Why Use Magnets If Magnetic Fields Are Harmful?

A customer asked me recently a very good question. She had been doing some research and read a lot about how electromagnetic fields (EMF) may be harmful to the human body. If EMF is harmful, then how can magnets be good for us?

There is a significant difference between harmful electromagnetic fields and safe magnetic fields.

The harmful EMFs are those created by AC power. In the US and Canada, AC current runs at 60Hz which means that the flow of current reverses back and forth 60 times every second. Notice that I said “back” and “forth”. That’s 120 changes in direction every second. This rapid changing in the current flow causes a corresponding rapid change in the polarity of the magnetic field that is created by that current. Our bodies don’t like this.

This might work as an analogy. You are standing on the bank of a river and you are going to wade across. We are used to a normal DC river where the water flows from the source to the mouth. You step into the river, adjust to the constant pressure of the water flow, and can wade across. Now let’s say that the river is a 60Hz AC river. When you step into the river you cannot set yourself to the flow of the water because it is constantly changing direction on you. 120 times every second it is changing direction from flowing downstream, to upstream, and back to downstream. That will probably knock you off your feet pretty quickly.

Essentially, that is what is happening to the cells in our body in regard to a magnetic field generated by AC electricity. That is what we want to minimize if not eliminate completely. I have heard that up to 3 milligauss is generally safe for people.

Now for Nikken magnets.

Most importantly, the magnetic fields created by Nikken’s magnetic products are all generated from static magnets, not electromagnets. The magnetic fields generated by them are constant. They aren’t changing, so they don’t throw the body off balance.

The Biaxial PowerMag is the only Nikken device that uses electricity. The electricity in the device is DC (direct current), like the first river above, so there isn’t any harmful noise. Secondly, the electricity is used to spin a static magnet, not to generate the magnetic field itself.

Nikken magnets are actually pretty weak. You can find much stronger magnets than Nikken’s online. You may even have some magnets on your refrigerator that are stronger than the magnets that Nikken uses. The magnets in the magnetic mattress topper are designed and set into the foam to provide about 800 gauss to the surface of your skin. Nikken’s magnets are intended to supplement the Earth’s magnetic field, not to overpower anything.

You can think of Nikken’s magnets like you would nutritional supplements. Instead of supplementing the nutritional content that you get from the food you eat, with Nikken’s magnets your are supplementing the amount of magnetic energy that you receive from the Earth’s magnetic field.

That brings me to the real bottom line answer to the question. We live on a giant magnetic ball, the Earth, and we are immersed in it’s magnetic field. It is relatively constant and very weak but still very necessary for us to function and survive. Astronauts used to come back to Earth sick and weak due to being outside of the Earth’s magnetic field. I have also heard that magnetic field deficiency is actually what is behind jet lag and a possible cause of a lot of the chronic conditions that people have. When we spend too much time indoors or in a car we are insulating ourselves against the Earth’s magnetic field.

That is what Nikken’s magnetic products are about. They are intended to supplement the Earth’s magnetic field and bring it indoors where we spend too much of our time. There are no harmful EMFs associated with Nikken’s magnets because there isn’t any AC electrical component to them.

Click here to learn more about Nikken’s magnetic products.

Wayne Woodworth