I used to sometimes go running with a friend in college who was on the cross-country team. He called it a jog?

Question

we usually did this runing at night, because he claimed there were more negatively charged ions in the air at this time, and so therefore it promoted better health?

(1) Is this statement regarding his opinions on negative ions fact? and

(2) What variables are able to changes an ionic atmosphere of positively charged ions to more negative? and

(3) What may this have to do with pointing out fact of global warmings existence?

Knowledgeable people need only answer please, as I am trying to gain a truer understanding of these three issues? Thanks?

Answer 1

This is incredibly bizarre... First off, I find the "health effect" of negatively charged ions (called anions) to be highly suspect. In fact, several types of anions have been identified as health hazards and carcinogenic agents.

To answer your questions:
1) there's been few studies atmospheric ion differences, and for the most part, there are little to no differences between day and night

2) at high altitudes, the ionosphere does fluctuate, due to the solar radiation, but the effects are not seen on the ground, and certainly not in the early evening.

3) the cause of global warming is carbon emissions, the cause of global shading is particulate pollution, and I can imagine that both can directly or indirectly affect solar radiation penetrance.

All of these questions are somewhat irrelevant because there is no scientifically proven benefit to anion exposure. However, in general, night time ground level pollution tapers off on a clear day, so there's potentially ~some~ benefit to running at night... although that is speculative at best.

I think any health benefit is offset by the added physical dangers of running at night (limited vision, lurking strangers, exposure to assault)... so unless you just really enjoy running in the dead of night in the dark, you should run during the day or early evening.