Smartphone radiation — what actually affects your health

Many people still fear "radiation from a phone," associating it with Chornobyl, old TVs, and myths about dangerous 5G or Bluetooth. However, from a scientific standpoint, a smartphone under normal use is not a source of the dangerous "radiation" many imagine.

This is reported by iTechua.

How smartphone radiation actually works

A smartphone does emit radio waves — to connect with mobile towers, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth — and it also generates weak electromagnetic fields during the operation of its electronic components and battery. Even when lying on a table in standby mode, it never "sleeps completely": it maintains a link to the base station, waits for incoming messages, keeps the internet connection active, synchronizes data, and periodically updates its network coordinates.

At the same time, the power of this radiation is extremely low. At arm’s length, a smartphone emits less than a Wi-Fi router located 3–4 meters away. And if the phone is placed at about half a meter distance, its contribution to the electromagnetic background becomes practically negligible.

Headaches, fatigue, poor sleep, and feelings of exhaustion typically have causes other than radio waves. A phone nearby keeps the brain in a state of constant "background alertness" — we wait for notifications, react to sounds and vibrations, respond to every screen light. Display light, especially in the evening, disrupts melatonin production, which negatively affects falling asleep and sleep quality.

The habit of checking a phone without necessity creates numerous small but frequent micro-stresses for the nervous system. Even short signals, vibration, or simply waiting for a new message drain the brain. The psychological effect of an "invisible threat" from a gadget that supposedly harms with "some radiation" is especially noticeable in people over 40.

The real danger is not the radio waves themselves but certain usage conditions. Risks increase if a smartphone regularly overheats — for example, when left under a pillow or covered with fabric while charging. It is also undesirable to hold the device close to your head in places with extremely weak signal, when it operates at maximum transmitter power.

A separate issue is sleeping with a phone next to you. In this case, the main harm concerns the psychophysiological state: the brain does not fully relax due to constant alerts, expectations of calls or messages, and screen light disrupting the body's natural rhythms — even though radio-wave exposure remains extremely low.

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