Tokyo's Health Craze

Negative Ions - Tokyo's Latest Health Craze

With an eye on Tokyo's latest health craze, Nick Coldicott asks what's so positive about negative ions?
Given the choice, wouldn't you pick positive ions over negative ones? They just sound better. But appliance giants like Hitachi, National and Sharp are joining the health salons in touting negative ions as the latest, greatest natural remedy to treat everything from allergies to seasonal affective disorder.

But why do we need negative ions any more than deep-sea water or current beauty bestseller, a "mouth shrinker?" If your mental thesaurus links "alternative health trend" with "cock-and-bull story" and you're about to flip the page, hold on. Even the scientists are on board this time.

Theory of negativity

Research as far back as 1932 labeled negative ions (mainus ee-ons in Japanese; oxygen particles with an extra electron to scholars) the "vitamins of the air," capable of reducing stress, lifting depression, relieving hay fever or soothing migraines by catching microscopic particles in the air and making them fall to the floor, balancing serotonin levels in the body, and halting the growth of bacteria. Places with high levels of this apparent panacea-mountains, beaches, waterfalls-are those we migrate to for leisure. Low counts are found in smoky rooms and near computer monitors-places of stress.