Negative Ions Create Positive Thoughts

July 29, 2009 -

It’s not love in the air, but the following may make you feel almost as good.

Negative ions are invisible, odorless molecules that we inhale in large quantity. Mountains, oceans, and waterfalls produce it in abundance. After we inhale them and they hit our bloodstream they produce biochemical reactions to increase serotonin, alleviating depression, relieving stress, and increasing energy.

So can an air purifier that produces negative ions do all that?

The Science of Ions

Ions are molecules that have gained or lost an electrical charge . They are created in nature as air molecules break apart due to sunlight, radiation, and moving air and water. You may have experienced the power of negative ions when you last set foot on the beach or walked beneath a waterfall. While part of the euphoria is simply being around these wondrous settings and away from the normal pressures of home and work, the air circulating in the mountains and the beach is said to contain tens of thousands of negative ions — Much more than the average home or office building, which contain dozens or hundreds, and many register a flat zero.

“The action of the pounding surf creates negative air ions and we also see it immediately after spring thunderstorms when people report lightened moods,” says ion researcher Michael Terman, PhD, of Columbia University in New York.

In fact, Columbia University studies of people with winter and chronic depression show that negative ion generators relieve depression as much as antidepressants. “The best part is that there are relatively no side effects, but we still need to figure out appropriate doses and which people it works best on,” he says.

Think of Negative Ions as Vitamins For The Brain

Negative ions increase oxygen flow to the brain bringing higher alertness, less drowsiness, and increased mental energy,” says Pierce J. Howard, PhD, author of The Owners Manual for the Brain: Everyday Applications from Mind Brain Research and director of research at the Center for Applied Cognitive Sciences in Charlotte, N.C.

“They also may protect against germs in the air, resulting in decreased irritation due to inhaling various particles that make you sneeze, cough, or have a throat irritation.”

If you feel instantly refreshed when you open a window and breathe in fresh air then you are teh one in three negative ions affects.

“You may be one of them if you feel sleepy when you are around an air-conditioner, but feel immediately refreshed and invigorated when you step outside or roll down the car window,” Howard tells WebMD. “Air conditioning depletes the atmosphere of negative ions, but an ion generator re-releases the ions that air conditioners remove.”

Creating More Negative Ions In Your Home

A negative ionizer, while often used for cleaning the air (it does have an ability to kill mold, smoke and some pollution) is often found as one technology in some air purifiers siuch as the “Alive Air Purifier“

The possible interaction of negative-air ion therapy and antidepressant drug or light therapy for seasonal depression has not yet been investigated, he says. ”It stands to reason, for example, that drug … dose could be tapered [even to zero], if the patient responds to negative ion exposure.

What About Allergies and Asthma?

There is now some good science behind the use of negative ionization for improving the lives of people who have breathing difficulties.