Snoring, Magnetic Therapy and You

Magnetic therapy has been a significant part of Asian healthcare, especially in Japan and China, for a very long time, with some historians suggesting that it could date back more than a thousand years or more.  And for almost as long, acupuncturists and other healthcare practitioners have endeavored to understand and treat chronic, habitual snoring. Over the past two decades, magnetic therapy has also become a more highly visible and quite controversial - part of "alternative" or complementary-medicine protocols in North America and Europe, complementing its long-standing use in the Orient. 

As part of our ongoing research into the causes and remedies for non-apnea snoring, the R&D team that developed the patent-pending SnorEnder has carefully investigated both documented and newly discovered effects of magnetic therapy on the human body for some time.  Because of clinical indications and research that certain forms of magnetic therapy may have positive effects on snoring, the results of our observational studies, although still incomplete, have been incorporated into the unique, new, and patent-pending SnorEnder snoring reduction system.

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Q&A:

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If you snore, you may have Obstructive Sleep Apnea.  ONLY your healthcare professional can diagnose this potentially life-threatening sleep disorder.

SLEEP APNEA:  if you have the symptoms of sleep apnea (especially "paused"  or "stopped" breathing while asleep), please see your healthcare provider immediately.  Sleep apnea is a potentially life-threatening condition that can only be diagnosed and treated by a qualified healthcare practitioner.  Vist the American Sleep Apnea Association's web site (www.sleepapnea.org) for more information.

 

PACEMAKERS:  It was previously thought that people with implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) and pacemakers should not use magnetic devices at all, but this recommendation has been adjusted. One study found that with the exception of magnetic mattresses and mattress pads, most magnets sold for therapeutic purposes do not interfere with the magnetically activated switches present in most pacemakers.

 

However, magnetic mattress pads can deactivate and alter the function of ICDs and pacemakers, but other therapeutic magnets are generally safe if kept 6 inches or further from these devices.³³ 

 

There are theoretical concerns that magnets might be risky for people with epilepsy. Similarly, until the physiological effects of magnet treatments are better understood, pregnant women should avoid them.

If you wear a heart pacemaker, we suggest that you talk with your healthcare professional or cardiac specialist before you use the SnorEnder.  Its magnetic fields are small (less than 10.0 MGOe) and should not affect a pacemaker, but informed caution is always advised.

 

INSULIN PUMPS:  Wearers of insulin pumps must consult with their physician before they use any device with magnetic properties.

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Magnets at the Dawn of History 
 

Since the dawn of human culture, wonder, magic, and healing have always been linked with the mysterious forces exerted by naturally magnetite-rich stones.  Known today as lodestones, they were mankind's first magnets.  Ancient Chinese mariners used a lodestone compass around the 2nd century BCE, sailing their ships from Africa and India to North America, and even (according to some researchers) around the world centuries before Columbus, Magellan and Cook.  And ever more distant use of lodestone magnets as navigational tools are hinted at in ancient Egyptian and other early cultures.

Controversial archaeological discoveries in the 1960's on artifacts taken from ancient shipwrecks off the Greek islands are thought by some archaeological searchers to curiously resemble ordinary dry-cell batteries.  If this is so, they could be among the earliest possible examples of lead-acid batteries, the kind found in your flashlight and portable electronic devices today.  Since there have yet been no proven traces of light bulbs, motors, pulled wire (to transport electrical currents over distance), or other indications of the use of electricity in ancient civilizations, such interpretations of these artifacts remains highly conjectural and even speculative.   But fascinating, nontheless.

When some of these recovered artifacts were reconstructed in a university study, they were found to be capable of producing as much as 1-3 volts of direct current, about what a "D" flashlight battery delivers today.  Others have suggested that the small electrical currents these artifacts might have produced may have been used to stimulate natural healing and disease prevention. 

There is considerable support for this use of low-voltage electrical currents even in today's advanced medicine.  Several patents have been granted recently for experimental treatment of bacterial and viral infections through the use of electrical currents (including one issued a few years ago to PhD researchers at a leading New York medical R&D center for the treatment of AIDS) , and of course, the work of Hulda Clark and other alternative approaches using magnetism or electricity remain highly controversial.  

