The book is intended for educational purposes only. The search for information that led me to write this book began in 1970 . as an attempt to prove to myself that I am not suffering from hypochondria or mania depression.
For 10 years I lived and worked in Geneva and almost from the moment I arrived there from New York I began to suffer completely inexplicable attacks of anxiety, depression, physical illness and a kind of boundless despair that even made me think about suicide. Neither doctors nor psychiatrists could explain what was happening to me, but when one of them vaguely expressed that it was perhaps “something electrical in the air of Geneva.”
I seized on this as a possible explanation and spent 5 years traveling around Europe, the Middle East and North America, meeting scientists and working through a fair amount of scientific literature. I made 3 discoveries.
The first is that in certain places at certain times - in Geneva, for the most part Central Europe, in Southern California, along the coast of the Rocky Mountains and at least a dozen other parts of the world - the air becomes unhealthy not because of pollution, which we all know about, but because of an imbalance in the natural charge of the air.
Science knows this charge as ionization and is vital to the creation and health of all life. When it is distorted, we humans can become mentally or mentally ill, and in most cases we feel tired, irritable, or simply "lower than normal."
I also discovered that a quarter of the population is particularly sensitive to changes in ionization and that I am one of the chronically ion-sensitive, or "weather-sensitive" people.
These discoveries alone were enough to calm me down a little: the mysterious lack of good mental and physical condition now it could be explained by the fact that I lived in one of the most unfavorable places on the globe for ion-sensitive people.
However, there is a third discovery that made me write this book. I have discovered that man himself often makes the air electrically sick, but with this difference: while in Southern California or Geneva or somewhere else this natural phenomenon happens from time to time, then man does not make the air sick from time to time or for a short period of time. term, but more or less permanently. Everywhere in cities, in cars, trains, buses and planes. In most high-rise office buildings and apartments, humans bring the natural state of ionization into such an imbalance that it creates serious harm to health.
Every person is susceptible to the ion effect, although only one in four experiences as much trouble as I did. On the other hand, where a person has messed up ionization, most suffer symptoms that range from unexplained restlessness and tension, expressed in feelings of fatigue and a feeling of being out of place, to unnatural outbursts of hyperactivity.
We explain such conditions by what we know, namely: stress at work, conflicts in the family. The point, however, is that we may be putting the cart before the horse. Most likely, unhealthy ionization is the cause of stress at work and family discord.
By distorting the electrical charge of the air using modern technologies, a person causes more harm to his health than a polluted environment, the scarecrow of humanity in the last quarter of the 20th century. You can make the air you breathe sick, and through it yourself, by wearing the wrong clothes or surrounding yourself with the wrong furniture. And it is almost certainly fair to say that it is not the “pace of modern life” that makes most cities difficult to live in, but the electricity - or lack thereof - in the air you breathe.
It took me 5 years to realize that my doctors were wrong, that I was not physically or mentally ill. All this is quite understandable, since the most significant scientific discoveries about ions were made relatively recently and are known only to some specialists.
The two most important scientific developments have only occurred in the last 16 years, and since most of scientists are underfunded and work in isolation, often unaware of the work of other scientists in the world, it takes a longer period of time for the results of their research to become known.
In practice main reason Why the WHO (World Health Organization) has only now begun to show interest in the effects of air electricity on humans is poor communication between scientists of different nationalities.
CRITICAL BALANCE OF NEGATIVE IONS
Working in isolation from each other, scientists in the late 18th and early 19th centuries came to the conclusion that IONIZATION affects the growth of plants and, possibly, all living things.
But only in 1890 . Scientists have discovered that this electricity in the air comes from charged molecules, or ions, of the gas. In the 20s of our century, science still knew little about this phenomenon, but in Lately scientists have been able to prove that when nature or humans interfere with ionization, life becomes unbearable for some of us and uncomfortable for all. Everyone knows that air consists of molecules.
Each molecule has a core, or core, of positively charged protons surrounded by negatively charged electrons. Nature constantly seeks balance in everything and in in this case a balance in which there would be as many electrons as protons, so that the positive and negative charges complement each other. This occurs in a stable, or passive, air molecule. But if we can't see a molecule, scientists can weigh its constituent parts.
Since an electron is 1800 times lighter than a proton, it is the electron that is displaced most easily, and when this happens, the equilibrium is upset and a “drifting” molecule, or ion, is created. The active electricity in the air comes from these "drifting" molecules, those that have lost or gained a negative electron so that the balance is upset.
If a molecule loses an electron, it becomes positively charged, and when that displaced electron is attracted to a normal molecule, that molecule becomes negatively charged. What is considered “ideal” in nature environment for living beings, is the relatively clean country air - the energy needed to displace electrons and create charged molecules comes mainly from the small amounts of substances present in the soil and rocks, and from the sun's rays.
There are 3 types of ions: large, medium and small. It is small, or light, ions that are absorbed by living entities from plant leaves to human tissue. These are the ones we are talking about here.
Large ions do not have a noticeable effect on living organisms. Since the earth itself has a negative charge, it repels negative ions, carrying them away from the surface where all kinds of life occur. At the same time, it attracts positive ions, bringing them closer to the surface. As a result, even in wonderful sunny day Outside the city, the air usually contains more positive ions than negative ones.
Scientists generally believe that one cubic centimeter of air in open areas contains from 1000 to 2000 ions. Their usual ratio is 5 positive to 4 negative. It is in this ratio, or balance, that life develops.
Scientists at the University of California grew barley, oats, lettuce and peas with just 60 positive and negative ions in the air and found that their growth was stunted and the plants were diseased. The same experiment in air, where the number of ions was twice their number in nature, gave enhanced growth.
In Russia, scientists tried to raise small animals - mice, rats, guinea pigs- in the air, where there were absolutely no ions. They all died within a few days.
