COEUR d'ALENE - It's a look at the darker side of technology.

After all, what is the cost of convenience?

The answer might be your health, according to local author Ann Louise Gittleman's recently published book "Zapped," an in-depth look at the toll electro-magnetic fields associated with electronics take on the human body.

"It's a big deal," the Post Falls woman said about the associated health risks of too much technology. "It's too bad not enough people know about it. But knowledge is empowerment and ignorance isn't bliss in this case."

The book looks into how people are constantly being exposed to EMFs - invisible lines of force that surround all electrical devices -at a rate 100 million times greater than our grandparents' generation.

Too much exposure to those is unhealthy, she said. But doom and gloom the study isn't, as it offers helpful - perhaps lifesaving - tips on how people can rearrange their homes and lifestyles to cut down that exposure.

Televisions shouldn't be in the bedroom, where people spend a third of their lives. And landline phones don't generate nearly the electronic fields that their cordless and cell phone counterparts do. And if your bedroom is heavily wired up to electronics, maybe unplugging everything before going to sleep is a safe step to take.

"Nobody knows about this, that's why I had to write a book," said Gittleman, who was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor in 2005 despite living a healthy life. She later found a study that linked it such diagnosis to excessive cell phone use, which she was guilty of as an author. She quit cell phones, and cut down on EMTs around her house, and has been the healthiest she's ever been, she said.

"The reality is, this is affecting everyone," she said, adding that her greatest concern is for the younger generation who has been wired up since birth.

Gittleman is a New York Times bestseller and author and respected as a health pioneer, who has been featured on CNN, The Wall Street Journal and USA Today.

The book, released in October, costs $25.99 for a hardcover and is available at most local bookstores, as well as Amazon.com.