How to Live Longer through the Benefits of Negative Ions
Posted by admin on Feb 3, 2009
The search for the fountain of youth has always been one of man’s greatest quests and perhaps a number of isolated communities can give us an answer. Do they know the secret of how to live longer?
In a recently published news article similarities have been found between the small japanese Island of Okinawa, the Sardinian mountain town, Ovodda, and the community of Lomo Linda in the US. People in these areas live longer than anywhere else in the world!
Although the article compares the different communities, covering topics related to diet, genetic disposition and religion there does not appear to be an obvious link. However, one reader was probably onto something. His very short comment mentioned that it’s perhaps because they all live near the sea!
People who live in mountainous or coastal regions have long been associated with above average life expectancy. The mediterranean diet, for example, originated from such ideas. One theory of evolution even speculates that early man evolved around coastal regions, raising the question that we might even need something from these areas.
If you have ever spent any time by the sea you will notice something very different about the air. It has the power of revitalisation. Although originally attributed to such things as iodine and bromine vapours, to the salty air and to the presence of silica on the sandy beaches, research suggests the physical properties are far more important. More to the point, it is the electrically charged particles of the air, negative ions in fact, that provide the revitalising boost.
Basically, a negative ion comes in the form of one or several oxygen or nitrogen atoms carrying a charge equivalent to one electron. The negative ions are vital to our overall well-being and may even be catalysts for the oxygenation of the blood. Negative ions are abundant in mountainous and coastal areas.
It is unfortunate for those living in and around cities because the benefits of negative ions are lost. As it happens a good deal of negative ions are soaked up by pollution and dust before we get chance to breathe them in their pure state. But the effects of pollution and dust may be worse than we think.
Interestingly, work done at the underwater research laboratory in Toulon showed that negative ions in the lungs allowed oxygen to pass more freely through the air cell membranes so that the oxygen was more efficiently absorbed by the blood. At the same time removal of carbon dioxide was made easier.
Conversely, an increase in positive ions caused a reduction in the respiratory capacity and a decrease in expired volume. It seems that city life and all its pollution is double trouble when it comes to respiratory problems. Not only do the toxic gases attack the respiratory tracts and poison our bodies but we lose the ability to breathe properly! As a city dweller it may be worth investigating ingested oxygen therapy to ensure sufficient blood oxygenation.
Apart from commercial air purifiers and making special visits to invigorating places there may be another way of reaping the benefits of a negatively charged atmosphere. It comes by way of a visit to the sauna!
There is an interesting theory concerning the sauna and why it also has the power to revitalise. If you can revitalise yourself by breathing in negative ions, either artificially through many of the air purifiers currently available or by moving out of the city, it might be possible to achieve the same effect by shedding positive ions through the evaporation of water. It there is one place available for abundant water evaporation, it has to be the sauna. Following a good sauna a person often feels recharged and refreshed like you would after a long walk by the sea. This feeling can’t be due to the removal of toxins alone. The opening of the capillaries and an increase in blood circulation probably go a long way to explaining the revitalised feeling. However, some argue that it could be more to do with an increase in an electrical charge of the body.
Whatever our particular life circumstances I am convinced we need the benefits of negative ions to live a long and healthy life. The people of Okinawa, Ovodda and Lomo Linda are probably aware of many of the secrets of how to live longer. I wouldn’t mind betting that one anti aging health secret is in the air they breathe.
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