James Bill former employee NASA, which encountered the ion problem while studying what kind of environment was required for space capsules, wrote: “Humanity evolved in ionized air. Nature has used ions in the development of our biological processes.” Scientists in Japan, Russia, Israel and Europe have proven that disrupting the natural levels of ions in the air is not only detrimental to plants and mice, but it is also destructive to human physical and mental well-being.
There are currently about 5,000 scientific papers reporting ionization experiments, all of which support the conclusion that too many positive ions are bad for you, while too many negative ions are good for you. There are circumstances in nature that produce increased amounts of negative ions that are beneficial to us.
For example, in some hilly or mountainous areas, the combination of sunlight, cleaner air, and rocks, which are more charged ions than anything else on the earth's surface, can produce high concentrations of both types of ions, with the ratio being much more toward the negative. This is partly because there is less dust in the mountain air, which picks up negative ions.
It is not a coincidence that throughout human history people have gone to mountainous areas to relax and gain strength, especially those who suffered from diseases of the upper respiratory tract. Man reluctantly violates the ion ratio; he does this everywhere and constantly. He builds cities and covers the ground with asphalt and cement, which prevents normal ion production, so there are far fewer ions in cities anyway. And when a person pollutes the environment in which he lives, the situation becomes even worse.
Negative ions more active than positive ones and more readily attach to microscopic particles of pollutants. These newly charged particles combine with each other to become large ions that have no effect on living beings, and finally fall to the ground in the form of dirt. So, than bigger city, the fewer ions in its air and the stronger the pollution, the greater the violation of the ratio of positive and negative ions; and in the direction of harmful positive ones.
The air conditioning and central heating systems in the buildings make the situation even worse. In nature, the ionization process occurs constantly; in a man-made environment, this process is corrupted. Man is destroying the natural ionization that former NASA scientist James Beal described as being used by nature to develop our biological processes.
A medical scientist from Jerusalem says that every person on earth inhales 2,500 gallons (9.5 cubic meters) of air per day. We are constantly in the air, regardless of whether the ion ratio in it is normal or not. It seems self-evident that since humans and all other living beings are known to function largely due to bioelectricity, electrical nature air must have some effect on all living things.
However, scientists and physicians alike have stubbornly refused for most of this century to accept the claim that negative ions have any biological effects. They refused to accept the idea that ions could affect our bodies and minds. The world is still full of skeptics.
HUMAN-MADE IONIC PRISONS
One sunny summer day in 1972, when I called the Rothschild Bank in Paris, located in a new office building, I was told that the department I needed had moved back to the old comfortable building it had vacated several months earlier. Later, when I finally found the man I was looking for, I asked what was wrong with the wonderful new building.
“None of us could work there,” he replied. "Everyone started colds and everyone was always feeling bad, so we moved back."
He went on to list the complaints his colleagues had expressed: tension, lack of energy, depression and headaches. He said the complaints stopped when they moved back to the old brick building where they had worked for many years.
Could the building cause symptoms similar to those caused by "witch winds"? Could air conditioning systems create "witch winds" After a year of research, I was convinced that not only was I right, but also that the human-created environment in the era of technology poses a potential threat to everyone, not just those who like me, we are weather dependent.
Expanding cities, cars, pollution, smoking, modern synthetic fabrics, from which our clothing and furniture are made, new building materials, modern transportation systems, and central heating and cooling systems in hermetically sealed office and apartment buildings are all part of a man-made environment that leaves too few ions of both types for normal, healthy life.
In humid areas during peak summer, the well-known discomfort is caused in part by the fact that the air becomes ion-depleted. Indeed, humid days are deadly for those who suffer from asthma or other allergic upper respiratory diseases, and the fact that such people find it difficult to breathe in hot weather humid air, has less to do with the amount of oxygen in the air, and more to do with the powerful depletion of negative ions.
The electricity in the air is quickly conducted to the ground by moisture, and those negative ions that are attracted to moisture and dust particles lose their charge. We have seen how positive ions make breathing difficult and reduce the body's ability to absorb oxygen, and how negative ions help breathing and improve oxygen absorption. In cities where there is little open land, the ion content is very low.
Pollution makes the situation even more serious as there are fewer negative ions. Ultimately, the total amount of ions in urban air always drops to what many scientists consider dangerously low levels.
The normal 5:4 ratio of positive to negative ions has been disrupted so that humans have become perpetual victims of positive ion poisoning. Certainly 60% of Europeans living in cities and urban areas suffer to a greater or lesser extent, without realizing why, but feeling that something is wrong, Works of Hippocrates, father modern medicine, contain many references to climate and air, and their impact on human well-being. He said that “the south wind causes decreased hearing, weakened vision, heaviness in the head and apathy.”
Almost all “witchcraft” winds in nature blow from the south. Man-made “witchcraft” winds do not blow from the south, they can blow from anywhere from the places where the ventilation, heating or cooling systems are located. In open space outside the city, the air contains about 6,000 particles of pollen or dust per 1 milliliter, and in the industrial cities of North America and Europe their number reaches several million per 1 ml.
These particles - dust - eat up the ions. Or, in other words, they destroy light ions that have a physiological effect, and more negative ions are destroyed than positive ions.
Measurements carried out by scientists show that at major street intersections in St. Petersburg, Paris, Zurich, Munich, Dublin and Sydney, the number of negative ions at midday is reduced to 50 - 200 per cubic meter. cm. Scientists in Zurich and Munich counted the number of ions in the center of these cities at midday on a sunny day and found only 20 ions per cubic meter. see The effect of ion depletion indoors was first demonstrated in Japan in the late 1930s.
Scientists from the Faculty of Medicine of the Imperial University Fr. Hokkaido began to experiment in an ordinary room, but 1938 . expanded the audience to such a size that they worked with a Cinema House that could accommodate 1,000 people.
The room was specially prepared so that temperature, humidity and oxygen levels could be controlled, but so that the ions could be gradually removed. Then 14 men and women between the ages of 18 and 40 were placed in this room for a period of time.
While the temperature, humidity and oxygen levels were maintained at optimal levels, ions began to be removed. People started complaining about various problems from a simple headache, dizziness and increased sweating to a feeling of anxiety. In some cases, their blood pressure even dropped.
