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