Does a Xbox Emit EMF Radiation

Does a Xbox Emit EMF Radiation

Does an Xbox Emit EMF Radiation? I have spent many hours of research to give you the best answer in this article.

If you are looking for a quick answer is:

Xbox is designed to always emit radiation, even when switched off.  These are all EMF radiations that can have effects on one’s health and wellbeing.

I love video games. Technology and video games were the two things I grew up with and I can’t seem to have enough of it.

Xbox by Microsoft is a wonderful gaming station and has been my go-to console for the last number of years.

However, the risks of radiation from an Xbox is very real and needs to be thoroughly considered.

In this article, we take a deep dive into how a Xbox works, the radiation they generate and what we can do to protect ourselves from the harmful exposure.

Before we begin, it is imperative to understand that you can’t possibly use an Xbox without getting exposed to the radiation it generates.

The whole system is built in a way that facilitates communication between devices and modules wirelessly and that involves RF radiation.

It is also important to note that an Xbox is designed to always emit radiation, even when switched off.

Let’s take a look at the major perpetrators of EMF radiation from the Xbox:

Do Xbox controllers emit EMF radiation?

Does a Xbox Emit EMF Radiation

Xbox typically has two types of controllers: wired and wireless.

The wireless controllers are paired to the main console by Bluetooth, which is a local connection exclusively created between the console and the controller device. For more about the dangers of Bluetooth please read my other post What Is The Side Effects Of Bluetooth Radiation.

It works by relaying constant two-way signals and uses a lot of bandwidth in its data transfers.

Bluetooth radiation is RF in nature which is similar to radiation you’d expect from a smartphone or router.

The implications of using wireless controllers can be pretty bad if you are sensitive, and if you’re worried about your and your family’s safekeeping, you’d dispose of those things first thing in the morning.

Wired controllers are perfectly alright to use and don’t take anything away from the gameplay experience.

Sure it can be bothersome at first, especially if you’ve been playing wirelessly for a long time, but you’ll soon forget about the wire lying on the ground and start focusing on winning the level.

Wireless controllers are simply an unnecessary source of radiation that we introduce to our homes, especially when we have the option of wired ones.

I can’t stress this enough – wired is better. From the internet to game station controllers, try and use everything wired and you’ll have drastically reduced your chances of prolonged exposure to EMF radiation.

If you aren’t sure about using wired controllers then you won’t have much luck controlling exposure.

You see, the controllers need Bluetooth to work and they connect directly to the main box. Now, if you keep the box covered with an EMF blocking shield, it just wouldn’t connect.

Therefore, you’d have to take off the cover in order to play thus exposing yourself to a surge of EMF radiation.

The console box emits a large amount of radiation that we must work to shield ourselves from.

But it will only really be feasible if we also adopt good safety measures alongside it, such as giving up wireless controllers and choosing the wired ones.

Do gaming headsets emit EMF radiation?

People often choose to use a headset with their gaming consoles. It is both necessary and convenient since you can hear the audio inputs better and can speak to your teammates over the mic without any distortion.

Traditionally, gaming headsets have been bulky for better noise cancellation with an attached mic for good quality audio.

There are plenty of wonderful things to say about gaming headsets and indeed about why you too should get one, however, we must address how much of a radiation risk do they pose and are they a serious enough threat.

The good news is that they are not very powerful for the most part, meaning using them probably won’t cause you any harm.

However, they are right up there against your ears, next to your head, and even the faintest of radiations can potentially put you at risk of an abnormal mutation.

Therefore, it is good practice to only use wired headsets when playing. The wireless ones use Bluetooth for connectivity which means it constantly sends and receives signals while you’re playing.

There is no reason why you should subject yourself to that and increase your chances of exposure. Shift to wired headsets and you won’t have to think about this ever again!

The best way forward in terms of headsets however are the air tube headsets. They come with a microphone on the side and reduce radiation to a large extent. I have found the best ones, And made my review here called Airtube Headphones – How They Work And Best One To Buy.

The sound from these air tube headsets is phenomenal and they are typically free of all types of EMF radiation.

They are purely mechanical in nature and work by sending audio directly to your ears through specialized air tubes instead of electrical wires.

These are great for the Xbox since you can use them for an extended period of time without headaches, lack of focus or any other problems that are typically associated with EMF radiation.

They are easily available online and are very affordable.

The Xbox console and EMF radiation.

The box is set to continuously emit signals which translate to radiation. It’s so extreme that the box will even continue to emit when turned off.