All subjects stated that the room was stuffy and the air in it was “dead.” Another group of people were sent to a movie theater, where in a crowded theater, smoke and a large number of people sitting next to each other caused the number of negative ions to become very low. When the film ended, all the spectators said that they felt the same way we feel when leaving the theater - a mild but unpleasant headache and sweating.
These people were placed in a room where a negative ion generator was running, and everyone noted that within a few minutes they felt better, the headache and sweating went away.
The next step, Japanese scientists decided to prepare the cinema for filling it with ions. First they directed their people into the crowded cinema hall. When half of them started complaining about headache and sweating, scientists began releasing negative ions into the auditorium from several locations in the roof and walls. They increased the number of negative ions to 3500 per 1 cubic meter. cm.
After 90 minutes of the film, those who complained of headaches and sweating said that both symptoms had disappeared and that they felt the same as before the film began.
Scientists social sciences- Psychiatrists and psychologists - have been talking for the past 10 years about the epidemic proportions of circumstances that they describe as "anxiety." They recognize that, to a certain extent, anxiety is normal, even necessary for human survival. However, they are concerned that their anxiety levels have risen above “healthy” levels.
One of the sedatives known since ancient times is alcohol. Statistical data on the increase in consumption of various types of alcoholic beverages and, as a result, on the increase in alcoholism, are given so often that it would be unnecessary to repeat them here. However, along with alcohol, we have become chronic users of pills, most of which are tranquilizers designed to relieve or reduce anxiety.
In 1974 . Almost 4 billion Valium and Librium, the most common tranquilizers, were consumed in the United States alone. And yet, the symptoms described by people who have become victims of positive ion poisoning are the same or similar to those with which people turn to doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists with complaints that medical terminology can be called anxiety psychoneurosis, which means insomnia, excessive anxiety, inexplicable depression, constant colds, irritability, sudden panic, attacks of absurd indecision and uncertainty.
At the Catholic University in Argentina, one doctor recruited patients who he thought were suffering from classic anxiety and treated them in a closed room with negative ions. All of them had previously complained of inexplicable fears and tension, typical of victims of anxiety psychoneurosis. After 10-20 sessions, each lasting 15 minutes in the ion therapy room, 80% of patients said that their symptoms not only disappeared during sessions, but also did not return between sessions.
Consider the facts: Ion starvation exists in cities and urban areas. In buildings with air conditioning and central heating systems, ion starvation and positive ion poisoning exist. And almost all cases of anxiety psychoneurosis with which doctors are consulted occur in cities.
There are many possible reasons, explaining the fact that anxiety has become one of the main problems plaguing Americans, but awareness of the effects of ions on humans should force psychiatrists and other specialists to change their approach to a problem that has traditionally been considered psychological.
It is at least clear that the effect of negative ions in the artificial environment is causing major problems. As many scientists have proven, there is nothing supernatural in the effects of ions. In fact, this impact affects almost all human activities.
Let's compare the levels of negative ions in different environments:
The emission value of negatively charged ions from MILLDOM products is:
Life in the 21st century and the development of industry have alienated man from nature, but have not eliminated the need human body in its beneficial influence.
The main advantage of being in nature is air, saturated with negative ions, giving people energy and health. IN Everyday life the only compensation for the lack of healthy natural air is air ionizer.
Air ionizer: what is it and how is it used?
To maintain high performance, activity and health a person must breathe light negative ions, but due to exposure to electrical appliances, excess air pollution from exhaust gases and factory emissions, the natural ionization of the air is greatly weakened.
In nature the formation of air ions occurs due to the influence cosmic rays or lightning discharges electricity: oxygen molecules capture electrons and become negatively charged due to them. Oxygen aeroions with a negative charge enrich the air, as they have increased biological activity.
Ion concentration in enclosed spaces fifteen times lower required norm. Air ionizers are used to replenish the missing ions.
Air ionization is the process of formation of ions, respectively, the ionizer is device responsible for air ionization.
The peculiarity of the ionizer is its effect on dust in the room. It settles on floors and furniture, so wet room cleaning, in which there is an ionizer, carried out three times more often.
The ionizer cannot be used 24/7, the instructions for the device must indicate the time of use of a particular model.
In smoky and dusty rooms, do not use the ionizer in the presence of people.
When using an ionizer it is important to correlate the power of the device with the size of the room in which it is used, since an insufficiently strong ionizer in a spacious room will not bring tangible benefits, and a strong ionizer in a small room will have Negative influence on the concentration of ozone molecules.
It is better to place the ionizer in accordance with the attached instructions at the specified distance from walls, electrical appliances and people.
Correct location device - the first rule on the way to good result.
Second point − appropriate care. In order for the air ionizer to benefit the body, it is important to regularly clean it of accumulated dust. In addition, do not forget to ventilate the room: it is recommended to ventilate immediately before turning on the ionizer.
The ionization process is simple: current is applied to the ionizing electrodes, causing a discharge, and electrons fly off from the “needles” of the operating ionizer to combine with oxygen molecules.
Air ionizer: what are the benefits for the body?
Penetrating with the air, ions enter the blood and spread throughout the body: penetrating ability, together with the beneficial effects of ions, underlies useful properties air ionizer.
Aeroions enter the human body in two ways: through the skin and through the lungs. The ions produced by the air ionizer enter the skin and excite its receptors, increasing gas exchange. However skin covering is responsible for 1% of the body's gas exchange, so the main work is given to the respiratory system.
At the same time, the effect of ions on skin receptors changes tactile and pain sensitivity, accelerates hair growth. Thanks to this, the air ionizer helps people suffering from hair loss and baldness. Ionization through exposure to the skin allows you to treat skin diseases: acne, psoriasis, eczema.
By influencing skin receptors, air ions reflexively change the tone of the central nervous system And affect metabolism.
The listed factors relate to external electrical exchange.
