The Magnetic Sense and Psychiatric Disorders: Two Great Biological Mysteries of Our Time

 

 

 

Migrating Birds

I want to introduce my topic by pointing out two natural mysteries. The first mystery involves animal navigation. How do migrating birds find their way to their winter homes, and back again? Research has shown that these birds navigate in part by perceiving the Earth’s magnetic field.

 

 

Magnetism

Basics of magnetism

Contents:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:48) Magnetic field lines
(01:36) Electromagnetic induction
(02:08) 3 categories of magnetic materials
(04:00) Magnetite pic.twitter.com/U12htBBkWM

— Doug Alderman (@Harry_Magnet) June 9, 2024

 

 

The Geomagnetic Field

Geomagnetism--Part 1--The Basics

Contents:
(00:00) Introduction
(01:29) Intensity & Inclination pic.twitter.com/lmtK6mJSYp

— Doug Alderman (@Harry_Magnet) June 14, 2024

Geomagnetism--Part 2--Temporal Variation

Contents:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:24) Variation of inclination and intensity on geomagnetically quiet day.
(02:10) Variation of inclination and intensity during geomagnetic storm.
(03:00) Lower frequencies of the geomagnetic field.… pic.twitter.com/NnLF07hU7u

— Doug Alderman (@Harry_Magnet) June 21, 2024

Geomagnetism--Part 3--Observatories, Models, & Solar/Geomagnetic Activity

Contents:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:16) Geomagnetic observatories
(00:42) Geomagnetic models
(02:41) Geomagnetic model calculator demo
(08:16) Solar/geomagnetic activity
(09:49) Space weather prediction… pic.twitter.com/rMaZNvVb9f

— Doug Alderman (@Harry_Magnet) August 21, 2024

The Earth’s magnetic field, or geomagnetic field, is most familiar to people as the force that causes a compass needle to point north. The Earth is a giant magnet, with north and south poles. If we walk in the north direction indicated by the compass, we walk toward the magnetic north pole. This magnetic north pole is not the same as true north. There’s an error, known as declination, which varies at different locations and over long periods of time.

What most people aren’t aware of is that the geomagnetic field is three dimensional. The geomagnetic vector (shown as arrows in the figure) represents this 3-dimensional property.

The geomagnetic vector at any point on earth has both a magnitude and direction. The magnitude is known as the intensity of the field.

The geomagnetic vector enters and leaves the earth at an angle to the horizontal. This angle is known as inclination.

The geomagnetic vector's intensity and inclination angle vary across the Earth's surface. The geomagnetic field is more intense and the vector has a more vertical angle to the ground the closer you are to the north or south poles. New York City, for example, has a stronger geomagnetic field and a more vertical vector than Miami, because New York City is closer to the magnetic north pole than Miami.

 

 

Magnetoreception

I’m going to introduce a term that is probably new to most of you. This term is magnetoreception. Tyson Platt defined magnetoreception as “an ability to detect magnetic fields and behave based on that information.” The second part of the definition is critical in distinguishing magnetoreception from more general effects of magnetic fields. For an animal to have magnetoreception, it must act differently based on the information in the magnetic field. This different behavior consists of orientation and navigation. Based on magnetic information, animals acquire a sense of their position relative to a goal. Based on their knowledge of their position, they then set a course toward that goal, using an internal compass and/or GPS.

 

 

Compass and GPS

 

 

Humans use compasses and GPSes to navigate. A compass has a needle pointing north, providing directional information. A GPS, a global positioning system, utilizes satellites to provide positional information. Since humans are weak natural navigators, we have to construct devices to help us navigate. Some animals, such as homing pigeons and migratory birds, are believed to have a biological equivalent of a compass and/or GPS in their bodies.

 

 

Experimental Evidence

Since the 1960’s, various experiments have been performed that demonstrate the magnetic nature of some animals' orientational ability. A typical experiment to study either the GPS or compass is to capture an animal, put it in a cage, alter the magnetic field surrounding the animal, and then see if it behaves differently than control animals (i.e. animals in the same type of cage without any changes in the ambient magnetic field). “Behave differently” means to move in a different direction. Experiments have shown that changes in magnetic field parameters can cause different behavioral changes in different species.

Other experiments include measuring brain or individual neuron activity in response to changes in magnetic fields.

The magnetic parameters for which changes have been shown to cause behavioral or neurophysiological changes include geomagnetic intensity and inclination, and the direction of magnetic north. Geomagnetic intensity and inclination can be used as a basis for a kind of navigational map, as explained here.

From the research, there appears to be 2 types of magnetoreception: light-dependent and non light-dependent. Caged migratory birds, such as the European Robin pictured below, only fly in the correct direction when there is some light in the experimental apparatus. If the light is monochromatic, then this color must be short wavelength (i.e. blue or green) and low intensity.

 

Ansell's mole-rats, who build their subterranean nests in a particular compass direction, don't need light to find the correct direction.

 

While there are many unanswered questions about magnetoreception, including the biophysics of how it works, recent decades have seen a lot of progress in scientific understanding of this sense.

Further reading:

• Nontechnical introduction to magnetoreception:
  Cossins, D. (2013). A Sense of Mystery. The Scientist.
• Technical introduction to magnetoreception:
  Gould, J.L. (2010). Magnetoreception. Current Biology 20, R431-R435.
• Review of magnetoreception:
  Wiltschko, R. & Wiltschko, W. (2006). Magnetoreception. BioEssays 28, 157-168.
• Review of magnetosensation:
  Nimpf, S. & Keays, D.A. (2022). Myths in Magnetosensation. iScience 25, 104454.
• Introduction to vertebrate magnetoreception:
  Kirschvink, J.L. (1997). Homing in on Vertebrates. Nature 390, 339-340.
• Review of bird magnetoreception:
  Wiltschko, R. & Wiltschko, W. (2019). Magnetoreception in Birds. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 16, 20190295.
• Review of mammalian magnetoreception:
  S. Begall et al. (2014). Magnetoreception in Mammals. In Advances in the Study of Behavior (eds M Naguid et al.). pp. 45-88. Academic Press, Volume 46.
• Biophysics and neurobiology of magnetoreception:
• Nordmann, G.C et al. (2017). Magnetoreception: A Sense Without a Receptor. PLoS Biol 15(10): e2003234
• Johnsen, S. & Lehmann, K. (2005) The Physics and Neurobiology of Magnetoreception. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 6, 703-712.
• Kirschvink, J.L. et al. (2010). Biophysics of Magnetic Orientation: Stengthening the Interface Between Theory and Experimental Design. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 7, S179–S191.
• Ritz, T. et al. (2000). A Model for Photoreceptor-Based Magnetoreception in Birds. Biophysical Journal 78, 707-718.
• Kirschvink, J.L. (2001). Magnetite-Based Magnetoreception. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 11, 462-467.

 

 

The Wiltschkos

Wolfgang and Roswitha Wiltschko, pictured here, are pioneers in the study of animal magnetoreception.

 

 

Human Magnetoreception

Do humans have magnetoreceptive abilities similar to many animals? It’s a question that is still unanswered. It’s clear that we don’t have anything approaching the natural orientational abilities of migratory birds or homing pigeons. We don’t migrate long distances when the seasons change (unless we’re retired and wealthy). Our homing ability depends mainly on conventional senses, memory, and, more recently, technological devices. If unable to rely on vision and hearing to orient ourselves, if we forget our route, or if we don’t recognize landmarks, we get lost.

Still, the fact that our natural orientational abilities are weak doesn’t imply that we have no magnetoreceptive abilities. We could perceive the magnetic field, but not be able to utilize this information to orient ourselves. Or we could subconsciously use the magnetic field for orientation, a process that occurs outside our awareness.

In 2019, scientists published results of a study that, pending replication, could be a breakthrough in the understanding of human magnetoreception. They showed that some humans had changes in Alpha EEG brain rhythm in response to changes in magnetic fields that were similar in intensity and direction to the geomagnetic field. This was the first electrophysiological evidence of human magnetoreception. See this article for a good nontechnical summary, and also my blog about this and another human experiment. See below for a picture of the experimental apparatus used.

 

 

Mystery #1—The Magnetic Sense

The supposed lack of a human model makes it difficult to research magnetoreception. It’s hard to understand what’s going on in an animal’s mind when it decides to move in a particular direction. That’s why we can’t be sure that they do have a compass or GPS.

While there has been some progress in the last few decades, we understand very little of the physiological and behavioral basis of magnetoreception. We don’t know the biophysical mechanism, or even where the magnetic sense organs are located. Since animals can’t tell us what they perceive, we don’t know how a magnetic perception looks or feels to them. For example, since humans can see, we know what a visual perception looks like, and we can infer that animals see a tree, house, or blue sky roughly the same as we do. But how do animals perceive that they are north of home? How do they know to move south, toward home? Without a human model, we’re clueless.

The magnetic sense is mystery #1.

