The Science
PEMF stands for Pulsed Electromagnetic Field therapy. It uses gentle, low-frequency magnetic pulses to interact with the body's tissues. These pulses are designed to support healthy cellular function by stimulating natural biological processes. A simple way to think of PEMF is like recharging a battery — the goal is to help your cells function at their best.
More Energy · Improved Recovery · Wellness
Now let's explore the science behind how this works. ↓
Why it's important
We are meant to be in harmony with the Earth-based frequency range of 0–30 Hz, as the Earth naturally produces extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields, such as the Schumann resonances. For millions of years, life evolved in the presence of these naturally occurring signals. These were the only frequencies surrounding us before electricity was introduced — and the only range within which our cells can be fully energized and heal.
Modern life fills the air with wireless, artificial EMFs and electrical frequencies our cells were never designed for. Our PEMF systems re-introduce the Earth's natural signal into all of your cells in your body, helping protect you against the harmful fields that now surround us every day.
And when the body is cut off from these natural fields, we feel it: recovery slows, energy dips, and we simply don't function at our best. Since modern life rarely gives us enough of the Earth's natural energy, a controllable source of that same gentle, natural-range signal can be a real support.
Put simply, magnetic field therapy means using magnetic fields to support health and well-being. It includes the simple static magnets you can buy anywhere, and - far more importantly - the dynamic, precisely controlled pulsed electromagnetic fields used in modern PEMF systems. The idea is simple: the body is electrical by nature, it interacts continuously with the magnetic fields around it, and when that natural energy runs low, a carefully shaped field applied from outside the body can help replenish it.
Free masterclass
PEMF sessions can be as short as 8 minutes on the mat.
Done by my colleague who I work with, Adrian — watch it now.
An electromagnetic field (EMF) is an invisible field created wherever electricity flows or magnets are present. We encounter EMFs every day — from the Earth itself to household electronics, power lines, and wireless devices. PEMF uses carefully controlled magnetic fields designed specifically for wellness applications.
Here's the part most people never hear: your body runs on electricity. Every heartbeat, every thought, every step you take is powered by tiny electrical signals. Your heart is the clearest proof — when it stops beating properly, a defibrillator restores its natural rhythm with a controlled pulse of electrical energy.
Most of the fluids in your body are electrolytes — salts and minerals that carry electrical charge. That makes your body something like a large battery: constantly active, producing current, and occasionally in need of a recharge.
This electrical activity happens mostly at the cell membrane — the thin shell that surrounds every one of your trillions of cells. The membrane acts as a gatekeeper, opening and closing tiny channels that control what goes in and out of the cell.
Think of those channels as the doors and windows of a house. Every cell keeps a small electrical voltage across its membrane, and when that voltage is healthy, the doors and windows open the way they should: oxygen and nutrients come in, and carbon dioxide and waste go out.
When cells are stressed, tired or undernourished, that voltage drops and the doors and windows don't work as well. This is where gentle magnetic pulses come in: research suggests that low-frequency pulsed magnetic fields can influence the movement of charged particles in the body's tissues, helping the cell membrane regain its healthy charge — a little like recharging a battery.
And that's the whole idea in one sentence: cells make up tissues, tissues make up organs, and organs make up you. Support the cells, and you support everything they build.
That's the bridge between the physics and the health. The rest of this page looks at exactly how these signals are shaped to work so gently — and so effectively.
Not all electromagnetic fields are the same.
The four parameters used to define electromagnetic signals are waveform (or signal shape), field strength, frequency, and resonance.
In theory these four components must be balanced and must be introduced into the body within an appropriate energy spectrum — known as a “biological window” — in order to produce the optimum health-promoting effect, and to avoid negative effects.
It is the difference in these signal parameters that differentiates whether an electromagnetic signal is harmful (e.g., from mobile phones, microwave ovens, dishwashers, alarm clocks, or power lines) or health-promoting (e.g., pulsed magnetic fields utilized in health care and for wellness).
One of the greatest strengths of the engineering and design of Swiss Bionic Solutions' two models, the SmartPulser and the iMRS Prime, is the care with which the frequencies, intensities and waveforms are assembled to perfectly match up with the active biological windows of the human body.
According to research, the therapeutic value of a given pulsed signal is highly dependent on how rapidly the rise time and fall time happen. This signal characteristic cannot be under-emphasized, and is perhaps the most important thing to note in an electromagnetic signal.
An abrupt fall time represents a high peak voltage value, which is responsible for ion displacement in the body. The greater the ion displacement, the stronger the biological effect it exerts and is therefore more effective than a simple sine wave, or a static magnet.
The waveform, or shape of the electromagnetic signal, is something to which very close attention needs to be paid. One of the most useful waveforms created is the “saw-tooth” wave.
Research has shown that the saw-tooth carrier waveform provides the best magnetic resonance stimulation of all the waveforms. The sharp rise time and fall time produce the maximum impulse or stimulation to the cells, recharging them in the most powerful way.
Unlike simple sine waves or static, externally worn magnets, the saw-tooth electromagnetic signal changes continuously, producing constant induction of electromagnetism into the body’s tissues, maximizing ion displacement and preventing cellular membrane fatigue. This means that the cell membrane remains responsive to the signals, maximizing the beneficial effects of electromagnetic stimulation.
Field intensity is a quantitative description of an electromagnetic field that depends on current flow and direction.
Swiss Bionic Solutions' SmartPulser and iMRS Prime technology uses extremely low field strengths. Since the target of signaling is the cell membrane, extremely low field strengths are quite adequate in producing a beneficial biological response.