Internal electrical exchange occurs in the lungs: ions partially settle on the walls of the upper respiratory tract, in the bronchi and trachea, but 80% penetrates inside. Internal effects enhance gas exchange in the lungs, affect the tone of the central nervous system, cleanses the body, reducing the manifestations of allergies.
Air ionization is used as an alternative to medications in the treatment of hypertension, asthma, diseases of the nervous system and circulatory disorders.
Let us summarize the health benefits of an air ionizer:
1. Activates and increases the body's protective functions.
2. Increases appetite.
3. Normalizes work of cardio-vascular system.
4. Eliminates insomnia, improves sleep quality.
5. Reduces fatigue.
6. Prolongs youthfulness of the skin.
7. Prevention of respiratory diseases.
8. Increases the body's resistance to infections and harmful factors environment.
9. Reduces allergic manifestations.
10. Prevents exposure to radiation from electrical appliances.
An ionizer is extremely useful for children, elderly people and people in poor health who suffer from problems with respiratory system.
Air ionization is important for everyone without exception during the period of flu and colds, for people sitting at a computer for three to five hours every day or staying in a room with running electrical appliances for twelve hours a day.
Air ionizer: what is harmful to health?
If we look at the operation of the ionizer in detail, we will notice that it is not useful in all cases.
1. Dust and bacteria.
A negative aspect of the operation of an air ionizer is that in addition to oxygen, it charges dust particles and microflora in the room. Microorganisms and dust, when charged, scatter to all surfaces of the room and especially to the ionizer itself.
After ionization, wet cleaning of the room is mandatory., since settled dirt can become a source of disease.
If, during the ionization of a room with dusty air, there are people inside, unwanted contaminants will settle on them.
The same principle works when there are viruses in the room environment. If there is a person in the room suffering from an infection transmitted by airborne droplets, when you turn on the air ionizer, the risk of contracting an infection to others increases three to five times.
If the device does not serve as an additional dust collector ( built-in electrostatic precipitator in some models), it is recommended not to turn it on in the presence of people, otherwise the air ionizer will cause harm.
For people with cancer, use of an ionizer Absolutely forbidden. The reason lies in the principle of operation: air ions enhance metabolism, which leads to improved nutrition of body tissues. If there are cells in the body malignant tumors their nutrition will also be accelerated, which will lead to undesirable consequences.
3. Fever.
The ionizer increases metabolism, which further increases body temperature.
4. Individual intolerance or increased sensitivity to ionized air.
5. Infants.
For children under one year of age, an ionizer do not use due to unformed immunity and the risk of catching viral infection.
6. Bronchial asthma at the acute stage.
It is highly undesirable to use an ionizer due to the risk of infection.
8. Acute disorder cerebral circulation.
9. Diseases of the central nervous system.
10. Acute phase pneumonia or emphysema.
11. Acute phase rheumatoid arthritis.
Air ionizer: useful or harmful
The effects of air ionizers on the body can be considered both harmful and beneficial.
When turning on the device, some people experience negative aspects in the form of dizziness, headaches or severe drowsiness. These states are natural, if after a long stay within the city, you go to relax in nature - the sensations will not be any different.
Ion starvation accompanies city residents due to the environment and the busy life with electrical appliances. Children and people with reduced immunity feel this acutely.
Headache, bad feeling, increased fatigue and frequent colds are the first signs of acute ion starvation, which an air ionizer will help combat. It will fill the room with a concentration of ions that is found in forests and mountainous areas.
The ionizer is indispensable for improving the quality of everyday life.
A frequent argument about the dangers of an air ionizer is possible overdose body by ionization. Such assumptions are not justified, since the ability of blood to absorb oxygen is not unlimited. Hemoglobin molecules, which supply oxygen to cells, absorb a fixed amount of oxygen. Ions that are not absorbed by the blood are freely excreted.
The benefits of using air ionizers, if the rules are followed, exceed what is possible Negative consequences.
Research on ionizers has been carried out for forty years, during which time harmful effects It was not possible to detect ionizers per person, but the positive effect is obvious.
The benefit of an air ionizer for the body is that ionization accelerates the treatment of diseases of the cardiovascular system, angina pectoris, hypertension, rhinitis, laryngitis, pharyngitis, tracheitis and bronchitis.
Air ionization reduces physical and mental fatigue, strengthens the immune system, has a calming effect on the body, normalizing sleep.
The book is intended for educational purposes only. The search for information that led me to write this book began in 1970 . as an attempt to prove to myself that I am not suffering from hypochondria or mania depression.
For 10 years I lived and worked in Geneva and almost from the moment I arrived there from New York I began to suffer completely inexplicable attacks of anxiety, depression, physical illness and a kind of boundless despair that even made me think about suicide. Neither doctors nor psychiatrists could explain what was happening to me, but when one of them vaguely expressed that it was perhaps “something electrical in the air of Geneva.”
I seized on this as a possible explanation and spent 5 years traveling around Europe, the Middle East and North America, meeting scientists and working through a fair amount of scientific literature. I made 3 discoveries.
The first is that in certain places at certain times - in Geneva, much of Central Europe, Southern California, along the Rocky Mountains and at least a dozen other parts of the world - the air is not unhealthy because of pollution. , which we all know about, but due to an imbalance in the natural charge of the air.
Science knows this charge as ionization and is vital to the creation and health of all life. When it is distorted, we humans can become mentally or mentally ill, and in most cases we feel tired, irritable, or simply "lower than normal."
I also discovered that a quarter of the population is particularly sensitive to changes in ionization and that I am one of the chronically ion-sensitive, or "weather-sensitive" people.
These discoveries alone were enough to give me some peace of mind: my mysterious lack of good mental and physical condition could now be explained by the fact that I lived in one of the most unfavorable places on the globe for ion-sensitive people.