 

 

Mystery #2—Psychiatric Disorders

Now let’s turn to the second mystery, psychiatric disorders like depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia. With all the research that has been done, and all the drugs that are available, we really don’t understand what’s going on with these disorders. Why does one identical twin develop schizophrenia, but 50% of the time the other doesn’t? Clearly there are some unknown environmental factors that interact with a genetic predisposition.

One obstacle to understanding psychiatric disorders is that we don’t have a good animal model. While we can assume that a listless, apathetic animal is depressed, and a tentative, fearful animal is anxious, the connection between these basic animal responses and human psychiatric disorders is tenuous. An animal model of bipolar disorder or schizophrenia is even more difficult to imagine. As with the magnetic sense, we’re basically clueless about mental illness. Psychiatric disorders are mystery #2.

 

 

 

Two Great Biological Mysteries

 

 

These two mysteries, which represent disconnects between the animal and human worlds, contradict the leitmotif of modern biology. It's difficult to accept that animals can have an entire sensory apparatus that humans don’t have. Some animals have stronger individual senses than humans. For example, dogs have stronger senses of smell and hearing than humans. Humans still have these senses, however. Since some members of every major group of vertebrates have been shown to have the magnetic sense, including mammals, it’s reasonable to assume that humans may have this sense. Since there are animal models for human diseases like heart disease and cancer, it’s reasonable to assume that there are animal models for psychiatric disorders.

 

 

My Research Project

In September 2007, I began a research project that I hope will lead to a solution to these two mysteries. This research project involved the study of how my feelings and symptoms varied as I traveled from one place to another.

I was born in NYC in 1967, and grew up in nearby northern New Jersey suburbs. My entire childhood was spent in the NYC metro area. I went to college at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. After returning to New Jersey after college and living 3 more years there, I moved to Los Angeles at age 25, then the Salt Lake City, UT area at age 27. With the exception of the years 2008 - 2012, where I lived in the Eastern U.S., I lived in northern Utah from 1994 until 2021. I moved to the Buffalo-Niagara area in 2021.

Since my college years, I have suffered from a combination of obsessive-compulsive disorder (also known as OCD), tics, and mild chronic depression. While medication helped with my symptoms, I had a lot of problems with side effects. Eventually, my OCD and depression symptoms became reduced in intensity. By 2007, the only medication I was taking was alprazolam (Xanax), which helped with my tics. I have been off all meds since 2013.

In the summer of 2007, I did a lot of traveling. I began to realize that I felt differently in different places, differences that defied an easy explanation. My tics were more severe in southern Utah than in northern Utah. They were more severe in Utah than in the northeastern United States. I was more depressed, however, in the places in which I felt fewer tics. I was curious as to why this was occurring. I decided to drive around, paying attention to how I felt differently in different places. Specifically, I wanted to find out if these different feelings were in any way connected to my perception of the geomagnetic field.

Although I have bachelor’s degrees in physics and psychology, I’m not a professional scientist. I didn’t have the funds to hire people or purchase expensive equipment. My tools consisted of a car, a handheld GPS, a magnetic compass, an air mattress, and a computer with an Internet connection. To estimate magnetic fields, I used the magnetic model calculator, which is available to the public on the web.

 

 

Findings

My most important finding is that I may have an internal GPS. This internal GPS is limited in function; it doesn’t provide much navigational information, so I call it a limited-functionality GPS. I can distinguish whether I’m north or south of my “magnetic home." My magnetic home isn’t a single place or city. It’s a north-south transition. It's capable of adaptation to a changed environment. I have observed it near places I've lived in since 2007, including Utah, Idaho, North Carolina, and Western New York. Please note that this magnetic home is unique for me; other people's magnetic home will almost certainly be elsewhere. My GPS is based on feelings. These feelings, or more precisely, psychiatric symptoms, follow what I call a “Psychological Magnetic Map."

 

 

The Psychological Magnetic Map aka the North-South Map

North-South Map--Part 1--The Psychological Magnetic Map

Contents:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:34) Three zones
(01:28) Heat as a metaphor
(02:47) Three-part internal navigational system
(03:51) Negative-Happy and Happy-Positive transitions
(05:03) Stable Happy Zone
(06:18) Northwest… pic.twitter.com/WZxB3diTND

— Doug Alderman (@Harry_Magnet) July 9, 2024

The Psychological Magnetic Map links magnetoreception to psychiatric disorders. Psychiatric symptoms are navigational tools, directing me to my “magnetic” home. Note that magnetic north is to the left in this picture.

 

My home is colored yellow, and is known as the Happy Zone. It’s the smiley face zone. The size of my magnetic home (its north-south distance) varies. I’ll discuss what causes this variation in size later.

 

What feelings do you associate with the color blue? How about being depressed or unhappy? The blue zone is my Negative Zone, in which I have negative symptoms. My Negative Zone is the area north of magnetic home. Negative symptoms include depression and related symptoms. I feel depressed mood in my Negative Zone.

 

When I think of hot, I think of the color red. The red zone is my Positive Zone, the zone in which I feel positive symptoms. My Positive Zone is the area south of magnetic home. Have you ever talked with someone who’s manic? Delusional? Anxious? These positive symptoms are signs of an overheated brain. I have tics in my Positive Zone.

It’s important to understand that the map is unbounded. My Negative Zone and Positive Zone extend north and south, theoretically to the north pole and equator, respectively. All three zones continue as I move east and west.

 

 

My Happy Zone

From 2007 until 2019, my Happy Zone extended from northwest to southeast in the continental United States. During that time period, I found my Happy Zone in Utah, Idaho, and North Carolina. One likes to think of home as a place or town, but my magnetic home is a north/south transition, and can be found across the United States (and beyond).

The northwest to southeast angle was due to my partial adaptation to Utah, after living there over 10 years. Lines of constant geomagnetic intensity and inclination go northwest to southeast in Utah. They go northeast to southwest in North Carolina. My hypothesis is that the Happy Zone is a product of perception of geomagnetic intensity and/or inclination.

The red lines in the figure below shows lines of constant geomagnetic total intensity in North America in 2000. Notice how these lines go northwest to southeast in the Western U.S., and northeast to southwest in the Eastern U.S.

Source: USGS

 

The red lines in the figure below shows lines of constant geomagnetic inclination in North America in 2000. Notice how these lines, like the lines for total intensity, go northwest to southeast in the Western U.S., and northeast to southwest in the Eastern U.S.

Source: USGS

 

While the intensity level and inclination angles have changed over time, the basic pattern in North America has remained the same: northwest to southeast in the West, horizontal in the Midwest, and northeast to southwest in the East.

The fact that my Happy Zone went northwest to southeast not just in Utah, but across the U.S., and in North Carolina after I moved there, is strange. If magnetoreception was involved, it's not clear what was going on outside Utah. It seems that magnetoreception doesn’t adapt well to big changes in location like with my cross-country moves.

This map shows what it might have looked like in North Carolina, when I lived there 2008-2010. I only found my magnetic home near Raleigh and Goldsboro; the rest is a projection based on my data. Remember that this location is unique for me; other people’s Happy Zone will almost certainly be elsewhere.

See how my Happy Zone could be found at the shore near Cape Hatteras. It passed through Goldsboro, and ran just south of Raleigh. It then continued northwest through High Point and Winston-Salem. My Happy Zone continued northwest off the map, to Utah and beyond.

Although my Happy Zone was in North Carolina when I lived there, I didn't feel happy there. The main reason for this was that the geomagnetic environment in North Carolina had properties that destabilized me. Geomagnetic properties such as intensity and inclination angle were more than 10% lower in North Carolina than when I grew up in New Jersey. I may have also had seasonal symptoms in North Carolina. I think that these destabilizing factors were a result of North Carolina being too far south of where I grew up (Northern New Jersey). The distance is about 700 km (430 miles) southwest, which isn't that far considering the distances people typically move around in today's world, but it was too far for a sensitive person like myself.

 

 

Bipolar Disorder = Trizonal Navigational Ability?

Although I have never been diagnosed with bipolar disorder (my main psychiatric diagnoses were OCD and tics), I believe that I have the biology. My father had major depressive disorder, and two of his nieces (my first cousins) have bipolar disorder.

I have bipolar-like symptoms, which really are trizonal symptoms. There are three zones, or symptom clusters: Happy Zone, Negative Zone, and Positive Zone. People who study bipolar disorder focus on only two symptom clusters: the Negative Symptoms (i.e. depression) and Positive Symptoms (i.e. mania).

My hypothesis is that symptoms of bipolar disorder (and some other psychiatric disorders) are navigational symptoms based on magnetoreception. In other words, a manic-depressive is an unwitting navigator.

 

 

Looking at the Sky

I feel the positive/negative/happy symptom distinction most sharply when I look directly at the early afternoon sky. I feel depressed mood when north of home, tics when south of home, and a happy feeling when at home. I feel the symptoms strongly and clearly, but only when I’m looking at the sky. When I look down at the ground, the symptoms go away.

