Negative Ions for the Positive Win

Direct contact with the earth is a source of healing for all life forms. Let's take it down to the super-microscopic level to understand how activity on the subatomic level protects and heals us.

Hello dear readers, I apologize that there has been an unintentional hiatus between this and the last post. Summer activities have swooped in and pushed me off schedule. Going forward I aim to return to once weekly posting. As a reminder I welcome your comments and feedback either in the public comments or via private message. It helps me know what content is resonating and what isn’t so much. Thanks for your participation, patience, understanding, and support!

I wrote the following post mostly to answer my own questions about the relationship between ions, electrons, antioxidants, and energy in our bodies. You get to come along for the ride! Perhaps you’ve had similar questions or maybe you never really thought about it. Either way, it’s pretty interesting in an “I love geeking out” kind of way.

At the same time, I also set out to explore the connection between electromagnetism, energy, electrons, and the human body. It’s a huge topic, but I have gained clarity on some of the basics which I will share with you in the near future.

Now let’s get to it:

I recently read that grounding (i.e. having direct physical contact with the earth through the act of walking barefoot or lying on the ground outside) is beneficial because the negative ions that you absorb from the ground have an antioxidant effect in the body. 

Photo by Johnny McClung on Unsplash

Now I knew that grounding was good for you.  And I knew that negative ions were good for your health.  And of course antioxidants are good.

But I had never put it all together. 

I had the question: what exactly is an antioxidant? And how can a chemical substance like vitamin C and a more ethereal experience like sitting on the ground both have an antioxidant effect in the body? If I had learned this in med school, I had surely forgotten it. So, in a quest to understand the mechanism of how it all works, I took a dive into basic physics, chemistry, and physiology. 

ELECTRONS

The answer starts with atoms and electrons. You may remember from your last chemistry class that atoms are the smallest units of matter. But not actually, because they are made up of smaller subatomic particles called protons, neutrons, and electrons. (There are others, but we will keep it simple for this discussion.)

Protons carry a positive charge.

Electrons carry a negative charge.

Neutrons are neutral with no charge.

Examples of atoms are oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, gold – all your old favorites from the periodic table of the elements. The number of protons stays static and gives each element its identity.  The protons cluster with the neutrons in the nucleus. But the electrons are zippy little fellows and are in constant motion around the nucleus.

When an atom carries a net charge that is not neutral (i.e. when it has an unequal number of electrons and protons), it’s called an ion.  When it has a net positive charge, it’s called a cation and when it has a net negative charge, it’s called an anion. So anion is another name for a negative ion.

Electrons are able to move from one atom to another resulting in fluctuations in the overall charge of the atoms. Since electrons are negatively charged, when they are added to a neutral atom, they turn it into an anion.  i.e. more electrons = more negative.  The neutral atom that they leave becomes a positively charged cation.  i.e. fewer electrons = more positive

Photo by Norbert Kowalczyk on Unsplash

ANTIOXIDANTS

Now let me introduce the reason that we need antioxidants for our health. It starts with reactive oxygen species (ROS), otherwise known as free radicals. A free radical is a positively charged oxygen atom. It is a cation. It carries a positive charge. It is low in electrons. It is oxidized.  Although free radicals are created naturally in our bodies, they can be very damaging to our cells and even to our DNA. This is called OXIDATIVE STRESS.

That’s why we also create ANTIOXIDANTS like glutathione in our bodies to counter the effects of those free radical “oxidants”.  Antioxidants are negatively charged molecules or atoms.  They carry extra electrons.  Their job is to neutralize the free radicals to render them harmless thus protecting the body’s tissues.  They perform this function by donating their extra electrons to the reactive oxygen cations.  Are you following me?  The electrons are good news – they turn damaging pro-oxidants into harmless, neutral (i.e. no charge), stable molecules of oxygen.

In a similar way foods and vitamins that are classified as antioxidants carry around extra electrons and are willing to give them up the moment they run into damaging oxidizing free radicals in the body.  Examples are vitamin C, vitamin E, beta carotene, alpha lipoic acid, and N-acetyl cysteine.  In foods antioxidants are highest in plants.  Anthocyanins like resveratrol are found in purple/blue fruits and veggies like grapes, blueberries and elderberries. Bioflavonoids like quercetin are found in oranges and onions.  Most plants make antioxidants to ward off insect predators.  We benefit from these chemicals when we eat the plants.  And when these antioxidants hit your bloodstream, they run around scavenging for free radicals, by freely and lovingly giving up their electrons.

GROUNDING

OK, now back to grounding.  The earth has a negative charge (which means extra electrons).  When we sit or walk on the earth with bare skin or natural fiber clothing, those negative ions are transferred through our skin into our bodies where they have an antioxidant effect.

Standing near moving water or going out after a thunder & rain storm is also good because the air is full of negative ions and not only do we absorb them, but they also can be breathed in through our lungs.

“When electrons from the earth enter our body the body equilibrates with the electrical potential of the earth, thereby stabilizing the electrical environment of all organs, tissues, and cells.” From “Pranayama” by Andrew Van Lysebeth

CAUSES OF OXIDATIVE STRESS

We usually need lots of extra antioxidant help because we are inundated with oxidative stress in our modern lives. The following are only a partial list of all the things that cause us to form excess free radicals in our bodies:  packaged, processed, devitalized foods; electromagnetic radiation from computers, phones, etc.; heavy metals; chemical toxins like solvents and pesticides; emotional stress; air and water pollution; many pharmaceutical drugs; and time spent indoors under artificial lighting.

Oxidative stress is implicated in almost all health problems known to modern man: inflammation, cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, autism, mental health problems, autoimmune diseases, chronic infections, and more.

So we need to be thinking about all the possible ways to reduce our exposure to the things that cause oxidative stress while simultaneously engaging in all the behaviors that we can to increase antioxidant activity in our bodies.

A final word about negative ions.  Taking these electrons in from nature is also a way to fill yourself with prana.  Prana is another word for ENERGY, also known as ether, life force, vitality, chi, qi, the vis, etc.

There will be more about humans as energy beings and how electrons figure into the equation in my next Substack article.  I love when physical scientific knowledge about the human body overlaps with the spiritual etheric qualities of the human body.  The physical world is a manifestation of the energetic or conscious world. Not only is it all related, it’s all the same thing!  See you next week.

Photo by Agenk Wibowo on Unsplash