By Anna Heath

Being a mom has made things so different for me. I find myself asking questions I’ve never cared to know the answer to before, because now it doesn’t just affect me. I find myself reading labels and checking ingredients because now I'm responsible for more than just my own life.

The drive to make every decision and live each moment with intentionality moves me forward. As does a desire to do better for my son so that he can have a life full of love, connection, and purpose.

Motherhood is realizing the only thing standing between the world and your baby is you. It’s empowering and overwhelming- it’s the greatest privilege I’ll ever know.

I had never even heard of the term “EMF” until I was pregnant with my first. I chose to pursue an unmedicated birth, and in doing so I followed along with the Mama Natural birth guide. Her book was where I first heard about electromagnetic fields. She explained that EMFs are a form of low-energy, non-ionizing radiation emitted from household appliances & common tech (think: mobile phones and WiFi connections).

When you take the time to think about it, it honestly makes sense. Our generation is growing up surrounded by more technology than ever before. Most homes have more than one TV, laptops, iPads, iPhones, Apple Watches, Alexa devices - we are more exposed to manmade EMFs now than any other time in human history.

EMFs were classified as a Group 2B carcinogen (a substance that might cause cancer) back in 2011. Studies have found that high levels of EMFs during pregnancy can increase a baby’s risk of developing asthma. A 2012 study in Epidemiology found a link between high EMF exposure and miscarriage. The American Cancer Society acknowledges that there is some evidence that children at the highest levels of exposure may have an elevated risk of leukemia. EMF’s are also suspected to cause persistent fatigue, unusual headaches, anxiety, and ongoing sleep troubles.

Mama Natural also explained in her book that all wireless communication devices sold in the US have to meet minimum guidelines for radio frequency exposure set by the FCC. But if you take a closer look at user manuals, you’ll find that most WiFi-enabled devices only meet those guidelines when they are held away from your body! This means that a laptop was never truly intended to be placed directly on your lap, and phones shouldn't be held directly to your ear for calls. And that Apple Watch? Maybe that should be reconsidered as well.

So what can you do? Here are some changes we have made in our home to help mitigate risk and exposure to EMF's:

• We don't set our laptops directly on our laps. Use them on a table instead, or on a pillow or cushion.

• When we make calls on our phones, we use them on speaker phone mode.

• We avoid carrying our phones directly on our bodies. We try to use fanny packs instead of our pockets.

• Limit your time around tech. We keep a phone box in our dining room. When you’re home from work, try to keep your phones in the box on airplane mode.

• At sunset, I wear amber glasses until I go to sleep. Blue light exposure (from your TV or cell phone) messes with your cardiac rhythm. Even just one hour of exposure to blue light can decrease melatonin levels, the necessary hormone for sleep.

• I sleep with my phone in airplane mode.

• Turn off your WiFi signal at night. We haven't started this one yet, but I would like to.

• Consider purchasing EMF shields for your devices. It's important to keep in mind that children have an increased risk of exposure as their skulls are thinner, making their developing brains more at risk to the harmful affects of EMF's.

For me, using Aires Lifetune Go as a necklace creates more of a peace of mind as I use limited tech around my son. Aires tech works to neutralize EMFs that surround us in today’s ever growing technological world. They don't block; they optimize. They have plenty of EMF blockers to choose from, ranging in size and reach of optimization.

Aires has options for all of your devices: phone, tablet, laptop, desktop, WiFi router, game console, smart watch, microwaves, and appliances. They shield EMF’s from WiFi, 5G, Bluetooth, and cellular signals! They have been found to reduce fatigue, headaches, and stress - all without blocking device performance. Their devices detect harmful EMF’s passively by using a carefully designed fractal matrix imprinted on a silicon resonator, so they don’t require batteries, charging, or replacements.

How will you protect your family from EMF's?