It sounds bizarre, it defies logic, and many will never believe it, but "electronic pollution" in your bedroom can screw up your sleep and make life HELL!
Want a great night's sleep like you never had in years? Gut your bedroom all of electronic devices and high currents, and you'll be stunned at how well you sleep.
The solution to insomnia may be easier than you ever imagined. If you're tired of miserable sleeps, tired of lying awake most nights, and tired of waking up "half dead," irritable and depressed in the morning -- read true stories.
Case #1: A journalist in Germany had not had a good night's sleep in almost 7 years. The best medications, herbs and vitamins were almost useless. Twenty doctors couldn't help him. Finally, a scientist adviced that he remove all the "electronic garbage" from his bedroom -- the electric radio, TV, stereo, answering machine, electric clocks and a thick power cord directly under his bed. He was skeptical, but did it anyway. Only 24 hours after doing this, he got such a good night's sleep, he cried for joy when he woke up.
Case #2: A family in South Carolina moved into a new home. For over 10 years, no one could sleep well. They were up all hours of the night. Just 2 days after the electronic pollution was eliminated from the bedroom, the wife said, "This is the first time I can ever remember sleeping through the night."
Case #3: A dentist in Germany was living on sleeping pills for more than 10 years. At most, he could only sleep 5 hours a night. Then he took everything electric out of his bedroom. That very first night, after 10 years of rotten sleep, he slept 14 hours straight, until 9:30, and he didn't even hear the hand-wound alarm clock!
These stories may seem hard to believe. But let's face it. As far as medical answers for sleeping problems, there "ain't much out there."
There are from 20 to 70 million chronic insomniacs in this country, and perhaps millions more who rarely get a good night's sleep. Maybe you are one of them.
It's not only the nights these people suffer from, it's the days as well. After a turbulent night of tossing and turning, plus frequent nightmares, sweating, muscle cramps, and gritting of teeth, these people often drag through the day with exhaustion, sometimes barely being able to work at even half their efficiency.
As far as a permanent cure goes, forget it. Whatever remedy people take, this usually just "covers up" and suppresses the real problem. If they stop taking their favorite remedy, their problems usually comes right back.
People take sleeping pills for 10 years straight, and they are often no closer to a genuine sollution than the day they started. Many are addicted, and don't even know it.
Sleeping pills are a "cure" that is often worse than insomnia. They can cause a host of problems -- everything from high blood pressure and depression, to skin rashes, impaired memory, and blurred vision, just to a name a few.
There has to be a better answer. And I think I have found it.
What the American health experts have totally ignored are the problems in the bedroom itself. It's so obvious when you think about it, but nearly everyone missed it.
But German and Swiss researchers didn't miss it. They have known for over 25 years that the bedroom is often the most dangerous room in the home. For decades in Germany, they have had professional "house inspectors" who check out your home for electromagnetic stress. Peole follow their advice, and usually, their chronic sleeping problems, and other ailments, start to disappear -- frequently within a few days or weeks.
For this issue, we interviewed one of the top experts in Germany on sleeping problems caused by electromagnetic stress. His name is Wolfgang Maes, and for the last 10 years, he has conducted over 3,500 house inspections
Mr. Maes now teaches seminars in Europe and the U.S, on how to correct what he calls "indoor electrical smog."
Mr. Maes is President of the Medical Institute for Bau-Biologie. The term "bau-biologie" means building biology. This is the science of how a building or sleeping room can influence the health of a person. We spent nearly a week interviewing Mr. Maes by telephone at his home in Germany.
BISER: How did you first make the connection between pollution and sleeping problems?
MAES: It was quite by accident. When I was 32, I was working as a journalist for one of the largest newspapers in Germany, the Rheinische Post. I was quite ill at the time. I didn't enjoy a good night's sleep in almost 7 years. Every night was miserable.
I always woke up in the morning tired to death. I would wake up and want to go right back to bed. That's how exhausted I was. I would say, "Good morning," and then turn around and say, "Good night."
I was a diabetic and had suffered 2 heart attacks. I was in intensive care twice. My life was going down so fast, that I tried everything — normal medicine, natural medicine, meditation, psychotherapy, and everything you can imagine. Drugs, herbs, vitamins, homeopathic pills, I took them all. It helped a little, but not enough.
