Electro-Pollution (EMFs) Are Taking Your Energy

Introduction to EMFs and Nick Pineault 0:00

Welcome back to the conversation. Today, I have my friend Nick Pineault. Hi, Nick. Hey. Thanks so much for having me. Yes, I'm so excited to have you here. You are the IMF guy. You are the number one bestselling author of The Non Tinfoil Guide to EMC. Okay, so this book I have here, I recommend this book to everyone going through my courses, programs, everybody who works with me. This is an incredible book. I actually found you a couple of years ago. I bought this book on Amazon or something, and I read this book cover to cover in a day because I couldn't put it down.

And the reason I couldn't put it down is because you make it so simple. You have this sense of humor and you wrap up the science and common sense and humor. And I literally laughed through the whole thing and I learned a whole bunch. And of course, I put my little, you know, sticky notes and dog ears and wrote notes in it. And this is my go to resource. So thank you for what you've done to make all this easy because this is boring, confusing stuff. Honestly, unless it is. Yeah. Yeah, it can be. It can be. Yeah.

I mean, MF says something. If you if you type M's in in Google, you're going to find one of two things. Usually. One is, oh, there's no effect whatsoever. So don't worry about it. Right. You can be exposed all day, every day. Your cell phone, the Wi-Fi to Bluetooth. No problem. And some people that, like, stay there with their research and maybe they're better off for it, because once you actually look at the actual science on the memes, like I did in my book, you cannot go back. And that's kind of why one Amazon reviewer put it in a very smart way.

He said this book might save and ruin your life at the same time. And I was like, Yeah, that's pretty much it. Because the reviewer said I wanted to, you know, turn off wi fi at night, but my wife got angry. And this is the kind of stuff that can happen once you start reducing e-mails, but you're doing it for the right reason. The second type of information you can find online about e-mails is sometimes a little bit hyperbolic. You can find things that will say, okay, well, you you exposed to your master, you're damaging yourself.

Main EMF Sources Near the Body 2:25

And these kind of words that are used, this is very dangerous and it will kill you. It's not like that. EMFs is electromagnetic fields. It's a long term damage agent. It's a stressor. So a stressor says it's not something you want more of. It's something you want less of. But at the same time, it's not because you're exposed to a stressor that's you will be permanently damaged with a small exposure. It's more like something you want to think of long term. So yeah, we shouldn't freak out about it, but it's important to when it comes to mitochondrial health, to think about it.

And a lot of people prefer to ignore it. And I don't think that's the smartest strategy. Well, and also, you know, we live in a in a fast pace modern culture. None of us are going to get rid of our phones. It's our lifeline to our families, our friends. I mean, ironically, the people watching this interview right now are on their phone or their lot. Or. Their pad. My phone is sitting here right next to me. You know, I I'm working right now. I'm in work mode. I'm interviewing you. I've got my team talking to me.

This is how I conduct my business. So this is not going away. So how do we live? Smart and healthy? And that's what I really want to do today, is unpack some simple things that we can do to protect ourselves, because it's not going away. Realistically, we're not going to go live in the middle of the woods where there's no cell towers. I mean, maybe some people are and more power to you. But the majority of people watching this interview are not going to be doing those things. So today we're really going to get into, you know, how these EMFs are are zapping your energy.

We're going to talk about the connection between that and lowering your energy, your mitochondria, energy production and some of the sources that we need to really think about, especially now that we've got 5G everywhere and this isn't going away. So let's jump into this because I know our audience has lots of questions and so do I. So first, can you start with the sources? How. How do we get exposed to this? And what do we really need to be thinking about right now? I think, you know, the biggest sources that you need to think about are the ones that are very close to your body.

Let's start there. So if you have a phone in your pocket, get a phone on your face or even and people will hate me for that. But the Bluetooth headphones are deep into your ear. These are sources of exposure that are very close to your body. So it means that the greater intensity will be emitted towards your your body. Whereas if you have a cell phone tower, yes, they do. We do have scientific studies that say if you live near a cell phone tower, you might have, for example, an increased level of stress.

