THE AIR WE BREATHE – AIR VITAMINS
“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air…”
The focus of this book is on healthy nutrition, which makes you first of all think about food and water, but another important aspect which often is overlooked is the air we breathe.
Air really is a nutrient for the body and mind. We need more than just to absorb oxygen. There is more to air which we cannot see. One of the things I would like to get into here is, the positively and negatively charged IONS in the air.
Have you ever stood still and consciously felt and absorbed the air while you were up high in the mountains, near a waterfall, in a lush green forest, or at the ocean when waves were crashing against the shore? In such a place the air is clearly different from the air in smog filled cities. In several big cities on the planet, people now often have to walk around with those white filter caps on their mouth due to the high smog levels on some days. Breathing such air full of smog will have a different effect on your well-being than breathing-in air rich in oxygen and negative ions found at the sea front, far away from the city.
“We live in an ocean of air like fish in a body of water. By our breathing we are attuned to our atmosphere. If we inhibit our breathing we isolate ourselves from the medium in which we exist. In all Oriental and mystic philosophies, the breath holds the secret to the highest bliss”
Let’s have a look at the subject of the air around us. Of course we all want to have clean, pollution-free fresh air. It is easy to see and understand the difference between living under the smoke of a chemical factory and living out in nature high in the mountains. Now let’s look a bit deeper into our air. The air is naturally filled with positively or negatively charged particles called IONS. The difference in the quality of the air and how it affects or health and well-being is in the electrical balance or imbalance of the positively and negatively charged ion particles.
Today our environment has many more sources of positive ions in the air compared to the past and this is creating an electrical imbalance in the air and our bodies. These positive ions are also referred to as free radicals. The free radicals are reactive, imbalanced molecules which “steal” electrons from healthy cells to neutralize their own charge and thus causing cellular damage to us, increasing possibility of cancers, and simply rob us of our well-being and vitality which we often just see as part of aging. Free radicals, or positively charged ions, are produced by all kind of things inside and outside our buildings (and even inside the body due to metabolic processes). In our daily environment, positive ion, free radical sources are for example; high voltage networks, heating systems, air conditioning, computers, TVs, radars, radios, cigarette smoke, dust (includes dust mites, bacteria, fungi, mould etc.) car exhaust gases, industrial pollution, “off-gassing” of carpets, paint, plastics and the list goes on…
This also gives me an explanation of the so called “sick building syndrome”. I have worked in many offices that have an almost air tight building structure with a closed air circulation system that does not allow to open windows to keep the temperature at set regulations. Many people complained about vague feelings of being unwell and blamed it on the air conditioning. Then management had tests done to show that the air conditioning system was cleaned and serviced on a regular basis and had reports to prove it and the case was dismissed so to speak. Yes, maybe the air filter was “cleaned”, but the air still lacked a proper balance of ions and ‘oxygenation’. Air conditioning systems, heating systems and computers cause electrical friction which depletes the source of negative ions around us and then only positive ions are left throughout the building. This then causes us to become tired more quickly, to feel unwell, get headaches, allergies and even possible depression. The main issue in many office buildings is a lack of negative ions. These negative ions would stick to the positive ions -harmful free radicals- and neutralise them to protect our health. An abundance of negative ions are usually found in fresh outdoor air close to water activity, forest and mountains. Later on in the chapter we will look at how to increase the negative ion count indoors.
Positive ions; they wear us down, increase adrenaline release and even burnout, stimulate stress responses, headaches, allergies, depression, lung and breathing-associated difficulties, decrease insulin balance, decrease melatonin release (important for sleeping) and interrupt all healing and repair mechanisms, decrease oxygen-absorbency resulting in lowering brain function, disrupting metabolism and immune responses, ultimately accelerating cell decline.
