Do wireless signals affect sleep?

[Rhidian]

Something that I have noticed is that whenever I go to sleep with the Wi-Fi and my computer both on in the same room, my quality of sleep is decreased (I don't feel as rested when I wake). It's such a consistent phenomena for me that I usually turn them off when I go to sleep unless I'm needing the computer on overnight.

Do wireless signals affect sleep, and what might the mechanism be if so?

[sal_vager]

There's been many experiments and papers written on this, and the answer has always been no.

I do find my sleep is reduced though, but that's due to having to get up for work most mornings

[Karriz]

I would think that noise and light from the computer and router could decrease quality of sleep, but not the signals.

[WestAir]

My bet would be on the noise or visible light as opposed to invisible EMR.

[Albert VDS]

Wifi signals are radio waves. Next to all the wifi signals in your neighborhood there are tons of other surrounding you without you even noticing them.

Radio, wireless devices, mobiles signals, etc. Which, by your experiment, doesn't effect your sleeping. Or in other words, it can't be the wifi's signal.

So it's either, like Karriz said, the light(and noise) from the router (and PC) or it's just that you think it helps and puts you at ease.

[Mazon Del]

There have been numerous cases of people declaring they are diagnosed with "WiFi Sensitivity". And in dozens of experiments this has been shown to be psychosematic (IE, it is only "real" because they believe it is real. So a placebo effect.). A standard example being that they have an obvious wifi router near the person that they turn on and off and ask for the persons responses while monitoring them. At first glance it seem the person is right. But when it is pointed out that the "wifi router" is just a plastic box with LEDs and nothing else, and in fact a wifi router above the persons head has been on the whole time, the story breaks down.

[ZetaX]

The standard power network with its 25-100Hz has a frequency much more closer to the brain (with some free interpretations what that even means it is somewhat around 10Hz if I remember correctly) and yet almost no one complains about that. The main reason by which other sources like mobile phones or wireless can have an effect is heating, and considering the inverse square law even a much stronger sender than your router won't suffice for that unless you use them as a pillow.

[Brotoro]

It's that damned cosmic microwave background radiation that keeps me up at night.

[sal_vager]

It's that damned cosmic microwave background radiation that keeps me up at night.

Probably not far wrong there, cosmic rays can cause flashes in our vision, and it's not like your eyelids are lead lined

[Brotoro]

Cosmic rays are very different from the cosmic microwave background radiation... they only have the word "cosmic" in common.

[sal_vager]

Whoops, yeah, you're right, but still, cosmic rays can hit your eyes

[lajoswinkler]

Probably not far wrong there, cosmic rays can cause flashes in our vision, and it's not like your eyelids are lead lined

Or skull. They can hit the eye from just about any direction. I wonder how much damage a human retina receives after a lifetime from cosmic rays alone...

[Drunken Hobo]

If nothing else, it's a damned fine demonstration of the placebo (or more accurately nocebo) effect and the ability for humans to literally worry themselves sick.

It's also quite a good indicator of how reputable a website is. If a website claims that it is a real physiological effect, then you can quite easily dismiss them, much in the same way as if they claim vaccines cause autism or other long-debunked nonsense.

If I remember correctly, "Natural News" advises against using microwaves as they irradiate your food.

[Red Iron Crown]

Wifi definitely affects my sleep. Being able to web browse on my phone from bed costs me hours of sleep every week.

[MartGonzo]

All you need to know about WiFi is that phone companies spend large amounts of money to stop people looking too closely at the health effects.

[Red Iron Crown]

All you need to know about WiFi is that phone companies spend large amounts of money to stop people looking too closely at the health effects.

[Citation Needed]

Seriously, that's conspiracy theorist nonsense. We are bombarded by more RF radiation daily by exposure to the sun and other sources. And it is incredibly difficult to keep something from being researched, deep pockets or otherwise. At best a company can fund other studies that support whatever POV they want, but such things are usually discredited quickly.

[Starwaster]

Wireless signals transmit all kinds of crap into your cerebral cortex where it stores up in your subconscious causing you to have all kinds of weird dreams and nightmares.

People didn't used to dream at all until the Internet was invented. Now we have everyone elses collective garbage filtering into our pyche.

True story.

[Brotoro]

Or skull. They can hit the eye from just about any direction. I wonder how much damage a human retina receives after a lifetime from cosmic rays alone...

Earth's atmosphere and magnetic field shields us from the bulk of this. Down here we are just getting the much weaker secondary rays created when the primary cosmic rays hit molecules in the upper atmosphere. But those secondary rays are an noticeable fraction of your annual background radiation exposure...and that fraction is higher for people like me who live at higher altitude, or airline flight crews who work even higher up. (I thought it was funny when some countries recalled their diplomatic staffs from Tokyo because of fears of radiation after Fukushima...and ended up exposing them to more radiation on the airline flights to and from than they would have gotten just staying in Tokyo).

But when the Apollo astronauts were out beyond the shielding of our magnetic field, they most certainly did see flashes from primary cosmic rays running through their eyeballs.

[lajoswinkler]

If I remember correctly, "Natural News" advises against using microwaves as they irradiate your food.

That's one of the stupidest sites out there that looks somewhat legit. That makes it dangerous.

[rtxoff]

Everybody in fear of WIFI or any other EMR affecting your sleep modify your bed into an Faraday cage (or build one around it) and then good night.

[jwenting]

goes out and patents tin foil pajamas...

[dharak1]

Don't the people working on high voltage power lines wear some kind of faraday cage? You could always sleep in that.

[Tommygun]

I have to turn both my cable modem and Wi-Fi boxes around to face the wall to keep them from making my room look like a low rent disco tech when I'm sleeping.

I also have a problem with my computer slowly heating up the room to uncomfortable levels after a few hours.

Both those issues will interfere with my rest.

[11of10]

@ZetaX 11Hz actually.

Anyway, power grid is 50/60Hz, depending if you're in US or EU, so still not really in sync with braaaaainz!.

Now, on topic: I sleep with my computer permanently online currently about 30cm from my head, and WiFi router that's about a meter from it.

I actually sleep better since I moved the bed to that part of the room, because I don't have the privilege of noticing first rays of sunshine in the east blasting directly at my eyelids at 4AM.

So, I'm guessing it doesn't really affect us.

[Draemora]

Why don't you perform a good experiment and try to publish the results?