The benefits of exposure to relatively high concentrations of negative ions produced by high density negative ion generators have been well documented over decades. Numerous studies published in respected journals have concluded that negative ions can have a deep beneficial effect on both the mind and body.
A fairly recent study was published in the February 1995 issue of “Journal of Alternative and Comparative Medicine”, a journal of the Colombia Presbyterian Medical Centre. Researchers Dr Michael Terman (Head of Colombia’s Winter Depression Dept.) and Dr Jiuan Su Terman conducted a study of the impact of negative ion therapy on people suffering from seasonal affective disorder (winter depression) – an illness that is often symptomatically indistinguishable from “all year” depression; researchers believe that the biology of seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is very similar to that of “all year” depression, hence, the same antidepressant drugs (such as Prozac) are used to treat both.
The study was conducted in double blind fashion and divided clinically depressed subjects into two groups. The subjects in the first group were treated for 30 minutes a day for 20 days with a low density ion generator that produced only 10,000 ions/cubic centimetre (the control group). The subjects in the second group were treated for 30 minutes a day for 20 days with a high density ion generator that produced 2,700,000 ions/cubic centimetre (the experimental group). The remission or “cure” criterion used was a 50% or greater reduction in symptom frequency and severity using the SAD version of the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale.
The results of this study shocked the medical community: While a low density negative ion generator provided little benefit, a high density negative ion generator gave relief from depression comparable to that given by Prozac and other anti-depressants, without drug side effects.
Source: Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
Dr. Michael Terman
Head Colombia University – Winter Depression Unit
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