I still remain stymied by why people stand in line for days to buy the latest Apple phone. I understand this is a unique consumer marketing phenomena. There will probably be yet another stampede when it’s released next year.
Are you going to buy the new Apple watch? Before you do, I hope you’ll consider that wearing one may be hazardous to your health. I have written about the dangers of cell phone. One study even found men who wear cell phones on their belts have lower sperm counts.
I’m concerned this one will increase exposure to electromagnetic radiation, as it is my understanding you must have an iPhone in order for it to functional.
Every day, we’re continuously exposed to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) produced by electrical appliances, power lines, wiring in buildings, and a slew of other technologies that are part of modern life. From the dishwasher and microwave oven in the kitchen and the clock radio next to your bed, to the recently installed wireless utility meter, to the cellular phone you hold to your ear—sometimes for hours each day—exposure to EMR is growing and becoming a serious health threat.
We have all been exposed to microwaves and other forms of electromagnetic pollution that has significant health implications.
If anything we should be decreasing our exposure to EMR, much less increase it or wear it on our body.
I find it ironic that using the watch for health monitoring purposes of a potentially health damaging instrument the height of ironies.
Currently, there are over 50,000 health and wellness apps available. Some are good, but I don’t think you have to track your health to improve it. I think they can play a role in helping the user to improve her/his health and well-being; it is still a tool, and not the solution. The solution to truly improving your health lies within you. The most important thing is to pay attention to your body, and take heed, as no app can do that better than you can for yourself!
I wonder not if the Apple watch will improve your health, but will it harm it the wearers health?
Many believe there’s a huge public health crisis looming from one particular threat: EMR from cellular phones—both the radiation from the handsets and from the tower-based antennas carrying the signals—which studies have linked to development of brain tumors, genetic damage, and other exposure-related conditions.
In addition to the studies that found that brain tumors are linked to cell phone radiation—more recent ones have found that men wearing them experienced lower sperm count! So imagine, what wearing a cell phone on your arm, might do to your arm’s health!
Wearing Cell Phones Decrease Sperm Count
Many men who talk on a cell phone using a Bluetooth device or other headset keep the phone in a pants pocket or clipped to a holster. This exposes their reproductive organs to cell phone radiation, and several studies have found lower sperm count and/or poorer sperm quality in men who use their phones this way than in those who do not
Although most scientific and public attention on the issue of the safety of cell phone radiation has focused on evidence suggesting an increased risk of brain tumors, a little-noticed but growing body of research points to a new concern – sperm damage.
In a comprehensive review of the published scientific literature, the Environmental Working Group found 10 human studies that have identified a startling variety of changes in sperm exposed to cell phone radiation. In the most striking findings, men who carried their phones in a pocket or on the belt were more likely to have lower sperm counts and/or more inactive or less mobile sperm. These findings accord with similar results in laboratory animals.
Collectively, the research indicates that exposure to cell phone radiation may lead to decreases in sperm count, sperm motility and vitality, as well as increases in indicators of sperm damage such as higher levels of reactive oxygen species (chemically reactive molecules containing oxygen), oxidative stress, DNA damage and changes in sperm morphology.
Studies linking cell phone exposure to harmful effects on sperm have been done in the United States, Australia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, Turkey and South Africa, using diverse methodologies. In some, scientists compared sperm counts and sperm health in men who wore cell phones on the hip with those who carried them elsewhere on the body or did not use cell phones at all. In others, researchers exposed sperm to cell phone radiation under laboratory conditions. In still others, scientists examined whether there was a correlation between sperm health and the intensity of cell phone use among men undergoing evaluation for infertility.
Among the findings:
- Men who carried a phone in a hip pocket or on the belt had 11 percent fewer mobile sperm than men who kept a phone elsewhere on the body.
- Men who carried a cell phone on the belt and used it intensively during a five-day test period had a 19 percent drop in highly motile sperm from their previous levels.
- Men who talked on the phone for more than an hour a day had 17 percent fewer highly motile sperm than men who talked less than 15 minutes a day.
Laboratory studies on the effects of cell phone radiation on rats, rabbits and other animals have found similar effects on reproductive health.
All these studies found statistically significant correlations between cell phone radiation and sperm health, and many found that the adverse changes increased with the amount of radiation exposure. Opinions differ as to the possible mechanism by which cell phone radiation might produce these changes.
A number of research papers include significant statements on the potential of cell phone radiation to affect men’s reproductive health:
- “Keeping the cell phone in a trouser pocket in talk mode may negatively affect spermatozoa and impair male fertility”.
- “Use of cell phones decreases the semen quality in men by decreasing the sperm count, motility, viability and normal morphology. The decrease in sperm parameters was dependent on the duration of daily exposure to cell phones and independent of the initial semen quality”.
- “These findings have clear implications for the safety of extensive mobile phone use by males of reproductive age, potentially affecting both their fertility and the health and wellbeing of their offspring”.
- “Overall, these findings raise a number of related health policy and patient management issues that deserve our immediate attention. Specifically, we recommend that men of reproductive age who engage in high levels of mobile phone use do not keep their phones in receiving mode below waist level”.
- “Our results showed that cell phone use negatively affects sperm quality in men… Men with poor sperm quality planning for pregnancy should be advised not to use cell phones extensively”.
- “The results show that human spermatozoa exposed to RF-EMR have decreased motility, morphometric abnormalities and increased oxidative stress, whereas men using mobile phones have decreased sperm concentration, motility…, normal morphology, and viability. These abnormalities seem to be directly related with the length of mobile phone use”.
Even as scientists continue to gather new data on health risks from cell phone radiation, the findings underscore that consumers should practice simple, precautionary safe-cell-phone-use habits, such as keeping the phone away from the body, in order to protect their health and fertility. Men, in particular, should avoid carrying a cell phone on the belt or in a pants pocket when in use.
Source:
http://www.ewg.org/cell-phone-radiation-damages-sperm-studies-find