We spend about one-third of our lives sleeping, so the steps we take to make our bedroom a safe, calming, and healthy place are extremely important.
If you’ve read my post on How To Eliminate EMFs In The Bedroom, you know how much radiation your cell phone produces even while you’re sleeping.
However, most people don’t understand that even a simple alarm clock does produce EMF radiation, and with its close proximity to the head, can cause damage over time.
In this article, I’ll help you understand why this matters, and find a good low-EMF alarm clock.
How EMF Radiation From An Alarm Clock Affects Our Sleep
EMF radiation causes a variety of serious health problems from prolonged exposure, but I want to talk mostly about how it affects our sleep. One of the primary reasons that EMF radiation from something like an alarm clock near your head effects your sleep was discovered in a recent study.
The Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at The University studied how the body is affected by electromagnetic radiation while we sleep. The study was able to prove that EMF radiation inhibits the body’s ability to properly produce melatonin, which as you probably know is our body’s hormone that regulates sleep.
The reason this happens is that the pineal gland where the melatonin is created interprets the radiation as light and doesn’t want to allow you to sleep.
This is why the EMF radiation from something simple like an alarm clock can still impact our quality of sleep.
When our quality of sleep is impaired, along with the EMF radiation being absorbed into our body, also frequently produces symptoms such as:
- Headaches
- Skin irritation
- Fatigue
- Moodiness
- Memory problems
If you wake up feeling any of these, and can’t identify other issues that may be causing them, you should make sure that you reduce the amount of EMF radiation in your bedroom. For this, I would check out this post, as well as ensure you are not sleeping anywhere near your cell phone and also moving away from EMF-producing devices like alarm clocks.
5 Best Low EMF Alarm Clocks
Now that we’ve talked a bit about why it’s important to keep EMF radiation out of our bedrooms whenever we can, let’s talk about some of the best low-EMF alarm clocks you can buy right now.
The first one on the list is the one I personally use and have tested.
1. Braun BC-22-B Classic Analogue Alarm Clock
Okay, this is the winner in my book when it comes to low-EMF alarm clocks, and I’ll tell you a bit about why.
However, most importantly, this clock produced virtually no measurable magnetic or electric field radiation and produced no blue light, so it’s already a winner for these purposes, but it gets much better.
Crescendo Beep Alarm
The Crescendo beep alarm slowly gets louder and more frequent, so I wake up feeling naturally alert rather than jolted awake.
If I’m not quite ready to get up, the snooze button gives me an extra 5 minutes. It even has a manual backlight that pops on for 5 seconds, so I can check the time without completely waking up, which I absolutely love.
Night-Time Visibility
I love the continuous backlight feature. This thing is a lifesaver for anyone who’s ever squinted in the dark to see the time. It provides just enough light to read the time but isn’t intrusive at all. And yes, you can turn it off if you’re someone who needs total darkness.
Extremely Quiet
One of my pet peeves with alarm clocks has always been the annoying ticking noise, but not with this one. Its precision quartz movement is super quiet.
Stylish and Functional
Finally, I just really love the way this alarm clock looks. I think it’s simple, sleek, and doesn’t have any obnoxious colors or lights.
2. Marathon Silent Non-Ticking Alarm Clock
This is the alarm clock I was using before I switched over to the Braun one above, and I always really loved it.
When I measured this alarm clock with my Trifield TF2, it produced virtually no EMF radiation while running.
Here are the things I liked most about it:
- Super quiet – the Marathon analog desk clock was engineered with a completely silent, continuous-sweep second hand that doesn’t make a ticking sound whatsoever.
- Simple Design -I always liked the design of this clock, from the face to the red button on top.
- Automatic Backlight – I like the backlight on this alarm clock, and it automatically illuminates just enough to read it when it senses that the room is dark.
- Very Low EMF Radiation – When I first wrote this article many years ago, I bought and tested many alarm clocks to see how much, and what kind of, radiation they emitted. This is still one of the lowest-EMF alarm clocks I’ve ever tested.
This is a great option overall for a low EMF alarm clock, however, if you’re looking for something even less expensive, the Peakeap might be for you.
3. Peakeep Analog Alarm Clock
If you’re looking for a great budget low-EMF alarm clock, I’d recommend this one from Peakeep.
