vary, this is something I’d like to get into a little bit, but a really broad range of negative health effects. It’s not just it causes one thing, or two things. And the steps that we could be taking, and we should be taking to reduce our risk are just super easy. It just takes a little bit of conscious thinking, and you can really make big differences in your exposure level.
Sophie Shepherd 11:56
Yeah, I would love to talk about some of those, like kind of easy tips. But before we do, I would let’s talk about some of maybe not all of them, because it sounds like there’s 1000s of peer reviewed studies. But what are some of the top like five to 10 ways that EMF is sure impacting us? Sure. And
R Blank 12:13
and, you know, I have a lot of this on my website at shield your body.com. So we in addition to making EMF protection products, we have hundreds of articles, videos, we have a health effects app. So a lot of this is indexed and searchable on my website. But you know, one, one set of studies that I frequently like to begin talking about, were conducted by a couple of doctors named Henry Lai, and the render Singh in the 1990s. And they what they found, and they were using cordless phones, because this was the 90s. But the type of radiation is very similar to cell phones. And what they found is that when you expose DNA to cordless phone radiation, the rate of strand breaks significantly increases. So what does that mean? DNA is made up of two strands, right, that’s where we get that double helix that we all know. So that double helix is two strands. When one of those strands breaks, it’s called a single strand break, when both of them break, it’s called the double strand break, exposure to cordless phone radiation led to a significant increase in the strand breaks. Now when both strands break, when you get the double strand break, that means that the cell will then proceed to kill itself, which in this situation is actually the preferred outcome. Because if only one strand breaks, the cell’s own mechanisms kick in, and they try to repair and recreate that broken strand from the information in the other strand. And that is a mechanism by which diseases like cancers begin to form, right? Because that’s where mutations can enter in.
Sophie Shepherd 13:49
Yeah. And is that similar to like free radical damage? And so that is different
R Blank 13:52
from that’s another that’s another one I was about to get into. But the the lion seeing science, like I say, goes back now almost no, it’s about 30 years. And it has been replicated multiple times is not only peer reviewed, but replicated multiple times by other scientists around the world. So now you get into free radicals. There is research from a few scientists, but one in particular is Dr. Martin Paul, who is still active. And he found that exposure to EMF radiation impacts voltage gated calcium channels, right. So the vgccs these are the things on our cells that regulate how much calcium gets into into our cell. And what his work shows is that exposure to EMF radiation leads the cell to allow too much calcium into the cell, which then causes Yeah, which then causes the type of oxidative stress that you were getting at him, which is a mechanism by for many negative health symptoms.
Sophie Shepherd 14:54
It is and you know, it’s interesting that you brought up that that’s so fascinating to me because I’ve been reading this This fabulous book called cure your fatigue, and it’s all about basically all about free radical damage and oxidative stress and all the mechanisms at play. And I was kind of fascinated to find out calcium, you know, in that sense is one of those but there’s there’s a lot that can cause us free radical damage. And of course, we know that that is at the root of so many diseases from everything, you know, basically everything is like caused by or every disease can kind of be routed back into oxidative stress and this free radical damage. So that’s a huge issue that it’s causing that problem for, for all of us that are exposed to these EMFs. Yeah,
R Blank 15:39
and so first off as just from the description, right, you should be able to picture that it’s just it’s everywhere, so which means it’s, it’s making contact with every part of our body. That’s and then another factor that I want people to understand is EMF, but we’re talking about really, really, really low levels of EMF. But EMF is how our body manages itself. It’s how the brain communicates with the rest of our body, it’s how the rest of our body sends messages back to the brain, we use these incredibly low levels of electromagnetic energy to regulate and control our entire body. So when you inundate it, and again, this is every biological system works this way. So when you inundate it with all of this artificial human made very loud levels of EMF, it should not be surprising, where you can start seeing these really negative health outcomes across so many different biological systems, right? It’s not just, it’s not just cancer. And it’s not just in the brain. You have multiple types of cancers, but then you also have the buildup of oxidative stress, you have sleep disruption, you have infertility, sub fertility, miscarriage risk, you have all of these different kinds of conditions that can manifest from these exposures. And it’s because of just how, how our body is built to work.
