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Effects of evening exposure to electromagnetic fields emitted by 3G mobile phones on health and night sleep EEG architecture
Author(s) -
Lowden Arne,
Nagai Roberta,
Åkerstedt Torbjörn,
Hansson Mild Kjell,
Hillert Lena
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of sleep research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2869
pISSN - 0962-1105
DOI - 10.1111/jsr.12813
Subject(s) - evening , audiology , sleep architecture , sleep (system call) , electroencephalography , sleep quality , medicine , sleep spindle , anesthesia , insomnia , polysomnography , slow wave sleep , psychiatry , physics , astronomy , computer science , operating system
Abstract Studies on sleep after exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields have shown mixed results. We investigated the effects of double‐blind radiofrequency exposure to 1,930–1,990 MHz, UMTS 3G signalling standard, time‐averaged 10 g specific absorption rate of 1.6 W kg −1 on self‐evaluated sleepiness and objective electroencephalogram architecture during sleep. Eighteen subjects aged 18–19 years underwent 3.0 hr of controlled exposure on two consecutive days 19:45–23:00 hours (including 15‐min break); active or sham prior to sleep, followed by full‐night 7.5 hr polysomnographic recordings in a sleep laboratory. In a cross‐over design, the procedure was repeated a week later with the second condition. The results for sleep electroencephalogram architecture showed no change after radiofrequency exposure in sleep stages compared with sham, but power spectrum analyses showed a reduction of activity within the slow spindle range (11.0–12.75 Hz). No differences were found for self‐evaluated health symptoms, performance on the Stroop colour word test during exposure or for sleep quality. These results confirm previous findings that radiofrequency post‐exposure in the evening has very little influence on electroencephalogram architecture but possible on spindle range activity.