There are several probable radiations that are emitted from the box including RF communication signals, data transfer requests, update requests and more.

These are all EMF radiations that can have drastic effects on one’s health and wellbeing.

However, there is a very elegant solution to reducing radiation exposure from the box. The first step would require you to actually stop using the console over your wireless network and just connect your box to the internet by a wire.

Simply connect your console to your router’s Ethernet port and you’re set. This will significantly cut down on RF radiation since your console won’t need to constantly emit for network connection now. If you want to know more about it then take a look at this article I have written HardWiring Your Home Using Powerline Adapters.

The second most obvious radiation emission is from the console towards the various devices that are connected wirelessly to it – controllers, headset et al. This too can be subverted by using EMF blocking shields.

There are several types of EMF blocking shields available online – from blankets to garments and towels – and you can choose the best fit for you. Find out more in this article Best EMF Protection Blankets.

This is important that you do since the box will typically emit signals to the controllers every two minutes or so and it can be risky when you’ve exposed yourself to so much cumulative radiation.

If you don’t want to invest money but still want the protection, you can use tinfoil to reduce the emission.

Tinfoil limits radiation propagation and therefore covering the box with tinfoil will significantly bring down the radiation level. Obviously, by doing this you would be expected to play on your wired controllers.

Wireless controllers constantly are connected to the box by Bluetooth, which is a strong signal.

Covering the box with EMF blocking shields will disallow such a connection and therefore you have to use wired controllers for gameplay.

Sure they aren’t the most convenient or cool but they will save you from the potential radiation that might cause harm.

But what EMF radiation are we dealing with?

Thus far, we have focused on radiation emanating from the console box and the controllers.

But there are several other radiations at play when you are using the Xbox. Down below we look at some of them:

Radiation from the box.

The box itself emanates at least 5 types of radiation, namely,

Electrical fields.

All electronics in the box are powered by DC. However, the power in your outlet is AC.

In order to change the power and to ‘step down’ the voltage from 110V to a more amicable 12V that the box uses, a transformer is used.

Therefore it is no surprise that there will be a significant electrical field too near the console box because of the transformer.

However, it is not as dangerous and you can easily avoid any potential radiation by increasing the distance between you and the box.

Magnetic fields.

Electrical and magnetic fields are inseparable. When you have one, you also have the other.

A magnetic field is created when there is an active flow of electricity through a copper wire. As discussed above, the transformer does the heavy lifting of changing power types and stepping down the voltage from your wall outlet to that which would be used by the console.

Therefore it is only reasonable to deduce that there will be a pretty significant magnetic field too, in lieu of the massive amount of current that is flowing through the system.

The magnetic field thus produced is pretty intense but you can avoid it interfering with you just by adding distance. Keep the console at least 10 feet away from you at all times.

Also, avoid having the console underneath tables or chairs. Give it sufficient room to breathe and dispose of those radiations.

Enclosing it can mean the radiations get reflected by the nearby surfaces, thus spreading far wider than it normally would.

Remember, the box is always emitting when turned on, therefore try and restrict your gameplay to under an hour each session.

Bluetooth radiation.

In order to communicate with the wireless controllers, the box will emit a strong Bluetooth signal which is RF in nature. Read more here: What Is The Side Effects Of Bluetooth Radiation.

Microwave radiation.

Microwave radiations are similar to RF radiations, only shorter in wavelength.

They are decisively more harmful than your typical RF radiation and continuous exposure to it can cause significant damage to one’s health.

Microwave radiations are constantly emitted from the console box from the moment it is turned on and in an ununiformed manner so the level of radiation varies with time.

They are difficult to detect on EMF meters due to their level variation and are often observed to jump between frequencies and strength.

WiFi radiation.

The Xbox is designed to constantly seek out networks it can connect to for your gaming pleasure.

Even if you decide to plug in your Ethernet cable for your internet, it will still look for active connections in the background.

It is an in-built process that cannot be overridden. This is why you should consider getting yourself some shielding solutions as we discussed above.

You also need to unplug the thing completely when it’s not in use. You don’t want it to run on standby mode or even leave it plugged into the power socket.

Pull it out the socket and make sure there’s no power running to the box, at all.

EMF Radiation emitted from the Xbox controllers.

As discussed above, the Xbox controllers to emit radiation.

There are two types of controllers commonly found – wired and wireless, and both emit EMF radiation although in various degrees.

