Know Your Physio

R. Blank: Understanding EMF, Its Impact on Health, and How to Protect Yourself From It.

• R. Blank • Episode 146

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I sat down with R. Blank, CEO of Shield Your Body and author of Empowered, to cut through the EMF noise with clear science and practical steps. If you’ve ever wondered what EMF actually is, what’s hype vs. real risk, and how to reduce exposure without abandoning modern tech, this conversation is for you.

R. breaks down ionizing vs. non-ionizing radiation, why your cell phone is the #1 avoidable source, and the “distance × time” rule that drives smarter habits. We get tactical: building a low-EMF bedroom (no phones, battery-powered alarm clocks, low-blue rechargeable lamps), why a meter beats guesswork, when to de-energize a circuit at night, safer audio (air-tubes over AirPods), and how to configure your phone radios (airplane mode, Wi-Fi/Bluetooth off when you don’t need them). We also compare shielding products vs. Faraday gear, when apparel makes sense (travel and high-density environments), and how to think about privacy tools like Faraday wallets and laptop sleeves.

If you want data-backed, low-friction ways to protect sleep, focus, and long-term health without quitting your devices, you’ll love this one. You’ll walk away with a simple rule (“stop carrying your phone in your pocket”), a bedroom checklist, and a clearer map for what to change today and what, if anything, to buy later.


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Topics Covered:

[00:04:11] Invisible dangers of electromagnetic fields.

[00:12:02] Technology's value and abuse.

[00:13:01] Personal control and empowerment.

[00:17:14] EMF safer bedroom tips.

[00:35:27] Cell phone radiation exposure.

[00:38:08] EMF protection for cell phones.

[00:42:47] Air tube headphone safety.

[00:48:15] Faraday products for EMF protection.

[00:54:05] EMF shielded apparel options.

[01:02:22] EMF mitigation strategies for phones.

[01:06:34] Phones and EMF.

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R. Blank:
People tend not to carry their phones in their pockets for 10 seconds or even 10 minutes. They tend to do it for multiple hours a day, every day, right? So you have very high powered, close proximity, long duration exposure. And it is for this reason that I believe that carrying your phone in your pocket is the single number one greatest avoidable source of exposure in our lives. The tobacco industry was able to convince people for so long that smoking, A, was safe, and then later that, well, there's doubt about whether it's safe or not safe. And they forestalled regulations for decades. And that was when you're inhaling tar into your lungs. They managed to convince people that that was a safe activity.

Andres Preschel: Before we jump in, quick shout out to today's sponsor, Timeline Nutrition. They've developed MitoPure gummies, the only clinically proven way to restore mitochondrial health and support healthy aging from the inside out. And my listeners get 20% off at timeline.com slash undress. That's timeline.com slash undress, A-N-D-R-E-S. Go try them, your cells will thank you. Mr. R. Blank. Welcome back to the show, man. It's great to have you. Thank you so much. It's great to talk to you again. It's been a minute. Yeah, you look great. I imagine since we last spoke, you've been battling the EMFs. Yeah, well, fortunately, I don't- And more chiseled in the process.

R. Blank: Yeah. I don't have that much battling to do of those where I live, so I've been really focused on helping others, and I guess that's what you're seeing in my face.

Andres Preschel: Sweet. Well, I mean, I think with everything, you know, about EMF, it's probably had something to do with motivating you to move to, you know, Panama and, and to enjoy the tropics the way that you do. And I think that also has a lot to do with how healthy you are, you know, as a whole. It's obviously not the most realistic change for most people, which is why we want to make sure that they're protected from EMFs in their modern environment. So I'm excited to see what you have to say.

R. Blank: Yeah, thank you. I mean, I don't consider myself particularly EMF sensitive because I deal with and communicate with a lot of people who are very EMF sensitive where it really impacts their their lives. But I don't remember when it was, but there was a certain age I hit where I realized once I would go back to a city that I couldn't like I would really start to feel it after a couple of days. Now, obviously, there's a lot of forces that could be causing that result, but I'm pretty sure EMF is definitely one of those, definitely a factor in that. So I still like going to cities, but I definitely have to have measured amounts of time there before it really starts getting to me.

Andres Preschel: For sure. And I actually have so many questions about that alone, but before we dive in, for those who aren't familiar with you or your work, or even EMF, if you could give us a little, you know, tell us a little bit about why you do what you do, who you are and what is EMF?

R. Blank: Sure. So my name is R Blank, like you just said, and I run a company called Shield Your Body, which is the world's largest store of EMF protection products for consumers. Everything in my store is based on real science and has demonstrable, measurable results. And we can get into why that was important for me to say in a little bit, but it's a science-backed catalog. And EMF, answering a little bit out of order, EMF stands for electromagnetic fields. And it's a form of energy that is created by a combination of electrical and magnetic forces. It's one of the fundamental forces of the universe. And it comes in many different forms, right? So the one that everyone knows is visible light. Visible light is a form of EMF energy. And it is the it's the only kind that we can see. And it is really, with a couple of exceptions, the only kind that all life on Earth was exposed to until, you know, I'm talking since creation until about 1850. Now, there are certain forms of EMF with more energy than visible light. And those are called like X-rays and gamma rays, which are things people have heard of. And they have so much energy that they can knock electrons loose from the cells in your body. And that means they ionize those cells. So we call those ionizing forms of EMF radiation. And because knocking electrons loose from the cells in your body is as dangerous as it sounds, Everyone acknowledges this is super dangerous stuff, even in very, very, very low doses. So then there's forms of EMF with less energy than visible light. They don't ionize your cells. So we call these non-ionizing forms of electromagnetic radiation. And these include things like radio waves and microwaves. And these are the forms that are human made. And that's why they started to emerge in our environment really in the mid to late 19th century. And they've just been exploding. since then, right? Because first you had the light bulb, then you started putting out a power grid, then you started wiring homes and putting in new appliances. And then we got into wireless communications, which are obviously continuing to explode to this day. So anything that runs on power, or anything that communicates wirelessly, is a source of this type of EMF that we're talking about here. And the way I got into this work was actually through the work of my father, Dr. Martin Blank, who was one of the world's leading researchers for several decades on the question of how these forms of energy impact the body. And he actually got into when he was assigned, you know, when he got his doctorates, when he started teaching doctors at Columbia University Medical School, he had believed, as he had been taught, that these forms of EMF were safe, that they were benign, that they didn't do anything to life. And it was in the course of working at Columbia that he learned that that assumption was incorrect. And when when he learned new science, he followed the science and he realized that the body is actually very, very sensitive to these forces, even at very, very, very low levels. So about 15, no, 13 years ago, he had a contract to write this book, Overpowered. And he asked me for help to make it readable and accessible by the general public. And so I jumped in. I co-wrote Overpowered with him. And it was in the course of writing Overpowered that I came up with the idea for what has now become Shield Your Body. So I hope I didn't run on too long with that answer.