Sophie Shepherd 17:07
I mean, that does make actually a lot of sense. I mean, I’m sitting in this podcast recording booth, I have my cell phone, we’re on a zoom computer. There’s another computer system right here. There’s a whole bunch of wires and a power strip here. And I’m like, Yeah, I mean, it’s it’s kind of everywhere. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, hold on, if you’re listening to this, and you’re like, Oh, my God, I’m freaking out, we’re gonna get to some tips in a second of like, how we can kind of manage this. But you actually,
R Blank 17:33
there is a third study that I would like to Yeah. Yeah, I don’t think we need to go into you know, 10. But there is a third that I think is really important. And this is done by an epidemiologist named Dr. Sam Milam, also also still alive. And his book is called Dirty electricity. And what he did, right, because a lot of this stuff that we’re talking about, it can be hard to perform these epidemiological studies. And epidemiology is the study of incidence of disease in a population. And so in order to perform an epidemiological study, you need a population that you’re studying. And then you need a population that’s not exposed to whatever the toxin is that you’re looking at my gosh, yeah. How would you even do that? So in today’s world, how would you do that? Well, Dr. Milam had an answer to that question. So the installation of the grid, the electrification of America, it did not happen all at once, right, different parts of the country, got the grid at different times. And so what Dr. Milam did is he went around the country, and analyzed death records from before and after a certain region received its power grid. And what he found is there was an incidence of what he termed the diseases of civilization, that did not exist in a place before the grid was introduced, and did begin to exist after the grid was introduced. And what’s more, these diseases only manifested in areas where the grid was installed. So if it went up, you know, in New Jersey here, and at this point in time, that’s when you start to see it. But if it didn’t go up, and in Arkansas until 10 years later, you didn’t see it there until 10 years later. And we’re talking about diseases ranging from childhood leukemia, that’s the incidence of leukemia and children between the ages of three and four. It did not exist until the introduction of the power grid. We’re talking about Alzheimer’s and Lou Gehrig’s disease, right? There’s a list of what he calls the diseases of civilization that did not exist until the great existed. And it is it is a very powerful statement on because he did really good research on this and you know, the records don’t lie.
Sophie Shepherd 19:53
Yeah. Wow. That’s really powerful. I would be curious to know kind of the age, the age, age that you to time, what decades this was going on, and how that might also, you know, relate to other things. I mean, I’m sure these studies are must be very challenging because at the same time, potentially there is the introduction of, you know, we’ve got pesticides, and we’ve got people eating processed foods and all those things. But even so that’s like, also causing oxidative stress, you know,
R Blank 20:22
know, for sure we’re living, yeah, we are living as you and this whole community knows, we’re living in a world that, you know, despite the fact that in general, life expectancy keeps going up, our toxic load keeps going up, and the sources of these various toxins, right, they just keep growing. And, you know, someone like me is who comes on to talk about EMF, obviously, I’m going to talk about EMF, but I am under no illusion that EMF is the only toxin of concern in our world. And in fact, what I seem to be picking up from what I learned and the people that I talked to is that there is cross susceptibility to these toxic exposures. So for example, if you have multiple chemical sensitivity or MCs, you are much more likely to have what is called electromagnetic hypersensitivity or EHS and vice versa. So a buildup of exposure to one kind of toxin can make you more susceptible to negative outcomes from exposure to other types of toxins that maybe other people don’t feel as severely.