I was taking about 6 to 7 strong medications for my problems. I had gone to over 20 different doctors. None of them helped much. I had just started to take insulin.
One day, a colleague of mine came over. He was a house inspector, an expert in indoor electrical pollution. He checked my bedroom and said this was where my problem was coming from. He said to take all the electrical appliances out of the bedroom, plus unplug the electric fuse going to the bedroom.
He was nice, but I was very, very skeptical. I didn't believe him too much. I didn't have a good feeling.
BISER: What was in your bedroom that was so harmful?
MAES: Just a few inches from my head where I slept were 2 radio alarm clocks and an answering machine. I later learned that the electric fields from these were 4 to 5 times worse than the surrounding field of a high tension line.
I also had a television set near the bed. Also, unbelievably, there was 150 feet of a high tension cord coiled right under my bed. I needed this to get contact to a lamp which was only 3 feet away. I had this there for years. It radiated like mad!
Plus I hd a magnetized spring mattress, with metal springs. The magnetic field from this was terrible. My bed frame was also metal, which made matters worse.
My house was very old and the quality of the electrical insulation was totally damaged. I learned I had strong electric fields in all the walls. Plus, my bedroom had a very highly electrostatically charged synthetic carpet. All these factors came together.
I was living in an electrical stress-factory. Intense electrical pollution surrounded my head and body whenever I slept.
While I was lying in bed, this house inspector tested a device on my body to detect voltage. Normally, a person should have a zero level of an artificial electric field. But his testing bulb lit up when he touched my tongue. I was a living outlet!
My sleeping environment was extreme. I had more than 10 volts in my body, and when my electric blanket was on, this went up to 140 volts. This is more than a billion times larger than normal. In the U.S. outlets, you have 110 volts. So my body had 30 volts more than an electrical outlet. Maybe now you can see why I could barely sleep.
BISER: Did you follow the inspector's unorthodox advice and clean out your bedroom?
MAES: I tried his recommendations, because they were so easy. I had nothing to lose. I stripped my bedroom clean of everything electric. I even yanked out the synthetic carpet.
BISER: Could you tell any difference after that first night?
MAES: That very next morning, I was weeping for joy. I had never slept that well in years. I could feel the difference. Right away, I could feel I was getting better, a little more so each day.
I knew something was happening for the better. This gave me a lot of power and hope. I knew what I was doing was the right way. I knew I had missed this feeling for so long. For the first time in years, I had a new positivity.
My sleep was sounder. I didn't toss and turn. I had a new quality coming into my life. Every night I got a little bit better, day by day. In a few weeks, I would wake up and my mind was clear. I was there. I could work again. I was creative agin. I had ideas again. I had desires again. All these things were gone from my life. Before, I would just wait around for the day to pass by.
In 6 months, I felt so much better, my diabetes disappeared completely. I didn't need medications anymore.
BISER: It seems preposterous that a serious disease like diabetes can be cured merely by gutting the bedroom of electronic pollution.
MAES I can only say what happened to me. Everyone is different. Each disease has so many causes. For 10 years now I have been completely free of all medications. I took maybe 4 to 5 aspirins in that time, but that's all. I have no problems with my heart, either. None whatsoever. Plus, I work 14 hours a day.
I'm a positive workaholic. My bad health led me into this field. This is the reason I am in the profession today. Without that experience, I would never have such a joyful job.
BISER: Have you found people who had bedrooms worse than yours?
MAES: Oh yes. Many times.
BISER: Why did the electrical devices have such an adverse effect on you in the bedroom? Why don't these things affect people in the living room? Perhaps it was just your imagination?
MAES: Electronic pollution in the bedroom is the most dangerous environmental hazard in our civilization. This is because, when you sleep, the body relaxes and is unconscious. In this state, you are about 100 to 150 times more vulnerable to electronic stress than when you are awake. Many children are often 1,000 times more sensitive when they sleep. Sleeping time is a highly sensitive time. Daytime is not so sensitive.
During waking hours, people in modern offices are exposed to a lot of stress — the fluorescent lights, the computers, the copy machines, the rotten air, and everything else. But this stress is nothing compared to the electromagnetic stress many experience in their own bedroom while sleeping.