Andres Preschel: No, that's excellent. No, thank you. Thank you for for the context and helping us paint that picture. And if you can, would you mind elaborating on And, and, you know, filling us in on why they had that kind of assumption early on in the within the scientific context. Sure.

R. Blank: And just for a bit of perspective, they had that, pardon me, they had that assumption about ionizing radiation early on too. When my parents were growing up, they used to have little machines in the corner stores where you could stick your foot in them and get it x-rayed. And everyone thought it was super cool that you could see the bones in your feet. It was just a novelty, like, you know, one of those mechanical horses. But they would be dosing people with X-ray radiation. So… Well, like playing with mercury. Yeah, exactly. It's fun. It shoots around. So this is an assumption that people, you know, bring to a lot of things. So it's not like non-ionizing EMFs are unique. in this way. So when ionizing radiation early on was thought to be safe, then they learned it wasn't. In part, they learned that with non-ionizing radiation so much more quickly because it has so many more visible immediate effects, right, because ionizing radiation is much more damaging in the immediate term, whereas most of the effects that we talk about with non-ionizing radiation really take years to develop. But then you mix in the economic interests, right? So over time, as the knowledge started to emerge that there were at least questions of the safety of non-ionizing EMF radiation, By this point, you had the power industry, which is still significant, although now it pales in comparison to companies that rely on wireless technology. But so you had the power industry, then you had the cell phone industry. And now you have basically all of tech that have very entrenched interests, financial interests in muddying the waters in the same way that the tobacco industry was able to convince people for so long that smoking a was safe and then later that, well, there's doubt about whether it's safe or not safe. And they forestalled regulations for decades. And that was when you're inhaling tar into your lungs. They managed to convince people that that was a safe activity. So that's where we are. Yeah, except I would say, I mean, a lot of people make that and there definitely are analogs there. The thing is, is that EMF is a byproduct of technologies that add a tremendous amount of value to our lives, right? So like tobacco is just a vice. There's no real way to spin it otherwise. And so it was just getting people to enjoy a vice. With EMF, We're talking about stuff that comes off of your cell phone and your laptop. And when you watch Netflix or you go to a hospital and get emergency medical services or you do online studying, I mean, when you do a bank transfer, it creates tremendous value for humanity. And so that is a real complicating factor in the comparison to tobacco. That hasn't stopped them from deploying what is widely referenced as the tobacco playbook in defending against regulation and regulatory change. But I think anyone who's approaching this topic has to do so with eyes wide open that the causes of EMF create tremendous benefit and value for humanity.

Andres Preschel: For sure. I mean, look, I absolutely, you know, technology brings us so much value, but it's also something that we abuse, you know, all of us to some extent, you know, doom scrolling, you know, being victims of this paradoxical hyper connectedness and thinking that on our phones we can stay connected to people that we care about. even though it can never come even closer replicating what we feel in their presence. I mean, there's so much time that we waste, you know, watching YouTube videos, Netflix, et cetera. So in that sense, you could say that it's a vice, but I'm not saying this to.

R. Blank: Sure. No, you're 100 percent right. So I'm just saying it's not just a vice, but it is definitely abused. I think there's no one anymore argues that it is not a source of real problems in our society. And on a personal level, which is the level at which I like to, you know, there's a lot of people who talk about EMF and they talk about it, like my father, who talked about it from the perspective of demanding regulatory change. And there's people who talk about our relationship with technology and require, you know, approaching it from the position of let's get some regulatory change. I approach all of these things from the position of personal control and empowerment. And so I don't hold my breath for beneficial regulatory change on any of these for the same reason that tech is just too powerful. So you're not going to get meaningful regulation on EMF, and you're not going to get meaningful regulation on social media, and you're not going to get meaningful regulation on AI. And so where that leaves you is with the responsibility to yourself and to your family to take a mindful approach to all of these forces, which can be massively beneficial and massively toxic, depending on how you approach them.

Andres Preschel: You know, I have a, I have an anecdote that I want to share with you. I think you'll appreciate this a lot. Um, I've got a good friend of mine. His name is Martin and you know, he's actually one of the executives at a company that helps you install these like smart home systems. So, you know, everything, security to lighting, um, you know, etc. And it's all, you know, you've got this little iPad, you control everything in your house with. So obviously, a lot of, you know, EMF exposure, but interestingly, he's also a huge biohacker. And he's been called biohacking, you know, applying science to live better over the past 15 years. He's like a total OG in this space. I tell him all the time, he's like, I always tell them like, dude, you don't understand, you could easily start a personal brand and it would be so valuable because you're someone that works directly with the kind of stuff that gives you some of these health issues, but you're also simultaneously an expert in countering those, you know, the EMF exposure, you know, molds, you know, purifying your water and your air. You could give people the, you know, the solution for their home and also the protection they need so they get the best of both worlds. Like, dude, you like you're sitting on a gold mine. No, but I know. You know, the other day, um, actually had him come over to my place with an EMF meter that he used for his own home. And he has, you know, these, he's a huge fan of your work, by the way. And he's got this like canopy around his bed and he's got his phone, you know, covered and, and so much more. And, um, he took the EMF meter up to my bedroom. I'm like in a, in a little loft apartment. And I was so pleased to see that. My bedroom had zero EMF and it came down to the fact that the way that my building is set up, uh, the walls are made of concrete. There's a very thick slab of concrete separating the top and the bottom floor. And I can't tell you the relief that I felt when that was, when we had evidence to prove that that was the case. I actually chose the place because of the concrete and I was crossing my fingers and hoping that it would support the, you know, the EMF, but when I saw that zero, I looked at him and I'm like, dude, you're the man. Now help me install some smart systems outside of the bedroom so I can make the most out of my home. That's cool. But, but I mean, that was more so like a matter of chance, right? So I would like to take this opportunity to transition into some of the work in your book and what's some of the practical advice that we can give people to set up their homes as the healthiest, lowest EMF environment. It's like, I was so pleased because, I mean, I think it's pretty obvious why that would be meaningful. However, we spend a third of our lives in bed. You know, if there's any environment where we want to block EMF, that's it. So, yeah, if you can go ahead and I'd love for you to take it from there and give us some advice. Sure, thank you.