I’ve used this one as well, and although I had absolutely no complaints about it, I just liked the Braun and Marathon clocks above a little bit better in just about every category.
Here are the things I really did like about this alarm clock though:
- Analog – I love that this is a fully analog alarm clock, and it’s battery operated which will produce less EMF radiation.
- 7 Sound Options – Right on the front of the alarm clock you’ll find a simple dial where you can test and select from 7 different alarm sound options.
- Nightlight – I appreciate that the nightlight doesn’t use blue light and that you activate it by just pressing the large button on top, which is really easy to find.
- Silent – I like how quiet this alarm clock is.
- Includes Batteries
Overall, this is a great budget pick for a low-EMF no-blue-light alarm clock.
4. Famicozy Analog Alarm Clock
This is another great low EMF alarm clock if you’re looking for something very simple.
However, there are still some things I really like about the Famicozy alarm clock.
First of all, I like the crescendo alarm feature. Essentially the alarm will gradually get louder to gently wake you from sleep, instead of a single loud alarm blasting you awake.
I also really like the size of this alarm clock. It is a bit larger than some of the other ones on this list, which makes it a bit easier to read from across a room.
Finally, I liked the backlight on this alarm clock because it illuminates the entire dial, instead of just lighting up a single corner.
5. Aromustime Wooden Battery Alarm Clock
This is the final low-EMF alarm clock I wanted to add to the list.
My favorite thing about this clock is the design, which you can see really stands out from other non-EMF alarm clocks.
It’s actually carved out of a single piece of wood, so there isn’t any etching or seam whatsoever.
I also like that it is battery-operated, and really easy to operate.
How To Measure EMF Radiation From Alarm Clock
When you’re starting your journey to lower EMF exposure in your life, absolutely the most important tool you can get is a quality EMF meter.
My absolute favorite, and the meter I use most often, is the TriFieldTF2 (read my review) as it’s simple to use, lasts forever, is extremely accurate, and measures all three types of EMF radiation.
If you’re looking for a low-cost EMF meter I really like the Erickhill EMF Meter. You can use your EMF meter to find out both the kind and the amount, of EMF radiation coming from various devices around your home.
No matter what you are trying to do to lower exposure, whether it’s getting your cellphone out of your bedroom, to trying to reduce dirty electricity, you’ll need an EMF meter to know how much of an impact your changes are making.
When it comes to measuring the radiation from your alarm clock, it should be pretty simple:
- Lay down on the bed where you normally would, and measure the amount of radiation at your head and at your chest.
- Then, move the alarm clock to the other side of the room, and take the same two measurements. The difference should be the amount of radiation you’re reducing.
Any amount of radiation that you can reduce in the bedroom will dramatically improve your sleep and overall health.
Which Alarm Clock Has Lower EMF Radiation – Battery Operated Or Plugged In?
This is a tough one to answer because there isn’t much information available on the exact EMF radiation output of various alarm clocks.
From my own experience, and from what I was available to find online, it seems that battery-operated alarm clocks emit slightly less radiation than clocks that are plugged in.
Both types of alarm clocks emit approximately 10 mG of radiation up to 3-5 feet away. Remember that the inverse-square law of physics tells us that as we double our distance from a source of radiation, we quarter our exposure to it. The bottom line is that proximity to sources of radiation is one of the primary factors determining how damaging it can be.
If you don’t want to give up your current alarm clock, at least move it to the other side of the room.
First of all, you’ll reduce the majority of the radiation you are exposed to from it, but it will also help you to wake up, as you’ll have to walk across the room to snooze it!
Note: Remember that sleeping next to your cell phone is FAR worse than sleeping next to your alarm clock, so make sure you check out my post on EMFs in the bedroom to read more about all the ways you can make your bedroom a safe place to sleep.
Final Thoughts about Low/No EMF Alarm Clocks
There are many important things we can do to lower our overall exposure to EMF radiation, such as limiting our use of cell phones and tablets, changing how we use computers and Wi-Fi, and so much more. For this, check out the multitude of articles in the Knowledge section.
Remember, making simple, inexpensive changes like swapping our digital battery-powered alarm clock, for wind up no EMF alarm clock like this one is just another box we can check in our overall plan to be healthier and safer.
I truly hope you enjoyed my brief guide about EMF radiation from alarm clocks, if you did please consider sharing!