When I began 10 years ago, I didn't expect this result. I always thought toxic gases like formaldehyde were the most dangerous hazards in our working and living spaces. After investigating over 3,500 homes, I found the average bedroom is more disturbing than the toxic gases we breathe.
Many people work in front of a computer all day. Then at night they sleep on a waterbed, or with an electric blanket, or with a lot of electric current all around them. So you never interrupt the day's stress. The body is never given a chance to regenerate.
More damage is done to your health in the bedroom, than any other room in the house. This is from what I call "electronic smog." This is the grand total of all manmade electromagnetic pollution.
You must unerstand that each organ in your body has 2 modes. One is a daytime mode, and the other is a nighttime mode. But because of the elctronic pollution in the bedroom, your organs never get to relax and rebuild during the nighttime. They are constantly bombarded by stress.
BISER: Why are these electrical fields so damaging to the body?
MAES: The electricity today is an artificial alternating current. This type of current does not exist in nature. In nature, you only find a direct current. The Bau-biologists in Germany say the normal "body voltage" should be under 20 millivolts. This is the limit. That's not volts — that's millivolts, which is 1/1000th of a volt.
However, some people in their bedrooms measure 1 to 100 volts!
It should be no surprise they can't sleep well.
BISER: Have other people noticed the same experiences you did, when they cleaned up their bedroom?
MAES: All the time. One case involved a married couple. The husband was a medical doctor. The wife was a dentist. They lived near Essen, Germany, near the Rhine river. They both slept very, very badly. She's worse than him. He was always down in the morning. But she just couldn't get out of the bed. She was always tired when she woke up, so she slept an hour longer.
We eliminated the electromagnetic smog in their bedroom. Now, they both are rested in the morning. They feel more awake, more alert, they don't toss and turn at night anymore.
Now, she looks in the mirror and her whole face is beautiful, just like when she went to bed at night. She is like a model. This excess water which appeared under her skin totally diappeared. She said she now looks totally different in the morning.
BISER: What are some basic tips for improving the environment of the bedroom?
MAES: Let me say this. The first is, no metal in the bed mattress or the bed frame. Any metal increases the chance that the body will be exposed to artificial magnetic fields. These fields are highly stressful to normal sleeping patterns.
The second thing is, no plastics. No synthetics. No synthetic curtains. No synthetic carpets. Clear the entire bedroom of all synthetics, including plastic furniture.
Very often, these synthetic items create very high static electric fields. These fields go into the air and destroy the healthy negative ions. They make a very bad room climate. They ruin the quality of the air you breathe. It doesn't do anything to the body directly, like a magnetic field, but it so distorts the air, it is like you are breathing "industrial air" when you sleep. Often, your bedroom air is even worse.
Also get rid of anything with a plug on it. The problem is not the radio, or the TV, or the computer, it is the built-in transformer. These transformers always make quite big electromagnetic fields.
If people did these things, many with sleeping problems would see a big improvement. You spend about a third of your life in the bedroom. It should be a temple, not an electrical warehouse.
BISER: Do all electrical devices have transformers?
MAES: A lot of everyday devices have them. But not all. But why take a chance?
If you can run a radio with batteries, there is no problem. A battery doesn't need a transformer. A wind-up clock is better than an electrical one.
BISER: Will most people clear their bedroom of all electrical devices? It's hard to imagine a person in the bedroom without clocks, radios or lamps.
MAES: If you have a serious sleeping problem, this is ideal. I like what my colleague Helmut Ziehe in America said, "If you want the best sleep possible, live like a monk in the bedroom."
This means, live very simply and sparsely in the area where you sleep. All you really need is a mattress. You never can go wrong with that approach. You sleep at night. You don't need radios, TV and answering machines near you.
Of course most people won't go that far. If any electrical device has a transformer, keep them at least 3 feet away. Do this and you'll have no problems. It's very simple.
But if the radio or alarm clock is only one foot away from your head, you have the same quality and quantity of stress as the electromagnetic field under a high tension line.
If you keep any appliances in the bedroom, make sure they're unplugged at night. The TV must go, whether it is unplugged or not.
BISER: Why does the TV have to go?
MAES: For most appliances, if they are turned off, but still plugged in, the electric voltage will still create a field around the device. So you must unplug all electrical appliances.