R. Blank: Yeah, there's a lot there I can jump off from. So the book you're asking about is my new one, Empowered, right? So the one I co-wrote with my dad. 12 years ago was overpowered. And that was really a survey of the health effects of EMF radiation. Empowered is really what I call a survival guide for consumers who are interested in reducing their exposure to EMF radiation. So I cover the science. But unlike where Overpowered was, the science was the whole book, in Empowered, the science is one of the chapters. So if it's the only book you pick up on this topic, at least you understand why we're talking about this. The whole rest of the book, and its 27 chapters, is all about how to protect yourself. And the real emphasis is on behavioral changes. And then where that ends is where protection products come into play. So one of the things you brought up, which is very, very important, is the bedroom, right? So I have an entire chapter on how to make an EMF safer bedroom, and it is precisely for the reason you say, which is it is where you spend a third of your life if you're sleeping adequately, which I'm getting back to doing these days. But it's not just the amount of time, it's also what you're supposed to be doing in that time, right? Because that is the time in which your body is rejuvenating, recuperating from the last day and preparing for the next day. So when your sleep is negatively impacted, which EMF does to sleep, you are actually setting up the context for cascading knock-on effects, right? So you can then make yourself more vulnerable to other health conditions just because you're not getting sufficient sleep. So, great examples in the bedroom, right? Not to bring your phone in there. That's number one.

Andres Preschel: Oh, for sure. No phone in the bedroom. Yeah. Bedroom for two things.

R. Blank: Yes. That is a principle of building biology, by the way. The bedroom is for two things. I think most people can figure out what that is. Yeah, I was going to say, I think your listeners, I'll leave it to them to guess. But that's exactly right. The bedroom is for two things. So not to bring your phone into your bedroom, or if you do, to put it into airplane mode. For sure. Ideally, keep it as far away from you as possible. It surprises some people to learn that I've come across research that having your phone in your bedroom, even if the phone is fully powered off, can negatively impact your sleep.

Andres Preschel: Oh, sure. It's an impact of your head. I mean, it's just the phone represents responsibility, notifications. That's exactly what they theorize, how they attempt to explain the results. And it's also the psychology. I don't mean to interrupt, I just want to amplify this because I'm fascinated by the psychology of it. It's like, you start to associate the bedroom with any, as if it's like any other environment where you can be interrupted, disturbed, notified. It's like, if you cut that out, then your body, your physiology, psychology, your brain starts to recognize it as a place where, as the most peaceful place on the planet, literally for you. The bedroom is supposed to be the most peaceful, the most parasympathetic place that exists. And so if you leave it outside of the bedroom, now you walk in and immediately your body has that permission to relax. If you bring the phone in, which represents, like I said, responsibility, notifications, et cetera, just seeing the phone is that subtle reminder that you can't give yourself permission to be fully at peace. That has been, and honestly, no foot in the bedroom for me has been, I would even go as far as to say my number one health hack over the past year, I fully committed. And it's just, it's better sleep, more peace of mind, and it's keeping me from ending and starting the day with my phone, which I think is the absolute worst thing that you can do for your health. Wrecks your sleep, wrecks your morning, you know, depletes your dopamine. It just sets you up for a terrible night of sleep and a terrible day the next day.

R. Blank: Yeah. No, I fully agree. I'm wondering though, is your significant other on the same page as you?

null: 100%.

Andres Preschel: Oh my God, yes. Okay, good. Absolutely.

R. Blank: Because that has caused issue for me. For sure.

Andres Preschel: Yeah. Oh, what a blessing. No, thank you for asking, and I should not take it for granted. I realize that's rare. But yeah, we're on the absolute same page about pretty much everything, but especially that.

R. Blank: So then if, if you rely on your phone as an alarm clock, get a battery powered alarm clock.

Andres Preschel: Yeah. But guess what? Yeah. Yeah, no, go. So, so I actually got one of those old fashioned alarm clocks and I had the same friend come in to my last apartment to do the EMF reading. And we found that the alarm clock, at least the one that I had, was emitting by far the most EMF of any other- Was it battery powered? No, it was a plug-in.

R. Blank: Yeah, so that's why I said battery powered.

Andres Preschel: You're right, you're right. Touche. Touche.

R. Blank: No, so that's actually a really good point, right? Especially the ones with the red LED displays, those are really bad offenders.

Andres Preschel: That's what I had.

R. Blank: Yeah, but anything that plugs into the wall that you keep near your head, remember I said EMF, it comes from everything that communicates wirelessly, but also that runs on power. And so when you plug in one of these phones, sorry, clocks, and it tends to be right near your head, you're actually conducting EMF from the electricity in your wall right up to adjacent to your head. And then with those red ones, the LED displays just tend to, I don't know the engineering reason why, but they tend to be very, very large sources. And so that's why you want a battery-powered alarm clock.

Andres Preschel: Well, you see, I'm so glad that I made this mistake and mentioned it to you because look at how far the nuance goes, right? Yeah. It has to be, you have to get it right. It was off the charts. It was right next to my head.