If ancient artifacts that suggest an understanding of electricity (however primitive) are eventually found, these hints of electricity in the ancient world could be of enormous importance, and even alter what we believe about early human history, in no small part because of their likely connection to magnetism and early healthcare practices. 

A magnetic field can easily be generated through the use of simple electrical circuits, and if such devices were available in the ancient world, the development of human understanding about acupressure, acupuncture, magnetic therapy, feng shui and other healing arts so far back in human history makes much more sense.  But, until and unless these possibilities are proven to exist, the presence of human-created electricity and artificial magnets in the distant past remains ephemeral and highly speculative at best.

However, there are a number of early writings that may indicate that ancient priests, healers, and magicians could have been intimately aware of the awe-inspiring powers of a well-timed electrical shock on illiterate, superstitious and unsophisticated believers.

For example, static electricity, generated by rubbing a sheepskin or cloth vigorously with a metal rod, can deliver a sizeable shock, like the ones you can get from carpets and upholstery.  "Miracles" and other "communications" from the gods via induced shocks could easily have been produced on-demand by such primitive methods, including simple lead-acid batteries.  Of course, ancient physicians may also have used electrical energy and magnetism to treat patients.  But no real proof of any of these speculations exists at this time.  Just tantalizing shards, fragments, bits and pieces.

Although the Bible, many sacred Hindu, Egyptian, Chinese, and even Babylonian writings are thought to mention electricity, magnetism and healing as early as 2500 BCE, more than 5,000 years ago, many Western historians trace the origins of magnetic therapy to Paracelsus (1493-1543 BCE), a Greek physician and alchemist who noticed the lodestone's power to attract iron.  From that observation, he thought that perhaps they could also attract diseases and draw them out of the body.

Teaching more than 2,500 years ago, Paracelsus was obviously limited in his understanding of the human body's complex structures and their functions, but he did clearly grasp the role a patient's mind and attitude can play in the process of healing (Buranelli, 1975).  Paracelsus wrote, "The spirit is the master, the imagination is the instrument, the body is the plastic material.  The moral atmosphere surrounding the patient can have a strong influence on the course of the disease.  It is not the curse or the blessing that works, but the idea.  The imagination produces the effect."  

Paracelsus was apparently quite familiar with both "natural" healing and the placebo effect.  Today, we understand far more about human disease and the processes of healing, but Paracelsus' observations on magnetic therapy were perhaps, not as far from the facts as some think.  At the least, the recent Baylor study (discussed below) suggests that there may be more here than some skeptics would admit.  And certainly much more that needs closer objective study.

Magnetic Malpractice

Fast-forward to the mid-eighteenth-century.  English development of carbon-steel permanent magnets more powerful than lodestones rekindled scientific and medical interest in the possible effects of magnets on the human body.  During a period of "magnetic frenzy" that has been characterized by some historians as outright deception and sham, shrouded in ignorance and greed, magnetic therapy was investigated, exposed, and subsequently ignored.  An ignorance that persists today.

A leading proponent of the medical misuse of magnetic therapy was Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815).  His success with the "magnets from Hell" led directly to widespread promotion of his theory of "animal magnetism."  Although he first used real magnets, he quickly discovered that virtually anything - cloth, feathers, paper, wood, leather, and even water - could be "magnetized."  This deception, confusion and quackery persists even today - an example is "magnetized water."  Water, one of the more complex of natures basic substances, can't be magnetized.  "Magnetized" water is nothing more than fraud.

By 1784, Mesmer had become so successful that King Louis XVI of France established a Royal Commission to evaluate his claims of animal magnetism.  An impressive commission that included Benjamin Franklin, Antoine Lavoisier and other leading intellects of the period, conducted a series of public experiments.  They eventually concluded that the observed effects attributed to "animal magnetism" were actually due to the power of suggestion.  The Commission further noted that "the practice of magnetization is the art of increasing the imagination by degrees."  Arriving in Paris shortly after the Commission released its report, Thomas Jefferson wrote in his journal: "Animal magnetism is dead, ridiculed."   Tell that to Hollywood stars and the media...

