Is tin foil a good way to shield against EMFs?

Q: “Nick, is tin foil a good way to shield against EMFs? (Seriously).”

A: Well… yes.

Even if my book is called “The Non-Tinfoil Guide”… it turns out that tin foil (aluminium foil) has a pretty decent EMF-shielding ability in the microwave radiation frequency range (think wifi, cell phones, Bluetooth, etc.).

In my book, I actually talked about how I shielded the smart meter that was installed right in my freaking kitchen in the apartment Gen and I used to live in …

That smart meter was harsh, sending waves of 5.24 V/m in microwave radiation (like cell phones, Bluetooth, wifi) through the entire apartment every 30 seconds. This thing should have NEVER been installed there.

As a comparison, the new, safer, “bio-compatible” guidelines proposed by independent scientists are to stay below 0.2 V/m during the day, and below 0.06 V/m at night — and possibly much lower for sensitive people.

By using about 5 layers of aluminum foil, I could bring this radiation down by 73%, and was now reading peaks of about 1.44 V/m with my Cornet meter. Still not good by any means… but much better.

Other things you can shield using tinfoil:

– Smart meters — you NEED to test before/after with a meter. If it stops transmitting altogether the utility company will knock on your door thinking it’s broken… (best step to take is to get it changed with an old-school analog one, obviously)

– DECT phone base stations — better get rid of them at home, but shielding them with tin foil might prove useful when travelling like that time I was stuck with one in my hotel room in Vegas…

– Wifi router — if you can’t find an option in your router’s settings to reduce its output (best), or if you prefer not to use a shielding box like the Wave Cage (used to be called “Router Guard”) (great), you can wrap your router in aluminum foil and measure before/after with a meter to reduce ambient levels (good).

Of course, my #1 recommendation is still to get rid of wifi altogether and use a wiredconnection instead.

– Laptop — you could technically shield EMF radiation going towards your groin area using tin foil… but unless you have an EMF meter I wouldn’t advise it. I’d use something like a Belly Blanket instead.

One situation where I don’t advise using tin foil is to shield against cell phone radiation.

If you wrap the entire phone in tinfoil, you’ll get some reduction, but will also “force” the phone to ramp up the radiation it produces as it tries harder to connect to the antenna. You could in fact INCREASE your EMF exposure doing that.

Instead, if you want to reduce how much your phone emits towards your body, you’ll want to use an EMF-blocking case with a side opening like Safe Sleeve (the one I’m personally using right now) or Defender Shield (a big sturdier, but more expensive).

Finally, one of the best uses for tin foil is to make cool hats like these…

Just kidding 😛

I burst out laughing when my friend and certified family doc Ellie Campbell sent me this picture — an entire group of Atlanta-based health practitioners were wearing tin foil hats while listening to a webinar I gave for my Electrosmog Rx course last year.

Hope you liked the article, and enjoy your weekend!

Nick