R. Blank: That blew me away. And another thing you can do, it depends how far you want to take it. I mean, even if you just stop sleeping with the phone in your bedroom, you're making a huge difference right there. But another thing you can do if you want to take it even further, I had an EMF mitigator come to my house and she noticed, I thought I was being all cool and healthy because I had these nice pink Himalayan salt lamps as my nightstand lamps. And she told me, I just didn't put two and two together like, well, it's plugged into the wall. And so I got rid of those and instead I have these rechargeable low blue light lamps and they look really nice. And since they're rechargeable, obviously they charge off of wall power, but I don't charge them next to my bed. I take them to the kitchen when they need charging and then I bring them back and then they're low blue light. And so I'm getting the low blue light and the no EMF. So, it depends how far you want to take it. Now, you've talked a couple of times about testing. Testing's really, not everyone's going to do this. I run a consumer company, right? I know there's limitations to what a lot of people are willing to do. But if you care about EMF or you think maybe you should, investing in a decent meter is really one of the most important things you can do. I can sit here and give you a whole lot of tips about how to use your phone more safely or how to use your Wi-Fi more safely, but that's because those culprits are obvious. They're big. Dealing with them is important, but those culprits are obvious. There are going to be a lot of sources in your life that they're not as obvious. A good example of this can often be found in the bedroom. and that is the electrical wiring in the wall. Oftentimes that can run right at the same level as where your head sleeps. And we tend to sleep with our heads towards the wall. That's just habitually how a lot of us end up sleeping. And so if, and this isn't universally true, right? It depends on how your house is wired and what you have running at the time and so forth. But it is possible that those wires that are running right behind your head are emitting very high levels of EMF. And the only way you're going to know that is with a meter, right? Because it's not an obvious culprit. It's all EMF other than the visible light. All of the types of EMF we're talking about here are invisible. They're odorless. You can't touch them or feel them or taste them. And so the only way you're going to know where these non-obvious high sources are is with a meter. And so if you find that the wiring in your bedroom is a high source of EMF, Obviously, most people aren't going to just want to rip out their walls and rewire. The simplest solution there would be to power down the circuit. It's called de-energize your bedroom at night when you go to sleep. You go to your circuit breaker, you turn off the circuit that feeds the bedroom, and now there's no electricity running into your bedroom walls. That's great advice.

Andres Preschel: That's super simple.

R. Blank: Yeah, thank you.

Andres Preschel: You just like label it, figure out which one it is, label it.

R. Blank: Yeah, and then de-energize. That's great. Yeah, and if you end up doing that a lot, you can get special circuits to put into your circuit breaker that are designed… Hey, I noticed on your website. I don't have that. I have one. Yeah, I have a fancy one. You can get simpler ones. But yeah, I have a product on my site that allows you actually to rewire your entire circuit breaker and create zones in your home and create timers on the zones. No way. That's why it gets a little pricey, that particular solution. But you can just have your local electrician come by and say, I want a kill switch for this one circuit. And then those are designed to be turned on and off every day. No problem.

Andres Preschel: I mean, I think this is really, this is great. You know, the fact that we're recommending the EMF meter, because that's without a doubt what made the biggest difference for me. Because, you know, obviously like I have taken initiative here with the EMFs and I've done my, what I thought. was an appropriate, you know, I thought I was making the right efforts and making the right decisions around EMF exposure. Like, like I said, like I wanted to get my phone outside of the bedroom, so I got the alarm clock, but it was the wrong alarm clock. And it, it had significantly more EMF on my phone. It was closer to my head. And also, we brought it in here into my office, and guess what? I want to have you guess. What do you think is the highest EMF device? It's the highest in your office too? In my office. No, but there's a specific device that I think most people would overlook. The alarm clock. No, no, no. In my office. No alarm clocks in the office.

R. Blank: Oh, I thought you brought it. Oh, you brought the meter into your office.

Andres Preschel: Yeah, I brought the meter into my office. Yeah. Okay. your printer. No, I don't have a printer.

R. Blank: Okay.

Andres Preschel: It's kind of specific. I can just tell you.

R. Blank: Well, so, I mean, in a lot of cases with The Office, where a really high source will be is where all your power cords kind of are grouped. That was one of them. that to plug into the wall, right? Because A, it's a lot of power, and then B, they tend to be kind of messy, and those patterns tend to amplify the EMF emissions. But beyond that, I don't have a guess. I don't know what's in your office.

Andres Preschel: All right. So that's definitely one of them. But you know what it was? This blew my mind. It's my electric standing desk. Oh, okay. Yeah. So, so the switch for it is right here. It's right by my testes. Okay. It's like a foot away and it's, it will elevate or lower my desk as needed, right? I can convert this to a standing desk. That is right next to my testes. Yeah. And it's got off the charts EMF. So I keep it unplugged.

R. Blank: Yeah, that's a great solution there.

Andres Preschel: I would have never known that. I don't have to have this plugged in all the time.

R. Blank: Not only that, a lot of it is probably made out of metal, right?

Andres Preschel: Yeah, for sure.

R. Blank: So that amplifies the signal? Well, it conducts it to a broader coverage area. Oh, wow. Yeah. So when I had that EMF mitigation expert come to my home, we actually only had to make one real change and I had to swap my desk out because I had a metal frame desk and now I have a wooden desk. And it's because it was conducting electric fields from that mess of cables that I was telling you about right over to my midsection in my body. and creating very high body voltage readings for me when I'm in my chair. But that one I just fixed by swapping out my desk for a wooden desk, and that was the only change I had to make. So there is, by the way, like I said, there's a whole chapter on your bedroom safety. There's also a dedicated chapter on your home office safety because that is another important area. Right after the bedroom, for a lot of people, the office or the home office is going to be the second most important area to head.

Andres Preschel: So, your bedroom you probably spend a third of your life, office a quarter to half of your life. You might as well counter the EMF. Yeah, exactly.