Sometimes unorthodox ideas, especially those with just the merest kernel of truth, may be ridiculed and ignored, but they can often be very hard to kill.  Particularly as - like the ancient Chinese (and many, many others after them) discovered - interesting, unexpected, and health-improving effects keep turning up in unpredictable ways.  Mesmer and his theories have long ago faded from public view, only to be remembered today as a synonym for hypnosis, if at all.  But the search for the science behind the many and varied claims of magnetic therapy advocates continues worldwide. 

Today's Magnetic Therapy - Grounded in Science, Dismissed by Skeptics 
 

Too often, when new ideas don't fit well into current theories of how the world works, they are ignored, then ridiculed, and after a very long time, sometimes studied and accepted.  Its been said before that "bad science is not replaced by good science until the last of the bad scientists pass away" Only then, are unconventional ideas with demonstrated merit finally accepted into the corpus of human science and understanding. 

Of course, there is also an ugly side to the growing attempts to discredit alternative medical approaches:  money.  Traditional insurance, medical, scientific, pharmaceutical, and even government organizations can feel very threatened by anything that might be more effective, cheaper and with far fewer side effects than what is available in the marketplace today.  It is sensible to practice "caveat emptor" - buyer beware! - for alternative healthcare; it is even moreso for many traditional healthcare products and services, especially those with known unpleasant or even dangerous side effects.

Magnetic therapy is now in the "ridicule & ignore" phase of discovery.  While we, and many, many others trained in science, engineering and medicine feel that it is at the least, worthy of some measure of serious investigation, most skeptics today do not agree.  Acceptance by the mainstream healthcare community will probably have to wait for better studies and research, more compelling data and a new generation of inquiring open minds.

One American who became interested in magnetic healing was Daniel David Palmer.  Founder of Palmer's School of Magnetic Cure in Iowa.  In the 1890's, his controversial ideas gradually developed into the system of hands-on kinetic therapy known as chiropractic.  Ridiculed, tested, refined and eventually proven through more than 100 years of research, well-documented results, extensive scientific investigation, Chiropractic is supported by thousands of carefully designed and conducted multi-year studies.  And now, with official recognition by the Governments of Australia, Canada, the UK, Germany, Sweden, Japan, the USA and elsewhere.  Chiropractic is finally approaching acceptance as a well-established part of modern medical care worldwide.  And, like chiropractic before it, magnetic therapy today seems to be both controversial and promising.

Based on the theoretical work of scientists such as Edison, Marconi, Bell, Tesla and others, the development of electrical and electro-magnetic technologies in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries impressed both scientists and the general public with the mysterious powers of electric and magnetic fields.  Because of this, therapeutic magnets enjoyed new interest.  Many reputable healthcare practitioners started promoting magnets to relieve pain, enhance sleep, and cure a wide variety of diseases.  Even Nicola Tesla, the eccentric, brilliant, and mysterious electrical genius responsible for alternating current (AC), today's electrical transmission standard worldwide, was among those who expressed serious interest in medical uses of electricity and magnetism. 

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The more you know about snoring remedies, the better you

understand why the new SnorEnder is uniquely effective

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By the mid-twentieth century, materials scientists and engineers had begun to develop stronger permanent magnets alnico (aluminum, nickel, cobalt and iron) magnets in the 1930's, ferrite (ceramic) magnets in the 1950's, and rare-earth magnets in the 1970's and 1980's.  The latest rare-earth magnets, neodymium-iron-boron, are more than a hundred times more powerful than the steel magnets available in the nineteenth century to Edison, Alexander Bell and other researchers.  Many new studies in magnetism are focused on low-temperature superconductivity and the effects of magnetic fields at the sub-atomic scale - nano-magnetism.

Both ferrite magnets and the latest "neo" magnets have had a tremendous impact on modern electronics technology, finding broad use in everything from car stereos, home theatre systems, and PCs to avant-garde clothing, personal grooming, and healthcare products.  Widespread use of the latest generations of magnets, coupled with growing interest in Asian healing arts has re-stimulated interest in magnetic therapy.  Most affordable magnetic therapy products today contain inexpensive, lower-powered ferrite magnets, like those found in refrigerator magnets. 

