How do negative ions affect human health?

Have you ever been to the mountains, the beach, or in a thunderstorm and felt a sudden change in your mood that is not just a general feeling of awe but something different and good? It might be because of the negative ions in your surroundings.

Negative ions are charged by electricity and are present in your surroundings, significantly impacting your health. It’s not just involved in reducing depression but also plays an essential role in improving the brain’s cognitive functions.

In this article, you will learn about negative ions, how they are produced using a negative ion generator, and their effects on human health.

What are negative ions?

Negative ions are freely floating molecules in the air or atmosphere mainly charged by electricity. They usually exist in various places, including in UV rays coming from the sun, in the air after thunder strikes, present in the area where water collides, and can also be produced during the normal growth process of plants.

It has been proved that exposure to negative ions produced through negative air ionization can positively affect a person’s health. It is because of the chemical reactions that occur inside the tissues and cells of the body due to these negative ions.
How are negative ions produced?

The atoms in any molecule have a certain number of electrons floating freely around the central nucleus. Some are positively charged, while others are negatively charged, and they maintain a balance.

When any external energy is applied to the atom, this electronic balance will be disturbed, and the atom will become an air ion. Depending on the electron displacement, it can form positive air ions or negative air ions.

If the atom’s electron moves out, the positive ions will be produced due to decreased number of electrons. In contrast, if the electron is pushed into the atom, it generates a negative ion as the number of electrons increases.
What are the effects of negative ions on human health?

The beneficial effects of negative ions have been known to improve a person’s mental state and help reduce depression. Some of these health benefits of negative ions are as follows:

Helps with depression

Previously it was found that negative ions don’t impact a person’s mental health. But now, they are known to play a significant role in reducing depression.

If people are exposed to high levels of negative ions, their symptoms of depression and seasonal affective disorder (SAD) show marked improvement.

However, if a person is exposed to the negative ions for a short time, it can only help people treat SAD symptoms, not depression.
Therefore, you need to spend a good part of your day outside your home to be exposed to a significant amount of negative ions, truly mood enhancers.

Enhance cognitive performance

It’s been known that short-term exposure to people with increased negative ions can help in improving their cognitive performance.

Kill microbes

Negative ions also play a significant role in killing or inhibiting the growth of bacteria like E. coli, S. aureus, and viruses that will harm us.

How to get exposed to negative ions?

Get outdoors

One can get negative ions by spending time outdoors. One should have to visit beaches and waterfalls and sit near water fountains if present in any parks, shopping areas, or hotels to get negative ions.

Use Negative ion generators or Electronic air cleaners

These devices circulate air while releasing negative ions simultaneously. Therefore, using a negative ion generator, one can improve indoor air quality and experience significant exposure to negative ions.

For air quality improvement, one can also use an air purifier/ cleaner that can remove dust and pollen from the air that can irritate the lungs of asthma patients when inhaled.

You can also use ozone generators as air purifier, but beware as too much ozone can be toxic.

Risks associated with negative ions

Do you know that ozone, a gas protecting the earth from harmful UV rays, is toxic for humans when inhaled? That’s why nature has kept this gas at a certain height away from any life form.

However, the overproduction of negative ions in the atmosphere can release ground-level ozone (the lowermost part of ozone). It can damage human health.

If extra electrical charges are released into the air, it can lead to increased electrical charge levels in indoor air, which can be dangerous. Negatively charged particles can also enter the airways/ lungs and cause lung disease.

The Conclusion

Negative ions are the ones that will be produced when freely moving electrons will enter into the atoms and can be made anywhere.
Ionizers can also generate negative ions by releasing electrical currents into the air. They have many beneficial effects in treating depression and killing microbes. Along with this, it also plays a significant role in reducing stress and boosting immunity.

Author: Amelia Croud
Author’s E-mail: ameliacroud@gmail.com