Negative ions are considered an important contributor to good health, and there are many published studies that suggest breathing the special oxygen, abundant in negative ions can have a significant influence on improved mood with overall mental and physical health and well-being.
So, What are Negative Ions and How do we Gain Exposure to them?
No one will argue that pure, clean oxygen is better than that of polluted air, however, the proposition that there’s extra vivacity in one kind of pure, clean air than another would, to many people, seem erroneous, if not credulous. But scientific research conducted over the past 20 years supports the suggestion that specific types of air can give us more momentum than other types. These Ions are atoms or molecules that have gained or lost an electron. A positive ion is positively charged because it has more protons than electrons, while a negative ion is negatively charged because it has more electrons than protons. It is these negative ions that are the important ions for health and wellbeing. Negative ions are found in copiousness when air molecules are continuously broken apart due to the effects of sunlight, radiation, relocating air, or precipitating water, the crashing of waves against rocks or, at the beach, waterfalls, and lightning storms.
Negative Ion Research
One of the most alluring clues regarding negative ions and health emerged when German researchers uncovered a link between catecholamine regulation and lifespan after negating experimental animal test subjects of negative ions. At first, the scientist at the Goldstein and Lewin Dept. of Medical Research in Stahnsdorf, Germany quarantined mice and rats in air-tight, sealed acrylic cases. Next, they filtered the ambient air by removing all negative ions from the sealed cases. This research led to the discovery that an extended shortage of negative ions preceded an accelerated rate of death for the experimental animals. Examination of the animals led researchers to construe that the outcomes ‘strongly suggest that animal death is related to disruptions in neurohormonal regulation and pituitary insufficiency.(23)
Likewise, researchers at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow revealed that negative ions can assist the body by protecting it from induced physical stress. When the researchers restrained rats and exposed them to negatively charged air ions they discovered that the ions prohibited the development of pathological changes characteristic of acute stress that are observed in untreated rats. The protective action of negative air ions was observed in all the experimental animals independently of their types of behavior. (24)
Another researcher, Michael Terman, Ph.D., author of Reset Your Inner Clock: The Drug-Free Way to Your Best-Ever Sleep, Mood, and Energy and a professor at Columbia University, states in his own research, that there are three major benefits for lingering in an atmosphere containing a high concentration of negative air ions:
- Negative ions, when present, are brilliant at purifying the air of common air pollutants. The free electrons are attracted to circulating pollutants and allergens including, dust, smoke particles, mold spores, and pollen.
- Negative air ions attach themselves to circulating pathogens or, live microscopic organisms such as e-coli bacteria that are largely responsible for gastrointestinal infections that spread amid inhalation. The electric charge eradicates these organisms, causing them to become torpid and innocuous.
- Exposure to high abundant levels of negative ion oxygen can produce an antidepressant effect.
For those fortunate enough not to be suffering from abnormal emotional states, the ions can improve temperaments, and the sensation can often resonate for a few minutes for clinically depressed patients, the effect takes a bit longer, but profound drug-free clinical reversals have been seen in both seasonal and non-seasonal depressions.
Much of Terman’s research focuses on the use of electronic air ionisers, designed to produce negative air ions at an identified perpetual level. He warns, however, that many of these common air ionizers do not have an effect on low mood or depression, due to the low frequencies they produce.
In on documented study, a test group received small doses of ions, similar levels to those produced by many of home air cleaners found on the market. The other group received extremely high ion flow, such as used in industrial clean rooms and Elanra medical devices.
“Results suggested a measurable and substantial antidepressant benefit of the high-output device over 2-3 weeks of daily exposure sessions, with remission levels similar to that seen for antidepressant drugs and light therapy, and with no noticeable side effects.
Conclusion
Nature is, of course, the preferred way to get your dose of negative ions, however, there are those in our community who are unable to get out and about, or are housebound due to a range of physical and mental health issues. There are also those busy individuals who find they spend most of their time in hotels, airports, and planes. For these groups, a therapeutic medical device – negative ion generator would be an ideal solution to attain better sleep, breathing and health.
(23). Goldstein N, Arshavskaya TV. Is atmospheric superoxide vitally necessary? Accelerated death of animals in a quasi-neutral electric atmosphere. Z Naturforsch [C] 1997 May-Jun;52(5-6):396-404. 24. Livanova LM, Levshina IP, Nozdracheva LV, Elbakidze MG, Airapetiants MG. The protective action of negative air ions in acute stress in rats with different typological behavioral characteristics. Zh Vyssh Nerv Deiat Im I P Pavlova 1998 May-Jun;48(3):554-7.
(24). Livanova LM, Levshina IP, Nozdracheva LV, Elbakidze MG, Airapetiants MG. The protective action of negative air ions in acute stress in rats with different typological behavioral characteristics. Zh Vyssh Nerv Deiat Im I P Pavlova 1998 May-Jun;48(3):554-7.
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