And it also translates into lowered mitochondrial energy and lowered reserves of different antioxidants. For example, glue that iron is lower in people who live closer to cell towers. And that's a finding that's been pretty consistent in science. So it just shows you that overall, living in a highly electro polluted environment is a stressor and so is living in a city because of the air pollution you're getting. Right. So it's not that different. But what can you do about cell towers? Not much. Like you mention, you can move away, but for a lot of people that's impractical.

But let's not focus on the towers so much because the towers are far away. Therefore, the the quantity of intensity or of energy that your body is getting is tremendously lower than your own phone. But the good news about the phone is you can control it. So really, the source says you need to think about and to really worry about when it comes to certain aspects of your health. Because let's face it, there's like I can make it funny, but there is also the reality that for some people they've been or at least they think that their cell phone has caused a brain tumor.

And that's no thing to laugh at. Right. So in certain situations, there are many people who claim that a brain tumor or tumor of the head, including parented gland, including acoustic neuroma, as that can lead to complications. Officially, it's not a it's not a malignant tumor, but still, it can be quite dangerous. And even lead to death. These have been exacerbated or caused in certain situations, according to these people's doctors, by the use of a cell phone to the head. For that reason, scientists have classified, or at least the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2011.

So that's several years ago. More than a decade now have classified DCMS as a class

Phone Placement, Fertility, and Hormone Concerns 7:10

to be carcinogen and it means that the research is still early. We need more studies to be is you know, a low level of classification. However, we now have new data, including animal studies and including epidemiological findings in populations that make scientists say that this should be reclassified as a class to a or one carcinogen. If it's a class one carcinogen, this is a definite carcinogen that air and it puts it in the same category as tobacco, smoke and asbestos. So if you understand that I should quit smoking and I should not be exposed to asbestos, it means that we have to be consequential about it.

So not use the phone like this, use it as with a distance. Athletes just doing just simple action step using wired earbuds, for example, or a speakerphone will remove most of the risk that you could have if you have this intensity very close to your face. So that's number one for cell phone placement. Number two, I have to mention it because more and more scientists are now recognizing that the cell phone, if you place it in your pocket instead, which is what many people do, men, women and even children.

Now, it will impact your fertility. And I say it will. It may impact your fertility. But the research is increasingly clear on the lowering of sperm quality in men and in women. It's not as clear, but there is big concern as well, because you get one set of eggs for your entire life, whereas men can renew their sperm after a little bit. So you get DNA damage in sperm, also oxidative stress in sperm. So what does it mean if you don't want children? Oh, no, no, thanks. I already have teenage kids and I'm done with that.

Well, we also know that it can impact your testosterone. And now all the men are like, Oh, no, my testosterone. Right, my breast. Your testosterone. Not only that, but recently I read a paper that reminded me that MF is considered a classic and the cream disruptor. And I really that's not something I included in my book. But you got to think about MF as and then also invisible, but an energetic and a crime disruptor. It means that it can impact negatively impact your hormones, including testosterone but other hormones as well, just like BPA does, right.

Bisphenol A, a lot of people talk about plastics. You should avoid plastic bottles, especially if you keep it in the sun and maybe use BPA free. And now in my research, I also discovered more than ten years ago that it's not that bad or because you have deep and deep sea and BP, whatever. So anyway, long story short, we avoid plastics for that reasons. I'm sure a lot of people listening do so. But keeping a cell phone in the pocket might be just as bad, right? It might be one of the factors that is toying with your mitochondrial energy and one of the consequences of that is hormonal disruption.

So instead of keeping it in the pocket, where do you keep it? Well, what's you're doing right now is good. You're keeping it in front of you. A lot of people would instead take it in a yoga pen or even in the bra, something we see quite often, especially in women who workout or have sports bras. They will be right there next next to the breast area. It might be linked also to an increase of cancer in the chest area, which is a big concern. So right there, if you change how you use it, how you talk on the phone and how you carry it, or at least when you're not actively walking with your phone, you put it in front of you on a desk.

