No Subject

[Guest guest]

http://theage.com.au/news/national/mobile-phones-affect-sleeping-brains/2005

/10/12/1128796572394.html

 

Mobile phones affect sleeping brains

October 12, 2005 - 3:32PM

Page Tools

 

* Email to a friend

* Printer format

*

*

 

Mobile phone use can affect a person's brain waves even when the handset is

switched off and the user is asleep, Australian research suggests.

 

Neuroscientist Sarah Loughran studied the brain wave patterns of 50 people

in the first half hour of sleep after they had been exposed to 30 minutes of

mobile phone radiation.

 

In what was believed to be the world's largest study into mobile phone use

and sleep quality, she compared those results with the brain waves of the

same people without exposure to mobile phone radiation before bed-time.

 

"The results show that there was an increase in brain wave activity in the

first part of sleep, non Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep, following mobile

phone exposure," said Ms Loughran, a PhD student at Swinburne University's

Brain Sciences Institute in Melbourne.

 

"It was an increase in what's known as alpha brain wave activity and at this

stage, we're not entirely sure what that means.

 

"Any adverse health consequences or effects this might have, we're not

sure."

AdvertisementAdvertisement

 

Nevertheless, Ms Loughran said getting a good night's sleep did not appear

to be affected by the mobile phone radiation.

 

"We didn't find any changes in the amount of time it takes to get to sleep

or the total time they slept," she said.

 

"It didn't appear to be affecting the overall quality of the person's

sleep."

 

The participants in the study were exposed to a standard mobile phone

mounted on the right side of their heads for 30 minutes before sleep.

 

The phone was set up to transmit without them having to talk.

 

On another night, the phone was mounted in the same way but it was not

actually turned on.

 

In what was known as a double blind, crossover study, neither the study

participants nor the researchers were aware of which nights the mobile phone

was active.

 

Ms Loughran said the most interesting finding was the effect of mobile phone

radiation on brain waves was noticeable even 30 to 40 minutes after the

handset had been turned off.

 

Her study was funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council as

part of a larger investigation of mobile phone exposure in collaboration

with the Australian Centre for Radiofrequency Bio-effects Research.

 

Other research was looking at the effects of mobile phone exposure on

reaction times and working memory.