However, there is a third discovery that made me write this book. I have discovered that man himself often makes the air electrically sick, but with this difference: while in Southern California or Geneva or somewhere else this natural phenomenon happens from time to time, then man does not make the air sick from time to time or for a short period of time. term, but more or less permanently. Everywhere in cities, in cars, trains, buses and planes. In most high-rise office buildings and apartments, humans bring the natural state of ionization into such an imbalance that it creates serious harm to health.
Every person is susceptible to the ion effect, although only one in four experiences as much trouble as I did. On the other hand, where a person has messed up ionization, most suffer symptoms that range from unexplained restlessness and tension, expressed in feelings of fatigue and a feeling of being out of place, to unnatural outbursts of hyperactivity.
We explain such conditions by what we know, namely: stress at work, conflicts in the family. The point, however, is that we may be putting the cart before the horse. Most likely, unhealthy ionization is the cause of stress at work and family discord.
By distorting the electrical charge of the air with the help of modern technologies, a person causes more harm to his health than the polluted environment, the bogeyman of humanity in the last quarter of the 20th century. You can make the air you breathe sick, and through it yourself, by wearing the wrong clothes or surrounding yourself with the wrong furniture. And it is almost certainly fair to say that it is not the “pace of modern life” that makes most cities difficult to live in, but the electricity - or lack thereof - in the air you breathe.
It took me 5 years to realize that my doctors were wrong, that I was not physically or mentally ill. All this is quite understandable, since the most significant scientific discoveries about ions were made relatively recently and are known only to some specialists.
The two most important scientific developments have only been accomplished in the last 16 years, and since most scientists are underfunded and work in isolation, often unaware of the work of other scientists in the world, it takes longer for the results of their research to become known .
In fact, the main reason why the WHO (World Health Organization) has only now begun to show interest in the effects of air electricity on humans is the poor communication between scientists of different nationalities.
CRITICAL BALANCE OF NEGATIVE IONS
Working in isolation from each other, scientists in the late 18th and early 19th centuries came to the conclusion that IONIZATION affects the growth of plants and, possibly, all living things.
But only in 1890 . Scientists have discovered that this electricity in the air comes from charged molecules, or ions, of the gas. In the 20s of our century, science still knew little about this phenomenon, but recently scientists have been able to prove that when nature or humans interfere with ionization, life becomes unbearable for some of us and uncomfortable for all. Everyone knows that air consists of molecules.
Each molecule has a core, or core, of positively charged protons surrounded by negatively charged electrons. Nature is constantly looking for balance in everything, and in this case, a balance in which there would be as many electrons as protons, so that positive and negative charges complement each other. This occurs in a stable, or passive, air molecule. But if we can't see a molecule, scientists can weigh its constituent parts.
Since an electron is 1800 times lighter than a proton, it is the electron that is displaced most easily, and when this happens, the equilibrium is upset and a “drifting” molecule, or ion, is created. The active electricity in the air comes from these "drifting" molecules, those that have lost or gained a negative electron so that the balance is upset.
If a molecule loses an electron, it becomes positively charged, and when that displaced electron is attracted to a normal molecule, that molecule becomes negatively charged. What is considered in nature to be the "ideal" environment for living beings is the relatively clean country air - the energy needed to displace electrons and create charged molecules comes mainly from the trace amounts of substances present in the soil and rocks, as well as from sun rays.
There are 3 types of ions: large, medium and small. It is small, or light, ions that are absorbed by living entities from plant leaves to human tissue. These are the ones we are talking about here.
Large ions do not have a noticeable effect on living organisms. Since the earth itself has a negative charge, it repels negative ions, carrying them away from the surface where all kinds of life occur. At the same time, it attracts positive ions, bringing them closer to the surface. As a result, even on a beautiful sunny day outside the city, the air usually contains more positive ions than negative ones.
Scientists generally believe that one cubic centimeter of air in open areas contains from 1000 to 2000 ions. Their usual ratio is 5 positive to 4 negative. It is in this ratio, or balance, that life develops.
Scientists at the University of California grew barley, oats, lettuce and peas with just 60 positive and negative ions in the air and found that their growth was stunted and the plants were diseased. The same experiment in air, where the number of ions was twice their number in nature, gave enhanced growth.
In Russia, scientists tried to grow small animals - mice, rats, guinea pigs - in air where there were absolutely no ions. They all died within a few days.
James Beall, a former NASA employee who encountered the ion problem while studying what kind of environment was required for space capsules, wrote: “Humanity evolved in ionized air. Nature has used ions in the development of our biological processes.” Scientists in Japan, Russia, Israel and Europe have proven that disrupting the natural levels of ions in the air is not only detrimental to plants and mice, but it is also destructive to human physical and mental well-being.
There are currently about 5,000 scientific papers reporting ionization experiments, all of which support the conclusion that too many positive ions are bad for you, while too many negative ions are good for you. There are circumstances in nature that produce increased amounts of negative ions that are beneficial to us.
For example, in some hilly or mountainous areas, the combination of sunlight, cleaner air, and rocks, which are more charged ions than anything else on the earth's surface, can produce high concentrations of both types of ions, with the ratio being much more toward the negative. This is partly because there is less dust in the mountain air, which picks up negative ions.
It is no coincidence that throughout human history people have gone to mountainous areas to rest and gain strength, especially those who suffered from upper respiratory tract diseases. Man reluctantly violates the ion ratio; he does this everywhere and constantly. He builds cities and covers the ground with asphalt and cement, which prevents normal ion production, so there are far fewer ions in cities anyway. And when a person pollutes the environment in which he lives, the situation becomes even worse.
Negative ions are more active than positive ions and attach more readily to microscopic pollutant particles. These newly charged particles combine with each other to become large ions that have no effect on living beings, and finally fall to the ground in the form of dirt. So, the larger the city, the fewer ions in its air and the stronger the pollution, the greater the imbalance in the ratio of positive and negative ions; and in the direction of harmful positive ones.
The air conditioning and central heating systems in the buildings make the situation even worse. In nature, the ionization process occurs constantly; in a man-made environment, this process is corrupted. Man is destroying the natural ionization that former NASA scientist James Beal described as being used by nature to develop our biological processes.
