behind the wall, and under the bed. Let’s see if it’s keeping you, or a loved one, awake at night.

It’s time to confront this fellow, especially if he’s hiding in your bedroom. If you’re anxious, depressed, restless, confused, or suffer with insomnia, it’s time to search for magnetic fields created by our ubiquitous power grid. Now, more than every before, EMF specialists are busy managing these fields in buildings around the world. I suggest that you begin some sleuthing of your own.

It’s likely that this invisible intruder is lurking nearby – most likely emanating from electric appliances, grounding systems, and improperly wired circuits (unlike the assumption that most offending fields radiate from exterior power lines). Prudent avoidance of these fields is best, however, you must find them first. We are beginning in the most important room in the house, the bedroom.

• First, turn off everything in the house that can be turned off, except for those things that draw electricity during the night – your bedside clock, fish tank, refrigerator, etc. Replicate a nightime electrical scenario throughout your entire home. Now it’s time to become a detective, and you have some choices to make.

If you simply want to know if you have fields in the house and know that you will call in a professional for help if needed, you can tune an old transistor radio to the AM band, between stations. (A more modern device is an inexpensive telephone amplifier from your local electronics store.) If fields are present, you will hear the device begin to “growl.” Hold it next to your blender when it’s on, and you will hear the sound of a magnetic field. Then, take the radio or amplifier into the bedroom and listen carefully. If you hear the sound anywhere near your bed, take note, literally. Your notes will tell an EMF specialized electrician what he needs to know, and you will save the professional time and yourself money.

• Are there hot spots (areas of intense sound)? If so, look for electric appliances nearby. If you unplug the bedside clock, does the sound disappear? Unplug other nearby appliances one by one. You may solve your problem immediately, and sleep better tonight. To wake up on time, replace your electric clock with one that is battery operated.

If the hot spot is emanating from the wall behind your bed, check to see what’s on the other side. It may be your phone charger sitting on the table in the entry hall. The good thing about a point source hot spot is that the magnetic field drops off quickly. So, put the charger where it will be about 6 feet from any spot where you spend lots of time – especially your bed!

If you cannot move the offending appliance (such as your monster refrigerator or electrical panel), it’s time to move your bed. If you cannot move the bed, consult an EMF shielding professional. Shielding from the source is possible, but expensive. Whatever you do, unplug an electric waterbed heater at night because, wherever the bed goes, the field will follow. FYI, it may be possible to find a low EMF waterbed heater on the Internet.

Some hot spots are not related to a point source. If you unplug every appliance you see and the sound continues, you have located an EMF pathway – a field related to a troubled circuit or plumbing line. You may be able to follow the path all the way to the electrical panel or the entry of the water line into the house. Until the electrician arrives, you can turn off the offending circuit at night (if you’re sure that things like the home alarm, refrigerator, and computers will not be affected). If the field does not disappear when the suspect circuit is turned off, plumping current on the neighborhood water main may be a problem. This is a story for your specialized electrician, and you can tell it with all the gusto of one who has sleuthed well. And, just so you know, these pathways are more prevalent in buildings than point source hot spots, as reported by EMF electricians throughout the country.

• Is the radio “growling” at about the same intensity throughout the bedroom (or even throughout the house)? This is a huge clue that there may be exterior sources of magnetic fields that can be impossible to mitigate – such as fields from neighborhood power lines. The situation is serious, and you have a few choices about how to proceed.

You can call your local power company and ask for a courtesy magnetic field reading both inside and outside your home. When the service professional arrives, turn off everything in the house that can be turned off, then ask that measurements be taken both inside and outside. Outside, be sure to walk from directly beneath the power lines to the most distant point on your lot. If the field drops off very slowly as you move away from the lines, you can be fairly sure that the power lines are the culprit.

Record the readings inside and out. If the readings are consistently above 0.5 milligauss, the situation is serious. If this is a house you are considering for purchase, please reconsider. For all intents and purposes, fields from outside power lines cannot be mitigated.

If you are so inclined, you can take these measurements yourself. Go to www.lessemf.com and purchase a digital, three-axis, magnetic field meter.  You will spend between $200 to $300 dollars for an accurate meter, but you will have it forever to help out friends and relatives.

Overall high readings can be dangerous to your health. If anyone in the household has been sick over and over again, it might be time to consider a move. For more information about health effects, begin your research at www.microwavenews.com. And, call your EMF specialized electrician. You may have missed something that will allow you to remain in your home.

• Now it’s time to see what’s lurking under the bed. With everything electrical in the house still turned off, use your new meter, old radio, or telephone amplifier, and check for fields at floor level. If you find a hot spot, you may be sleeping in a magnetic field radiating from a low voltage or fluorescent lighting fixture in the ceiling below. This is common if you are sleeping above a kitchen with a ceiling full of recessed lights. If your children play on the floor of your bedroom (or if this is happening in the playroom), please call a specialized electrician. This is not healthy for anyone, especially children. If you choose not to mitigate the fields, you might choose to move the bed (and the children).

Another “under the bed” monster is a pathway of sound heard on your audio device, or read on your meter, indicating that you may have current on a water line. Yes, current does flow on water lines because electrical grounding systems are connected to them. These lines snake throughout the house, and are one of the most common sources of very high fields inside. The good news – these fields can be abated. So follow the pathway, and if it corresponds with what you know about your water lines, clue-in your specialized electrician. You detective work will pay off on the final invoice.

• Your final step is to turn on everything that turns on throughout the house. You are creating a maximum daytime load. A high reading in the bedroom can be generated by a source from another room. So, don’t miss turning on the TV in the basement, the fish tank in the hallway, the pool pump just outside the back door, and every light in the house. Lighting is the largest electrical load in the house and, therefore, an excellent tool to flush out EMF related wiring errors.

If your radio is screaming at you (or your meter is off the charts in double digits), you may have an error in the wiring – an actual code violation that can present a fire hazard. With all the miles of wire in our homes, errors occur often. They are common during remodels, so be sure to check your home before your electrician disappears from the scene.

Walk around the house with your radio, amplifier, or EMF magnetic field meter. Flip all the switches on and off, especially three-way switches in and around the bedroom. If the readings change, take note and inform the electrician. A problem in the bedroom may begin on the other side of the house, and can easily be missed. Enlist a friend, and take your time to check thoroughly.

Here is where it might get a bit tricky. Not all electricians (as expert as they might be) understand the detrimental consequences of high fields or the necessity of making corrections to eliminate magnetic fields. Don’t despair, hold strong, and call a specialized EMF electrician. One place to look for an expert is at www.hbelc.org. This EMF professional can work with your local electrician, even on the phone. If you have sleuthed well, you will create a conversation that creates cooperation and solutions.

Become the chief investigator, manage your team well, and you can tame the unseen, but noisy, monster in the closet.

With gratitude . . .

to specialized EMF electrician Stephen Scott, who leads a bunch of wildly talented techno-geniuses who have opened my yin yang eyes to all that lurks beneath the surface. If you need him, I will find him for you!

and to green environmental consultant Mary Cordaro who shares my love for beautiful, healthy, and sustainable spaces (and houses without rebar or magnetic fields).