Separating the good from the bad, and how I use wearables like Hapbee to shape my electromagnetic environment
At the start of the biohacking movement, I included electromagnetic frequencies (EMFs) as one of the technologies that hack your biology. Back then, most people were highly skeptical that EMFs had any impact on our biology at all. This was despite clear evidence that the majority of man-made EMFs in your environment can sap your energy and make your cells weak.
EMFs are a type of radiation that you absorb – everything from the natural resonance of lightning strikes in the atmosphere, to countless man-made sources. Unnatural EMFs harm your cells’ ability to make energy efficiently, especially WiFi, radar, cell networks, phones, laptops, and other electronic devices. These EMFs can interfere with your performance, especially when it comes to sleep and recovery.
But not all EMFs are bad. Anything that has an impact on your biology can be used for you or against you. That’s why you can use structured EMFs to create major increases in your recovery, sleep, focus, resilience to stress, and more.
This article talks about how to hack your EMF exposure for better performance, using the algorithm behind everything I do. First, stop doing things that make you weak, then do the things that make you stronger. I’ll cover:
- 3 simple ways to reduce your negative EMF Exposure
- The types of good EMFs and what each one does for you
- My review of the Hapbee wearable
3 Simple Ways to Reduce Your EMF Exposure
In most homes, the biggest sources of EMF exposure are your wireless devices, your wifi router, and your inbound electrical current. There are simple and cheap strategies to reduce, but not eliminate, all three.
1. Turn Off Your Router Before Bed
Your WiFi router is likely the main source of EMF radiation in your home. The good news is that it’s also the easiest to deal with — just turn it off before bed. This simple step reduces your exposure by about 1/3, and it does it right at the time when your body needs energy for recovery.
I’ve turned my WiFi router off at night for more than a decade and seen a marked improvement in my deep sleep as a result. If you don’t want to do it manually at night, it’s also easy and cheap to install a timer that cuts the power according to a schedule. The free option is to just unplug or switch off your router after you brush your teeth.
2. Clean Up Your Electrical Current
You can learn more about this from Bulletproof Radio guests like Dr. Joseph Mercola and Josh del Sol. Those episodes are both worth your time, and the gist is that some individuals are electro-sensitive, and even more of us might be suffering subtle changes to our sleep patterns from power in our houses that runs at the default frequency (60 Hz).
The easiest way to protect against “dirty” electricity is to install filters. You just plug them into your electrical outlets and they keep your electricity at a steady 60 Hz frequency without chaotic fluctuations that create additional biological stress.
3. Limit Time on Devices
Look: I use my cell phone and laptop every day. They allow me to run my businesses, connect with family and friends, and do far, far more than I could if I were living like it’s 1985.
I know the radiation my devices put out isn’t good for me. But I also know that you can’t live your life in fear and that your body has extraordinary power to heal itself, so I minimize my exposure but don’t fear it either.
So use your wireless devices thoughtfully. Make calls with wired headphones. Keep your laptop out of your lap. Put your phone in airplane mode when you’re not using it. And when you want to browse, you can plug your phone into a wired ethernet plug using this handy adaptor, so you can keep it in airplane mode and read all of my Instagram posts! My phone sits on one of these adaptors at my desk.
If you take those 3 steps, you’ll be doing yourself a huge favor and really reduce the amount of electromagnetic noise in your environment.
The 2 Types of Good EMFs (and What Each One Does for You)
Not all EMFs are bad for you. There are two kinds of EMFs that you can use to enhance your performance.
Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) Therapy
Unlike the broad-spectrum EMFs that electronics emit, PEMF devices release large dose targeted EMFs at specific frequencies, which make cells stronger.
PEMF devices act as a cellular workout. They gently stress your cells, and your cells respond by becoming stronger and more efficient.
In fact, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved PEMF devices for healing:
There’s also strong evidence that PEMF therapy can relieve depression[*].
I use PEMF to speed up muscle and joint recovery after I work out and to drive bone density. However, these devices are quite expensive, which is why most people use them at clinics like Upgrade Labs.
Ultra-Low Radio Frequency Energy (ulRFE)
This is the newest and most impressive form of healthy EF. You may know that I’m a fan of nootropics — compounds that improve your brain function.
ulRFE acts like an electronic nootropic. ulRFE devices release a range of subtle frequencies that influence your brain waves, changing your mental and physiological state within minutes.
The cool thing about ulRFE is that you get to choose how you optimize your brain. You can send signals that tell your brain to focus, relax, sleep, socialize, and more. The signals are far more complex than PEMF and based on biological functions.
Because ulFRE is so new, there aren’t many devices out there that give you access to it. The only two I’ve found that do anything are a very expensive clinical laptop-based version I use with clients in my neurofeedback clinic, and the affordable portable one I keep by my bed and use every day, called Hapbee.
Hapbee is a wearable headband or necklace that sends ulRFE waves directly into your brain, allowing you to shift mental states on demand. It offers 6 different settings:
- “Calm” instead of taking something for mental stress
- “Alert” for afternoons when it’s too late for coffee
- “Sleepy” instead of taking melatonin or other sleep aids
- “Focus” for long work days
- “Happy” instead of alcohol or social drugs
- “Relax” for relaxing and when you have physical anxiety in the body
I use Hapbee throughout the day. Calm enhances my morning meditation, Alert is ideal when I’m up late writing, and Sleepy increases my time in deep sleep, helping me wake up rested, with more REM and deep sleep in sleep 6.5 hours a night than most people get in 8 hours.
Use Good EMFs to Hack Your Performance
If you want to use the EMF spectrum to better your life, start with Hapbee because it is a tiny fraction of the cost of heavy-duty PEMF, and lets you control your state directly.
You can find PEMF therapy at Upgrade Labs or functional medicine offices – it’s not feasible to buy your own device, as the good ones are quite expensive and you use them much less often than a Hapbee.
Hapbee is a more convenient option and the best way to get started biohacking with EMFs. You can get Hapbee here and save $50 because you follow me.
It’s worth your time to pay attention to EMFs — both by blocking the damaging ones and taking advantage of the good ones. Doing both can make a big difference in how you feel from day to day.
(Disclosure: I use clinical PEMF at Upgrade Labs, which I started. I use clinical ulRFE at 40 Years of Zen, which I started. I am an investor in Hapbee, because it’s awesome!)
