I have a backlog of LJ posts that have run through my head in the last week and they keep getting booted for things that seem more important or more ready to bubble to the surface. This is yet another one.

medancer posted about being cross, itchy, intolerant (plus a list of other things) and was wondering if it was Spring Fever. It sounds just like how I feel when it is windy.

I know that rain causes one kind of ion and wind causes the other but I couldn’t remember which was positive and which was negative. But I have this handy tool in front of me, the internet. I found an article that explained that friction causes positive ions. Friction between air masses, air and ground when the wind blows, between air and the particles in it as it moves around, etc. The positive ions sets my nerves on edge and then everything bothers me. No wonder I hate the wind.

But I love the feeling after a rain storm. I feel calm and settled. At peace with what is around me. Moving water clears the air of positive ions moving the balance over to negative ions. A friend who also is driven nuts by the dry wind affect lived in a natural wind tunnel in Colorado. He would go to the far end of his house away from the wind, which happened to be the bathroom, and sit under the shower for as long as he could. When it is windy, I try to do something to increase the water in the air. I turn on the shower, do something to get humidity in the air, turn on a table top fountain, go somewhere there is water. The only time the wind has not driven me up the walls was when I was living in San Bruno near the SF airport. It was usually windy to some kind of level since it was a dip in the land to the coast but for some reason it didn’t seem to bug me often. I think that is because the wind was blowing the fog and mist in and the water content of the air kept the positive ions down to a livable level. That is my guess.

There are air purifiers that use ions to clean particles out of the air. I haven’t had time to do the research yet, but if they do it by producing negative ions, I think I may have to invest in one after all.

I figure this information would be useful to people if they have been easily frustrated, irritable, cross, stressed, restless, etc the last couple of days (I really noticed the wind yesterday). This could be the reason or part of the reason and it gives you something to do to try to alleviate the problem.

So, in ion-land, Positive=bad, Negative=good.