I think that's you're eliminating seriously most problems associated with cell phones that have been identified in scientific research. Absolutely. And, you know, just a few points that you made here. We do see an increase in infertility. And, you know, historically it's been a problem with the woman's reproductive system. And what we're seeing quite frequently now is a sperm problem. Oftentimes, the females reproductive system is just fine. And it's the it's the male partner that is preventing the ability for the couple to conceive.

And I've seen that in my own friends and family as well. And so this is this is a big, big deal. But to your point, you know, many people watching this summit are are beyond reproductive age. They've had their families. But there is there are other things to be concerned about in terms of keeping that phone on your body. Now, you know, my my community is really good at eliminating plastics like BPA that you talked about. They're they're really good at,

Reducing Exposure with Distance and Wired Connections 12:00

you know, eating organic food and looking for for toxins. But I feel like a lot of us, myself included, a little bit, put our head in the sand about the EMFs because we don't want to deal with not having it. It's makes our life so, so, so convenient. Like, fine, I can switch plastic bottles to glass bottles. I can I can get my own water purification system in my home. And, you know, carry my own water with me everywhere. And that's pretty easy. I can switch out all my Tupperware plastic for glass containers.

I can easily buy organic food. I don't have a substitute for this thing, though. So we tend to be like, Well, you know, I can't do anything about it anyway, so but it's just not true. So, so thank you for sharing. I mean, distance is really important. You can also get, you know, cases and different apparatus to put under your laptop, around your table, sit around your phone to help mitigate those EMFs from coming right to your body as well. And yes, there are several good things, but I have to mention also something before you even rely on on these different modalities.

I think a case is a good idea. If you have a cell phone, have to keep it near your body because it's maybe part of your job. You're a realtor or attorney or it's always on you, right? So either you carry it in certain bags that exists where it's shielded to one side, you have kind of a special bag or even, you know, like banana bag or back bag that can be shielded shield. Your body is one of my favorite companies that sell sell these kind of things. But before thinking about that, I want you to think about Internet cable.

And that's not like going back to cables for some people, kind of seems like a back, like a step backwards, right. Is like, oh my God, this is so old school. Like, do these even exist anymore? Yes, I remember before Wi-Fi, if people were listening to this are I'm old or I'm old enough to remember I was just 35 we before Wi-Fi or every computer that had the Internet was plugged in. There's a plug. RG 45 So that's Internet cable that goes from the router to computer. If you are near the router in your job or in many situations, if it's in the living room right now I'm in an Airbnb recording this as I'm traveling around the world this year and here in Budapest and this Airbnb, there's a router right over there and I have a ten foot cable that I plug in to this computer.

So now not only am I eliminating my cell phone exposure, but also my laptop exposure because I turn off the Wi-Fi on this laptop that is about, you know, a foot, foot, a foot and a half from my face that would expose me to these EMFs constantly. Every time I sit at the computer, which is a lot of hours in my week because I'm an author, this is what I do. I do interviews, I upload large files. So it would be, you know, blasting me all the time. So if you can wire in your technology, whether it's a computer or even your phone, it's a believe it or not, it's possible to use an Ethernet cable on an iPhone or, you know, Samsung equivalent or Huawei or whatever.

All of these can be wired in if you have a special plug that is RJ 45 to Usb-C or a Light The Lightning Port for for your iPhone, for example. So you can do that. And I think that a lot of people that that do that in an office environment even home office get a lot of benefits because even, you know, if it has to run in the corridor, fine. It's a little bit annoying, especially for your kids and spouse. That trip over it and they might not like it as much. But you can also ask an I.T. company to have these cables go from your router and the walls and the ceiling, and then you get a nice plug in your work environment.