R. Blank: That's sweet. And then one of the really key focuses though of the book. is your relationship with your phone, right? So we already talked about not bringing it to bed. But it goes way beyond not bringing it to bed, right? So what's important for people to understand is that cell phones are massive, massive, massive sources of EMF radiation, more than the manufacturers say. And even what the manufacturers say, that's The one key behavior with phones that I really focus on in Empowered is carrying your phone in your pocket or bra, which a lot of people do. I used to do it many years ago. Because, A, like I just said, it's a very, very high-powered source of EMF. In fact, just for a little more detail there, it's not just one source of EMF, right? You have the cell connection. That is the most powerful source in your phone, right? Because cell call needs to be able to connect you up to several miles to the closest tower, if that's where the closest tower is. So, that can project several miles. That has enough power to transmit that far. But then you have Wi-Fi, and then you have Bluetooth, and then you have NFC, which is the wireless technology used for Google Pay and Apple Pay, the wireless payment technologies. And different phones may have additional wireless GPS, but other ones even beyond that. Some iPhones have something called UWB, which I believe is a custom proprietary version of Bluetooth that's in addition to the Bluetooth, right? So all of this stuff gets added together when it's all on. And so that's why these are really, really, really high powered devices. Well, then when you're carrying it in your pocket or in your bra. there is no separation between the device and your body. And the reason that is important is because the power of EMF radiation diminishes exponentially with distance. And that means if I'm holding the phone, which I don't have a prop here, but if I'm holding the phone one inch from my body, and I now move it two inches to my body, I have cut the power of my exposure by 75%. If I double that again to four inches, I've now cut the power of my exposure by another 75%. Conversely, when it's directly up against my body, I am getting a maximum possible dose of radiation that this device has to give me. And then the third consideration being time of exposure, right? People tend not to carry their phones in their pockets for 10 seconds or even 10 minutes. They tend to do it for multiple hours a day, every day, right? So you have very high powered, close proximity, long duration exposure. And it is for this reason that I believe that carrying your phone in your pocket is the single number one greatest avoidable source of exposure in our lives. So when I say avoidable, like if you live you know, in proximity to 30 Wi-Fi networks, you can't go turn them all off, right? Because somebody, they belong to somebody else, right? So that's not avoidable in the same way. You'd have to move to get rid of that. But with the cell phone in your pocket, that is 100% under your control. And so what you have to do is either put it into airplane mode, or carry it further away from your body, or invest. That's an opportunity where if you're not willing to put it into airplane mode, if your job doesn't allow you to, for example, or you can't carry it further away from your body because you're walking around. What else do you have to carry it in? That's an instance where cell phone radiation protection can actually add value to your life. And the type that I focus on in the book, the type that I focus on at Shield Your Body is EMF shielding, which is technology that was invented in 1836 by Michael Faraday. uh who after whom the faraday cage is named uh and and what he showed is when you weave certain conductive metals into certain specific patterns you block and deflect this type of radiation in the other direction and so um the products not just the ones that i make but the ones that i also carry in my store right because i don't i don't just make my own product i sell my own products And I don't just talk about my own products in Empowered. I talk about products from a lot of different brands. I think I talk about 80 different products in the book. And so the vast majority of them are based on this shielding technology. And the reason I focus on shielding is because, like I said, it is measurable. So you can use the meter that you have or your friend has, and you can actually measure for yourself at home, is this product working the way it claims to be working? And with a lot of other types of things that market themselves as EMF protection, you are unable to do that. They make claims that are not able to be measured or verified really by anyone, but certainly by you, the consumer. And so when I'm talking about a cell phone protection product that's based on shielding, for example, I make a phone pouch and the back of the pouch is lined with radiation shielding and the front is not right. And that is intentional because by having the back shielded, it's deflecting radiation away from your body. But by having the front unshielded, the phone can still maintain connection. If you were to fully shield the phone, you're actually cutting off all of its connectivity. And if you're willing to do that, then you should just put it into airplane mode instead and not worry about buying anything else.

Andres Preschel: Let's take a quick break because this ties right into today's topic. Recovery is something we all care about. And one reason it slows down as we age is mitochondrial decline. Timeline Nutrition's longevity gummies with MitoPure deliver Urolithin A, which activates mitophagy, your body's natural process of replacing worn out mitochondria with new efficient ones. In clinical trials, people improved energy and even increased muscle strength by 12% over 16 weeks. No stimulants, no gimmicks, just healthier cells doing their job. You can try them with 20% off at timeline.com slash undress. Again, that's timeline.com slash undress, A-N-D-R-E-S. Your sales will thank you. Next step for my phone.

R. Blank: I mean, I, oh, for you, you'd want the armband pouch. I can tell you'd make use of it when working out.

SPEAKER_01: Okay.

Andres Preschel: Yeah. I'm thinking, I mean, that's great. I'm just thinking like, you know, I run my, my company and I have so many people reporting to me all day long. Like I have to be, I have to be, I spent a lot of time on my phone. You know, I have four to 50 clients that I'm managing at a time, all my socials, um, a team of now six people, uh, friends, family, like I'm constantly on my phone. So if I had it in one of these pouches, would that mean that I wouldn't get notifications?

R. Blank: You wouldn't use it in the pouch.

Andres Preschel: You would carry it in the pouch. So would I get any notifications while it's in the pouch?

R. Blank: Yeah. Because only one side is shielded. So it's designed specifically to deflect radiation away from your body while still allowing your phone to send and receive through the other side.

Andres Preschel: So this is the SYB phone pouch? Yes. Okay. I'm going to buy it right now. Okay. I'll send you one, man. Seriously? Yeah. Yeah.

R. Blank: I'll just need your shipping address. Okay. Awesome. I appreciate it.

Andres Preschel: Thank you. Yeah. I'll get. I mean, I don't want to ask for two, but I wanted to go for my girlfriend as well. Sure. Yeah. Tell me what colors. I really appreciate it, man. You're so sweet. We'll just take two black ones. Thank you so much, man. Okay. Cool. And you know, I wanted to ask you about the earphones as well. All my friends know that like I'm the, so like the outside of my phone, the number one tool I use for my entire business is, is my earphones, right? Like I'm constantly on calls, meetings. I mean, I've always, always, always, always have a pair of wired earphones with me. I probably ordered a new pair of wire earphones once a month. Cause I go through them so quickly. I'm always using them. But I'm curious, you know, I heard the other day that apparently the Apple wired earphones are still emitting EMF.

R. Blank: You know, it's obviously better than AirPods, but… Yeah, so they're not really… So it's just a technical distinction, right? So a standard pair of wired headphones Well, like the name says, they're wired. They have wires in them. So they don't create EMF, but when it's plugged into your phone, it will conduct EMF from your phone along the wire and then up to your head. I just want to be entirely clear to people, this is not a reason not to use wired headphones, right? Even with that EMF issue being present, they are still so much safer and better for you than AirPods or other wireless earbuds. So if the wired headphones are the ones you have, use those instead of the AirPods. That said, there are safer alternatives than wired headphones, and those are what you're looking at and talking about, which are air tubes. And instead of using wire to conduct the sound, they use air to conduct the sound. And because there's no wire, there's no medium to conduct the EMF from your phone. So that is why air tubes are safer than wired headphones.

Andres Preschel: Oh, wow. I see them here on your site as well. I'm going to get some of those.

R. Blank: Yeah. And by the way, this is great because this is a good example of, I mean, there's a lot of reasons I wrote Empowered, but one of them is, like, because the last time you and I spoke, I don't remember the exact date, but it was my website only carried SYB brand products.