Wireless controllers emit significantly more radiation than their wired counterparts since they are communicating with the box console wirelessly. However, wired controllers to emit some EMF radiation.

This is because the flow of electricity will create some electromagnetic fields around the area.

These are definitely weaker than those you’ll get from the wireless ones, however, you should still pay attention because your hand remains in contact with it and we ideally want very little radiation from things we are in physical contact with. My recommendation is the: PDP Stealth Series Wired Controller for Xbox One.

EMF Radiation from your smart TV.

If you use a smart TV, you are bound to constantly be bombarded by RF radiation.

It is not possible to control that RF radiation since the TV is wireless and connects with the internet through WiFi.

This is a classic example of bad design choice since the RF transmitter and receivers built-in cannot be turned off or overridden.

You can turn off your WiFi router to disallow any wireless connection between your TV and your router but that won’t necessarily reduce the RF radiation levels around it.

The TV is going to try and find a suitable network connection in that event which cannot be turned off in any way. 

If you want a workaround to this, the most elegant solution would be to chuck out the wireless TV for a big computer screen.

Computer screens do not connect wirelessly to anything and are never dependent on Bluetooth for connecting to peripheral devices.

They are clearly the best choice since they don’t go online by themselves and can be used independently without you having to worry about potential radiation exposure. This may be of interest to you: Which TV Emits The Lowest Radiation.

Protecting yourself from EMF radiation while playing Xbox.

In this section, we take a look at the precautionary measures and tools we can use to limit our radiation exposure from enjoying a game on the Xbox.

These are compiled especially for the ones that like to play long sessions on the Xbox.

  • Keep a 10 feet distance.

We cannot emphasize it enough – distance is your friend when it comes to EMF radiation.

While it may be tempting to stay close to the TV for a fully immersive experience, you are doing yourself a world of harm by choosing to do that.

Add at least 10 feet of distance between you and the console when you’re playing. This is especially true if you’re using a smart TV.

Also, always choose to play with wired controllers instead of wireless.

  • Invest in protective gear like gloves.

You might overlook the need to protect your hands from EMF radiation from the controllers in lieu of the fact that they emit very little and your hands are anyway quite far away from your body but what you’d be missing is that radiation exposure is cumulative and it travels through your body.

Therefore, radiation that has affected your hand will also travel down your torso through your legs to the ground because that’s the rule of physics.

The best way to protect yourself against this is to wear special EMF protection gloves. Like the ones sold on Amazon here.

These can be found online on sites like Amazon and do not cost much for the invaluable service they provide.

These gloves can also be used when you’re using your laptop and microwave so you are always protected from deadly radiation.

  • Connect your console to the web by Ethernet.

It might be tempting to use the wireless facilities that the Xbox comes built-in with since it’s a much cleaner look without all those wires, however, this might be dangerous in the long run.

Radiation levels, when the Xbox is used exclusively in wireless mode, almost triples and can be severely detrimental to your health and wellbeing if not acted upon.

It is imperative that while you play, you always establish a network connection through Ethernet which dies an excellent job reducing the levels of radiation and while it’s a bit inconvenient now, in the long run, it will keep you safe.

I show you how to do it in more detail here: HardWiring Your Home Using Powerline Adapters.

My personal favorite EMF detection and protection products.

  • DefenderShield EMF Radiation Protection Blanket – Ultimate protection from wireless radiation. The only EMF radiation protection blanket with multiple layers of shielding to block up to 100% of wireless (RF) radiation from cell phones, tablets, laptops, WiFi routers, and other electronic devices, and ambient emissions in the environment. Available on Amazon here.
  • DefenderPad Laptop EMF Radiation Protection & Heat Shield. The DefenderPad is the ONLY laptop pad that uses multiple layers of shielding to block up to 100% of laptop EMF radiation (RF & ELF) while also greatly reducing heat! Get the latest price on Amazon here.
  • DefenderShield Universal EMF Radiation Protection Pouch for Smartphones –  EMF shielding to block up to 100% of wireless (RF) radiation. Most pouches only block a percentage of radiation emitted from your cell phone. Shielding is within the backside of the pouch to block signals and EMF emissions going towards the body, yet does not interfere with phone connectivity. Available on Amazon here.

Should I be worried about radiation coming from my Xbox controllers?

Not really. Try and play using the wired controllers which will severely limit your radiation exposure from the controllers.

Also, invest in a good quality EMF protection glove which will add an extra layer of protection.