And when you are wired in, the big advantage is this you get good quality instead of spotty wi fi, you get good quality and good, you know, something that you can rely on for download, upload, streaming video, even playing video games. If that's your thing, you have stability. And in my office set up back in Montreal, I was just getting frustrated with the wi fi. I'm here at the IMF. Guy getting like like getting angry at wi fi. Right? We all get angry at wi fi at times if it's not perfectly aligned in.

And my corridor went a certain way, 15 feet that way and then there's a nail and it was just spotty, very frustrating. And since I been running it an Ethernet cable in the corridor and talked to the side of the wall, now it's perfect. So eventually we we can have these cables run in the walls and have an office set up that is perfectly fast, secure, reliable and zero amps. So that's really something that is underrated, how cool it is to be wired in. It's so cool. I love that you're travel with a ten foot cord to your Airbnb.

I have three. Sorry. Yeah. So this is so we all so all of us in the health and wellness space,

Sleep, Airplane Mode, and Bedroom EMF Hygiene 17:25

we have our travel kits, the things that we travel with to. Through. In hotels and Airbnb is I've got my whole coffee set up where I have a silicone, you know, coffee, a water, water kettle where I boil my water into a pour over and. It's nice. I use those coffee machines in hotels. I don't, you know, so I've got my whole set up and I, you know, travel with my special food. The EMF guy travels with his ten foot cords. It is so good. I mean, anything is possible. I tell you. So. So let's talk about sleep.

You know, we know our body restores and repairs at night while we sleep. We do need to protect that sleeping environment. And so why is reducing EMF exposure so important at night? And why should we be really paying attention to this in our bedrooms? Because people sleep with their cell phones next to them for alarm clocks. Now, I mean, have you tried to buy an alarm clock in a store? There's like two options that you don't have an isle of alarm clock. Yeah, yeah. You're lucky if you go to the store to find an old school alarm clock.

It's almost impossible. Yeah, they're. They're increasingly hard to find. And then some of them that you find are Bluetooth enabled. So, you know, you replace your cell phone, you try to cut down the amount, and then next thing you know, you replace it with another source of VMs and that thing with the Bluetooth alarm clock is that even if you don't connect anything to the Bluetooth, you know, it's not connected to your phone to maybe sometimes the alarm clock can act as like a Bluetooth speaker.

Even if you're not doing that, then you're like, No, no, no, I won't participate in this technology. Well, the Bluetooth chip inside is designed in such a poor way, it's always emitting always emitting a signal. And the moment it's plugged into the wall, it's always emitting. So it's just, you know, the the technology is so poorly built that I don't recommend buying anything Bluetooth, really, because a lot of times you cannot stop that signal from pinging. So it's just something that can interfere with your sleep.

And in you can have your phone on airplane mode and still use it as an alarm clock. So airplane mode, if you make sure that the Bluetooth icon is crossed off and the Wi-Fi icon also is crossed off, if you make sure that you don't have a signal that comes from your your cell phone, then it's probably fine. You know, you keep it at a certain distance, one two feet from you on your nightstand. It's fine on the airplane. Under your pillow. Is it okay? No, no, it's not. I mean, having electronics so close to your body is just nonsensical and under the pillow.

It's true that a lot of people take it in. You know, they maybe they fall asleep. Even some some people want to do good. You know, a lot of people listening to this do a lot of things right. But they maybe they use a meditation app that needs to be online and then they kind of start feeling drowsy and then they're like, okay, cell phone. Now you go under the pillow. No, that doesn't work. You get a hit that airplane mode button. Or if you want, I know you have kids. Maybe you're you have kids in their teenage years.

They're going out with friends, maybe a little bit later than you'd like. And you want to be there. If they have an emergency, keep your phone as far away as possible from your pillow. So it means that you, you know, you're on a phone before bed, which I don't recommend, but still grab a book instead. But most people are on their phone before bed now. I know, I know, I know, I know. But I have an 18 year old and those nights where she goes out because in the old days when I mean I'm 50. So we had landlines with cords.