A medical scientist from Jerusalem says that every person on earth inhales 2,500 gallons (9.5 cubic meters) of air per day. We are constantly in the air, regardless of whether the ion ratio in it is normal or not. It seems self-evident that since humans and all other living things are known to function largely through bioelectricity, the electrical nature of the air must have some effect on all living things.
However, scientists and physicians alike have stubbornly refused for most of this century to accept the claim that negative ions have any biological effects. They refused to accept the idea that ions could affect our bodies and minds. The world is still full of skeptics.
HUMAN-MADE IONIC PRISONS
One sunny summer day in 1972, when I called the Rothschild Bank in Paris, located in a new office building, I was told that the department I needed had moved back to the old comfortable building it had vacated several months earlier. Later, when I finally found the man I was looking for, I asked what was wrong with the wonderful new building.
“None of us could work there,” he replied. “Everyone started getting colds and everyone was feeling unwell all the time, so we went back.”
He went on to list the complaints his colleagues had expressed: tension, lack of energy, depression and headaches. He said the complaints stopped when they moved back to the old brick building where they had worked for many years.
Could the building cause symptoms similar to those caused by "witch winds"? Could air conditioning systems create "witch winds" After a year of research, I was convinced that not only was I right, but also that the human-created environment in the era of technology poses a potential threat to everyone, not just those who like me, we are weather dependent.
Expanding cities, cars, pollution, smoking, modern synthetic fabrics from which our clothes and furniture are made, new building materials, modern transportation systems, and central heating and cooling systems in hermetically sealed office and apartment buildings are all part of man's creation. an environment that leaves too few ions of both types for a normal, healthy life.
In humid areas during peak summer, the well-known discomfort is caused in part by the fact that the air becomes ion-depleted. Indeed, humid days are deadly for those who suffer from asthma or other allergic upper respiratory diseases, and the fact that such people find it difficult to breathe in hot, humid air has less to do with the amount of oxygen in the air and more to do with the powerful depletion of negative ions.
The electricity in the air is quickly conducted to the ground by moisture, and those negative ions that are attracted to moisture and dust particles lose their charge. We have seen how positive ions make breathing difficult and reduce the body's ability to absorb oxygen, and how negative ions help breathing and improve oxygen absorption. In cities where there is little open land, the ion content is very low.
Pollution makes the situation even more serious as there are fewer negative ions. Ultimately, the total amount of ions in urban air always drops to what many scientists consider dangerously low levels.
The normal 5:4 ratio of positive to negative ions has been disrupted so that humans have become perpetual victims of positive ion poisoning. Certainly 60% of Europeans living in cities and urban areas suffer to a greater or lesser extent, without realizing why, but feeling that something is wrong. The works of Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, contain many references to climate and air, and their impact on human well-being. He said that “the south wind causes decreased hearing, weakened vision, heaviness in the head and apathy.”
Almost all “witchcraft” winds in nature blow from the south. Man-made “witchcraft” winds do not blow from the south, they can blow from anywhere from the places where the ventilation, heating or cooling systems are located. In open space outside the city, the air contains about 6,000 particles of pollen or dust per 1 milliliter, and in the industrial cities of North America and Europe their number reaches several million per 1 ml.
These particles - dust - eat up the ions. Or, in other words, they destroy light ions that have a physiological effect, and more negative ions are destroyed than positive ions.
Measurements carried out by scientists show that at major street intersections in St. Petersburg, Paris, Zurich, Munich, Dublin and Sydney, the number of negative ions at midday is reduced to 50 - 200 per cubic meter. cm. Scientists in Zurich and Munich counted the number of ions in the center of these cities at midday on a sunny day and found only 20 ions per cubic meter. see The effect of ion depletion indoors was first demonstrated in Japan in the late 1930s.
Scientists from the Faculty of Medicine of the Imperial University Fr. Hokkaido began to experiment in an ordinary room, but 1938 . expanded the audience to such a size that they worked with a Cinema House that could accommodate 1,000 people.
The room was specially prepared so that temperature, humidity and oxygen levels could be controlled, but so that the ions could be gradually removed. Then 14 men and women between the ages of 18 and 40 were placed in this room for a period of time.
While the temperature, humidity and oxygen levels were maintained at optimal levels, ions began to be removed. People began to complain of various problems from simple headaches, dizziness and increased sweating to feelings of anxiety. In some cases, their blood pressure even dropped.
All subjects stated that the room was stuffy and the air in it was “dead.” Another group of people were sent to a movie theater, where in a crowded theater, smoke and a large number of people sitting next to each other caused the number of negative ions to become very low. When the film ended, all the spectators said that they felt the same way we feel when leaving the theater - a mild but unpleasant headache and sweating.
These people were placed in a room where a negative ion generator was running, and everyone noted that within a few minutes they felt better, the headache and sweating went away.
The next step, Japanese scientists decided to prepare the cinema for filling it with ions. First they directed their people into the crowded cinema hall. When half of them began complaining of headaches and sweating, the scientists began releasing negative ions into the auditorium from several locations in the roof and walls. They increased the number of negative ions to 3500 per 1 cubic meter. cm.
After 90 minutes of the film, those who complained of headaches and sweating said that both symptoms had disappeared and that they felt the same as before the film began.
Social scientists - psychiatrists and psychologists - have been talking for the past 10 years about the epidemic proportions of circumstances they describe as "anxiety." They recognize that, to a certain extent, anxiety is normal, even necessary for human survival. However, they are concerned that their anxiety levels have risen above “healthy” levels.
One of the sedatives known since ancient times is alcohol. Statistical data on the increase in consumption of various types of alcoholic beverages and, as a result, on the increase in alcoholism, are given so often that it would be unnecessary to repeat them here. However, along with alcohol, we have become chronic users of pills, most of which are tranquilizers designed to relieve or reduce anxiety.
