Although we can survive for weeks without food and multiple days without water, we would die after just a few minutes without a breath of air.<\/p>\n
Audrey Mestre came from a family of scuba divers and snorkelers and spent a large portion of her life underwater.\u00a0 She was so confident in her abilities that in 2002 she attempted a world record dive of 561 feet off the coast of the Dominican Republic.\u00a0 The day of the dive came and at 300 feet, tragedy struck: Audrey blacked out and was rushed back up to the surface.\u00a0 But, after spending nine long minutes without oxygen, she couldn\u2019t be revived and passed away. Audrey\u2019s death brings to light just how crucial air is to our lives, but how much do we really know about it?<\/p>\n
Air is roughly 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen.\u00a0 In addition to the oxygen that your cells need to survive, there are small amounts of other elements as well as particulate material such as pollens, dust, molds, and other pollutants.<\/p>\n
This leads to a question: what kind of air should we breathe?\u00a0 Is it okay to breathe any old air?\u00a0 It turns out that the different types of air you breathe make different, significant changes to your health.\u00a0 So what would be considered the \u201chealthiest\u201d air?\u00a0 Well, the best air to breathe for optimum health is oxygen-rich, negatively charged air.\u00a0 Let\u2019s delve into the second part of that sentence.\u00a0 A charged atom is called an ion.\u00a0 Ions can be either negatively or positively charged–negatively charged ions having more electrons than protons.\u00a0 The negative charge in air is usually attached to oxygen.<\/p>\n
Air molecules can gain or lose electrical charges due to sunlight, cosmic radiation, and moving air and water.\u00a0 Negative ions tend to concentrate near rivers and waterfalls due to their movement. They also exist in places like beaches, forests, mountains, and interestingly enough, areas that have just been struck by lightning.\u00a0 All of these places have something in common, other than the profusion of healthy negative ions: they all seem to congregate in the outdoors; specifically, the wild and natural outdoors.\u00a0 In fact, it\u2019s often been discovered that the number of negative ions in any of the places I just mentioned is up to 10 times more than the office or bedroom you\u2019re sitting in right now.<\/p>\n
Negative ions are also referred to as \u201chappy ions\u201d because they contribute to better moods, more energy, and an overall sense of well-being.\u00a0 Have you ever noticed your mood after leaving a sunny day at the beach or after hiking to a grand, rushing waterfall?\u00a0 Maybe you noticed that you feel refreshed, calm, and happy.\u00a0 There\u2019s a reason for that happiness: studies show that people who spend time in environments with a high negative ion concentration are less likely to be depressed.\u00a0 They sleep better and have more energy, too!<\/p>\n
On the flip side, positive ions are associated with the bad elements in the air.\u00a0 They often attach themselves to Carbon Dioxide and the pollutants that turn our air grey and dirty.\u00a0 And, as if the sight of grey and dirty air wasn\u2019t enough to bring your mood down, positive ions have been also shown to cause an overproduction of serotonin, which can ultimately lead to anxiety and depression.<\/p>\n
When we breathe, we don\u2019t move nearly all the air in our lungs.\u00a0 An interesting way our body tries to remedy this is through a sigh.\u00a0 We sigh because our brains want to flush out some of the stale air in our lungs, and so we\u2019re periodically triggered to take in a deep breath, i.e. a sigh.\u00a0 But sighing from time to time doesn\u2019t cut it\u2014it\u2019s much more helpful to go somewhere we can find a higher concentration of negatively charged particles and intentionally take 3-5 very deep breaths of that clean air.\u00a0 (Doesn\u2019t that already sound refreshing?)\u00a0 Afterward, bend over at the waist and cough at the end of the expiration. People say this \u201cclears their head\u201d but in reality, they are describing the rise of oxygen levels in their blood stream.\u00a0 The result of rising oxygen levels is a clearer mind.<\/p>\n
But what if you don\u2019t live near a forest and an ocean?\u00a0 Well, before you go to sleep tonight, try leaving a window or two open.\u00a0 This increases the concentration of negative\u00a0 \u201chappy\u201d ions in your home.\u00a0 Step outside for a minute every hour at work for a literal \u201cbreather.\u201d\u00a0 On the weekend, if you\u2019re faced with a choice between taking a hike in the mountains or going to a congested amusement park, you now know why you\u2019ll feel much better if you choose the mountains!<\/p>\n
Take it a step further and grow a few plants indoors\u2014they can be used to \u201cgrow\u201d your own fresh air.\u00a0 Some of the best plants for this are plants with a large surface area, such as ferns, palms, and lilies. These have been shown to reduce contaminants such as formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, xylene, and benzene.<\/p>\n
It almost seems too simple but air\u2019s effect is proven.\u00a0 A breath of fresh air will make you feel better right now, and even more frequent and habitual breaths will help sustain your healthy, happy life for years to come.\u00a0 Okay, this video is nearly over so take a step back, put on your shoes, and go outside for some fresh air.\u00a0 3-2-1\u2026<\/p>\n
<-Previous Law of Health<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0Next Law of Health-><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You’re constantly breathing it… Should it come as a surprise that it is essential to health?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,2,13],"tags":[2773,2774],"thb-sponsors":[],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-healthy-habits","category-lifestyle","category-healing","tag-health-laws","tag-video","post_format-post-format-video"],"acf":[],"views":4598,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20915,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions\/20915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thb-sponsors?post=344"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}