Have you ever stood by the beach and watched the waves come and go? What feelings did it evoke in you? Or, maybe you took a walk through a forest, and suddenly you felt a bit freer like your problems were slowly disappearing. The reason for this is pretty simple – negative ions have a positive effect on our overall health and well-being.
Negative ions are molecules floating in the air or atmosphere that have been charged with electricity. They exist in nature in tons of places, including ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun, a waterfall, or the ocean shore, up in the mountains, at the beach, or in a thunderstorm.
Now, researchers of “negative ionization” have posited that being exposed to negative ions can have positive effects. Part of this is due to the chemical reactions that ions have with your bodily tissues and DNA. These ions are odourless, tasteless, and invisible molecules that we inhale in abundance in certain environments. Once they reach our bloodstream, negative ions produce biochemical reactions that increase levels of the mood chemical serotonin.
To increase negative ions in your body, expose yourself to places with very high concentrations of negative ions such as dense forests, mountains, parks, waterfalls, springs, and beaches. You may also burn beeswax candles, run an indoor water fountain, surround yourself with indoor plants, or walk outside barefoot.
Here are 5 benefits of negative ions in the human body.
1. Reduces symptoms of stress and depression
Simply put, negative ions create positive vibes. Depression is a serious mental health issue, and anything to alleviate its symptoms is always welcome. Negative ions can help to reduce the symptoms of depression. According to an article on Healthline, high levels of exposure to negative ions caused people with chronic depression and seasonal affective disorder (SAD) to record lower scores on surveys of their depression symptoms.
Additionally, a shorter duration of negative ion exposure may positively affect seasonal depression. Lower levels of exposure (just 30 minutes or so) were only enough to help people affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder.
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2. Lowers blood pressure
High blood pressure is a lifestyle disease in which the force of the blood against the artery walls is too high. Over time, if untreated, it can cause health conditions, such as heart disease and stroke. Negative ions allow coronary expansion and increase coronary blood flow, improve cardiac function by adjusting heart rate and speed of blood flow, relieve angina and allow normalization of blood pressure.
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3. Enhances the immunity of a person
Immunity is, in layman’s language, the ability of the body to fight disease. It is a condition of being able to resist a particular disease especially through preventing the development of a pathogenic microorganism or by counteracting the effects of its products. We all want to build our body’s immunity to reduce the occurrence and persistence of illnesses.
Negative ions can improve our immune system by strengthening our immunity cells, making them more energetic, healthy and therefore enhancing their ability to destroy pathogens. They can also speed up the production of antibodies by the lymphocytes, increasing the number of antibodies in our bodies.
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4. Increase metabolism
A lot of people are after a high metabolism. Why? The higher it is, the more calories you burn and the easier it is to lose weight and keep it off. Having a high metabolism can also give you energy and make you feel better.
A study proved that negative air ions created by water shearing improve aerobic metabolism, a chemical process in which oxygen is used to make energy from carbohydrates.
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5. Protection from airborne allergens, bacteria, and viruses
If you find that you are constantly falling sick from allergies, bacterial infection, and viruses, then you should start spending time chasing negative ions. They perform this protective function by attaching themselves to positively charged particles in large numbers and negatively charging those particles. As a result, these viruses, bacteria, and pollen spores become too heavy to remain airborne and are thus prevented from entering your breathing passage where they can make you sick.
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