Poor indoor air quality is common. Unfortunately, few people know how to address this situation so that we can experience a high quality of life and overall well-being. The solution is simple; by changing the concentration of negative ions in the air, indoor air quality will improve resulting in better health and well-being for individuals.



Because the quality of air can be diminished from a variety of sources, the affects are often difficult to pin-point and can take on characteristics of other illnesses. Short-term effects of indoor air pollutants include: lethargy, depression, migraines, dizziness, tension, aches and pains, and numerous other complaints. On the other hand, indoor air quality can also be much more devastating resulting in respiratory disease, cancer, and even death in the case of high levels of pollutants such as carbon monoxide.

Since indoor air quality has such a significant impact on our health, it is important to find out (i) how negative ions purify the air and (ii) what studies have been conducted to prove the effects of using negative ions for indoor air purification.

How Negative Ions Purify the Air

Virtually all particles in the air have a positive charge. However, negative ions that have a negative charge also exist where negative ions and particles magnetically attract to one another. When there is a high enough concentration of negative ions in the air, they attract to floating positively charged particles in large numbers resulting in the particles becoming too heavy to remain airborne. As a result, particles will fall out of the air, preventing the positively charged particles from being inhaled into the respiratory tract where they can trigger breathing and health problems.

The ionized particle will then be collected by normal cleaning activities, such as vacuuming or dusting. If the particle happens to be kicked back up into the air again, it will be ionized, and quickly settled out of the air once again.

From that explanation, one can see that negatively charged ions help purify the air by diminishing the number of positively charged ions that are responsible for so many indoor air related conditions. Furthermore, negative ions have proven to be safe and effective in a variety of studies. They enhance the efficiency of air filters and attack airborne particles and pollutants wherever they may be floating.

Negative Ions Proven Effective in Various Research Studies

To know whether something is truly effective, it is important to understand different scientific studies as well as examine where the studies were conducted and if there is a bias that the group may have for publishing the study. The following list is a small sample of organizations and scientific publications that have reported the benefits of negative ions. The Journal of Hygiene, a scientific publication, reports that negative ions cause dust particles to agglomerate and settle out of air. Scientists also showed that ionization reduced bacterial levels in burns and plastic surgery units by over 96% after a two week period; thus resulting in much better and more rapid healing of patients. For this same reason, ionization can improve the efficiency of filters.

- Researchers at Columbia University found people with winter and chronic depression show that negative ion generators relieve depression as much as antidepressants. It was also determined that there are relatively no side effects.

- A statistically significant decrease of carbon monoxide values was found with an ionizer activated. This was discovered by researchers at Brompton Hospital in London, and published in European Respiratory Journal.

- The use of negative ions was even found by scientists to reduce the presence of airborne viruses by about 40%. A study featured in the 1987 issue of the Journal of Applied Microbiology also showed the negative ions are free from any adverse side effects.

- Researchers at St. James University Hospital have found that hospital-acquired infections among patients in the Intensive Care Unit were dramatically reduced when ionizers were introduced - and have remained so since. The ionizers were found to successfully remove bacteria from air, reducing the transmission of infection.

- A 2001 study in the "Journal of Food Protection" found that airborne negative ionization was highly effective at destroying airborne and surface salmonella.

- The U.S.D.A. discovered the following in recent studies conducted in a poultry house, which are notoriously polluted:

o Reduced salmonella (bacteria) transmission between chicks by 98%.

o Reduced airborne salmonella (bacteria) by 95%.

o Reduced airborne dust