However, for the television, this is not enough. The television and computer screen can radiate for hours and hours — at least a whole night long — even after unplugging it. This is because there is a high voltage in the body of the screen, some 10,000 volts. It can take 3 to 6 hours or longer, sometimes 2 to 3 days, to unload this voltage.
So it's not enough to have the TV in the sleeping room and simply switch it off.
The screen will radiate "electrostatic loading" like the synthetic carpet. The screen floods the air with positive ions, which radically diminishes the negative ion count. At night, you breathe this polluted air while you sleep. It creates a problem with the air you breathe. It's not a problem of radiation reaching the body.
One option is to screen the TV and ground it, but not many people will go to that trouble. Best to kick it out of the bedroom and not worry about it. You can't watch TV while you sleep anyway.
BISER: You say to avoid mattresses with metal springs. Isn't that going a little too far?
MAES: Most of these beds produce harmful magnetic fields. You can test this yourself. Take a simple compass. Put the compass on the bed, above your mattress.
Often you'll find that the needle points to east in the head area, to west in the stomach area, and to northeast in the foot area. This means the whole mattress is so distorted, that a simple compass needle can't find the natural north anymore. This is something you don't find in nature.
The needle should point in only one direction — north. For the best sleep, make sure the needle doesn't move at all. In 50% of the cases where the compass needle fluctuates all over the place, the reason is the metal spring mattress. This is because the mattress springs are artificially magnetized. Most scientists knowledgeable in this area whould agree that these magnetic fields aren't healthy for your body.
BISER: How many mattresses present this problem?
MAES: I would say 60%, or more. The best way to prevent this is to check out a mattress with a compass before you buy it. Another important point with beds is to always avoid metal bed frames, whenever possible. Get rid of all that metal around you when you sleep. This is very important.
BISER: What should people sleep on?
MAES: Either a mattress with no springs or a natural futon mattress.
BISER: I doubt many will like sleeping on a thin futon mat.
MAES: Some futons are 8 inches thick. They come in all sizes. Futons are getting more popular than ever. In Germany, they are very common. Whatever mattress you use, make sure the frame is wooden — not metal.
BISER: What about waterbeds?
MAES: They're very dangerous. Many people who sleep on waterbeds have extremely high levels of "body voltage." Often over 1,000,000 times the normal level. Quite often, these people light up the bulb on a testing device. I have heard numerous stories of women who had miscarriages who slept on waterbeds.
In Germany, people don't use waterbeds. It's very rare. The electric waterbeds and the electric blankets are one of the biggest electric smog producers in our sleeping rooms.
BISER: How about electric heating systems?
MAES: If you ahve electric heating boards on the floor, you have to be careful. The whole room can become like an electric blanket. Keep a distance from them. Maybe at least 3 feet.
BISER: Is it really necessary for people to get rid of their synthetic carpets in the bedrooms? I doubt many people want to live like a monk.
MAES: Synthetic carpets, synthetic drapes and synthetic wallpaper are more dangerous than you can imagine. They can destroy the valuable negative ions in the air. It's like sleeping in the ion-deficient Santa Ana winds — the warm, dry winds of southern California. (The "witch's winds.")
The problem arises when the humidity is low. This results in "electrostatic loading" on the wall or carpet. If a curtain, for example, is hanging beneath the heating system, it's always dry — and radiating like mad.
If you have a synthetic carpet, and you live in Florida where the humidity can often reach 80% or more, it doesn't matter that much. The humidity diminishes the electrostatic loading. If you live somewhere else, and you have 30, 40 or 50% humidity, the same synthetic carpet or drape can make a very large, risky field. During the winter, the air in many people's homes is extremely dry.
Dry air by itself is not too bad. It's the combination of dry air with synthetics and electrostatic loading which makes the problem. This creats a very bad air ionization. You have a lot of electric smog in the air.
In a clean room, with normal wallpaper, with a wood or stone floor, with wood furniture, without any synthetic material, the dry air is not the problem. It's becoming a problem because of our present civilization.
BISER: Are synthetic blankets bad for the same reason?
MAES: When you are lying under a synthetic blanket, your body itself is somehow keeping the blanket moist enough not to cause a problem. However, if you can get a natural blanket or comforter, so much the better.
BISER Will a humidifier help when the air is dry?
MAES: If you don't have the synthetics in the bedroom, you don't really need a humidifier. The humidifier will help but it's best to yank out the synthetic rug.
