High concentrations of negative ions make the winter depressed feel better.

There are plenty of people who can tell their own unique stories about how ionized indoor air has made them feel better. And the fact is that sufficiently high concentrations of negative air ions can be used as a treatment method against depression. Scientists still don't really know exactly how it works, but that High-density ionization can reduce depressive symptoms has been proven in several scientific studies.

Some of the studies have looked more closely at individuals with winter depression. The results show that treatment with high concentrations of negative ions at home for 30-60 minutes over about 20 days makes the majority of depressed people feel better. When the ion treatment was completed, the people became worse again. Similar good results have been demonstrated when the researchers used negative air ions to treat chronic depression.

The good impact that ionized air has in depression is on the same order of magnitude as the effects achieved with antidepressant drug therapy. However, the researchers note that quite high concentrations of negative air molecules are required, to reach the good effect.

Want to read more? Here are links to a couple of the most interesting studies. Both are placebo-controlled, which is a requirement for research results to be truly reliable

Bowers B. Bowers et al. Controlled trial evaluation of exposure duration to negative air ions for the treatment of seasonal affective disorder. Psychiatry Research 259 (2018) 7—14.

Goel N. “et al.” Bright light, negative air ions and auditory stimuli produce rapid mood changes in a student population: a placebo-controlled study. Psychological Medicine, 2006, 36, 1253—1263.