while both ionizing and non - ionizing radiations have some beneficial or stimulatory effects such as induction of adaptive response [ 1 - 3 ] , they may result in some adverse health effects . non - ionizing radiofrequency ( rf ) radiation can alter cognitive functions in both humans [ 4 , 5 ] and animals . have previously reported some beneficial cognitive effects after human short - term exposure to cell phone radiation . in a report published in 2011 , mortazavi et al .   showed that the visual reaction time ( vrt ) of university students was significantly affected by a 10 min exposure to electromagnetic fields ( emf ) emitted by a mobile phone . they found that these exposures caused decreased reaction time which might lead to a better response to different hazards . they also revealed that occupational exposure to radar radiations decreased the reaction time in radar workers . increased brain glucose consumption after exposure to radiofrequency radiation , as confirmed by pet studies , on the other hand , cognitive beneficial effects of long term exposure to high frequency emf have been indicated by some epidemiologic studies . ( 2007 ) showed that long term heavy cell phone use resulted in better performance of normal subjects . moreover , schuz et al . in 2009 reported that long - term cell phone users ( subscribers of 10 years or more ) had a 3040% decreased risk of hospitalization due to ad and vascular dementia . some recent studies demonstrate that exposure to high frequency electromagnetic field improves the cognitive behavior in laboratory animals . in alzheimer s mice , it is revealed that exposure to high frequency electromagnetic field inverts the cognitive impairment . over the past years , our laboratory has focused on studying the health effects of exposure of laboratory animals and humans to some common and/or occupational sources of electromagnetic fields such as mobile phones [ 1 , 3 , 7 , 8 , 12 - 15 ] and their base stations , mobile phone jammers , laptop computers , radars , dentistry cavitrons , and mri . this paper briefly reviews the published studies which investigated a possible association between mobile phone use and the risk of different degenerative diseases of the central nervous system ( cns ) . the exponential rise in the use of mobile phones has raised questions regarding the biological and health consequences of exposure to radiofrequency radiations of these popular communication devices . although recent studies show no evidence of a genotoxic effect induced by mobile phone rf radiation , the biological and health effects of mobile phone radiation are not fully understood   and some studies have indicated possible non - cancerous effects such as headaches   or sleep disorders . looking at the other side of the coin , there are reports indicating beneficial cognitive effects after human short - term exposure to cell phone radiation [ 7 , 8 ] including reports on the role of rf radiation in protecting against cognitive impairment in alzheimer s disease . alzheimer s disease , the most common type of dementia and a progressive neurodegenerative disease , occurs when the nerve cells in the brain die . although there are medications that can help delay the development of alzheimer s disease , there is currently no cure for this disease . the first evidence that long - term exposure to cell phone - generated emfs causes cognitive beneficial effects came from a study by arendash et al . in 2010 . they exposed both normal mice and transgenic mice with alzheimers - like cognitive impairment to cell phone radiation ( 918 mhz , 0.25 w / kg ) . their experiment showed that in alzheimer s disease , the exposure of mice to emfs reduced brain amyloid- ( a ) deposition through a anti - aggregation actions . 
 
 in an attempt to apply traditional concepts from radio - communication to neuroscience , norwegian scientists reported that modeling and analysis of exposure to radiofrequency radiation can be a potential strategy for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases . on the other hand , recently banaceur et al . studied the bioeffects of long - term exposure of wild type mice and triple transgenic mice ( 3xtg - ad ) destined to develop alzheimers - like cognitive impairment to wi - fi 2.4 ghz rf radiation their study revealed that exposure to rf improves cognitive behavior of 3xtg - ad mice . the exponential rise in the use of mobile phones has raised questions regarding the biological and health consequences of exposure to radiofrequency radiations of these popular communication devices . although recent studies show no evidence of a genotoxic effect induced by mobile phone rf radiation , the biological and health effects of mobile phone radiation are not fully understood   and some studies have indicated possible non - cancerous effects such as headaches   or sleep disorders . looking at the other side of the coin , there are reports indicating beneficial cognitive effects after human short - term exposure to cell phone radiation [ 7 , 8 ] including reports on the role of rf radiation in protecting against cognitive impairment in alzheimer s disease . alzheimer s disease , the most common type of dementia and a progressive neurodegenerative disease , occurs when the nerve cells in the brain die . although there are medications that can help delay the development of alzheimer s disease , there is currently no cure for this disease . the first evidence that long - term exposure to cell phone - generated emfs causes cognitive beneficial effects came from a study by arendash et al . in 2010 . they exposed both normal mice and transgenic mice with alzheimers - like cognitive impairment to cell phone radiation ( 918 mhz , 0.25 w / kg ) . their experiment showed that in alzheimer s disease , the exposure of mice to emfs reduced brain amyloid- ( a ) deposition through a anti - aggregation actions . 
 
 in an attempt to apply traditional concepts from radio - communication to neuroscience , norwegian scientists reported that modeling and analysis of exposure to radiofrequency radiation can be a potential strategy for treatment of neurodegenerative diseases . on the other hand , recently banaceur et al . studied the bioeffects of long - term exposure of wild type mice and triple transgenic mice ( 3xtg - ad ) destined to develop alzheimers - like cognitive impairment to wi - fi 2.4 ghz rf radiation their study revealed that exposure to rf improves cognitive behavior of 3xtg - ad mice . there are reports indicating that human long - term exposure to cell phone radiation may cause beneficial cognitive effects including protection against cognitive impairment in alzheimer s disease . although the majority of the studies discussed previously are performed on animal models and these animal data can not be easily extrapolated to humans , it can be concluded that this memory enhancing approach may open new horizons in treatment of cognitive impairment in alzheimer disease .
alzheimer s disease , the most common type of dementia and a progressive neurodegenerative disease , occurs when the nerve cells in the brain die . 
 although there are medications that can help delay the development of alzheimer s disease , there is currently no cure for this disease . 
 exposure to ionizing and non - ionizing radiation may cause adverse health effects such as cancer . 
 looking at the other side of the coin , there are reports indicating stimulatory or beneficial effects after exposure to cell phone radiofrequency radiation . 
 mortazavi et al . 
 have previously reported some beneficial cognitive effects such as decreased reaction time after human short - term exposure to cell phone radiation or occupational exposure to radar microwave radiation . on the other hand 
 , some recent reports have indicated that rf radiation may have a role in protecting against cognitive impairment in alzheimer s disease . 
 although the majority of these data come from animal studies that can not be easily extrapolated to humans , it can be concluded that this memory enhancing approach may open new horizons in treatment of cognitive impairment in alzheimer disease .