A Swedish study is trying to nail down the reason that cancer is 10% more likely to occur in the left breast over the right, on top of the steadily increasing risk of cancer over last 30 years. One theory? Your box spring could be a giant, radiation-emitting antenna.
The research, carried out by Hallberg Independent Research and the Karolinska Institute, both in Sweden, attempts to correlate the fact that most people tend to sleep on their right side and that the length of a box spring mattress in America is exactly the right length to make it act as an amplifier for FM and TV waves.
"Thus, as we sleep on our coil-spring mattresses, we are in effect sleeping on an antenna that amplifies the intensity of the broadcast FM/TV radiation," writes Scientific American. "Asleep on these antennas, our bodies are exposed to the amplified electromagnetic radiation for a third of our life spans." The radiation would be the strongest almost a meter above the surface of the box spring, which would mean that the side of your body that you're not sleeping on would get hit the hardest. In most cases, that'd be your left.
Great. I already think my cellphone is killing me slowly, and I eye my microwave suspiciously every time I use it. Now I've got to worry about my bed, too? The solution, unfortunately, is simple but painful: either manufacturers start using non-metals for the springs, or you throw out your expensive box spring and find another sleeping arrangement.
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