Looking at the sky sharpens my symptoms only in the early afternoon. I feel nothing when looking at the sky in the morning, late afternoon, or night.

To feel the strong symptoms, I have to look directly at the sky (not the sun, but anywhere else in the sky) with both eyes. I feel nothing when looking at reflected sunlight on the ground, or looking at the sky through a window.

I have heard from a woman with bipolar disorder and another with depression/anxiety, both of whom also experience an intense reaction when looking at the early afternoon or midday sky. The woman with bipolar disorder said that she “rapid cycled” when looking directly at the sky. ("To rapid cycle" means to quickly alternate between mania and depression.) The woman with depression/anxiety, who takes her walks around noon, has to look down at the ground to avoid a panic attack. My guess is that both of them were in the Positive Zone at the time they looked at the sky. I have also heard from a man from Washington State who said that when visiting Hawaii, the sky made him feel agitated.

This could be simply extreme sensitivity to light, which I experience. Light sensitivity doesn’t explain the fact that I feel depressed mood when north of home, tics when south of home, and a happy feeling in magnetic home. My hypothesis is that these feelings are navigational tools. They direct me to magnetic home.

What happens if I don't look at the sky? I feel weaker versions of these symptoms, but only if both of my eyes are opened and uncovered. Closing one or the other eye suppresses these feelings.

 

 

My Peak

Let’s return to the Psychological Magnetic Map. Notice how there’s a line separating the blue (negative) zone from the yellow (happy) zone. This is the Negative-Happy transition, what I term “my peak.” There’s also a line separating the yellow (happy) zone from the red (positive) zone. This is my Happy-Positive transition. I have an intense shaking experience when I walk slowly across the Negative-Happy transition (either north to south, or south to north). I have a less intense reaction when I walk slowly across the Happy-Positive transition (only when going north to south). The transitions are only about one meter in north-south distance. My left eye must be open and uncovered for me to experience this shaking reaction.

My peak can move north or south throughout the day and across days. My peak may be tens of kilometers north the next day, and hundreds of kilometers north the next week.

My peak’s location may be influenced by where and when I grew up. I grew up in northern New Jersey, and went to college at University of Virginia in Charlottesville. The peak when I lived in North Carolina between 2008 and 2010 was 280 kilometers (174 miles) south of Charlottesville.

My peak's location may also be influenced by where I have lived more recently. I moved to Northern Utah in 1994, and aside from spending the years 2008 through 2012 in the Eastern U.S., lived in Northern Utah from 1994 through 2021. My peak from 2014-2019 was near or in Salt Lake City, less than 16 kilometers (10 miles) north of my home. I call this condition "stable Happy Zone". When I moved back to Utah in 2012 after spending 4 years away, it took 16 months to achieve stable Happy Zone, i.e. for the peak to travel south from Idaho to end up just north of my home. This indicates that the peak and Happy Zone locations can adapt to where I am currently living as an adult.

I have been in stable Happy Zone since moving to Western New York. The northern border of the Happy Zone is at the southern edge of Lake Ontario.

Sometimes these peaks are at locations that appear to be a type of psychic message. For example, on Nov. 7, 2015, I found the northern border of the Happy Zone near the Clinical Neurosciences Center at the University of Utah. The southern border of the Happy Zone was near the Life Sciences Building at BYU. This occurred as I was preparing to start a computer programming bootcamp later that month. I took this as a message to go into biology or neuroscience as a career (which I rejected, having previously dropped out of two bioscience programs).

Sometimes I am able to channel at the Negative-Happy transition. This can be an unpleasant experience. On Dec. 29, 2015, I asked, "Who are you?" The response I got back was "Your worst nightmare" (this dialog exchange was in the movie Rambo III). I don't recall if I had seen the movie before this incident.

On June 26, 2019, I channeled at the Negative-Happy transition. When I asked who they were, they told me that they were ETs from 45 light years away. Whether or not that was true, they seemed friendlier than the ones I channeled with in 2015.

 

 

What Others Feel At My Peak

Most of the time I drove alone to the peak. I would find it using my internal GPS, make a note of the coordinates, and drive back.

In July 2009, while vacationing in Utah, I brought my friend Tyler and his girlfriend along with me to the peak. They were both experienced in energy/psychic phenomena. When I crossed the peak, they experienced intense reactions, too. One friend could visualize the peak traversing the area we were in. One time, I walked through the peak with my arms around each friend. They were shaking almost as much as I was. I think that their reaction was secondary to my peak reaction, but nevertheless it was intense for them.

 

 

Summary of Evidence of Light-Dependent Human Magnetoreception

I think the Psychological Magnetic Map, the Looking at the Sky reaction, and the Peak phenomenon are examples of light-dependent magnetoreception.

I need to have both eyes open to have weak magnetoreception feelings. I need to look at the early afternoon sky with both eyes to have stronger magnetoreceptive feelings. I only experience the peak when my left eye is open and uncovered.

My claims can be tested in a double-blind manner. For example, I claim to have a limited-functionality GPS that tells me if I'm north or south of my magnetic home. This can be tested either in a lab or in the natural environment. In a lab, some device that emits artificial magnetic fields that combine with the geomagnetic field can be used. This lab magnetic field may trigger different magnetoreceptive feelings based on changes in its intensity and inclination. In the natural environment, a bus where I can look at the sky through an open sunroof, but with windows covered, can be used. This bus can drive around between my different zones, and I can make note of my feelings.

Another option is to put me on a boat in Lake Ontario. The projected stable transition between Negative Zone and Happy Zone runs through the southern part of Lake Ontario. A boat on the lake could be navigated in any direction, and stopped at any time, making it superior in this type of navigational research to a bus that is confined to roads.

 

 

East-West Map

I have an East-West map that is different from the North-South map. It is centered either in Queens, New York City, where I lived from conception until age 18 months (longitude = 73.83 degrees west), or suburban New Jersey, where I lived from age 18 months to 18 years (longitude = 74.39 degrees west). The center appears to be fixed—i.e. it didn't shift to Utah after living there a long time like the North-South map did. Every approximately 6.5 degrees of longitude (26 minutes of solar time) from the center, I have a transition to a new Natural Time Zone (NTZ). There are either 56 or 54 NTZ's across the world (360 degrees/56 is approximately 6.4 degrees, and 360 degrees/54 is approximately 6.7 degrees).

Unlike with the North-South map, I don't feel differently when I cross from one zone to another. But I experience a peak reaction at the transition that is almost identical to the peak reaction when I cross from Negative Zone to Happy Zone. I have a similar shaking reaction that only occurs when my left eye is open and uncovered.

My initial hypothesis was 56 NTZ's, centered in suburban New Jersey. Here's what a map of North America looks like when divided into NTZ's:

As of July 2021, the model of 54 NTZ's centered in Queens, NYC, seems to fit the data set of peak reactions the best. With this model, average error from prediction is 0.09 degrees east (std dev is 0.69 degrees, n = 112). The map would look about the same as the above figure, with the center slightly east, and the zones a little bigger.

My original model of 56 NTZ's centered in suburban New Jersey is the next best fit (assuming an even number of NTZs), with average error from prediction 0.37 degrees west, (std dev is 0.74 degrees). Due to the relatively high variation, it's impossible to rule out either model at present.

Sometimes the locations seem to be adjusted for convenience of my finding the peak. Other times they seem to be psychic messages. For example, I've frequently found the NTZ 5W-6W transition in the gambling town of West Wendover, Nevada, west of the predicted location in the uninhabited Utah desert. Sometimes it's next to the strip club in West Wendover, which I assume is a psychic message to go to the strip club (if it's open). It could also be a more generic message that I need to rethink what I'm doing, to try something different.

More recently, I've noticed this NTZ 5W-6W transition next to the Tesla charging station in West Wendover. This message could be that my research is futuristic, or ahead of its time.

I feel worse the further west I go from my home NTZ (I have done little traveling to Europe or other places east of the NYC area). In Utah (My NTZ 5W), I have reduced cognitive ability, and greater emotional instability. These changes do not improve over time. I also have an increased probability of acquiring new distant sleep sensitivity to objects the further west I am of my home NTZ (see section below). On hindsight, my move to Los Angeles in 1992 (age 25), and Utah in 1994 were terrible mistakes that I would avoid if I could go back in time.

 

 

Sleeping Factors

Sleeping factors affect the Psychological Magnetic Map. By “sleeping factors,” I mean factors associated with my sleeping behavior and environment. The most important factor is the compass angle at which my bed is oriented, which I call “bed angle." Bed angle affects the size of my Happy Zone (its north-south distance).

Manipulating bed angle can help manage my symptoms. Like with feng shui, it's a way for me to alter my environment in order to improve my mood. While measuring bed angle and rotating my bed are not as easy as taking a pill, I avoid side effects.