BISER: If a person lives near a high tension line, does that mean they must move?
MAES: The first question is, "How bad is the field around the high tension line?" They're all different. There are some hig tension lines where the field is very low at a distance of 150 feet. Others are very high at a distance of 300 feet. If the fields are very high, the only chance you have is to move. Some houses are very close to them.
BISER: How can a person know if they are safe or not, when they live near a high tension line?
MAES: You have to measure that. You need a Bau-Biologie inspector. Or you can do it yourself with special meters.
BISER: In every home, the high tension wire enters the house at one particular spot. Suppose a person sleeps in a room near this spot. What advice can you give?
MAES: This may not be the best place to sleep. To protect yourself, sleep at least 5 to 6 feet away from the wall in such a room, or change rooms.
However, if such a power line is very close to the wall, and your head is very close to this wall when you sleep, you'll be exposed to a magnetic field as high as 30,000 nanotesia. Anything above 200 nanotesia is dangerous.
BISER: Does electromagnetic pollution have any effect on snoring, since this is related to sleep?
MAES: Some women have told me that when they took away the electrical stress from the bed area, the husband stopped snoring.
Some have said, "Isn't that funny, my husband is not snoring any more." And the husband was snoring for years. But I really don't know if these stories are true. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Who knows?
BISER: If a person follows your advice how long will it take them to notice an improvement in their sleep?
MAES: It varies from person to person. Sometimes, people notice an improvement in one single night, or a few nights. Others take a few weeks. But it never takes longer than 3 to 4 weeks.
BISER: What are the main conditions that disappear when a person cleans their bedroom of electronic pollution?
MAES: Sleeplessness, muscle pains, fears, nightmares, headaches. We call these "civilization diseases."
But there is more than just eliminating sickness and disease. When you clean up the bedroom and get rid of the electronic smog, your quality of life is improved. you are more relaxed. You're more positive. You're more active. You have more creativity.
Instead of sleeping 9 hours and being dead in the morning, you sleep 6 hours and are relaxed. A lot of people tell me, "I wanted to leave my wife, and now we are in love again. There is no stress anymore." I hear that many times.
Most of the people say, and it doesn't matter whether they are sick or if they are not sick, "After years, for the first time in my life again, I can relax."
People say the 6 hours of sleep they got was a little holiday. A little journey. This is everybody!
Certified Bau-Biologie House Inspectors.
It's hard to evaluate the environmental hazards of your home by yourself. You need help. These individuals are certified by the International Institute for Bau-Biologie. I talked to each of these people. They all seemed highly knowledgeable and excited about their work. If they are not in, leave a number so they can call you back collect.
1. San Diego: Peter Sierck at Environmental Testing and Technology, (619) 436-5990. He's the top inspector in the country. He was personally trained by Wolfgang Maes in Germany and heads the official affiliate office for Wolfgang Maes in the United States. Most of his work is between San Diego and L.A. Will travel if pay expenses.
2. San Francisco: Katherine Metz, (415) 348-7822. Katherine was loaded with stories of people who improved their health by fixing their bedroom. She's also an expert in feng shui, the Chinese art of choosing the best location to live. You can also contact her associate, Mary Cordozo at "A Room of One's Own," (818) 981-7245.
3.Florida: Joe Riley in Sarasota, (813) 346-9903 or in Jupiter: (407) 575-0098.
4. Arizona: John Benta, (602) 445-8225.
5. Iowa: Roger Maurice of Ideal Environments, (515) 472-6547. Roger covers most of the Western states. Will travel to the East coast. Branch Office in New York: (800) 841-5242. A full service Bau-Biologie company with products for air quality and smoke detectors too.
6. Wisconsin: M. Spark Bomaster. Bau-Biologist/Electro Ecologist/Electrical Engineer, (608) 483-2604.
7. Colorado: Panther Rose at Healthy Environments, P.O. Box 423, Snowmass, CO 81654, (303) 920-8780.
A course in Bau-Biologie.
A comprehensive 900-page home-study course in Bau-Biologie is available from the following address: The International Institute for Bau-Biologie, P.O. Box 387, Clearwater, FL 34615, (813) 461-4371. All the inspectors took this course. It's available to both professionals and laymen. Even housewives have benefited from the material.
