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