 

 

Bed Angle

Sleep sensitivity--Part 1

Contents:
(00:00) Introduction
(00:42) Compass Demo
(04:07) Measuring the bed angle of a spring mattress in my bedroom. pic.twitter.com/rqfCp2jU8x

— Doug Alderman (@Harry_Magnet) June 9, 2024

Sleep sensitivity--part 2

Contents:
(00:00) Coleman vs. Intex air mattress comparison
(01:46) Identifying a good location in the house for the air mattress.
(04:58) Setting up the air mattress in a head north-feet south orientation.
(07:18) Conclusion pic.twitter.com/atiCiAEyvf

— Doug Alderman (@Harry_Magnet) June 11, 2024

 

To measure bed angle, I stand behind my bed with a compass. I point the compass along the long axis of the bed, from head to foot. I then take a measurement of the bed angle.

Unfortunately, modern life doesn't make it easy to do this. Any steel in the environment can throw off measurements. Steel contains the ferromagnetic material iron, which emits a magnetic field that can be detected both by a compass and by my internal magnetoreceptor.

You also need to be aware of steel building structure, such as in high rises. Even low rise buildings and single family homes can have steel structure or pipes underneath the floor.

Try to find a location in the house or apartment where the compass reads the same direction when dragged along the floor, and when moved vertically up.

To be safe, it's a good idea to measure bed angle at the position where your head is on the bed when sleeping.

 

 

Bed Angles

While it's typical to distinguish between north-south and east-west bed orientations, I found that they can be grouped into a class of bed angles I call "cardinal bed angles," due to similar magnetoreceptive properties. 45 degree (or northeast-southwest and northwest-southeast) orientations have different magnetoreceptive properties. So the major distinction is between north-south/east-west (cardinal) angles and 45 degree angles.

While sleeping at a cardinal bed angle, the looking at the sky reaction does not occur during or immediately after driving. I need to wait 10 to 15 minutes for this reaction to resume.

While sleeping at a 45 degree bed angle, the looking at the sky reaction occurs while driving (looking through an open window), and immediately after stopping.

 

This figure shows cardinal orientations, or north-south and east-west orientations. Note that for a north-south orientation the head of the bed could be either north or south. Similarly for east-west orientation.

 

This figure shows 45 degree orientations, or northeast-southwest and northwest-southeast. Note that for a northeast-southwest orientation the head of the bed could be either northeast or southwest. Similarly for northwest-southeast.

 

 

Happy Zone Width

Bed angle affects the size of my magnetic home, or its north-south distance, which I call "Happy Zone Width." As this width reduces in size, the north-south distance of my Happy Zone becomes smaller. As this width increases in size, the north-south distance of my Happy Zone becomes larger. The larger the size of the Happy Zone, the more area exists in which I feel good.

I found that Happy Zone Width is dependent on bed angle. Happy Zone Width is at a minimum when bed angle is near an east-west or north-south orientation. The smallest Happy Zone Width I observed was about 2 kilometers (1.2 miles). Happy Zone Width is at a maximum when bed angle is at a 45 degree orientation. The largest Happy Zone Width I observed was about 180 kilometers (112 miles).

Here's an example of what the Psychological Magnetic map looked like when I slept at a north-south bed angle while living in Taylorsville, Utah. This was after I achieved stable Happy Zone in 2014.

Notice the narrow Happy Zone, with the blue Negative Zone to the north, and the red Positive Zone to the south. Also notice the northwest to southeast angle of the Happy Zone.

Here's what the Psychological Magnetic map looked like during the same time period and home location, but when I slept at a northwest-southeast (45 degree) bed angle

See how much larger the Happy Zone is?

 

 

Happy Zone Stability

A stable Happy Zone is one in which there is little north-south movement within a day, or across days, regardless of bed angle.

I was in a stable Happy Zone in Utah from Feb. 2014 until Sep. 2019. This stable Happy Zone represented a partial adaptation to Utah. I moved to Utah when I was 27 years old (1994), and lived there until 2021, except for the years 2008 - 2012.

I have been in a stable Happy Zone in the Buffalo-Niagara area since 2021.

In a stable Happy Zone, one's home (i.e. sleeping location) is in the HZ, as long as one sleeps close to an ideal bedtime (see below). The northern border of the Happy Zone is typically less than 20 km (12 miles) from one's home.

 

 

Psychological and Physiological Effects of Bed Angle

I've found some profound differences in how my mind and body respond to bed angle.

Here are some factors that are affected by bed angle:

• Emotional stability
• Cognitive ability
• Motivation
• Size of Happy Zone (much bigger for NW-SE bed angles compared to N-S or E-W)
• Immune system functionality (i.e. getting colds or not)
• Psychosomatic symptoms, such as migraines and back pain
• Personality attributes that become activated.
• Psychic influence, including messages in altered peak locations and telepathic communication. Changing bed angle is like turning the tuning dial of an old-fashioned radio. You tune into different psychic entities.

I have tried a number of bed angles. This is a work in progress. I'd estimate a 2 degree uncertainty to reported bed angle, due to errors in the technique of sighting bed angle with a compass. Here are some conclusions:

• I prefer the N-S bed angle (true magnetic north-south). Since moving to the Buffalo-Niagara area, I've noticed a big difference between head-north/feet-south (180 degrees) and head-south/feet north (0 degrees). I feel much stronger emotions at head-north/feet-south, so I usually sleep at this bed angle. Immune system functioning is excellent (I rarely get colds). Motivation is good for working on creative things. Emotional stability is excellent. Psychosomatic symptoms are minimal compared to other bed angles. The size of the Happy Zone is relatively small, usually extending only about a km or two south of my home (the northern border can be as much as 20 km north of home). Personality attributes that are activated include partying. These symptoms were much worse in Utah than in Western New York, due to sensitivity issues in Utah. They were worse in Utah during the peak of the solar cycle compared to the minimum. For this reason I avoided this bed angle for many years. I came back to it when I found the alternatives were worse. On the positive side, it does seem to be common-sense and practical oriented. I finished my novel The Next Beethoven while sleeping at this bed angle (during solar minimum), and had good results from Biofield Tuning energy healing (see below). When sleeping at this bed angle in June 2019, I channeled at my peak. They told me that they were ETs from 45 light years away.
• NE-SW bed angles are Neutral Zone bed angles. There is no Psychological Magnetic Map, or limited-functionality GPS. Emotions are relatively suppressed. This can be useful, especially if one is living far from one's Happy Zone, and cannot move out of one's current situation. The most stable of these bed angles is about 11 degrees toward east-west of true magnetic northeast-southwest, either 236 degrees or 56 degrees (with 236 degrees being more emotional than 56 degrees). Immune system functionality is good, I tend to feel angry a lot, motivation is OK (but not for creative writing), and there are few psychosomatic symptoms. Cognitive ability is OK. True magnetic northeast-southwest (i.e. 225 degrees or 45 degrees) is highly emotionally unstable.
• NW-SE bed angles have the largest Happy Zone, sometimes 100 km (62 miles) or more in north-south distance. The most stable appears to be about 11 degrees toward east-west of true magnetic northwest-southeast, with head-northwest and feet-southeast (i.e. 124 degrees). Cognitive ability and motivation are good. Like with the NE-SW bed angles, I tend to feel angry at this bed angle. Unlike with NE-SW bed angles, emotions aren't suppressed. Psychosomatic symptoms aren't bad. Problems are with immune system functionality (more colds), psychic influence, and personality attributes that are activated. I was sleeping at a NW-SE bed angle in Dec. 2015 when I channeled at the peak, and got told that they were "my worst nightmare." This bed angle seems to bring out a desire for partying, like with the north-south bed angle, but also activates a misguided idealism. An example of this was the message I got in 2015 to pursue a career in biology/neuroscience. I was 48 years old at the time. I had dropped out of 2 bioscience programs in the past because I didn't have the memory skills. I ignored this message. The anger I felt while sleeping at this bed angle was a big problem. I had arguments with 2 girlfriends that led to breakups while sleeping in this bed angle range. True magnetic northwest to southeast (i.e. 135 degrees) is highly emotionally unstable.
• E-W bed angles that I've tried are unstable. True magnetic E-W, with head-east and feet-west (i.e. 270 degrees) is an unstable Neutral Zone bed angle, with psychosomatic symptoms, and bad psychic influence and personality attributes activated. Head-west/feet-east (i.e. 90 degrees) has a Psychological Magnetic Map and Happy Zone, but otherwise is similar to 270 degrees in psychic influence and personality attributes activated. East-west bed angles trigger psychosomatic symptoms, including migraines, lower back pain, and right elbow pain. E-W bed angles (other than Neutral Zone 270 degrees) have a small Happy Zone width, like with the N-S bed angles. Immune system functioning was terrible at a 259 degree bed angle—I got the flu.