In 1974 . Almost 4 billion Valium and Librium, the most common tranquilizers, were consumed in the United States alone. And yet, the symptoms described by people who have become victims of positive ion poisoning are the same or similar to those with which people turn to doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists with complaints of what in medical terminology can be called anxiety psychoneurosis, which means insomnia, excessive anxiety, unexplained depression, constant colds, irritability, sudden panic, attacks of absurd indecision and uncertainty.
At the Catholic University in Argentina, one doctor recruited patients who he thought were suffering from classic anxiety and treated them in a closed room with negative ions. All of them had previously complained of inexplicable fears and tension, typical of victims of anxiety psychoneurosis. After 10-20 sessions, each lasting 15 minutes in the ion therapy room, 80% of patients said that their symptoms not only disappeared during sessions, but also did not return between sessions.
Consider the facts: Ion starvation exists in cities and urban areas. In buildings with air conditioning and central heating systems, ion starvation and positive ion poisoning exist. And almost all cases of anxiety psychoneurosis with which doctors are consulted occur in cities.
There are many possible reasons why anxiety has become one of the main problems plaguing Americans, but awareness of the effects of ions on humans should force psychiatrists and other specialists to change their approach to a problem that has traditionally been considered psychological.
It is at least clear that the effect of negative ions in the artificial environment is causing major problems. As many scientists have proven, there is nothing supernatural in the effects of ions. In fact, this impact affects almost all human activities.
Let's compare the levels of negative ions in different environments:
The emission value of negatively charged ions from MILLDOM products is:
The first thing we do when we are born is start breathing. A person can live without food for 5 weeks, without water for 5 days, and without air for no more than 5 minutes. On average, we take 22,000 breaths per day, while absorbing 15,000 liters of air. Breathing is such a natural process that we don’t notice it. Although it’s still worth thinking about what we breathe! It has been proven that small charged particles (ions) contained in the atmosphere affect well-being: negative ones give a person calm and energy, and positive ones increase stress and fatigue.
Hippocrates first spoke about the effects of air on the human body in ancient times. In his treatise “On Air, Water and Terrain,” he called the air “the pasture of life and the greatest ruler of everything and in everything.” He also proposed creating aerariums - areas for recreational walks in the mountains and on the seashore. Later, in the 18th century, M.V. Lomonosov studied the effect of electrically charged air on the human body. He conducted experiments with an electrostatic machine and came to the conclusion that air, permeated with electric charges of artificial origin, is similar in its properties to air during a thunderstorm.
And already in the 20th century, the brilliant Russian scientist A.L. Chizhevsky became the first to prove the effect of ions of positive and negative polarity on plants, the body of healthy and sick animals and humans. In 1918, he repeated the experiment of I. Kiyanitsyn, who placed rabbits and guinea pigs under a hood with carefully filtered air. Despite the fact that they had plenty of food and water, after about 3 weeks the animals began to have breathing problems, and after another week they all died. Chizhevsky repeated the experiment without constructing a complex air filtration system; he simply placed cotton wool in the air supply tube - the animals suffered the same fate. Then the scientist suggested that even the most primitive filter does not allow microscopic particles of electricity, ions, or, as he called them, “air vitamins” to pass through. Chizhevsky wrote that “by building a dwelling, man deprived himself of ionized air, distorted the natural respiratory environment and came into conflict with the nature of his body. City residents spend 90% of their lives inside buildings and gradually lose their immune strength, get sick and become prematurely decrepit.”
Think about your surroundings!
Today it is impossible to imagine our life without high technology. Everywhere (both at work and at home) we use modern, highly productive and powerful technology, without thinking about the fact that the consequences of its impact are far from clear. TV screens and computer monitors emit large amounts of positive ions. The abundance of positive ions negatively affects a person’s overall well-being. If we breathe air saturated with negative ions, we feel energetic and cheerful. If we breathe air rich in positive ions, we feel tired and depressed. It has been proven that in places where the air is heavily polluted, there are more positive ions than negative ones. Unfortunately, such “danger zones” are not limited to industrial sites or gas-polluted roads. In any room, be it an office or an apartment, you can find more than one source of positive ions: computers, office equipment, furniture, household chemicals, cigarette smoke and even the person himself. Considering that the average person spends about 90% of their time indoors, it is not surprising that at the end of the day we become tired and irritable.
What are negative ions?
These are negatively charged microscopic air particles. They are formed when a large amount of energy is applied to an atom or molecule. The electricity generated in this process affects the redistribution of electrons around the oxygen atom. An atom that has lost one or more electrons is called a positive ion, and an atom that has gained one or more electrons is called a negative ion. In nature, negative ions are formed in two ways: water molecules collide, causing positive and negative atoms to separate (as happens, for example, in a waterfall) and the surrounding air becomes negatively charged. In the second case, discharged electrons are acquired by water molecules during a thunderstorm.
Chizhevsky called air ions aeroions, and their treatment was aeroionotherapy. He also divided air ions into heavy and light. The fact is that ions can attach molecules with a neutral charge to themselves. If these are gas molecules, then a light air ion is obtained, but if these are liquid molecules or solid- heavy. Heavy ions are charged dust, soot, smoke and industrial fumes. IN best case scenario they settle on the surface of surrounding objects, in the worst case - on the inner surface of the mucous membranes of the respiratory tract. Light air ions participate in gas exchange, enter the blood and affect cellular metabolism.
A simple solution to an important problem
Man, like all living things, must not lose touch with nature. It is nature that gives us the necessary energy, restores strength and supports good mood. The beneficial influence of nature on the human body is undeniable. The natural calming effect is achieved, first of all, due to the purity of the air and the abundance of negative ions. Being in a pine forest, near a waterfall or fountain, we feel especially good, we can truly relax and feel a surge of vigor. It was recently found that such sensations are caused by a high concentration of negative ions in the air. That is why residents of modern megacities, often feeling the lack of clean and fresh air, try to “get out of town” on weekends to take a break from the everyday hustle and bustle and recharge with natural energy. As a rule, during vacation we “leave civilization”, go to the mountains or to the sea to gain strength and restore our health. The more negative ions in the air, the better our health: the headache stops, fatigue disappears, we are again ready to deeply and fully perceive the world around us.
