I have known for many years that being cooped up in the house (or the car) for too long with the air conditioner running would give me a severe headache and an anxious feeling. It had been a complete mystery until now. And to tell the truth, I thought that I was a little bit nuts.
My husband and I live in an area where the Forestry Service does periodic controlled burns. Recently, they conducted a burn. The weather was still quite warm and the wind was blowing the smoke our way. On the evening of the second day of the burn, having had the house closed up and the air conditioner running, I got out of my chair, stood in front of my husband and very forcefully said, If we don't open up the house, I am going to go crazy. I already had a very severe headache and I was starting to feel as if I could not breathe. Opening the house meant that my husband would get a headache from the smoke and his lungs would suffer because he gets smoke induced asthma. Thankfully for me, we opened up the house.
The next day, my husband decided that he would research the issue of air conditioning. I have never had a problem with heated air in the winter, so we were certain it was not something in the ducts. His first inquiry led him to a website that was selling an air conditioner that produces no positive ions. This set him to wondering.
Before long, he learned that natural air is composed of mainly negative ions. Most air conditioners produce positive ions. So, before long, a house that is closed with the air conditioner running will acquire a higher concentration of positive ions.
Further research led him to the information that in some individuals, a higher concentration of positive ions will produce headache, anxiety and a feeling that you can not breathe. I was astounded by this information and relieved. At least, now I know that I am not really nuts. Or as my husband says, that is still a matter of opinion.
I do not think that we will be buying a new air conditioner any time soon. For the most part, it is never a problem to open up the house at night during the summer. Our summer nights are cool because of the altitude at which we live. Because I like the outside air best, it saves us money on our electrical bill. We are, however, looking into negative ion generators.
If you find yourself wishing you were outside or someplace other than your nicely air conditioned house, perhaps you have the same problem that I do. You might also want to consider a negative ion generator.
If you are interested in learning a little more about the issue, the following web address has a number of summaries of research done on the subject: http://www.djclarke.co.uk/file06.html
Dianne Lehmann is a jewelry designer who has been in business since January of 2000. Her interest in designing and manufacturing jewelry goes back beyond that to 1994. It took her many years of trying various creative outlets to finally figure out that making jewelry is where she could really shine. Dianne began with simply stringing beads onto cable and has progressed from there. She is now an accomplished lapidary (cuts and polishes stones) and silversmith. Dianne and her husband, Bernd, live in northern Arizona and both love to hike. Dianne can not help but pick up rocks (they are her first love) and some of these find their way into her jewelry. Dianne makes one-of-a-kind pieces that she hopes give people as much joy to view as she gets from the making of them.If you like, you may view her work at http://www.syzygyjewelry.com
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