How mobile phones excite for your brain

We know cell phones affect the brain. But the question of whether the electromagnetic fields emitted by mobile handsets that excite brain cells actually do any harm remains unanswered, however, by researchers in Italy.

Photo: How mobile phones excite for your brain

According to the study led by Paolo Rossini of the Fatebenefratelli hospital in Milan published in the Annals of Neurology this week, prolonged exposure to electronic waves emitted by cell phones causes brain cells to become active.

The study, entitled 'mobile phone emissions and human brain excitability,' exposed 15 young male volunteers to electromagnetic field signals from a GSM 900 cell phone for 45 minutes.

Researchers then measured motions in the brain cortex by using transcranial magnetic stimulation to check on the brain before and immediately after exposure, as well as one hour after the exposure. The cortex is the outside layer of the brain, informs Monsters and Critics.

This phenomenon might actually prove beneficial to those with migraines or neurological disorders but prove detrimental for patients of epilepsy and brain diseases, the researchers theorized.

“Intracortical excitability was significantly modified, short intracortical inhibition was reduced and facilitation enhanced. It should be argued that long-lasting and repeated exposure to EMF linked with intense use of cellular phones in daily life might be harmful or beneficial in brain-diseased subjects,” they said in the report, informs Earthtimes.

According to News-Medical, the researchers say they have not shown that using a cell phone is bad for the brain in any way, but warn that people with conditions such as epilepsy, linked with brain cell excitability, could be affected.

They say more studies are needed to understand what this means in order to provide safe rules for the use of cell phones.