Sophie Shepherd 21:28
Absolutely. And I see a smaller effect of that in my client population, I see a lot of mold illness. A lot of people with mycotoxins from their home, I think it’s like estimated that at least 40% of homes have had water damage or mold exposure. And those are also the same people that are more sensitive to chemicals and fragrance and things like that. And there’s this really incredible book, I don’t know if you’ve read it from Annie Hopper called Wired for healing, where she gets a massive mold exposure mycotoxin exposure, and then ends up getting the electrical hypersensitivity, the chemical, I mean, the chemical sensitivity to the point where like, she had specific I mean, this is gonna sound insane, but it makes sense for what we’re saying. But she had specific regulations around when people would come into her home, they couldn’t wear perfume, they couldn’t do any of these things. And eventually, she had to kind of rewrite rewire her entire limbic system in order to function in society in today’s society. So yeah, you know, I do I see these kind of cross things. I don’t I don’t see it as extreme as that as a woman. But it makes a lot of sense. And, you know, something I teach my clients a lot is like, what is your stress load? Because people think of stress is like, just want mental emotional, but when we actually think about who what is hitting our, our body, and that literally, by, by your definition of how our body functions, their energy, right, there’s has to be an electric charge there, then we start to see, well, yeah, I’ve got a jerk boss, you know, I’ve got a kid with a cold, you know, I have, you know, IBS, or maybe a parasite or something. And, you know, and then I have these electro magnetic fields everywhere. And then I have passed, I mean, it’s like this a lot that we’re trying to kind of dump out of our stress bucket or our toxic load bucket. And it just makes total sense to me that this would be part of the equation to start to think about. Absolutely. Oh, so Okay, so we’ve kind of covered a lot of different things that this can affect, and even mentioned some some reproductive things, miscarriage and infertility. I would love to maybe talk about, I want the tips for sure, in a second. But I, I also, it kind of occurs to me that as I’m sitting here, and we’re, you know, on our technology of this conversation, like our world is very much set up for technology heavy days, right. So, like, how can we ensure some self care around technology? Like how do we have this healthier relationship with technology? Because it’s not just EMFs? It’s also, you know, the world of Instagram and Tiktok, and negativity and all this different stuff? Like, where do you see that’s
R Blank 24:14
super true? And yeah, and when you get into certain classes of the negative health effects, right, so I’m thinking of examples like sleep disruption, or sleeplessness or increased anxiety, it can be actually very difficult to tease the science is still very young on this. And it can be very difficult to tease out like if you’re measuring higher rates of anxiety from people who are using Facebook or Instagram all the time. Like is that how much of that was coming from Facebook or Instagram versus how much of that is coming from the phone that they’re on and the blue light that they’re getting and the lack of sleep from all so
Sophie Shepherd 24:50
the lack of socialization with like your peers? Yeah, exactly. And it’s like a whole soup of bad. Yeah,
R Blank 24:57
no. So it’s a really great question and That’s a lot of what we tackle on my healthier tech podcast. So separate from questions of EMF, it’s how do we focus on building a healthier relationship with technology overall, because there’s no getting, there’s no getting to a zero EMF lifestyle. And there is no getting to a zero tech lifestyle if you want to participate in the modern world in any way. And so a lot of it is about setting and enforcing boundaries, right? So creating quiet times where you and your family aren’t allowed to use your screens. I, we interviewed someone on my podcast who actually got a time lock safe to enforce this for himself. So he can put his phone, but it’ll depend on how he’s feeling right. So this is an extreme example, I don’t mean to say everyone should go out and buy a time lock safe. But I think it’s a great illustration, right? So he’ll say, You know what, I need two hours out my phone, or I need a weekend without my phone, and he’ll put his phone in the Time Lock safe, lock it up. And then he has that enforcement mechanism, I was talking to another podcaster, the bomb mom who was talking about she doesn’t restrict, or at least she might have changed this. But at the time, she doesn’t restrict how much her kids can use the phone, but she makes them go up and stand at the bar while they do it. So they can’t just lay down on the couch. And you know, wile away the time, like if they want to get on the phone, they can but they have to go and stand up at the bar and do it and they’re complaining about it. But you create these rules that create kind of enforcement mechanisms that by their nature, limit your use and increase your appreciation of this stuff. But there’s other ways that are simpler and more applicable to a lot of people. So one, if you’re not doing it already, is measuring screen time, which every almost every device now has built in. So make sure you’re doing that because just as the famous management guru, Peter Drucker said, what gets measured gets managed. And until your Manage measuring how much of this you’re using, you may not even realize how much of your time is being spent.
