Sunday, October 2, 2011

Negative Ions = Positive Humans


Getting in the sea just for the sake of it...Immsouane, Morocco.
X-processed out of date slide film.

Being by the sea makes you happy.
People have been chirping on about how good sea air is for you since Victorian times, "taking the sea air" was even prescribed by British Doctors back then, and being lucky enough to live down beside the seaside I'd have to agree that there's something in it.
The science is a bit wafty but it's here's the theory: When waves break or the wind and sun evaporate seawater, the molecules are broken apart and split into charged atoms, or ions, and released into the atmosphere. The predominant minerals in seawater are sodium and chloride (sodium chloride is the salt we put on our food) which are both negative charged ions, and the story goes that negative ions make us feel better by increasing blood oxygenisation and having a similar effect to sunlight by increasing seratonin levels in our brains (the stuff that makes us happy). If you spend your working days surrounded by computers emitting that high voltage buzz or standing over a photocopier which spits out positive ions then chances are that your face isn't lit up by a smile when you walk into the office. Not so when you're beside the seaside.

The sea temperature in the UK gets pretty low by the end of winter. 6.5 degrees Celcius this day and this lady still went for a swim in the sea and came out smiling. Huge props.

So now we all have another excuse up our sleeves for going down to the beach and taking a big deep breath. Whether you're just beside the sea taking a walk on the beach or holding a fishing rod, or in and on the sea surrounded by negative ions surfing, swimming or sailing, you can claim you're improving your physical and mental health. It doesn't matter if you don't believe the hype, it's definitely another string for your bow when you get cornered for having a two surf day and not getting anything else done, and I'm pretty sure that any surfers stuck inland in cities will testify.

There's a whole lot of negative ions in the air around here. The Indian and Southern Oceans colliding of Cape Leeuwin, South West Western Australia.

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