Andres Preschel: So maybe at the time… Yeah, I still have a bunch of different brands. I see Silent, Avalon X, Octoshield.

R. Blank: So at the time I had 30 products and it was pretty easy to explain to people which one they needed. But in the past, at this point, two years, I've made partnerships with a lot of different companies. And first it grew from 30 products to 60 products to 80 products. And now we have, I think it's 280 products in the store. Wow. And I realized I put one day I just put myself in the chair of a consumer. I said, what if I just heard I should get some EMF? I heard shield your body is a legitimate source of this protection. I'm here at the site. And I imagine just being completely paralyzed. having no idea what I should look at, where I should start. And so I wanted something that explained to people how to approach EMF protection in general and where products fit into that. So as you start to understand uh, how your exposures and what you're most concerned about, then I walk you through the actual solutions. First, the behavioral changes that are available, and then what, depending on what you're specifically looking to achieve, um, what products are available. And so a good example here, uh, uh, is, like, I just walked you through, uh, why you might want the SYB phone pouch. But if you're looking for a product that allows you to make it safer to sleep with your phone, the SYB Phone Pouch isn't going to help you do that. Whereas I do have another product in my store called the Palm Shield that does make it safer to sleep with your phone. And so, whereas I also have the safe sleeve cases, which is another way of making it safer to carry your phone. And then, so there's all these different nuances, right? Because today, the landscape of EMF protection products, legitimate ones that actually perform a real function is so varied. I realized I needed a way to explain to people who like my just my average customer coming to my store, what would I tell them about where they should get started? And so that is the the real reason I wrote Empowered now, as opposed to maybe five years ago, because the needs are different because the number of great products out there is so much larger.

Andres Preschel: That's incredible. And, and, you know, I love that you guys started with the science first. Um, and, and that the, that the original book was just about the science saying, Hey, here's the problem. Here's why it's a problem. Here's what you can do. And now it's like, you still have, obviously the science is there for this book, but now it's like, Hey, here's all the practical advice that you need to be successful. Yeah. Um, so I, yeah, I think that's a.

R. Blank: And I cover a lot, which is I thought it would take it would take me a year to write this book. It ended up taking me two years. But I do want to clarify for people. Right. It's arranged like you're. Chapters one and two, you should probably read. That's what is EMF and what are the health effects. But once you get past chapters one and two, the book is arranged into very cleanly divided chapters and sections. And so if you're interested in just cell phone and learning more about cell phone and how to have a healthier relationship with your cell phone, you go to that chapter. If you're interested in, I want to, you know, my bedroom, you go to that chapter. If you're interested in making your Wi-Fi safer, you go to that chapter. So, it can certainly be read front to back, but it's really designed also to be used as a reference, right? So, you can jump around to the parts that mean the most to you and have the information that's specific to you.

Andres Preschel: That's awesome. That's great. That's great. And I'm also, you know, as you, as you mentioned that I'm, I'm looking at the, uh, some of the backpacks here, cause I'm thinking, you know, what are some instances where I'm probably exposed to the greatest amount of EMF? I'm thinking airport travel. And when I travel, I've always got like, I mean, I've got a laptop, phone cameras, drones. Yeah. You know, obviously they're, they're powered off. My laptop is really never powered off, but. I have all these devices in my backpack and it's always with me. So, looking at the GoSilent bag, what do you think about that?

R. Blank: So, that's an example of a Faraday product, right? So, as I was just explaining to you, for example, right? So, let me do a side-by-side of the SYB phone pouch versus the Silent phone pouch. The SYB phone pouch is just shielded on one side because it's optimized to allow your phone to maintain communications. The products from Silent, which are fantastic products, I really love that company's products, their design, their quality, everything about them. They are full Faraday products, which means they're fully shielded products, which do provide EMF protection, but also really are designed for privacy to prevent tracking, right? So even if your phone is in airplane mode, if it's not in a Faraday pouch, it can be tracked. The same with your laptop. And so the Silent products are phenomenal Faraday products, but they are fully shielded. They're not designed to still let your phone ring if it's in there. And so I also, yeah, I talked, there's a whole chapter on privacy protection in Empowered, and I go into the details of explaining the differences between products from a company like Silent and those from SYB.

Andres Preschel: Sweet. Wow.

R. Blank: Yeah. And that was a great question, by the way, because Faraday products are great and the ones from Silent are superb. And, you know, sometimes it can be confusing, though, for consumers. What's the difference, like I said, between the SYB foam pouch and the Silent foam pouch? Why do you have two different things? And it's because they're actually different products and for different use cases, even though they sound and look so similar.

Andres Preschel: And if I'm not, if I understand this correctly, I mean, you could even put like credit cards in here and nobody can come and swipe your info. Yep.

R. Blank: Yeah. And so we have the silent wallet. There's a silent key fob holder. Yeah, there's a wallet. That's really for credit cards. There's a key fob holder because apparently there's been a spate of, I think they're called relay attacks. Basically, people copy your key fob and are able to steal your car. No way. No way. Yeah. And so you can keep your key in your silent key fob and it protects it against that type of ID theft, which is more than ID theft. It's car theft. But that is apparent. I know Toronto over the past couple of years, this has been a real problem up there. I'm sure I don't follow that news so closely. I'm sure it's elsewhere too. But that so that's the use case that that product is for. Wow.

Andres Preschel: And, and tell me about, uh, about underwear. Cause I've been, I have underwear from a brand called No Choice. It's like, yeah, underwear, but it's, it's tough to wrap my head around how expensive it is. I understand it's valuable, but I have like three of them and they cost me, I don't know, they were like 60 to 70 bucks a pop for underwear. You know, I always get pulled aside if I, I mean, I rarely go through the metal detectors in the airport. I always opt out. But there's been a couple times where I had to go through the metal detector. I can't remember why. And I was in a rush and there was no one to come pat me down. And it's hilarious. Every time I have the underwear on, they find some kind of metal object near my pelvic area and have to pat me down. But what do you think about this, the EMF underwear?

R. Blank: By the way, I've had that exact experience. And they're like, why are we seeing this on the scan?

Andres Preschel: This big yellow square around your testes.

R. Blank: Oh, for, yeah, I wear the fully shielded underwear. So it's like a boxer brief shaped blockage.

Andres Preschel: You've got a bigger yellow boxer on your pelvis than I do.

