Life in college seems simply impossible without a mini-fridge. It holds the wonders of caffeine and snacks for that late-night study session, the breakfast foods for that early morning class, and the clean water to get you through life in your dry dorm room. But where to put it?! Held back by the strict confines of my small room, along with the locations of the cord outlets, I thought I had found the perfect place: Under my bed (observe: to the left). Quite pleased with myself, I lived this way for two months. Then my mother came to visit. Her face, elated from seeing me for the first time since I had left for college, immediately sunk into an expression of utmost horror as the words, “Lily, is that a REFRIGERATOR under your BED?!?!?!?!” escaped her mouth. “We have to move it NOW!!!”
Now this I had not been expecting. Nearly everyone I know has their mini-fridge under their bed; where else are we supposed to put them? I have since learned that electrical appliances, including refrigerators, radiate electromagnetic fields (EMFs) over a distance. As the distance increases, the level of EMFs decreases. So what’s the issue with having EMFs radiating from your mini-fridge directly below you while you sleep? Well, at that close of a distance (say, 1-2 feet), EMFs have been found to cause all sorts of issues, such as cancer (in particular leukemia), birth defects, damage to reproductive organs, tumors, stress, miscarriages, and heart problems, to name a few.
Learning this, I immediately bought an extension cord and moved my mini-fridge as far away from my bed as possible. Now, my mini-fridge rests happily atop my dresser and my ovaries are (hopefully) happily un-fried.
So yes, get a mini-fridge (you will be sad if you don’t); but no, do not put it under or near your bed. Refrigerator right under your reproductive organs = BAD.
– Lily
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