Can magnets affect the human brain?

[bayan]

hi guys.

was wondering if human brain is effected when it is in a magnetic field.

cheers

 

[Ramster5678]

that's a good question. I don't think it would be effected by a "light" field (like, not very strong), because Earth is in a magnetical field. But it might if it strong since our brains have electrical impulses in them. But, I'm not an expert, so, if anyone else would like to correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[NutriGrainKiller]

A while back I read an article about a woman with severe depression. No amount of prozac could lessen her burden. So, knowing the portion of the brain that is effected by depression, a doctor used a very strong electromagnet and treated that portion of her head until he saw results. This is not permanent, and very expensive...however it does say something.

 

[somasimple]

Hi all,

yes,

http://groups.csail.mit.edu/vision/medical-vision/surgery/tms.html

 

[adrenaline]

It may be a promising treatment for bipolar depression (exposure to MRI field)
This was a noted one in clinical circles published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.. Of course, we don't know how long its effects are etc.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/01/040101091614.htm

 

[zoobyshoe]

Hi all,

yes,

http://groups.csail.mit.edu/vision/medical-vision/surgery/tms.html

This is interesting: the brief suppression of the visual field by magnetic stimulation of the visual centers.

I once read a second hand report saying that strong EM stimulation of these areas cause colors to appear in the visual field, but I haven't run across any specific studies of this.

 

[zoobyshoe]

It may be a promising treatment for bipolar depression (exposure to MRI field)
This was a noted one in clinical circles published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.. Of course, we don't know how long its effects are etc.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/01/040101091614.htm

I'm skeptical, and even leary of, this treatment. At high frequencies it causes seizures, which means at lower frequencies it probably works by disorganizing neuronal firing as well.

HMI World | Around Harvard
Address:http://hmiworld.org/hmi/current/around_brain.html

It seems in all cases to be temporary if it works at all.

 

[Genecks]

Just curious. When there is an action potential, does a magnetic fluxuation trace among the path of the stimulus to the brain? Is one created?

 

[somasimple]

The response is:
Does a magnetic field is able to move some ions?
Yes, and thus ions may create/modify an AP but I do not think that MS may stop an AP that is actuaaly running.

 

[Dayle Record]

I slept in a small magnetic field for a few months. I was trying to see if some of my sleep disruption was from electromagnetic interference, so I stuck some neodymium magnets on the head of my metal bed frame. I decided that it was too much, but I still keep some at the foot of my bed. My logic on this is that the magnetic field will attract red blood cells and help with circulation to my feet at night. The magnet did help with sleep, I think I am disturbed by minute fluctuations in things, like my alarm clock changing minutes, or the heater coming on. The magnet smoothed things out, but it disturbed me on some level. I keep it in on the window sill, nearby.

Neodymium rare Earth magnets are very interesting, when I opened them I was near this computer, and they wiped out my monitor, before I could even figure out what happened. The monitor was restored by distance, but I realized that these rare Earth magnets profoundly affect magnetic fields around em devices, and then I realized how much em energy there is in my house at any given moment with wireless and television and lighting, and appliances on timers everywhere.

An example, I have a set back thermostat. Once I was holding the TV remote, between the thermostat and the TV, just idly thinking about turning off the TV. When the thermostat turned off the heat, it turned off the TV as well, I was just in the perfect position. Then I realized the electricity in the house had become ungrounded, and I had that fixed. I have water baseboard heaters that also carry a charge.

Anyway magnetism and brain waves have a relationship, and we pick up more electronic communications that we can consciously process. Though we are not conscious of their content, we can be profoundly exhausted by the constant subliminal stimulation.

 

[zoobyshoe]

I don't believe magnets will affect the iron compounds you have in your blood.

If they did, they would hinder, not help circulation because all the iron bearing stuff would just build up as close to the magnet as possible and stay fixed there, clogging your blood vessels.

Also, communication signals aren't designed to be processed directly by the human body or brain at all, subliminally or otherwise. If all these EM signals in which we are constantly bathed are having an adverse effect on us, which they might be, it would be due to some more general kind of elecrochemical disruption, not because we are receiving too much information.

 

[somasimple]

Hi,

My logic on this is that the magnetic field will attract red blood cells and help with circulation to my feet at night.

This logic is only valid if iron was in his metal form but it isn't. Iron salts aren't attracted by magnets.