Sophie Shepherd 27:08
I remember when that that feature came out on my phone, and it was kind of eye opening, and I get them on Sundays like a weekly report. And I always feel so proud of myself when the percentage is down there like an amount of time per day or per week that you know, we shouldn’t be shooting for, like a goal that we should do, or is it just like, know what it is and then maybe try to lower it.
R Blank 27:29
So from my perspective, you know, and this is separate from EMF, this is just about healthy tech, it’s really about how you feel, it’s about optimizing the best outcome and your your own personal feelings about so, you know, that would be different for every person and what they are trying to achieve in their life. But, you know, you can use your phone five hours a day and still feel like it’s not harming your mental state. It’s not giving you increased anxiety, if you’re getting actual use out of the like, it’s gonna be different if those five hours are spent on Facebook are those five hours are spent on Duolingo, right? Because it’s all about what you’re getting out of that relationship. So I don’t view that there are hard and fast rules, I do think that you need to take a self awareness. So you need to constantly be taking an inventory of your emotions, about how this is making you feel what you are getting out of it. And kind of go from there. The one other thing I’ll say that I think everyone should do, and not enough people do is my phone is always in Do Not Disturb unless I know I’m expecting an important call. It’s always in Do Not Disturb no app can send me notifications, because they don’t deserve to
Sophie Shepherd 28:49
totally get it on airplane mode. Get it on Do Not Disturb like Yeah, I mean, I tell my clients thought at least for asleep like please put your
R Blank 28:57
so never sleep with your phone, never sleep. There are studies now and I’ve been saying this for years because of the EMF. But there’s studies now that show that even if you turn off your phone, if it is in your room with you, it will negatively impact your sleep because of this reflex that’s built into your head like you’re still kind of expecting it to send you you know, like a serotonin reward. Yeah, you know,
Sophie Shepherd 29:21
I’ve only heard getting my husband on board with that.
R Blank 29:25
Yes, yes. spouses and significant others can be difficult sources of I don’t know. But this consultant that I work with, has seen her clients get divorced because no one is EMF sensitive, couldn’t stand the phone in the bedroom. The spouse didn’t believe that that was the case. And it was this constant source of friction it and ended up leading to divorce and it’s you know, it’s sad.
Sophie Shepherd 29:49
I can see that, you know, it’s interesting, like I my husband and I are very different in that sense too. And I was actually realizing like he’s a creator so he’ll turn on his phone as soon as he You wakes up and I don’t even know if he puts it on airplane mode. I’ve asked him like 400 times, I’m not sure if he does anymore. But like, he’ll be on his phone on Instagram or scrolling or news consumption in the bed. Like, I’ll be asleep. And he’ll be in doing that. And I am just not that way. Like for me, like kind of what you’re saying about checking in with your emotions, I need at least an hour without anybody, any friend, any parents, anybody, except for the person him to be able to ask me anything requesting anything of me, and certainly not in the impressionable state when you first wake up of like, kind of imprinting things from social media. And it’s just so funny how differently that actually charges him up to wake up and create something on his phone. Like, he’ll create these like morning reminder things for people, which are really cute. And I’m just like, I don’t care. Like they all get my time that early in the morning.
R Blank 30:52
So yeah, for me, it’s not I gave up social media in 2015. And you know, that makes me feel good. It makes me feel good. But it also, you know, gives me this, like, makes me feel good about myself, like, look, I look what I did, I gave up social media, all you people need to do it too. And then eventually, I realized, I replaced at least part of that, with what I came to realize was an unhealthy relationship with news. And so I’d be reading too much news. And so that’s when I, you know, part of it is using the phone less, but part of it is also finding different activities to do. And so that’s where Duolingo comes in. And I also installed this app just a few months ago called headway, which summarizes best selling books in like 15 minutes. So I could, you know, in the morning, when I’m puttering around, like, I’m not going to pick up a book and start reading. But you know, I could listen to a 15 minute summary of it. And so I bet it’s an example of finding different ways of, of engaging with the technology that might be, you know, less harmful, and in fact, more beneficial. Because this way, I’m learning some new ideas, I’m not getting the full value out of the whole book. But if I like it, I can, I can get it on my Kindle. And so the point is realizing that you’re in control, so you start need to, you need to start measuring. And when I say measuring, like I say screentime is a good one. But it’s not just that it’s a self evaluation. It’s how is this making me feel? How is this contributing to my life? To my day to my mood? Is it making me feel better for getting ready for work? Or is it making me feel more relaxed on a Saturday, and if not, you are the one in control, and you are the one capable of making these changes, it’s your phone, you can uninstall what you want, you can turn it off when you want and, and realizing that you have that power and then doing it. That’s a huge part of taking the steps towards healthier tech.
