Mobile phone radiation disrupts sleep, causes headaches

Sydney, January 21 : Researchers from the US and Sweden have found in a study, funded by some of the world's biggest phone makers, that radiations emitting from mobile phones cause headaches and interrupt vital sleep patterns. The researchers - from Wayne State University in the US and Sweden's Karolinska Institute - say that participants who were exposed to mobile radiation during the study were found to experience headaches, change of moods, confusion, and trouble in sleeping.

Reporting their findings in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Progress in Electromagnetics Research Symposium (PIERS), they said that the symptoms of mobile phone radiation were observed in 38 of the 71 study participants.

"The study indicates that during laboratory exposure to 884 MHz wireless signals, components of sleep, believed to be important for recovery from daily wear and tear, are adversely affected," news.com.au quoted them as saying in the article.

"Moreover, participants that otherwise have no self-reported symptoms related to mobile phone use appear to have more headaches during the actual radiofrequency exposure as compared to sham exposure," they added.

The researchers said that mobile phone radiation extended the period of time it took for participants to fall asleep.

"Under the (radiofrequency) exposure condition, participants exhibited a longer latency to deep sleep," they said.

The study had been funded by the Mobile Manufacturers Forum (MMF), which is made up of industry giants like Nokia and Motorola.

A spokesperson for the forum told British newspaper The Independent that the "results were inconclusive", and that "the researchers did not claim that exposure caused sleep disturbance".

On the other hand, lead researcher Bengt Arnetz said that mobile phone radiation decreased participants' ability to wind down and fall asleep.

"We did find an effect from mobile phones from exposure scenarios that were realistic," Professor Arnetz was quoted as telling the newspaper.

ANI