R. Blank: Yeah, it's not a competition. But yeah, I mean, so I have traditionally made SYB underwear, but I'm stopping that actually, largely because of what you're talking about. And it's just very, it's a very, very expensive product. And the reason it's so expensive is, and this is true, by the way, for all apparel, EMF apparel, the reason it's so expensive is because it's made with silver. When we're talking about something like the foam pouch that I brought up a couple times already, I don't have to use silver in that product because the shielding in that product never comes in contact with your skin. So I can use, in that case, nickel and cobalt. which provides effective shielding and costs a lot less than silver, because the shielding is in the product. It just never comes in contact with skin. So if you happen to be allergic to those metals, it doesn't matter. When it comes to apparel, when it comes to any EMF protection, that has the potential to come in contact with your skin, that is going to be made with silver because that is hypoallergenic. It also is antimicrobial, which is great for apparel, but the real reason is because it's hypoallergenic. And silver just keeps getting more and more and more expensive. And with apparel, you just need a lot more of this stuff than you do even for a phone pouch. And so all of these apparel products are going to be significantly more expensive than the non-EMF shielded versions. And I decided that I'd rather partner with a company that was really, really good at that rather than making my own apparel. And so the company that I work with and that I recommend is Haven. They used to be called Lambs. They rebranded last year.

Andres Preschel: Yeah, Lambs. Yep. Lambs. Yeah. So now they're Haven. I have Lambs and No Choice. Okay.

R. Blank: So the ones we sell now are the Haven ones, and they have a variety. They have boxer briefs, they have trunks, they have panties. They also have very, very high quality t-shirts, pajama sets, and so forth. And you're right, it is expensive. The thing with apparel And this is actually how I was going to answer your question about when we got onto backpacks and you were talking about travel. When you're traveling, your biggest source of EMF is likely, especially when it's in an airport, in an airplane, your biggest source of EMF exposure is almost certainly not going to be a technology that you control. It's going to be something that is outside of your control, like all of the cell phones that are in the airport with you and all of the Wi-Fi networks. And when you're in the plane, that thing's a metal tube. So when all of those devices are connected to the in-flight Wi-Fi, they're all bouncing around in there. Plus, you're closer to the end of the atmosphere. And so you get actually more cosmic radiation exposure, too. So this is a a natural form of EMF from the universe, except it's not natural to be exposed to the levels at 40,000 feet, right? There's more of it up there. And so all of these together are a lot of exposures. And the reason I'm kind of emphasizing this is really the only protection you have in those, the only option for protection you have against sources of EMF that are outside of your direct control is apparel. And so, you know, it's expensive, but it really does serve an important need, especially if you're EMF sensitive. I know some people who are literally unable to travel unless they're wearing, they tend to go for like ponchos because those are big coverage and they're, like I say, very sensitive. but they're unable to travel without their EMF poncho. So if it's an exposure that you want to protect against and it's not under your control, apparel is the only option that you have available. But if you're more concerned about the radiation from your phone or from your laptop or from your Wi-Fi network, either at home or at work, then you have other options, right? Because those devices you can influence, you can impact how they are set up and how you use them. And so you're probably going to be able to have a really noticeable impact on your exposure without going to the apparel route.

Andres Preschel: Yeah. I mean, I see here, like I'm looking at the Haven hoodie and it looks great. It's 400 bucks. I mean, I'll buy it, but it's…

R. Blank: Yeah. And the prices of silver, right? Because again, I- Yeah, it changes all the time. Yeah. I was just talking with someone today and this year the price of silver has gone up 50%. And even if Haven were producing as many T-shirts as Nike, a Haven T-shirt is gonna cost more than a Nike T-shirt, right? So even at scale, it's always gonna be a more expensive option.

Andres Preschel: I bought some silver. It's in my safe. I bought it about a year ago. Why don't I send you guys some silver and you can use that instead? Yeah. Put this together for me. And then, yeah, I've noticed on the Silent website, I mean, they've got apparel as well, really, really dope looking apparel, but the pants are 800 bucks, the jacket's $1,600. It costs a lot to do it right. No, for sure. I'm all for the craftsmanship. I'm happy to do that. I'm happy to make the investment.

R. Blank: Well, not just the craftsmanship, it's also just getting the right source materials. That's really important when it comes to this stuff. And I was just going to say, the one product that I'm invested in and continuing making that really faces the same sorts of challenges is the bed canopy, right? And because if you live in a high EMF bedroom and it's because of the nearby cell towers and your neighbor's Wi-Fi networks and basically things you can't control and you need a lower EMF bedroom, I sell a really great bed canopy that allows you to create the EMF free space in your bed. But yeah, but you see the pricing, it's basically, depending on the size, it's basically a $2,000 product, which really limits the number of people who can enjoy it and get value out of it. But I have no choice but to, I mean, again, it's made with silver and it takes a lot of it And it's very finely woven so that it's breathable. And so for all these reasons, I have to charge that much. Whereas, you know, I have a bunch of products under $50. That one, I can't get away with selling it under $50.

Andres Preschel: Yeah. No, I mean, it's, I appreciate the craftsmanship and using the right materials. You don't want to cheap out on something like this. And you want it, if you're going to invest that much, even a few hundred dollars, you want it to last. Yeah.

R. Blank: I mean, that's a good thing, at least about the canopy as opposed to underwear, right? You just need one. Even if you move, you can take the canopy with you. Whereas with underwear, you're going to need several pair right up front, and you're going to need to keep buying them for a very long time. So that's why maybe a hoodie, like the Haven hoodie, is even at the higher price point, is more cost effective, because you can get away with using and reusing a single hoodie. It's cost per wear. Cost per wear. Yeah, cost per wear. The Haven stuff, I believe their wash testing goes up to 100, meaning they've done a formal wash testing showing that even after 100 washes, there's no degradation in shielding performance.

SPEAKER_03: Wow.

R. Blank: But yeah, you can see just I this is the first interview where someone is really sat down and just sort of going through the site and pulling out products. And I'm glad because you can see just how varied the options are now. I mean, when I got into, when I wrote Overpowered with my dad, there was like none of this. There were certain stores would sell you fabrics and paints and things like that. But even if you searched Amazon for EMF protection, you would get ghost detectors, right? Because that's what the market was at the time.