Sophie Shepherd 32:46
I 100%. Agree. And I also can relate to the news thing. And for me, I I’m very much an empath I don’t know if anyone here follows like human design, I’m projector, I’m like super like stuff affects me big time. And during the pandemic, we were living with my mom and dad, and my mom and dad would want to watch the news every night right at dinner time. And I’m like, you guys know that I teach about gut health, right? And like, eating. Not good. So, you know, I had to create that boundary. And it was like, annoying for my parents, I think at first and I was like, Look, if you want to spend time with me, I’ll be on the porch, like, I’m not doing this, if you want to watch it on your own time, then fine, but not during my dinner like or I’m not going to be in the room. And you know, I just think you’re right, like we get to choose. And a lot of times we just kind of put in this like, wheel of of that we don’t get to choose that these rituals, attack has
R Blank 33:38
become so accessible. And while you know certain things cost a lot of money in the grand scale of things, you know, so cheap, and so accessible, that these experiences start pervading everything. Yeah, so what used to be, for lack of a better term, a safe space, or a calm space now has 15 different triggers in there, whether it’s the smart speaker or your fridge now has an attitude because it’s hooked up with smart or the cell phone that’s laying around or whatever it is. And so all of these spaces that used to be quiet and serene and peaceful, increasingly, they you have intrusions from technology. And so again, the key is to remember that you are actually the one in control of this at least when you’re in your own home. And you really should be taking advantage of the fact that you are the master of that domain and and you can sculpt your relationship with technology in such a way that it benefits you instead of detracting from your quality of life.
Sophie Shepherd 34:39
Yeah, I love that. I would love to transition over to in terms of kind of talking about, you know, self care and in relationship to technology. How do we what are some of the things you mentioned moving your phone away farther from you? Probably not keeping your phone and even in the room. It sounds like when you’re sleeping. So what are some things people can do that are easy II for reducing EMF exposure specifically?
R Blank 35:03
Sure, sure. So there’s two key rules. One is you up. And the first one is very obvious, which is used less EMF emitting technology. Right. So, again, like I said, it’s obvious, but there’s a whole lot of ways where you can be doing that. So first off, you know, they keep trying to sell you all these new smart things smart this smart that you don’t need it, right. So the example I like giving for this case, is a smart fridge. Every time I go to the store, right, they’re trying to sell me a smart fridge, I can’t think of a single use case, that makes that a smart decision. So that’s an example of like, we have a perfectly good technology. Let’s keep that one. And let’s not pay extra and get this smart fridge that’s now also more sources of EMF in our lives. So that’s, that’s, that’s one that I like giving another example, by the way, is smart tampons. Which, everyone, whenever I bring this up, people are shocked that these exists. Yeah, it exists. And obviously, it goes in a very vulnerable part of the body. And so this is one of these things. So they’re, they keep trying to market all of this smart tech to you. Basically, if there’s a reason for you to get a piece of smart tech, then get that piece of smart tech, but don’t just get it because someone’s trying to sell it to you. And you’re kind of mindlessly just buying new smart tech, which, which, which is what a lot of people do. That’s how because I grew up in, you know, in an era where technology was seen as this amazing. I mean, it still is seen as an amazing thing. But it was basically seen as you can’t do any bad. Like, if there’s this new piece of tech out, it’s awesome, and you want to buy it, especially if Apple’s making it right. It’s kind of changed now where it Tech has gotten so big, and it’s so pervasive that you really have to start exercising some discretion in terms of which aspects of it you want to buy and support and bring into your life. Those are just some examples. Another example of using less of this stack tech is turning off your Wi Fi when you go to sleep, right. So it’s not necessarily not buying it, but just only turning it on when it needs to be on. And so turning off your Wi Fi, when you go to sleep is a really great tool. It’s one of my top two tips that I give people and are big number of those people come back and say basically that same night, they start sleeping better. By the way, this is true. Even if you’re in an apartment building. And when you turn on your Wi Fi and you see like 30 networks. Yeah, like why