 

 

Bed Angle Reset

A Bed Angle Reset (BAR) involves changing from an approximately north-south or east-west (i.e. cardinal) bed angle, to an approximately 45 degree bed angle, or vice versa. The reset takes a minimum of 2 nights to complete. I feel much better after a reset. Think of it as rebooting a computer that’s frozen up.

A BAR is useful when something else disrupts magnetoreception. For example, after the fall and spring time change, I feel off until I do a BAR. My mood and energy are off until the reset happens, then return to normal after the reset completes.

Another example of something that can disrupt magnetoreception is the energy healing technique known as Biofield Tuning. The BAR restores magnetoreception to its normal state.

I needed to do a BAR after the extreme May 2024 geomagnetic storm. This storm affected me both physically (GI symptoms) and psychologically.

 

This image shows approximately north-south or east-west bed angles (colored pink), and approximately 45 degree angles (colored gray). To perform a reset, you change your bed orientation from a pink color angle to a gray color angle, or vice versa. The figure is an ideal representation. In reality, it appears that the NW-SE zone (colored gray) is bigger in angular size than the NE-SW zone (also colored gray).

 

 

 

NTZ Reset

There's another way to reset magnetoreception. If I travel from one NTZ to another, an NTZ reset (NTZR) may be initiated. This reset is bed angle dependent (cardinal versus 45 degrees).

If I'm sleeping at a cardinal bed angle, and the last reset I have done at a cardinal bed angle was in a different NTZ, a NTZR will be initiated. This will occur whether or not I was at the same bed angle the last place I slept. This reset takes a minimum of 3 nights, and is more destabilizing than a bed angle reset.

The same logic applies to 45 degree bed angles. If I'm sleeping at a 45 degree bed angle, and the last reset I have done at a 45 degree bed angle was in a different NTZ, a NTZR will be initiated.

Say that I visited Florida, and reset to a N-S (cardinal) bed angle. I then flew back to Utah, and set bed angle to N-S. Then a NTZR will be initiated, since the last reset to a N-S (cardinal) bed angle was in a different NTZ.

As a different example, assume that I reset to a 45 degree bed angle in Florida. I then flew back to Utah, and began sleeping at a N-S bed angle. The last reset at a N-S bed angle was in Utah. Then I will have initiated a bed angle reset, not a NTZ reset.

 

 

Ideal Bedtime

Most of us go to bed at a time that will allow us to get enough sleep, based on a specific wake up time. This wake up time is frequently determined by social pressures, such as work or school. For example, when I worked regular office hours I would typically go to bed at around 10:30 p.m., allowing for about 8 hours of sleep.

When I began my magnetoreception project in Utah in 2007, I wasn't working or going to school, but I continued going to bed at the 10:30 p.m. time. I eventually realized that my bedtime determined the location of the Happy Zone. It seemed that an earlier bedtime shifted it north, and later bedtime shifted it south. The daylight saving time change also had an effect on the Happy Zone location, with the fall change shifting it south, and spring shifting it north (assuming constant bedtime).

After years of research, I realized that there is an ideal bedtime, that varies based on location and time of year. I need to get to bed close to the ideal bedtime to be in my Happy Zone at home, assuming a stable Happy Zone situation (e.g. northern Utah 2014–2019). By close to ideal bedtime, I mean within about 30 minutes. This assumes that I will fall asleep soon after going to bed. I feel better going to bed at ideal bedtime, even if I'm not in the Happy Zone, or if I'm in the Neutral Zone.

Although I can get to bed 20 minutes later than ideal, and still be in the Happy Zone, I won't feel as good as when I get to bed at the ideal bedtime. There is a very tight window for ideal bedtime. I feel off when I'm as little as 5 minutes off from ideal, although the difference may not be enough to shift the peak north or south. Noise, excessive worry, pain, or anything else that can delay going to sleep will also affect my mood the next day, due to the delayed sleep.

My ideal bedtime in Salt Lake City (111.88 degrees longitude west) is 9:33 p.m. during standard time, and 11:33 p.m. during daylight saving time. I would estimate about a 3 minute uncertainty to this. Note the 2 hour difference when time change is one hour. There is also a 2:1 ratio in calculating ideal bedtime when I travel to other locations. Although solar time advances 4 minutes per degree longitude east, the ideal bedtime advances 8 minutes.

I don't know if this ideal bedtime is based on childhood experience, or if it is genetically programmed.

Note that an NTZ of about 6.5 degrees longitude, or 26 minutes of solar time, approximately matches the bedtime difference (about 30 minutes) from ideal that would shift me out of the Happy Zone.

This indicates that there may be a connection between the east-west (NTZ) map and bedtime (or more generally circadian rhythm).

If bedtime is off by more than 30 minutes, a bed angle or NTZ reset may be delayed. Bedtime must be reasonably consistent for this reset to occur in the minimum number of nights (2 for BAR, 3 for NTZR).

For the mathematically inclined, I have arrived at a formula for calculating ideal bedtime at any location on Earth:

1) Long = longitude [long is + if east, - if west of prime meridian]

2) ATZDiff = [-(Time Zone offset from UTC)] * 60 [ATZ is an acronym I use for Artifical Time Zone, or conventional time zone]

3) DaylightSaving = 2:00 if Daylight Saving Time, 0:00 if Standard Time

4) OverallDiff = ROUND(8 * Long + 2 * ATZDiff, 0) [Using Excel ROUND function, rounding to 0 decimal places]

5) IF (OverallDiff < 0)

  IdealBedtime = 20:38 + DaylightSaving + TIME(0, -OverallDiff, 0) [Using Excel TIME function, converting (Hr,Min,Sec) to decimal]

ELSE

  IdealBedtime = 20:38 + DaylightSaving - TIME(0, OverallDiff, 0)

 

Note the 2:1 ratio in equations (3) and (4).

For example, ideal bedtime in Boston, MA (long = -71.06, UTC-5) during daylight saving time is 10:06 p.m.

Ideal bedtime in Los Angeles, CA (long = -118.25, UTC-8) during standard time is 8:24 p.m.

Ideal bedtime in London, UK (long = -0.13, UTC) during daylight saving time is 10:39 p.m.

Ideal bedtime in Paris, France (long = 2.35, UTC+1) during standard time is 10:19 p.m.

Ideal bedtime in Moscow, Russia (long = 37.62, UTC+3) is 9:37 p.m. (no DST)

Ideal bedtime in Beijing, China (long = 116.40, UTC+8) is 9:07 p.m. (no DST)

Ideal bedtime in Sydney, Australia (long = 151.21, UTC+10) during daylight saving time is 10:28 p.m.

 

 

Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity—Sensitivity to Artificial Magnetic Fields When Awake

An “artificial magnetic field” is a man-made magnetic field. All the effects I’ve spoken about previously, including the Psychological Magnetic Map, bed angle effects, the peak, and ideal bedtime, are my response to the natural environment. This includes the geomagnetic field and probably other natural environmental factors (such as sunlight).

Until the dawn of the Industrial Revolution in the 1700’s, with a few exceptions the only magnetic fields that humans were exposed to were natural ones. In the past several centuries, humans have created numerous devices, machines, and structures that emit magnetic fields. Steel, power lines, and electrical/electronic appliances emit artificial magnetic fields. Some examples of these in a typical contemporary home environment include innerspring mattresses, steel bed frames and headboards, steel building structures, power lines, wireless Internet routers, cell phones, cordless phones, computers, smoke detectors, home security systems, baby monitors, kitchen appliances, and heating/cooling units. In recent years, with the introduction of wireless networks and devices, we’ve become more and more exposed to these fields.

People with electromagnetic hypersensitivity are sensitive to these fields when awake. In some extreme cases, such people have a very difficult time living in a modern home.

I have severe electromagnetic hypersensitivity that makes it difficult to live with modern technology. I'm sensitive to headphones, earbuds, headsets, cell phones, or any other type of speakers that are close to my ears. Since getting a smartphone in 2017, I only use it in speaker mode. I seem to be touch sensitive to Android phones. This sensitivity can be reduced with a hard case. I also probably was sensitive to an iPhone 11 that I briefly tried, possibly a near distance sensitivity. For 2 different programming jobs, I had sensitivity to MacBook Pro laptops that I used for programming work. It was a near distance sensitivity. I felt bad when using the laptop, and the symptoms increased when the power cord was plugged in (versus being on battery). I haven't been sensitive in this way to any other computer I've used. I'm sensitive to Google Nest devices, which produce sleepy/tired symptoms. I'm sensitive to large computer monitors or TVs, if I'm close to the device. I don't typically have problems with stereo systems, microwave ovens, refrigerators, or other appliances. In June 2021, I stayed in a short-term rental in the Buffalo, NY area that was 120 meters (394 feet) from a cell phone tower. This was the closest I've ever lived to a cell phone tower. Although it didn't affect my sleep, I felt off all my waking hours when in this house. I felt unusually tired and absent-minded, and had difficulty concentrating.