I mean, I had we had the old school phones even before cordless phones existed. So if your kid was out at night, you know, the house phone could ring if they need to do. And so those nights where she's out, oh, I hate it because I have to have my phone on. Yeah, she needs me. And so I'm putting it as far away as I can, you know, that's perfect. You have. It's still on. And anyway, it's. It's a whole thing. I know, I know. But, you know, if it's, if it's ten, 15 feet from, from your pillow, that that compared to the background level that you're getting from neighbors and whatnot, it's almost a non-issue, to be honest.

So don't worry about it too much if you have to do that. And I understand that a lot of parents listening to this will have to keep one of the phones in your couple, like, okay, one phone will be open if you call. The first phone doesn't work. Call the second. But we're going to keep it open. But just the other side of the room and also, if you have problems waking up in the morning at a certain time, maybe because your mitochondrial energy is so down, well, put your alarm clock at the other side of the room and now you have to get up and you can have a snooze.

How EMFs Affect Mitochondria and Energy Production 22:05

That's also a kind of neat trick for people who. Yeah. Was in. High school. In high school, I put my alarm clock across the room to force me to get out. That's good. That's a good one. Yeah. So can you talk about EMFs and how they impact those little teeny tiny mitochondria in our cells that are producing energy? I mean, we're here on the mitochondrial energy summit. Why is this so critical? Yeah, there's different theories about how is it possible that, you know, you have such low level energy compared to sunrays?

It's you know, that's a lot of people fall into the the the the mistake of thinking that it's all about the power or intensity of a certain electromagnetic field. And that's will determine its impacts on our body. So, for example, if you're if you have extremely high energy like gamma rays, obviously we know that this damages the human body almost instantly and it can literally kill you almost instantly in certain situations if you're, like, exposed to nuclear radiation. But we also know that, you know, even EMFs in the visible light spectrum can greatly reduce it can increase oxidative stress in the form of blue light emitted by screens.

There is a link with macular degeneration, and yet this is, you know, visible light. And we say, well, what? How is it that visible light is damaging us? It's we've always been exposed to visible light. Yes. But we're talking about artificial visible light. And the reason that I wear these even during interviews or when I work, is that they slightly will reduce how many of these Blu rays, especially the blue color spectrum, will be emitted towards my eyes. So what happens is that I feel better during interviews and have less eyestrain, but especially if I work in the evening, it will not interact or interrupt my circadian rhythm and disrupt it as much.

So that's really the rhythm of your sleep and wake cycle. So it will basically you have a hormonal effect again by visible light. And I'll come to wireless next. It's a long winded answer, but stay with me here. So the visible light plays tricks with your body and tells you that your screen basically makes your body think that it's noon when in reality it's 8 p.m.. So next thing you know, you're tossing and turning in bed at midnight. So that's because you have circadian disruption. This can and will lower your sleep quality.

It will take you more time to fall asleep. Next thing you know, of course, your mitochondrial energy reserves will go down. It's very difficult to stay healthy if you don't have good sleep. Barnard's is very, very, very easy to understand. I'm sure most people listening to this already appreciate that. But what a lot of people forget is that it's not just about the amounts that you can see, the amount that you don't that are below in frequency, below the visible light spectrum. For example, cell phone radiation can do the same.

Some researchers think that it's literally your pineal gland, which is that that small, Glenn, that releases melatonin basically is tricked into thinking that's your cell phone signal is light. That's one of the theories around why is it that it might interfere with our melatonin production. So that's one aspect to it. There's also the fact that overall cell phone radiation seems to be a source of oxidative stress. And too much oxidative stress is not initially a problem when you can recover from it.