bother turning mine off? Sure. And the reason it’s true has to do with the second key rule of EMF protection, right? So I said the first was using less EMF tag close it is to your body. And second is how close it is to your body. And the reason for that is the power of EMF radiation diminishes exponentially with distance. Right. So what does that mean in practice, that means if you have your phone, and it’s an inch away from your body, and you double that, and it’s now two inches away from your body, the power of your exposure to that radiation has gone down 75% Whoa, does that for every doubling. Wow, that’s how EMF radiation works. And that’s exactly why never carrying your phone on your body, or holding it up to your head. That is the number one tip that I give people. Because even as you have all of like we said, you turn on your Wi Fi, you see 30 networks, you look out your window, you see five cell towers, even as we have all of these sources around us, these cell phones are so high powered, and they are on our bodies, so much of the time that between the power level and the duration of the exposure, even with everything else out there in the world that we’re increasingly like, oh my god, I’m so worried about it, it’s for a lot of people carrying your phone in your pocket, or your bra can be one of the biggest if not the biggest source of your own personal exposure. So stopping carrying your phone in your pocket, or your bra or holding it up onto your head. That is the number one thing that people can do. Alternatively, putting it into airplane mode while you’re doing it, right. So if you have to carry it in your pocket, put it into airplane mode first. And then you’re essentially eliminating all of these omissions off of the device. So those are the big things and then so it’s minimize your use of EMF emitting tech maximize the distance between the tech and your body when it is in use. And then it’s after that where once you reduce your exposure. Those are the two best sets of things to do is is basically eliminating the exposure in the first place. But after that, once you’ve taken those steps, that’s where EMF protection products can come in. And so I mentioned carrying your phone as being a really important activity to avoid or to reduce. So you say don’t carry your phone in your pocket. And some people will say, Well, where am I supposed to carry?
Sophie Shepherd 40:13
Right? Like I want to do like, you know, put it on a crown on top of my head, like,
R Blank 40:18
no, that’s not much better. Yeah, so like, what are we gonna do? So that’s where I so I make a growing line of pouches and bags designed specifically to make it safer to carry your phone. And so in these, the back of the pouch, or the bag is lined with radiation shielding the front isn’t. And so that, that the the radiation shielding deflects the cellphone radiation away from your body. But the fact that the front of the bag isn’t shielded means your phone can still work, it can still send and receive calls and texts and so forth. So we have the phone pouch, we have the pouch Deluxe, we have the sling bag, we have the backpack, and we have, we have more of these are coming into our catalog next year. And it’s because I view that and we have more than this in our catalog. But I view this as the number one most important use case that people can really make a difference in their overall exposure. So that’s what I would, I would say, you know, stop carrying your phone in your pocket or your bra. Or if you can’t, or won’t stop doing that, then get, you know, like one of my products like the s yp phone pouch, or the s yp sling bag or something like that.
Sophie Shepherd 41:22
Yeah, I know, there’s a lot of those different types of products out there. And some of them are not as good as others I understand. It’s good to know that you are making that because obviously, you’ve been studying this for a long time. So I’m sure you’ve tested it. And
R Blank 41:35
yes, so we have independent lab testing for all of our products. I also have a I forget how long it’s like a 70 page guide that I’ve written for people to show them how they can test my claims for themselves at home with equipment that they can buy. So yes, we take we take testing and product claims very, very seriously love that
Sophie Shepherd 41:56
transparency, because that’s you know, there’s a lot of people out there that are I even bought one I didn’t know like that it was terrible. I tested it with one of those, like, I think it was like a radiation or a Wi Fi test or thingy. And it didn’t do anything. And I was like, oh man that was totally wasted 50 bucks or, or whatever. So this is actually good to know that you guys sell this stuff. And I do have one other question for you that I’ve always wondered is, what about your headphones? Because I see you’re plugged in. So is Bluetooth, like the worst thing ever those little like Apple things? Your ears.