Other types of sensitivity when awake

I also am highly sensitive to stimuli perceived by conventional senses. I'm sensitive to bright and flashy lights, loud noises, strong odors, and vibrations.

 

 

Sleep Sensitivity to Objects

I'm much more sensitive to man-made objects when sleeping. Sleep sensitivity can be divided into 2 categories: near distance (< 1.2 meters / 4 feet) and far distance.

Near distance sleep sensitivity (< 1.2 meters / 4 feet)

Steel or electromagnetic objects within 1.2 meters (about 4 feet) of my head when sleeping can disrupt my sleep. Examples include innerspring mattresses, box springs, steel headboards, electromagnets such as speakers, and steel building structure. I will typically have a shaking reaction in the middle of the night after sleeping with these objects near me. The bigger the object, or the closer it is to my head, the more an effect on my sleep. Steel can also alter the bed angle my head perceives (interacting with the natural geomagnetic field), which is why I always measure bed angle at the position of my head when sleeping.

Beginning in 2008, I have not slept on an innerspring mattress on a regular basis. I've always slept on air and/or foam mattresses.

The prevalence of steel in modern bedrooms makes it very difficult to avoid. Steel building structures in high rises sometimes results in up to 180 degree compass deflections in parts of the bedroom. In general, the older the building, the better. Old, wood-framed structures typically bother me less than newer structures.

Far distance sleep sensitivity to objects

It took me a lot longer to understand far distance sleep sensitivity to objects than near distance. By the first year of my magnetoreception research (2008), I had realized that I was sensitive to innerspring mattresses and other steel objects close to my head when sleeping. I avoided these whenever possible. I didn't begin to understand far distance sensitivity until 2012, and didn't fully understand it for another 6 years.

I am sensitive to a variety of everyday household objects, including paper, plastic, and metal objects. Most of these objects are not powered. Examples include pieces of paper or cardboard, cans, labels, plastic containers, batteries, dollar bills, credit cards, rubber bands, tennis racquet strings, digital watches, and Internet modems (the modem has to be powered on).

I call these objects OSSADs (Objects to which I'm Sleep Sensitive At a Distance).

I don't know what the distance limit for OSSADs sleep sensitivity, but my experiencing this sensitivity depends on context. I seem to be more sensitive to OSSADs at greater distances when I'm in my home NTZ versus Utah (NTZ 5W). The closer they are to my head, the stronger the sleep disruption. The more OSSADs in the environment that I'm sensitive to, the more the sleep disruption.

Sleep disruption by OSSADs will make me feel psychologically bad the next day. The more OSSADs in the sleep environment and the closer they are to my head when sleeping, the worse I'll feel the next day. "Feeling bad" means having more difficulty concentrating, being more emotionally unstable, more impulsive, and possibly having psychotic symptoms.

I don't know of any way to block whatever it is that makes me sensitive to OSSADs, other than distance. They will affect my sleep from within the steel walls of a refrigerator. They will affect my sleep from other rooms, or even from outside the house. It's unclear what the distance limit is for sleep sensitivity to OSSADs. In Utah, the limit for noticeable sleep disturbance from an OSSAD is approximately 60 meters (197 feet), but in the Buffalo area (my home NTZ), I seem to notice OSSADs at a greater distance.

OSSADs must be intact in order to affect my sleep. Any minor damage will deactivate them. For example, I can cut a small slit in a piece of paper to deactivate it.

Any change to the OSSAD environment can delay a Bed Angle or NTZ reset. For example, adding a new OSSAD, removing an existing OSSAD, or moving an OSSAD closer or further away can delay a reset. The distance limit for OSSADs delaying a reset is much larger than the distance limit for producing noticeable sleep disturbance. I've observed a delayed reset in my home NTZ when an OSSAD was located 19 km (12 miles) away (for an OSSAD that I originally sensitized to in the house, and when I was age regressed to newborn magnetoreception [see next section]).

I was psychologically a mess when I moved back to Utah in 2012, after living in the Eastern U.S. for 4 years. The last city I had tried to live in was Pittsburgh (2011–2012). Unlike North Carolina, Pittsburgh should have been a good place geomagnetically for me to live, better than Utah because it was in my home NTZ. But I fell apart psychologically there in summer 2012, and moved back to Utah.

On hindsight, a major reason why I did poorly in Pittsburgh was that I unwittingly brought OSSADs there that I had sensitized to in Utah. After returning to Utah, I acquired OSSAD sensitivity to new things I brought into the house. That made me suspect that I might have distant sleep sensitivity to unpowered objects, but how could I identify them (not only the new objects, but the ones I had in my possession a long time that were OSSADs)?

My friend Tyler helped me understand OSSAD sensitivity. When I brought Tyler with me to the location of my east-west peak in the west Utah desert in November 2012, he was able to sense psychically that I had a different peak close to the east-west peak. I found this peak, and had a shaking reaction like with the other peaks, but this was something different.

I later realized that a unique feature of this peak (which I called "pseudopeak") was that I had to be touching an OSSAD to feel it. If I didn't touch an OSSAD, then I wouldn't feel it. I used this feature to help identify OSSADs, bringing them with me to these locations. If I had the shaking reaction when holding the object, then it was an OSSAD. If I didn't have this shaking reaction when holding the object, then it wasn't an OSSAD. After identifying the OSSADs, I removed them from my house, and slept better the next night.

I stopped having the pseudopeak experience in October 2015, possibly due to Reiki energy healing that I was receiving at the time. Another possible reason was that the solar cycle was transitioning out of the maximum period (2011 - 2014). OSSAD sleep sensitivity seemed to be more intense at solar maximum than solar minimum. After Oct. 2015, I identified OSSADs by a strange reaction when touching and looking at them, after they affect my sleep. I don't get this touch reaction if they are at a large enough distance from my head when sleeping (approximately 15 - 30 meters, or 49 feet - 98 feet). OSSADs may still affect my sleep if they are far enough away so that I don't have a touch reaction the next day. I don't get the reaction unless I both touch the object, and look at it with both eyes open. After removing the object from my house, I sleep better. If I bring it back into my house, it will disrupt my sleep again.

This touch reaction involves frequent false negatives, in which I miss an OSSAD. Sometimes I also have false positives, in which I have the touch reaction for an object that is not an OSSAD. My habit in Utah became: bring new objects into the house, have sleep problems that night, then search the next morning for the suspected OSSADs. I usually had to repeatedly touch objects I brought into the house before getting the reaction.

Frequently I sensitize to an OSSAD, but not to another similar version of the object. For example, I might sensitize to a can of soup. I won't sensitize to a seemingly identical can of the same soup.

I found in 2018, after traveling to Florida, Toronto, Colorado, and California that I do not acquire new distant sleep sensitivity to objects when I'm in my NTZ 0. I have not identified one object that I sensitized to while sleeping in my home NTZ.

When sleeping in a hotel in Berkeley, CA (my NTZ 7W) in 2018, I identified 5 OSSADs in the hotel room, mostly powered. That is more than I would expect to get in a similar room in Salt Lake City, UT (my NTZ 5W). I did not identify any OSSADs in a hotel room in Fort Collins, CO (my NTZ 4W).

When bringing in objects from stores or the supermarket to my home in Utah, I frequently will sensitize to one or multiple OSSADs.

These experiences led me to the conclusion that I have greater probability of acquiring new distant sleep sensitivity to objects the further west I am of my home NTZ (measured in number of NTZ's west).

When I lived in my NTZ 0 in 2008-2012, I frequently had unexplained sleep disturbance. I realize now that it was due to OSSADs that I had sensitized to in Utah, that I unwittingly brought with me when I moved back east. These included a digital watch, a flashlight lamp, and a cell phone battery, all of which I kept in my bedroom when sleeping. The flashlight and cell phone were powered off when I slept.

Since 2014, I have traveled once or twice a year to South Florida (my NTZ 0) to visit family. Although I always feel bad in Florida (likely due to the low geomagnetic intensity and inclination, and large distance from my Happy Zone), I have never noticed OSSAD sleep sensitivity.

In 2019, I tried bringing an OSSAD that I had sensitized to in Utah (an instruction booklet) to Florida. When I kept it in my bedroom, I had sleep disturbance, and touch sensitivity to the object the next day. When I kept the object in another location that was approximately 600 meters (2000 feet) away, I did not have any sleep disturbance.

From these experiences, I conclude that OSSADs that I sensitize to in other locations can affect sleep in my home NTZ 0, although I will not acquire new OSSAD sensitivity in my NTZ 0.

I have noticed variations over time in probability of acquiring new sensitivity to OSSADs in Utah. For example, from June through December 2016, I didn't sensitize to any new OSSADs, although I brought new objects into the house. I don't know why this occurred, and I have not observed this happen again.