But I guess it's high. Oxidative stress is not necessarily a problem if you can recover from it, but too much over time, all the time then becomes a problem. And what it means for mitochondria is that we see that over time that stressor makes your mitochondria start lowering their energy production and you don't have as many antioxidant reserves to keep those mitochondria healthy also. So you do have a strong link between not only MF exposure on just on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, but more like over a year will lower your energy production because this is this is just a stressor.

It's not the same thing as the everyday stressors that might boost your mitochondrial energy, such as, for example, cold exposure. Getting yourself in in an ice bath, for example, is something increasingly popular. Even breathing techniques or or certain bouts of exercise, like a high intensity intensity interval training can increase your mitochondrial energy because they are hermetic stressors. So for many stressors are you you get a high stress period, then you get a recovery period and then the benefits.

EMF is high stress. High stress. High stress. There's real benefit, right? It's just all the time. And if we don't give our body a break, you basically have a breakdown of of these defenses over time. So there's a lot of different theories which we can get into, but it all comes down in the end by the lowering of mitochondrial energy production. And one researcher in particular who if if you're really like a mitochondrial energy geek you might appreciate, is Dr. Paul Hebrew her0ux from McGill University is a French Canadian fellow from Montreal, and he identified that in his opinion, what is happening is on the mitochondrial level you have what he calls it will impair the flow of protons to the ATP synthase.

So basically what he says is that now you get dirtier energy production in the mitochondria and he says that you have an increase of 70% in how many or what these is the amount of reactive oxygen species that are created when you create that energy. So it's kind of how I see it because I'm not a mitochondrial expert, but how I see it is that you get you've got clean fuel and you've got dirtier fuel and MLS will make it. So that's your system, which is usually optimized to try to be as clean as possible, burn that fuel, create that energy and those energy and the mitochondria and and let's say, create as as little possible oxidative stress.

Now it gets dirtier and dirtier and dirtier. And next thing you know, for the same amount of energy that your body requires, you're creating a lot of oxidative stress. So it's not only it, it is oxidative stress that is created inside your body also. So it is fundamentally changing how your body utilizes that energy or let's say, the cost of creating that energy in the first place. So is research is very, very fascinating. And he is someone who has also expertize in cancer research. So you looked at how cancer cells react to certain types of the mouse and kind of deducted things from there.

But I think it's it's very, very fascinating.

Where to Find Nick Pineault and His Resources 29:25

It in our eye, biology is so sensitive to even, you know, mind you, to mounds of signals. Right. And just the research doesn't exist, you know, at this point to to put, you know, regulations on on the use of EMFs. I mean, at this point, there's a lot of money wrapped up in cellular companies and technology companies, and it's not going away. So you need to do what you can to protect yourself. Nick, you are a wealth of knowledge. There's so much I mean, I think we could we could do four more interviews and just keep going and going and going here and diving deeper.

So tell us where our audience can find your work. And I know people are going to want to get a hold of that book. The Non Tinfoil Guide to EMFs, which I love. So and I know you're writing another book also, so tell us more about where we can get in touch with you. Sure. You can find all my resources, courses, my book and whatnot on the book on Amazon worldwide. And I'm not a huge fan of Amazon except for the part that they pay me for my book and they are easy to ship and all this. So I have to mention it is basically one of the sources of funding for my writing, so I still appreciate them.

Thank you so much. Time is up now, but on my website, BMI, Buy.com, this is where you can find all my resources. I now have a course specifically designed to help you tackle these different sources of VMs at night. I've also started talking about light a little bit more because that's something that when I first wrote, I was writing my book and I did not appreciate it as much. Now, talking about blue blockers and sources of artificial light, because it's also a type of EMF that a lot of people I think nowadays start to appreciate a bit more and realize that, you know, if you stare at a screen and you wonder why you're insomniac now people are a little bit more, you know, realize put two and two together and they say, okay, well, maybe I should stop staring at screens because clearly there is a detrimental effect.

So all of this is there and you can find my latest research on my newsletter. Thank you so much, Nick. It's always a pleasure to connect with you. Thanks so much for having me. Take care now.