Where to look for negative ions? One cubic centimeter of air at the foot of the waterfall contains 50,000 useful ions; in the mountains - from 8,000 to 12,000; on the sea or ocean shore 4,000; in the forest 3,000; outside after a thunderstorm from 1,500 to 4,000; in rural areas from 500 to 1,200. And also in the sun, near fountains and springs, under the shower. For comparison, city street air contains only 100 to 500 negative ions in the same volume of air. We may well increase the number of useful ions in our environment. The easiest way is to ventilate the premises. Humidifying the air also attracts negative ions. If you don’t have a special humidifier, you can turn on the water under high pressure from time to time or buy an aquarium. All electrical appliances that are this moment not in use, it is better to unplug it. Good helpers in improving air composition - houseplants, especially geranium. Conifers are considered natural ionizers: spruce, pine, fir, thuja, cedar.
Science does not stand still
Chizhevsky also invented a device designed to save city residents from ion starvation. It was an air ionization unit, the so-called Chizhevsky lamp. All modern ionizers are created according to its principle. The device consists of a fan that produces an electric charge and a number of needles, at the tips of which light air ions appear.
Lamp effect - mountain air in a city apartment! In rooms with artificially ionized air, a person feels good, concentrates easier, and does not get tired longer. Chizhevsky's followers during medical research found that ionized air improves the condition of patients with diseases of the cardiovascular system, initial stages, stomach ulcer, . Aeroions perfectly heal wounds and burns and are prophylactic from sore throat, migraine, nervous disorders, insomnia and irritability.
In Germany, scientists have noted the positive effect of negative ions in the treatment of chronic stress, depression and sleep disorders. With the help of ion therapy, the level of serotonin in the body is normalized and in 80% of cases anxiety and restlessness disappear. And Japanese oncologists claim that ionized air is a powerful antioxidant, since under its influence the body produces the substance “ubiquinol,” which neutralizes active oxygen, which causes cell damage, and thereby prevents the cancerous degeneration of the body’s cells. The antitumor effect of ion therapy is also confirmed by the work of Israeli scientists. They noted that tumor growth stopped in 75% of cases, but no side effects for this type of treatment. There is a theory that the cause of any disease is a metabolic disorder in the cells of the body, and this, in turn, causes a decrease in their negative charge. You can restore the negative charge of cells by breathing air enriched with negative ions, which perform a regulatory function in the body.
Air is made up of tiny electrically charged molecules that have very real weight. The movement of air means the movement of molecules that collide with each other, causing mutual friction. Many of us perceive this as static electricity.
This friction produces ions - atoms and molecules that have gained or lost an electron. When air molecules collide with each other, their electrons transfer from one molecule to another. Those that lose electrons become positive ions, those that gain electrons become negative ions.
But the main source of ions in the atmosphere is not weather changes. A large number of obtained due to natural radioactivity earth's crust and cosmic radiation. They are also formed during natural natural phenomena such as waterfalls, thunderstorms and hot winds.
In clean, pollutant-free air, the ion concentration is in the range of 1500 - 4000 ions/cm3. The normal ratio of the concentration of positive ions to the concentration of negative ions in the same volume is 1.2.
Ions are unstable - they cannot hold their electrical charge for long. But being in the air, they are capable of causing a wide range of different reactions in living beings. They are susceptible to bacteria, protozoa single-celled organisms, plants, insects and animals, including humans.
What can air imbalance lead to?
Laboratory research show that when the balance of positive and negative ions in the air is disturbed, big problems. A relative imbalance towards positive ions - for example during gusts of hot and dry desert winds - can change the biochemistry of the human body, affecting both the external physical and internal state. High level positive ions can cause depression, nausea, insomnia, irritability, apathy, migraine and asthma attacks, as well as disturbances in normal functioning thyroid gland. The biochemical processes that cause these disorders can eventually lead to depletion of the body, which in turn can cause an increase in accidents, violent crimes and suicides.
Positive and negative ions
Laboratory studies show that volunteers who breathed air through their noses high content positive ions, dry throat, hoarseness, headaches, irritation of the nasal mucosa and congestion develop, breathing becomes shallow.
And increasing the relative concentration of negative ions, at least under controlled laboratory conditions, improves health in some people. The use of negative ion generators (air ionizers) has been found to kill bacteria and significantly reduce the number of microorganisms in the air.
It was also noted that the use of ionizers reduces the frequency of complaints of headaches, attacks of nausea and dizziness, and increases activity. They are used in the treatment of depression and improve people's ability to cope with stress, helping to sensitive people during periods of weather change.
However, our reaction to air ions is highly individual - some of us do not react to them at all. Children, the elderly, the sick, and people under stress are the most sensitive. It appears that women are also more sensitive to the lack of ions in the atmosphere and respond more favorably to ion-rich air than men.
How do ions in nature affect us?
Nowadays, scientists are looking for an answer to the question of whether ions in uncontrolled conditions of nature have the same effect on our well-being as in laboratory conditions. Certainly, when a hot, dry wind blows, the air is so saturated with static electricity that even a handshake can result in a painful electrical shock. But can static electricity significantly affect the biochemistry of our body?
Major work in this area was carried out by ion research pioneer Dr. Albert Krueger. These studies were conducted on animals and their. cannot be directly applied to people. Kruger for a long time studied the effects of negative ions in mice and then extrapolated the results to humans. He was the first to discover that an excess of positive ions in the air could cause sudden, strong releases of serotonin into the blood - an effect that was subsequently confirmed by many researchers. It has also been found that a number of other biochemical systems are also adversely affected (for example, the production of substances such as catecholamine and other amines, prostaglandin and the thyroid hormone thyroxine), but the change in serotonin levels is the first and most dramatic, so this has become the standard when assessing the impact of weather on health.