Considering that most of these objects are unpowered, and the large distances involved, it's unlikely that the sleep disturbance from OSSADs is due to magnetoreception. I don't know what force or action at a distance these objects can be emitting.

I can understand if most people reading this are skeptical of distance sleep sensitivity to unpowered objects. I didn't believe it myself for many years.

Both near and far distance sleep sensitivity can be tested in a double-blind manner. For example, steel or aluminum objects can be introduced close to my head in a sleep lab. I should be able to identify the steel object by sleep disturbance.

Similarly, OSSADs and non-OSSADs could be introduced at a certain distance from my head in a sleep lab. I should be able to identify the OSSADs by sleep disturbance.

Other types of sleep sensitivity

Since moving to Western New York in 2021, I've noticed other types of sleep sensitivity. I'm sensitive to some people who are in the same house. Sleeping in the vicinity of certain people can cause sleep disturbances. I'm also sleep sensitive to the house itself. I've stayed in different houses since I've moved here, and some of the houses have energy that can cause sleep disturbance, and affect my judgment and decision-making ability. There are noticeable differences between houses.

 

 

Energy Healing

I've tried different types of energy healing modalities over the years. I did this because I found both talk and drugs to be of limited utility in addressing my problems. Prior to 2019, I've had the most success with Reiki. It helped calm me down and feel better, although there were never any cures or major changes.

In 2017, a Reiki therapist I was seeing encouraged me to try a new modality she learned, Biofield Tuning. The technique, developed in the new millennium by American massage therapist Eileen Day McKusick, is a type of sound therapy involving tuning forks. McKusick's innovation was to postulate that sounding the forks in the "biofield" surrounding the body (the "biofield" aka "aura" is an old concept in energy healing) can reveal a person's energy history. The biofield extends about 1.5 meters (5 feet) from the body, and contains one's energy history, with the oldest history being the furthest from the body, and the most recent being closest to the body (the reverse of tree rings). By sounding tuning forks in a person's biofield, the therapist can both diagnose problems and fix (tune) them. The biofield on your left side is influenced by your mother, and the biofield on your right side is influenced by your father. The therapist "combs" the biofield by sounding tuning forks, beginning usually at the outer edge (oldest history), then slowly walking through the years of your history, ending close to the body, where she "drops" the energy into the body. The therapist intuitively can sense what happened to you at different stages in your life. When problems occurred and disrupted the biofield at a particular time period, she can fix them by sounding the tuning forks.

In my opinion, the turning forks facilitate energy transfer between the therapist and client. I don't think that a machine sounding the forks would have any therapeutic effect. In this sense, Biofield Tuning is an energy transfer technique, like Reiki.

Sure, those skeptics out there are saying: for real? Your history is recorded in some energy field outside your body?

Although it sounds crazy, I do believe there is something to this technique. In fact, I believe it represents a major innovation in energy healing, and one that has strong connections to magnetoreception.

I had 3 Biofield Tuning sessions with my therapist in 2017. Although it felt like a powerful technique, more powerful than Reiki, I didn't notice any major changes resulting from it. I was at a NW-SE bed angle for one of the sessions, and a NE-SW Neutral Zone bed angle for the next two. My therapist quit for personal reasons, and I waited two years for another Utah therapist to be trained.

In 2019, I started Biofield Tuning with a different Utah therapist, April Miller. April went through the training program that Eileen McKusick set up for Biofield Tuning. April acknowledged to me having electromagnetic hypersensitivity, along with mercury sensitivity. I observed that combination of electromagnetic and mercury sensitivity in a woman from Las Vegas I talked with over the phone.

Unlike in 2017, I slept at at a N-S bed angle (180 degrees) for all my Biofield Tuning sessions with April. Here's a summary of my results:

• After the second session, I experienced a disruption in magnetoreception, like what I experience after the time change. I had to initiate a Bed Angle Reset to restore magnetoreception. I continued doing Bed Angle Resets after all subsequent sessions.
• Similar to my experience with other energy healing modalities (e.g. Reiki), Biofield Tuning can temporarily heal psychosomatic problems, but doesn't cure them.
• The most interesting and unique thing about Biofield Tuning is that it can be used to age regress magnetoreception.
• By having April work on the biofield around my head (third eye chakra, or sixth chakra), I was able to revert magnetoreception to what it would have been at an earlier age. Say that I wanted to revert to age 10. April would comb through the biofield around my head, starting at the outer edge (oldest energy), and working her way to age 10. She would then quickly walk through the rest of the biofield, and "drop" the energy into my body. I was able to restore a NE-SW angle of the Happy Zone that corresponded to what I would have experienced living in New Jersey at that time (lines of constant total intensity and inclination go NE-SW there). Also, I found an interesting quirk to childhood magnetoreception (ages 0, 1 and 10, but not 24 or present age): experiencing the N-S or E-W peak can shift Happy Zone to Negative Zone, and vice versa. So Happy Zone gets switched to north of the N-S peak, and Negative Zone switched to south. By experiencing the peak again, it shifts back to normal. I never saw this with adult magnetoreception.
• After April reverted me to age 1 magnetoreception in January 2020, I traveled to Buffalo, NY. I was in the Happy Zone there (after a NTZ reset), and it was in my home NTZ. I felt as good as I have felt in a long time. Think of it as a 1 year old baby from 1968 NYC time traveling to 2020 Buffalo. The magnetoreceptive conditions between the two places and times were close enough to allow for my immediate complete adaptation to Buffalo.
• Although after reversion to age 1 magnetoreception I was in the Happy Zone in Utah, I felt off. Unlike in Buffalo, I did not have the looking-at-the-sky reaction. The Happy Zone went from northeast to southwest, showing NYC magnetoreceptive characteristics. The east-west map remained centered in the NYC area. My probability of acquiring new OSSAD sensitivity was higher than Utah baseline.
• After 3 months in Salt Lake City, Utah after the reversion to age 1 magnetoreception, I adapted to Utah. I felt better. The looking-at-the-sky reaction resumed. The Happy Zone changed to a northwest to southeast angle, showing Utah magnetoreceptive characteristics. My probability of acquiring new OSSAD sensitivity went back to Utah baseline. But the east-west map remained centered in the NYC area, indicating a partial adaptation to Utah.
• This partial adaptation to Utah probably took me 10 or more years to complete as an adult, after moving there in 1994 at age 27. Biofield Tuning allows for much faster magnetoreceptive adaptation to new places you move to. Note that this quick partial adaptation to Utah from Biofield Tuning did not feel as stable as the much longer adult partial adaptation, and I'm not sure that I would recommend it.
• For those like myself who want the whole enchilada (Happy Zone + home NTZ), and are willing and able to move, the advantage to revert to age 1 magnetoreception is that I can be in the Happy Zone if I move to the northeastern U.S. or Canada. That region is in my home NTZ, and also has (especially in the eastern Great Lakes area) intensity and inclination that is closer to what I experienced growing up. Without Biofield Tuning, the partial adaptation to my living in Utah for so long would have put this region in my Negative Zone.
• In June 2020, I went back to April to have her revert magnetoreception to birth. In a sense, I was "born again." Birth is the outer edge of the biofield, as far back as Biofield Tuning can take me. The results were the same as age 1 magnetoreception in both Salt Lake City and Buffalo.
• Assuming that this reversion to an earlier magnetoreception age via Biofield Tuning reflects what happened in actual development, it appears that the magnetoreception reference is set during prenatal development, and is unable to be changed after birth. This reference includes the east-west map center, geomagnetic intensity and/or inclination, and (possibly) seasonal variation of day length. Unlike the north-south map, including the Happy Zone, which is capable of adaptation after birth, this reference cannot be changed. The clinical implication is that your mother's physical location during your pregnancy is relevant to where you should be living now, if you want to function at your highest level.

 

The Bypass Effect

In September 2020, I stumbled upon a powerful application of Biofield Tuning age regression. That summer, I was visiting the Buffalo, NY area, with the intention to move there. I had problems with distant sleep sensitivity to objects I brought with me from Utah. Although I don't acquire new distant sleep sensitivity to objects in my home NTZ (which includes Buffalo), I retain sensitivity to objects that I initially sensitized to in other locations (including Utah). It's difficult to identify and remove all these objects. One of them was my car, which I needed to keep close to home.

While visiting Utah in July 2020, I had asked April to age regress me to age 9. I was that age 44 years ago (1976). I knew that was exactly four 11-year solar cycles, or two 22-year solar cycles. Because the sun's magnetic field changes polarity at the peak of every 11-year sunspot cycle, the 22-year cycle encompasses both the 11-year sunspot cycle and the change in the sun's magnetic field polarity. In other words, 44 years ago you are at exactly the same point in a 22-year cycle as you are today. (See my Are You Sensitive article for a more detailed explanation of solar cycles.)

