More
and more we are using our cell phones. We may call them “smart,” but they rarely
are with the effort we put into our tweets and Facebook updates. Some years ago
the idea that they were the cause of cancer was bandied about and studies were
done, but no smoking gun was found.
Not
that it would have made much difference, as our phones are as addictive as
cigarettes. Personally I feel that it’s a pity that manners don’t demand that
we go outside to use them in the same manner as we demand of smokers. I find
second-hand cell phone listening as irritating as second-hand smoking.
However,
a new concern has surfaced and that is does you cell phone disrupt your sleep?
This question was in danger perturbing the sleep of Mohler et al so they decided to sort things out with a longitudinal study,
which they published last week in the Public Library of Science (1).
After
a rigorous exclusion of people with a strong reason to fall asleep such as
shift workers or people taking sleeping pills, they settled on a group of 955
participants who had similar exposure to radio frequency electromagnetic
radiation and checked their sleep patterns at the start and end of a year. From
this group, they picked out 120 individuals for close scrutiny.
The
results? Well, they could find no effect of the exposure to radio frequency
radiation from cell phones and cell phone towers on the disruption of sleep
patterns.
There
is always a caveat though. Leaving your cell phone on when you have a large
cohort of texters and twitterers might well result in a different experience,
but for now we can all rest easy and get a good night’s rest.
