what if i said that your drinking water contains
an element that's used in batteries and that it could also be affecting your mood sometimes
referred to as the magic ion this element's name is lithium and a recent review of decades of
research has found that trace amounts of lithium found in the tap could be stabilizing your mood
and may even have the potential to reduce the risk of suicide of all the elements lithium is one
of the lightest this soft silvery white metal occurs naturally in soil rocks and many foods it's
also highly reactive particularly with water and varying degrees of lithium can be found in
surface water groundwater and seawater around the world and not only is it valued for boosting
the energy density of our batteries over the past few decades lithium has gained recognition in
the medical community for its powerful impacts on mental health too in fact today lithium
is a standard treatment for bipolar disorder a mental illness categorized by dramatic mood
swings of emotional highs and lows that affects roughly 1 in 100 people worldwide lithium is
also used when patients with depression don't respond to other medications as it's recognized
as an effective long-term management tool for warding off hospital visits and suppressing
suicide attempts unfortunately it can have some pretty bad side effects like hand tremors
and headaches when taken in high enough doses but the dose is prescribed and the amount that you
naturally get from the tap are very different used medically a prescribed dose typically ranges from
a couple hundred milligrams to over a thousand by contrast the lithium levels found in a liter of
drinking water typically measure anywhere between a fraction of one microgram to 200 micrograms
depending on the source but this incidental exposure isn't necessarily insignificant over the
past few decades studies have shown evidence of a relationship between higher levels of lithium
and drinking water and lower rates of depression crime and even dementia in the general population
some studies have even suggested an association between higher lithium levels and lower rates
of suicide but not every study has found similar lengths and importantly no comprehensive effort
has been made to connect all of this research until now a recent study led by researchers from
king's college london and sussex medical school set out to synthesize all available evidence of
the association between lithium and drinking water and suicide rates in total the team identified
415 articles spanning three decades comprising data from over 1 000 regions counties and cities
around the world the average concentration of lithium in the water samples ranged from under 4
to over 80 micrograms per liter by combining the results of multiple studies the team was able to
statistically analyze the data and search for a link and a link emerged their analysis showed that
areas with higher concentrations of lithium in their public tap had correspondingly lower rates
of suicide this is the first meta-analysis of its kind so these findings are hugely encouraging
still the team emphasizes that more work needs to be done to explore this relationship they note
that conducting randomized trials that supplement the water supply with lithium would be a great
place to start particularly in communities with high prevalence in mental health conditions
criminal behavior and substance misuse so how exactly does this magic ion work its magic well
we don't really know at least not exactly because lithium is an ion it interacts with many different
target cells in our body and results in a whole host of side effects making it extremely difficult
to pinpoint which interaction affects our mood however we do know that lithium interacts with the
brain's neurotransmitters the chemical messengers that help our neurons communicate when in balance
our billions of neurotransmitters expertly manage virtually all of the body's tasks from our
breathing to how we learn but if their levels become out of sync health problems like depression
and anxiety can arise by modulating the response of our neurotransmitters lithium is thought to
restore their proper functioning the prevailing hypothesis is that lithium promotes inhibitory
neurotransmission which regulates anxiety while inhibiting excitatory neurotransmitters like
dopamine and glutamate which are elevated during mania not only does this recent analysis provide
us with further incentive to unpack lithium's effects on the body it offers us a chance to
appreciate water's overall health benefits too clean healthy drinking water contains all kinds
of elements and minerals that are vital to human health calcium and potassium just to name a few in
fact water can help us meet up to 20 of our daily dietary intake requirements for certain elements
and simply staying hydrated can restore balance to our neurotransmitters in our body and literally
calm our nerves amazing to be clear i am not suggesting that you drink raw water you know the
kind that's unfiltered untreated and unsterilized running the risk of ingesting harmful bacteria is
not worth it i'm just saying the benefits of water and really anything that we ingest extends well
beyond what's obvious on the surface so cheers to that fun fact when it was first introduced back
in 1929 7up contained lithium let us know if you would drink lithium soda down in the comments or
if you want us to cover more stories on mental health in the future make sure to subscribe see
you next time on seeker and thanks for watching
