Don't sleep with a powered on cell phone near your head

Abstract

This article discusses the potential health risks associated with sleeping near powered-on mobile phones, citing a meta-analysis linking increased mobile use to headaches and research suggesting a statistical association between high mobile subscription rates and long-term brain cancer mortality, while recommending that users keep devices away from their heads during sleep.

Results of a metastudy combining the results of 30 research studies showed that increasing call duration and mobile phone use in older individuals increased the risk of headache.

Farashi, S., Bashirian, S., Khazaei, S. et al. Mobile phone electromagnetic radiation and the risk of headache: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int Arch Occup Environ Health 95, 1587–1601 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00420-022-01835-x

This coincides with my own personal observation that leaving an iPhone 13 Pro on near the head while sleeping overnight dramatically increases the probability of waking up with a headache. Phones should be kept off or far from any heads during sleep.

More importantly, mobile phone subscription rates are positively and statistically significantly associated with death rates from brain cancer 15–20 years later (Mialon, H.M. and Nesson, E.T. (2020), THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN MOBILE PHONES AND THE RISK OF BRAIN CANCER MORTALITY: A 25-YEAR CROSS-COUNTRY ANALYSIS. Contemp Econ Policy, 38: 258-269. https://doi.org/10.1111/coep.12456).

Remember that radiation power decreases with the square of distance, so small increases in distance make a big difference.

Cite This Work

Bäcker, Alex (2022): Don't sleep with a powered on cell phone near your head. alexbacker.com/w/don-t-sleep-with-a-powered-on-cell-phone-near-your-head. Originally published at http://alexbacker.pbworks.com/Don%27t-sleep-with-a-powered-on-cell-phone-near-your-head.