As with previous age regressions, April age regressed my third eye chakra in my head to age 9. I flew to Buffalo soon after the Biofield Tuning session. After about a month, I noticed that all my distant sleep sensitivity to objects I had sensitized to in Utah had disappeared, as if this sensitivity never existed. In other words, the experience in the biofield when I lived in Utah and acquired sensitivity to these objects was bypassed.

Although I was happy not to have the distant sleep sensitivity to objects, I felt off. Something was not quite right.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I decided to postpone my move to Buffalo until 2021, and spent the fall and winter in Utah.

Before leaving for Utah, I visited a Biofield Tuning therapist in Rochester, NY. She did a full comb of both sides of the third eye chakra, something that a year ago had cancelled the age regression and restored Utah magnetoreception. While the age regression and bypass were cancelled, I did not return to a stable Utah Happy Zone, indicating that the bypass had changed something in the current biofield. The past biofield seemed intact.

I had April age regress me to about a year ago, before the bypass occurred. After about a month, I got back into the Happy Zone, but still felt off. I discussed with April the possibility of age regressing the entire biofield, not just the third eye chakra. April did this in January 2021, in a marathon almost 3 hour session. She started with the minor chakras in the feet and knees, then did the 7 primary chakras along the central nervous system. For each chakra, she did left side followed by right side. She described the process as filling a cylinder with water, with the biofield being the cylinder, and each age-regressed chakra representing the fill line being raised. The entire biofield got regressed to age 10 (a year later to remain in sync with the 22 year cycle). I used the analogy of a musical octave to compare age 10 to today: age 10 was two octaves below current age (i.e. two 22-year solar cycles ago).

I had planned to move to Buffalo the end of February, but the bypass unexpectedly occurred in Utah about a month after the session.

Like with the bypass the previous year, I lost distant sleep sensitivity to objects, but because this was Utah, I acquired sensitivity to new things. One unexpected side effect of the full biofield age regression: I immediately became physically stronger! I could lift between 5 and 20 pounds (2.3 to 9.1 kg) more on all machine and free weight gym exercises (compared to the last time I was in the gym).

I found out within a few weeks of the bypass that it was incompatible with doing any standard Biofield Tuning energy work. I had April comb through my sacral chakra in a session 12 days after the bypass occurred, to find out if the past biofield was intact (it was). Although the magnetoreceptive bypass remained active (because the third eye chakra was unaffected), I felt psychologically off. I also lost the extra physical strength. It seems that if you age regress the entire biofield, you must keep the chakras synchronized.

April repeated the full biofield age regression in March, and I drove to Buffalo 2 weeks later. The bypass occurred within days of arriving in Buffalo.

Along with losing distant sleep sensitivity to objects, I also bypassed traumatic experiences in my late teens and early twenties that had been bothering me for over 30 years. I was able to do things, like study higher math, that I've been unable to do since I was college age. I was physically stronger, as I observed in Utah. While not exactly the Fountain of Youth, it's close enough!

The age regression was felt most emotionally. While I didn't have a 10-year-old's energy level, and intellectually I was an adult, emotionally I felt regressed to age 10. That was difficult, but I didn't remain at 10 for long.

It seems that I have aged every year since the initial age regression. The aging occurs in an emotionally-intense period that lasts between 2 and 2 1/2 months. This aging period is very difficult, especially having regressed to childhood. I slept for long periods and was emotionally unstable. After finishing, I felt more mature than I was before the aging period, as if I had aged a year. I botched the aging from 11 to 12, doing too many bed angle resets, and traveling to Florida before it was complete. I ended up feeling bad the next year, until the aging from 12 to 13. Aging seems to involve combining past experience in my historical childhood biofield with current and recent past experience.

April, who is an artist, used the analogy of painting over a canvass to describe the bypass phenomenon. One implication of this is that history will somehow be altered, as in time travel. While the original experiences will remain in the biofield energy history, there may be new experiences "painted over" the old history. All indications are that the past biofield doesn't get changed. This isn't time travel—history is intact. But there is some process occurring that involves combining the past and present, and bypassing everything in between. This process is repeatable but not fully reversible. The lack of reversibility is due to changes in the current time biofield, not the past biofield. It's not clear how long the bypass will occur (will it remain when the new solar cycle starts about 2030?). Regressing to childhood as I did is very difficult, but can also have positive effects. Regressing to a younger adult age instead of childhood would probably work best and have the fewest side effects for most people.

My experience with age regression of magnetoreception has indicated that when you are first regressed, magnetoreception is regressed to what it would have been at the regressed age. For juvenile magnetoreception, it then quickly adapts to the current environment (i.e. Salt Lake City or Buffalo), which is not where I lived at that age. The geomagnetic conditions are different from what I experienced as a child. So, in a sense, history is being "painted over," but this history does not get saved to the past biofield.

Using the analogy of brain function vs. structure, medication or therapy can change brain functioning, but typically does not change brain structure (i.e. as revealed on a structural brain MRI). Biofield structure is your energy history. This cannot be changed without actual time travel. Age regressing the biofield seems to change biofield functioning, not the structure, like therapy changing brain functioning. The bypass effect is an example of a change in biofield functioning.

 

 

Energy Healing and Psychic Phenomena

Both energy healing and psychic phenomena have been around, in some form, for thousands of years. The science of magnetoreception has been in existence since about the 1960's. My research has indicated that there are connections between magnetoreception and both energy healing and psychic phenomena.

Yes, some people claiming to be healers or psychics are frauds. But I think that there is something to these things that is real.

There has been some scientific research on energy healing and psychic phenomena going back centuries, but little progress has been made. Magnetoreception has much more credibility at present in scientific circles. But I believe from my experience that they are all connected, part of some phenomena the physics of which we don't understand very well. It's an exciting time we live in, to be able to advance our knowledge of these strange things that have so eluded our predecessors.

 

 

Am I Unique?

The following is speculation. I doubt that I’m alone in having magnetoreceptive ability. According to my mother, I’m not from Mars. I’m a human being, and share DNA with other humans.

Some other people with psychiatric disorders probably have magnetoreceptive ability similar to mine. These people are unwitting navigators. Their symptoms guide them north or south of home, but they haven't yet connected their symptoms to their navigational function.

These magnetoreceptive people can possibly benefit from the knowledge I’ve obtained. At little cost and effort, and with relatively few side effects, magnetoreceptive people can make changes that may help them feel better. I emphasize may, because I don’t know enough at present to make any guarantees.

 

 

What Disorders Involve Magnetoreception?

My research project involved studying only myself, so I have very little data about other people. One reason that I created this website is to try to get magnetoreceptive people to come forward to share their personal stories. To find out if you or someone you know has the magnetic sense, click here.

 

 

Two Great Biological Mysteries Revisisted

 

 

Let’s return to the theme of this article, the two great biological mysteries. Based on what you’ve learned so far, would you agree that humans don’t possess the magnetic sense, and animals don’t experience psychiatric disorders?

 

 

Animals Use Their Feelings To Navigate

My hypothesis is that some animals use their magnetoreceptive feelings to navigate. Migratory birds have a north-south map like mine, in which they feel a primitive version of negative and positive symptoms. They also have an east-west map, in which they feel differently east or west of home. The combination of north-south and east-west maps constitutes an internal GPS that tells you where you are relative to home, to the nearest 45 degrees (e.g. I'm northeast of home, and must travel southwest to get home). This internal GPS has a dual function: navigation and motivation. They know where they are relative to home, and they're motivated to go home, because they feel bad outside of home. They also have an internal compass that directs them home.

Magnetoreceptive humans have such poor sensitivity that most of them aren’t aware that their feelings are navigational tools. They attribute their feelings to other things. For example, magnetoreceptive depressed people attribute their mood to negative life events. While most depressed people are in fact depressed due to negative life events, this isn’t the case for a minority of depressed people. For these people, depressed mood is in fact a navigational tool, directing them south, toward magnetic home. Similarly, positive symptoms like mania/psychosis/tics/anxiety aren't always a reaction to danger or stress. For some people, these symptoms are navigational tools, directing them north, toward magnetic home.

 

 

Summary of Evidence of Magnetoreception

The limited-functionality GPS that is connected to the Psychological Magnetic Map is a type of light-dependent magnetoreception. In a way, I'm like a migratory bird.

Sleep sensitivity to bed angle and steel in bedrooms is a type of non-light-dependent magnetoreception. My eyes are closed when I'm asleep, and I'm usually in a dark room. In a way, I'm like a mole-rat.

My claims for these abilities can be tested in a double-blind manner. That's what makes my claims different from other strange or bizarre claims. They are testable and falsifiable.

Experimental study of my sleeping behavior and environment is the most important type of research that should be done initially. Recent advances in experimental study of human magnetoreception, such as the Caltech experiment I talked about above, make it technically feasible to do this sleep research. My claims about bed angle, bedtime, and sensitivity to near and distant objects can be studied. I can be hooked up to an EEG machine to find out if it can detect changes in sleep patterns that match my own report of sleep disturbance.

 

 

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