Does Waterfall Aerosol Influence Mucosal Immunity And Chronic Stress?

S.Seneff

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Mar 18, 2020
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Does waterfall aerosol influence mucosal immunity and chronic stress? A randomized controlled clinical trial

The present controlled and randomized clinical study addressed the question whether the specific environment of a waterfall provides additional beneficial effects for prophylactic and therapeutic stress management when combined with high-altitude climate therapy and physical activity (mountain hiking in the protected area National Park Hohe Tauern in Austria). As stress represents a complex phenomenon including psychological, physiological, and immunological effects, we investigated selected parameters of all of these three aspects. For this purpose, two study groups with moderate to high stress levels spent an active 1-week sojourn in the National Park Hohe Tauern with identical parameters concerning daily mountain hiking, accommodation and food supply, except for 1 h/day. One group spent this time at the waterfall, the other at the same sea level but free from the waterfall-specific environment. A third study arm was recruited as a control group, keeping their normal daily life without any intervention.

The results of our study are in line with publications indicating positive health effects of green exercise and high-altitude climate therapy, which have been already proven to contribute to the improvement of respiratory and/or allergic diseases [35, 16]. Our data suggest to expand the applicability of this simple and cost-effective health provision for treatment of stress-related symptoms. Interestingly, several of the investigated parameters were significantly changed with a 1-h/day exposure to the environment of a waterfall. Most strikingly, beyond psychological and physiological stress-related symptoms, the specific humoral sIgA immune response after oral vaccination was significantly improved by the additional waterfall exposure. Secretory IgA is present in all mucosal surfaces; it is of crucial importance for the first line of defense of the immune system at mucosal barriers [33, 34].

Currently, we know that the immense power of the falling water cracks small water droplets in a specific way, resulting in small nano particles carrying a negative charge, whereas the created bigger fragments are charged positively. The specific environment around waterfalls is characterized by these mainly negatively charged “Lenard’s ions” hovering in the air, while the positive-charged fragments sink to the ground [10, 6062]. The airborne nano-aeorosol is assumed to trigger a variety of biological effects, e.g., mild activation of the immune system, inducing a balance between TH1/TH2 immunity, stabilizing the autonomous nervous system, and improving blood flow [16, 6365]. In a mouse model, water-generated negative ions have been shown to enhance cytotoxic activity of natural killer cells [66]. It is also conceivable that the high concentration of negative air ions near waterfalls could
influence the human microbiota. Furthermore, the waterfall environment itself provides a specific microbiologic atmosphere, which may directly effect the microbiota of skin and mucosal surfaces [14]. This waterfall-altered microbiome could act as an immunological adjuvant and thus be responsible for the observed effects on mucosal immunity.

Negative air ions have also been shown to influence psychologic well-being by an increased serotonin level [18] and to enhance positive emotional processing in seasonal affective disorder [67] and have also been associated with lower depression scores [68]. An “added value” concerning the mood-raising effect may simply originate from the extraordinary beauty of the waterfall itself [69].
 

Noodlz2

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Aug 6, 2019
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I feel noticeably different when I'm standing next to a stream. I would describe the feeling as "hydrated". It's pleasant. Wonder if I would feel the same if I got a humidifier, or if it's something harder to reproduce like ions.
 

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