Magnetic Fields and the Human Body

Science has learned over the past two centuries that the electrochemical processes of the human body are extremely complex and still incompletely understood.  The physical effects of even very small magnetic fields on the human body cannot be ruled out.  

Partly the result of military research into non-lethal weapons, tens of thousands of scientific papers have been published on a wide range of observed biological effects of electromagnetic fields.  Much of this research has recently focused on the effects of cell towers, powerlines, radio-frequency and microwave fields. 

Controversial studies in Sweden, Canada, and elsewhere have focused on electromagnetic fields at power-line frequencies (fifty or sixty cycles per second).  Numerous studies of real and suspected biological effects of steady magnetic fields (reviewed by Frankel and Liburdy 1996) have concentrated mostly on high-strength fields of the level encountered in MRI magnets, typically of the order of 10,000 gauss (1 tesla).  This has been spurred on by concerns over the potential health effects of powerful magnetic fields on the human body and brain.

Unfortunately, credible research has been very limited at field levels typical of magnetic therapy products, most of which are limited to a few hundred gauss at most, even at the magnet and skin surface.  To get an idea of the limited power of refrigerator magnets, you might note that the earth's magnetic field is a bit less than half a gauss at the surface.  Astronauts, however, have encountered a field much stronger as they orbited the planet and traveled to the moon.

It would be overly simplistic to view the human body as inert material, because the human body, like its primary constituent, water, is diamagnetic.  That means that it is weakly repelled by magnetic fields.  In response to an applied magnetic field, the electrons in water molecules make slight adjustments in their motions, producing a net magnetic field in the opposing direction about 100,000 times smaller than the applied field.  However, with the removal of the applied field, the electrons return to their original orbits, and the water molecules once again become nonmagnetic. 

Therein lies an interesting claim of some "magnetic therapy" products:  you may have read about the "benefits" of "magnetized water."  However, you cannot magnetize water.  In fact, water is a unique natural compound: it exists in three states (solid, liquid, and gas) and is the basis for life as we understand it.  Although water does diamagnetically respond weakly to an applied magnetic field, the response is dependent on the strength of the applied field and disappears as soon as the field is removed. 

In numerous studies, the diamagnetism of water and most living things (since we are all mostly composed of water) is very weak.  In fascinating tests, a high-field electromagnet producing 160,000 gauss (16 tesla) at the center of the coil has recently been used to levitate not only water drops but also flowers, grasshoppers, and even small frogs (Berry and Geim 1997).  Since fields of that immense magnitude are required to balance gravitational forces, the much lower fields generated by consumer magnetic-therapy devices can only produce diamagnetic forces that are thousands of times smaller than gravity.  They may have subtle, almost indiscernible effects on the human body, but that has yet to be reliably observed.  However, magnetic effects on the nervous systems and health of levitated frogs have not yet been widely explored.  Perhaps they should.

Some "magnetic therapy" marketing claims have suggested that magnetic fields work by attracting blood, citing the iron in its chemical composition.  Hemoglobin is the main transport mechanism of oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood.  It is composed of globin a group of amino acids that form a protein and heme which contains iron atoms and imparts the red color to hemoglobin.  However, iron in the blood is very different from metallic iron, which is strongly magnetic because of the way it is structured at the atomic level. 

In ferrous iron, the individual atomic magnets are strongly coupled together by the phenomenon we call ferromagnetism.  The remarkable properties of ferromagnetic materials are a result of the cooperative behavior of many, many magnetic atoms acting in unison.  But the iron in blood consists instead of isolated iron atoms within large hemoglobin molecules, located inside the red blood cells.  Although each of the iron atoms is itself magnetic, it is isolated, away from other iron atoms, and remains magnetically independent and insignificantly weak.  The net effect of this weak paramagnetism characteristic of isolated iron atoms in hemoglobin yields only a very slight decrease in the overall diamagnetism of blood.  Therefore, blood, like water, is weakly repelled by magnetic fields, not attracted to them.  But, there is an observed effect, nonetheless.

Although most components of the human body and other living things ar