Andres Preschel: Oh my gosh.

R. Blank: Yeah, because they think an EMF meter is a ghost detector. But now it's 2025 and you see, and I don't have relationships with every company, but I have with a lot, but there's more even than what I have available in my store. But just in my store, like I say, 280 products, all of which are filling different use cases. And I felt it was important to explain to people what that is, but also why protection products are what I call the second line of defense. And the behavioral changes are the first line of defense and where you can have immediate impact on your personal exposure. And it really is little, little things like where you carry your phone that make a huge, huge difference in how much of this stuff you're exposed to. Because your goal should not be zero EMF. That is entirely impractical. You will drive yourself insane trying to get there. The goal is to make the reasonable changes with the highest impact. And that's why that's where people should start. And then once they have a good grasp of those behavioral changes and those concepts, moving into protection products when it makes sense.

Andres Preschel: Well said. And I think there's one more, there's one more topic I want to cover with you. And I, I, I imagine this is in your book, but I remember when I was hanging out with Martin, um, a few weeks ago, he took my phone and he said, Hey man, let me just, let me just go ahead and set up your phone for EMF mitigation. And he went in and like turn my 5g off and made all these other small tweaks and changes to like my wifi settings. Um, And I mean, I don't know exactly what he did or how it works, but if you can illuminate what some of that could do.

R. Blank: Yeah, so that's interesting to me. You're the first person who's told me they've actually done that. I've heard about this, right? And I live in a place without 5G, so I can't even do this testing myself. But I do know that you can go into your settings, and this will be in a different place on different phones and models, so you can just chat GPT, how do I do this on my specific model? But you go in and you can say only connect to 4G, or only connect to LTE, or so on. So you can set these preferences, and so even if 5G networks are available, it won't connect to one. On the Wi-Fi side, I don't know what your friend might have done. But I do know one thing that I should have said earlier under everything I say about airplane mode, right? So I keep saying don't carry your phone in your pocket or put it in airplane mode. Don't sleep with your phone or put it in airplane mode. And I want people to understand it's not an all or nothing proposition, right? So I say put it in airplane mode. You say, I'm expecting a call. I can't put it in airplane mode. Well, you can still disable the Wi-Fi and the Bluetooth, even if you're expecting a call, right? And by doing that, even though the phone is still a significant source of EMF, it's a source of less EMF than it otherwise would be. Similarly, let's say you only need the Wi-Fi on, so you turn off the cell connection, turn off cell data, leave Wi-Fi on, turn Bluetooth off, and you can set this on basically every iPhone or Android. You can control your control center screen, I think it's called, where you just pull down and you get like airplane mode option and sound option. You can set it up so these options that I'm talking about are available to you right there on that screen. So you don't have to go fumbling through your settings every time, but you can just pull it down, turn off Wi-Fi, pull it down, turn off phone, pull it down, turn on Bluetooth and so on and get into that habit. And that's also a great way to make a really big difference in your exposure. But in terms of the The changes your friend might've made to Wi-Fi configuration, I'm not sure.

Andres Preschel: I'll ask him. Yeah. I would like to know. He's someone that I'd love to introduce you to. That'd be cool. And have on the show. I mean, he's just an amazing guy. Shout out to Martin. Yeah. Cool. Yeah, I would love that. Well, uh, we've covered a lot. I mean, I, I just have a couple more questions for you here before we, before we sign off. Sure. Um, how are you on time? I'm okay. Okay. Yeah.

R. Blank: I have, I have, uh, oh, 10 more minutes.

Andres Preschel: Okay, cool. So a couple of questions. Um, if you could put a, a word message or phrase on a billboard somewhere in the world, what would it say and where would you put it? Oh, wow.

R. Blank: Um, Well, stop carrying your phone in your pocket. And where I would put it, it would either be Times Square or somewhere equivalent in San Francisco.

Andres Preschel: Okay. Why San Francisco? Because of Silicon Valley? Yeah. Okay.

R. Blank: Yeah.

Andres Preschel: Yep. Nice.

R. Blank: But yeah, stop carrying your, I mean, it's in the book, and I don't know how many people might be seeing this on video, but in the book, before it begins, I have a section called TLDR, because it's too long didn't read, so it summarizes the whole message of the book in two pages. No way. That's very important nowadays. And then at the end of that two pages, I actually have a bolded line and it says, if even the TLDR was too long for you, here is the one sentence summary of the book. Stop carrying your phone in your pocket. And so that I didn't just make that up on the spot. That's literally if I could put that on a billboard somewhere that that would be the message.

Andres Preschel: That's amazing. That's great. That's important. That's important nowadays, for sure. That's incredible, man. And the last question here for you is, I understand people who look and find your website, but where can people find you and keep up with your work outside of your website?

R. Blank: Is there a better place? Well, almost everything I do is Shield Your Body. So, ShieldYourBody.com, and we're Shield Your Body on Facebook, on Instagram, on YouTube. We have a lot of output on YouTube. We have a new subreddit, which is Gaining Traction, and that's really good because I really like how much interaction we're getting through that. We get a lot more interaction there, people asking real questions than we would on, you know, like Instagram or even on YouTube. So we have a shortcut to that because subreddits have really long URLs. So if you just go to shieldyourbody.com slash reddit, it'll redirect you to our subreddit and I respond personally there to all the content. And for those who are interested in learning more about Empowered, my new book, Go to shieldyourbody.com slash empowered and you can get a free chapter from the book about cell phones. You can get that on that page as well as the links to buy it on Amazon if you like it.

Andres Preschel: Incredible. Thank you so much, R. This has been an absolute honor and pleasure. Thank you, man. I really appreciate it. Yeah. And it's incredible how far, you know, you and your band have come over the past three years. And it's so cool to have even a, to play even a small role in that and help you get your message out to more people and your products out to more people. I can, I feel your passion even through our video, and I'm excited to share more of your work with our audience. So thank you so very much on behalf of all of our citizen scientists and myself.

R. Blank: Thank you so much, man. I really appreciate this, and it's been a fantastic chat. I love it, man. Have a lovely rest of your day, bro.

Andres Preschel: You too. Thanks for listening and thanks again to Timeline Nutrition for sponsoring the show. If you want to stay strong and energized as you age, try their longevity gummies at timeline.com slash undress. Again, you get 20% off and trust me, your cells will thank you.