Negative ions; they activate oxygen absorption, balance bodily functions on metabolic, hormonal and immune levels, protect the body from stress and aid in healing and repair. Negatively ionized air helps us to concentrate, to be alert, be more productive and to feel good and relaxed. Air which is rich in negative ions, relieves respiratory problems and allergies, reduces airborne bacteria indoors, it reduces asthma attacks and speeds up recovery. Even the serotonin level in the blood increases with rich negative ion charged air. Proper oxygenated air full of negative ions optimizes cell function, ultimately giving us more energy, well-being and more life!
Negative ions are normally created by nature and found at their most optimal level outdoors when the air is most pure and healthy. Think for a moment about a long hot humid hazy summer day that has made the atmosphere really heavy, then dark clouds gather and there is a massive thunder storm with rain and lightning and after that “electrically “ charged storm suddenly the air seems so much lighter and fresher. The positive and negative charge in the air has been rebalanced.
The benefits of negative charged ions in the air are so important to us that I actually like to call them “Air Vitamins”.
What can we do to improve the electrical ion balance in our favour, to create more negative ions in the air? Ideally we should have the option to be outdoors a lot in the fresh air in the proximity of water, waterfalls, forest, mountains and sunlight then we get a good boost of the beneficial negative ions naturally. But because most of us spend most of the time indoors at home or in the workplace and and are influenced by all kinds of environmental factors that disturb the electrical ion balance, we now have to look at other options that can help.
There are all kinds of devices and options that work to improve the electrical ion air balance in a closed indoor environment. Ionizing options can be electrical ionizing machines, Himalayan crystal salt lamps, indoor waterfalls or having a lot of green plants around you.
The electrical ionizer machine helps to remove pollutants such as chemicals, germs, odours and solid particles ranging from dust to micro-organisms. Some devices have been used in extensive medical experiments showing positive effects to help improve respiration, concentration, well-being, reduce depression and to reduce the bacteria count that can affect people. It is difficult however, to figure out which affordable machines do work best and give most value for money? I have not tried out one of those ionizing machines myself but another option which I can talk about from my own positive experience are the Himalayan crystal salt lamps.
Himalayan crystal salt lamps have proven to increase the negative ion count by 300%. The lamps are made of a natural orange looking rock of crystal salt from the Himalaya Mountains. A small lamp is put inside the hollow piece of rock and due to the heat of the lamp the salt surface of the rock is warmed up and attracts and releases humidity by which it naturally improves the air we breathe and neutralizes the positive ions and the electro smog generated by electrical devices such as TVs and computers in the room.
This is an amazing way to improve the air quality in your house and the orange, yellow glow of the lamp gives a calming, warm effect and works positively on the nervous system, our constitution and mood. Place a few of those lamps around the house to get the most benefit out of it, and I can tell you it works from my own experience. These lamps come at a reasonable price, just make sure it is a genuine Himalayan crystal salt lamp.
Another good way to improve the air quality in your house or office building is to have a lot of plants around and regularly spray them with water. Water evaporation from plants create a lot of hydrogen ions, the negative hydrogen ions stick to the free radical positive ions in the air to neutralise their electrical charge.
The last item I would like to mention is my favourite, which is a Crystal Salt Fog Ionizer. This is an ultrasound device in a glass or ceramic bowl filled with water and Himalayan crystal salt rocks. The water and the salt create a “sole” mixture of water and salt (we will discuss sole in the salt chapter) and the ultrasound frequency disperses the sole fog into the room simulating the same atmosphere in the house as an ocean-front climate. This cleanses the air and neutralises all harmful effects, creating all the well-being benefits as if actually being at the sea front. If you cannot get to the sea, bring the sea into your home so to speak!
In the next chapter “the Earth we stand on”, we look once again at the free radicals, the positive ions in the air around us. And we will look at another option of neutralising the free radicals damaging effect and protecting ourselves by using the negative ions or electrons which naturally come from the Earth we stand on.
Hopefully this chapter gave you a bit more inspiration and motivation to get more fresh air. Now, go outside, take a deep breath and hold for 3 seconds, release for 5 seconds and repeat this two more times. Relax and enjoy.
Picture taken of the sky when I took a break from my writing to look up and do some deep breathing. How is your sky looking at the moment?