R Blank 42:27
So yes, Bluetooth, I strongly advise against Bluetooth Bluetooth is the same kind of radiation as Wi Fi. Okay. And it’s lower powered, but you tend to, you know, keep all these people with their air pods and everything. Yeah, they put it right there in their ears, which is a very vulnerable part of your body not only because of the proximity to the brain and eyes, but also because that’s a part of the head that has no natural shielding, right? There’s there’s a hole in the skull, that’s how your ears can work is there’s holes in the skull. And so that eliminates even the limited amount of natural shielding that you would have. And again, you know, people don’t tend to use them for a minute and then put them away. They’re using them for hours every day. Yeah. And this stuff. It’s just it’s released without any long term like air pods have existed for I forget how long four years now, something like that. How can you know what that does? After using it for 10 or 20 years? You can’t because we are the guinea pigs in these experiments. And so they released the technology. And then it’s 1020 30 years later, we realize what it does, but by then, you know, we’re already on to 15 other times of crazy technological exposures. Yeah, always use wired headsets. Or if you’re on your phone speakerphone is good. We also make anti radiation headsets. Oh, cool. So these are called air tubes. But the most important thing is is not using Bluetooth. Good to
Sophie Shepherd 43:52
know. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, I just I just finally got away from the Apple pod air pods or whatever. And got some headsets, they could they can be Bluetooth, but they do plug in and I actually would prefer that. So thank you for telling me that I have personally a lot from this episode. And I feel like there’s so many it sounds like there are just like these really free easy ways to reduce this exposure. And again, if not, you can always look up ours company and we’ll link it in the show notes. If you’re like Yeah, that’s cool, but I’m gonna keep carrying in my pocket. Maybe you spring for one of these or you know, put it on your hair black Friday, which lizards I’m like that so well. Cool. Is there any other any anything else that you wanted to share with everybody before we wrap up the podcast today?
R Blank 44:39
No, I just yeah, thank you so much Sophie for for the opportunity to come chat with you and reach your audience. I do want to really just as a last last statement reinforced for people the amount of control that you actually do. We were talking earlier about the you know crazy amounts of toxins in the atmosphere and in the world today. And you know, some of them are just, there’s like, what are you going to do about them other, you know, short of changing the world. EMF, that isn’t the case, right? I mean, there’s a lot that really should be done in terms of safety standards, and the government should be protecting us more than they are on a lot. But even even given that, because of the nature of EMF, there is a tremendous amount that you can do just by focusing on your own personal relationship with the technology that is in your life, and you can make massive reductions, the goal is not zero EMF. That is, that is a crazy goal that would not it’s just not feasible in today’s world. But you can make really massive reductions, just by tweaking your relationship with the technology in your life. And it’ll bring all sorts of other benefits as well.
Sophie Shepherd 45:52
I love that message. Because that’s very much in line with my brand. And everything I teach my clients is you are in the driver’s seat, you’re in control, you get to choose and it’s one step at a time, like, you know, maybe you already bought a water filter, and you eat organic. So maybe this is the next thing you do. You turn your phone on airplane mode, every little bit helps. And you’re in the driver’s seat. So I love that message. And thank you so much for coming on and sharing all this amazing information and education. As always, it’s it’s just a pleasure to interview new people and learn what the good is that you’re doing in the world. So thank you so much.
R Blank 46:24
Thank you very much. This has been great. I really appreciate it.
Sophie Shepherd 46:27
Awesome. All right, everybody. Well hope you enjoy today’s episode and go check out ours company. We’re gonna link it in the show notes and I’ll see you guys in
just a couple weeks. I hope this episode got you one step closer to achieving your optimal health. If you liked this episode, please spend a few seconds to rate it so more women can find this resource. Be sure to tune in for more women’s health support next week on the she talks health podcast. And in the meantime, you can find me on Instagram or Facebook at she talks health. I have an open door DM policy. No question is stupid and I’m always here for you
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
