While the name may not sound like it, negative ions are actually very beneficial to the human body.
These are oxygen atoms with negatively charged electrons and work by cleaning the air from airborne pollutants.
Generally, airborne particles like dust, bacteria, viruses, smoke, allergens, and toxins can contribute to poor indoor quality. As a result, you may suffer from health effects such as difficulty breathing, allergies, or worse, asthma.
Therefore, the importance of improving indoor air quality cannot be stressed enough. This is where ionizers prove helpful.
Simply put, ionizers are devices that use negative ions to eliminate airborne pollutants. They are essential for improving the air quality in homes, offices, and other spaces.
But how many negative ions benefits you can get? Also, how do air ionizers work, and are they worth investing in?
Well, read on to learn more.
What are Negative Ions?
As we had mentioned earlier, an ion is an oxygen atom with a charged electron.
Generally, negative ions are present in the natural, outdoor spaces like the mountains, waterfalls, springs, beaches, in the sun, and by the sea.
This explains the wonderful feeling of rejuvenation that you experience when you breathe fresh air outdoors.
In high concentrations, these air molecules can attach to positively charged particles like dust, allergen, and bacteria, which float in the air because they are airborne.
By attaching to these particles, they become too heavy and are no longer airborne. Consequently, they drop or attach themselves to a nearby surface, where they are then removed.
This means the air is purified from harmful pollutants that cause health issues. According to a 2018 scientific study, negative ions can curb the growth of viruses in the air.
Some notable negative ions benefits include:
1. Air Depollution
Inhibits bacteria, airborne allergens, particles, viruses, cigarette smoke, and mold.
An effective ionizer will generate high amounts of negative ions to depollute the polluted air and enhance the air quality.
2. Decreases Bacteria and Viruses
Negative ion exposure significantly lower airborne bacteria and viruses in your environment.
Hence, you can rest easy knowing that your family is well-protected.
3. Fights Respiratory Diseases
The presence of negative ions in an environment can help lower the risks of respiratory diseases.
This is because these air ions eliminate pollutants which can lead to difficulty breathing and even increase the risk of allergies and asthma.
According to Epidemiological studies, the negative ion concentration in an environment can help control asthma.
It can also improve the function of cilia in the respiratory tract to keep lung irritation and inflammation at bay.
4. Treats Seasonal Affective Disorder
Studies have also shown that negative ionization can alleviate the symptoms of Seasonal Affective disorder.
This is a type of depression that occurs as a result of changes in climate, particularly when there is little sunlight.
Negative ions can help treat this mood disorder, usually associated with symptoms like depression, fatigue, and social withdrawal.
5. Significantly Reduces Headaches
Negative ions are beneficial to those suffering from headaches and migraines, often caused by the increased production of positive ions.
6. Increase Blood Circulation
Negative air ions ensure the right balance of both positive and negative ions in the body, which can counter the effects of positive ions.
The other health benefit is that these ions can lower blood pressure and increase the oxygen circulation rate in the blood.
7. Enhances Mental Performance
Consequently, improved oxygen will positively impact your physical performance and mental health.
Your performance rate at school, at work, or field will drastically improve.
8. Positively Impacts the Skin
If you have wrinkles, you will be glad to know that an ionizer can act as an anti-aging device.
By releasing negative ions, your circulatory system will be improved, and this will strengthen and renew your collagen.
This alone is enough to make your skin supple and remove wrinkles.
9. Promotes Quality Sleep and Healthy Digestion
Negative air ionization can promote healthy digestion and deep sleep by balancing the autonomic nervous system.
This is also due to the positive effect of these ions on transmitters.
10. Promotes Good Mood and Energy Levels
Negative ionization can help normalize the serotonin levels in the brain, leading to positive vibes.
This also helps to improve focus and energy levels as the effects of positively charged ion is suppressed.
What are Air Ionizers, and How Do They Work?
While there are many positive benefits of negative ions for human health, it is quite unfortunate that their concentration may be limited.
This is particularly true for areas that are prone to air pollution.
Also, most homes and offices use electrical equipment like ACs and TVs, which generate positive ions.
Other positive ion generators include computers, laptops, mobile devices, fluorescent lights, and more.
The increased concentration of airborne particles creates an electrical imbalance in the air and our bodies.
Luckily, there are several ways to increase negative ions in the air, and one I,s spending more time outdoors and using salt lamps.
The other method is investing in a negative ion generator device to produce negative ions that will counter the effects of positive ions.
Unlike other methods of attaining negative ions, an ionizer is flexible and convenient, and most come in a portable design to carry on the go.
First produced by a British electrical engineer, air ionizers have a long history and have become prominent in most homes and offices.
Although often mistaken for air purifiers, air ionizers use a totally different mechanism of purifying the air.
An air purifier is equipped with fans and filters that help to trap pollutants, while the latter uses electrostatic charging plates to generate negatively charged ions.
The negative ions then attach themselves to airborne particles forming heavy particles too heavy to float.
The end result is the particles, falling surfaces like curtains, carpets, and floors, where they are later cleaned.
Nevertheless, it is worth noting that some air ionizer models come with positively charged plates to attract the fallen particles, so they don’t end elsewhere.
What Do Air Ionizers Do?
It is believed that a negatively charged ion generator can help purify the air by removing dust, pet dander, mold, odor, cigarette smoke, bacteria, and viruses.
However, unlike air purifiers, air ionizers may not effectively remove large particles like dust and pollen.
Besides increasing indoor air quality, some even have the ability to sanitize surfaces. When choosing an air ionizer, you also need to consider a fanless model or not.
Generally, ionizers that feature a fan have high clean air delivery ratings (CADR) and can quickly purify the room, although they may be noisy.
On the other hand, fanless models have a noiseless operation and are easy to move from one place to another.
On the downside, they may take a while to purify a room because they have low clean air delivery ratings.
A carbon filter is also a helpful air purification technology that can help your ionizer remove gaseous pollutants and odors.
Conclusion
There is no denying that air ionizers are beneficial investments for our homes and offices.
Besides purifying the air, these devices can promote your overall health and well-being and improve your quality of life.
Fortunately, there are many air ionizer models on the market, and you need to find the most suitable one for your needs.
While at it, ensure that you check the ionic output and other crucial factors like the presence of a filter, the design, power source, weight, accessories included, and other valuable features.
