What is cell phone radiation ?

This article covers cell phone radiation effects on human body and its common symptoms. It mentions best ways for cell phone radiation protection.

The device which helps to make and receive calls over radio link is known as cell phone or mobile phone. This is possible due to availability of different wireless technologies based cellular network viz. 2G, 3G, 4G etc.

There are three major components in a cell phone which includes transmitter, receiver and antenna. The transmitter takes voice as input and converts the same into radio frequency output to interface with cellular base station. The receiver part receives the cellular transmissions and decodes the same to retrieve the voice or data or messages. Cellular towers are deployed through out the city to provide cellular service. Each of these towers radiate frequencies with certain power. Cell phone also need to transmit signal with certain amount of power based on its distance from the base station.

The cell phone transmissions can be categorized into transmissions towards base station, transmissions towards human body (mainly face and brain) and transmissions in the direction other than base station.

Cell phones emit RF (Radio Frequency) signals in the form of electro-magnetic radiation. The EM waves composed of E field and H field moving at speed of light. Hence EM radiation has effects on the human and environment. Following section mentions most common symptoms of the cell phone radiation and complaints from the human beings.

Cell phone radiation effects on human body

The most common effects or symptoms of cell phone radiation to human beings are as follows.
• Fatigue, Headache and loss of sleep
• creates joint pain, muscle spasms, tremors .
• Risk to pregnant women and child
• Depression, discomfort, irritation, nausea, appetite loss
• memory loss, Ringing Ears
• Cell phones lead to sperm production sluggish
• Different types of cancers etc.
• Childrens are more vulnerable

The common effects of cell phone radiation to the environment are as follows.
• Effect on farm animals e.g. cows reduce the milk output due to continuous radiation for more period of time.
• EM radiation from towers and cell phones lead to diseases in plants, animals, insects and birds. This is the reason for vanishing of sparrows, bees, butterflies etc.

Cell phone radiation symptoms

As per scientific consensus, levels of RF radiation emitted by cell phones are generally considered to be safe for most of the people provided it is within established guidelines. Some common concerns about it and potential cell phone radiation symptoms are as follows.
• It has potential to cause slight increase in temperature of tissues of the human body nearest to phone's antenna.
• There is possibility of non-thermal effects of radiation on cells or tissues which are still under investigation.
• As mentioned above, some people claim to experience symptoms such as headaches, dizziness and fatigues when exposed to EM fields of radiation.However scientific research has not concluded it to be consistent due to EM fields.
• There is research in progress with regards to increased risk of certain types of cancers due to long term cell phone usage.

Best ways for cell phone radiation protection

Following steps are followed in order to reduce cell phone radiation. These are the best ways to protect one self from cell phone radiation effects.
➨Make use of speakerphone or earphone or headphone. This will keep the cell phone away from you.
➨Use text message apps (e.g. WhatsApp, SnapChat, SMS, MMS etc. ) for conversation rather than talking. This will minimize the cell phone radiation.
➨Use cell phone to make voice calls when it has good amount of charge on it. This is due to the fact that cell phone radiation is high when phone has less charge in the battery.
➨Do not talk while driving unless it is essential. This will increase chances of radiation exposure due to frequent contacts of cell phone with mobile base station towers (due to handover).
➨Make use of low radiation emitting cell phones.
➨Don't put cell phone to ear during call initialization phase. Use speaker phone at this time. Once the end user picks up the call then only put the phone to your ear. Do this, unless you have private communication to be made otherwise continue using speaker phone.
➨Talk less so that you will be exposed to less radiation and will have good health. Have personal meetings instead.
➨Keep the cell hone away from you during the time of sleeping.
➨Use some forms of radiation protection mechanism such as EM field protector or cell phone radiation shield protector etc.

Conclusion : WHO and FCC have designed guidelines to ensure that cell phones meet safety standards and do not pose significant health risks. Moreover if users of the cell phones follow above mentioned basic steps than potential health risks can be prevented.

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