Just as is the case for electromagnetic frequencies, there is a “biological window” of electromagnetic intensities to which the human body responds best for wellness, stress reduction, enhanced oxygen delivery and overall health.
The research of Goodman and Blank found that human cells most readily express a cell-preserving gene, heat shock protein 70 (hsp70), at 7–8 micro-Tesla rather than a stronger field intensity above 70 micro-Tesla.
The native language of the human cell, from an electromagnetic perspective, is a subtle whisper. All Swiss Bionic Solutions PEMF systems are designed with this native language in mind, and use extremely low field intensities that communicate most effectively with the cell membrane — the best possible wellness effect for every cell in your body.
Just as your cells can be signaled to perform new and different functions by stimulation with chemicals (e.g., nutrients or drugs) they can also be signaled energetically, with electromagnetic waves. In fact, some very desirable cellular functions are stimulated more robustly by energy than by chemistry.
Our Swiss Bionic Solutions’ SmartPulser and iMRS Prime full body mats deliver frequencies to all of your cells in your whole body at the same time, at the speed of light, with carefully selected low frequencies.
The healthy range of electromagnetic frequencies is known. This range is called the “biological window of human cell frequencies”. Dr. Ross Adey, an Australian-born professor of anatomy and physiology at UCLA School of Medicine, coined the term “biological window”. Since his discovery, the energy-medicine literature has shown strong scientific consensus that biological windows are important.
Our Swiss Bionic Solutions engineering team in Europe understand that with energy medicine, frequencies that are natural and fall within the biological window are the most effective at supporting vibrant health and wellness.
In essence, “less is more”. Nature tells us the best frequencies for the health, wellness and longevity of the human body are extremely low frequencies — those of the earth itself.
Schumann resonances are natural waves excited by lightning strikes in the cavity between the Earth’s surface and the ionosphere.
In essence, lightning pumps energy into the earth-atmosphere cavity, and causes it to vibrate or resonate at extremely low frequencies. These waves circumnavigate the globe an average of 7.83 times per second.
This frequency correlates with the average frequency of alpha brain waves in human beings.
The Schumann resonances actually form a family of peaks — roughly 7.8, 14, 20, 26, 33, 39 and 45 Hz — with 7.8 Hz as the dominant one. These are the low frequencies found in the design of many PEMF devices, including ours.
7.83 Hz
The Schumann resonance averages approximately 7.83 Hz — a frequency that falls within the same general range as relaxed alpha brain wave activity, and one of the inspirations behind many low-frequency PEMF systems.
Resonance is the tendency of a system to naturally synchronize when influenced by an appropriate frequency.
Imagine gently pushing someone on a swing. If you push at just the right rhythm, the swing moves higher with very little effort. Resonance works in a similar way. When energy is delivered at an appropriate frequency, biological systems may respond more efficiently than they would to random or excessively strong stimulation.
Your body’s cells naturally exhibit electrical activity, and researchers continue to study how extremely low-frequency electromagnetic fields interact with biological tissues. Swiss Bionic Solutions designs its PEMF systems to operate within carefully selected frequency ranges intended to support normal cellular function.
One of the easiest ways to visualize the concept of resonance is through the famous 32 Metronome Synchronization Experiment.
In this experiment, each metronome begins swinging independently. Because they all share the same freely moving platform, energy is gradually transferred between them until they naturally synchronize and move together.
Think of the metronomes as an analogy for the trillions of cells throughout your body, while the moving platform represents the body’s interconnected environment. Although the experiment is a physics demonstration rather than a biological one, it provides a simple visual way to understand how resonance and synchronization can occur within an interconnected system.
It’s one thing to read about resonance. It’s another to actually watch it happen. Watch the video below to see this remarkable demonstration of resonance in action.
Filmed at the Ikeguchi Laboratory, Tokyo University of Science — September 14, 2012.
Specific frequencies have been linked to specific tissue responses throughout the peer-reviewed literature. Swiss Bionic Solutions systems are engineered to deliver frequencies within these biological windows.
Now that you've seen how PEMF works, here's the "so what does it actually do?" answer. Our video 10 Ways PEMF Helps the Body to Heal Itself walks you through the ten ways PEMF helps your body to heal itself - and here they are at a glance:
1.Energy Flow & Balance
Supports the body’s natural energy flow (known as chi or prana), healthy nerve conductivity, and the living matrix of connective tissue that runs through the whole body.
2.Cellular Energy Production
Supports the tiny power plants inside your cells (the mitochondria), helping produce ATP - the energy every cell needs to do its job.
3.Microcirculation & Oxygen
Supports healthy circulation and the delivery of oxygen and nutrients, helping red blood cells move freely and supporting the body’s own production of nitric oxide.
4.Detoxification
Supports the body’s natural clean-up processes - the elimination of waste, toxins and dead cells.
5.Improved Immunity
Supports the body’s natural defences, helping it stay resilient against everyday challenges.
6.Endorphins, Pain Relief & Mobility
Supports the body’s own natural pain-relieving chemistry (endorphins) and a healthy, comfortable range of motion.
7.Healing & Regeneration
Supports stem cell stimulation and the body’s natural processes of healing and tissue regeneration.
8.Stress, Anxiety & Mental Clarity
Supports relaxation and healthy cognitive function, helping the body and mind unwind from everyday stress.
9.Better Sleep & Hormones
Supports healthy circadian rhythms, natural melatonin production and restful, restorative sleep.
10.Everything Works Better
When your cells are fully charged, everything you do works better. That is the tenth way - and the heart of the whole idea.
PEMF makes everything you do work better.
If you missed this video, click here to watch it on our home page.