How Can A Dark and Stormy Night Be Good for You?

It’s one of the many great things that nature provides. It accompanies almost every rain storm and it is good for you. What am I talking about? That fresh, exhilarating smell that often precedes rain.

We all know that smell and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love it. The only people who may not enjoy that particular odor are those who are suffering from a flood or an overabundance of rain. Most of us though, love it.

So, exactly what is that great, refreshing odor? Where does it come from and why do we like it so much?

The answers to these questions are partly natural and partly psychological really. Let’s tackle them one at a time.

What is that refreshing odor? Contrary to popular belief, it is not the smell of rain. Well, it is but not the smell of the actual rain water. It is the smell of the ozone in the air. The ozone is produced when an electrical charge is passed through the atmospheric oxygen, thereby causing a release of the chemical O3, which is oxygen in the form of ozone. The electrical charge that provides this action is, naturally, lightning.

Technically and very briefly, here’s how it works: As the electrical charge is passed through the atmosphere, it breaks oxygen (chemical symbol O2) apart. The two atoms released by this process start looking for something else to combine with and they always choose another oxygen molecule. When they force themselves into the new oxygen molecule, the chemical symbol becomes O3 because there are now three atoms in this new molecule. The new molecule is Ozone. In this state, there is an unnatural balance occurring and one of the atoms is always looking to jump ship. If it sees another molecule with just two atoms, it will jump off of the molecule it is on and try to join the other molecule. When this happens, it causes the new molecule to be destroyed by a tiny, microscopic explosion, releasing all of these atoms who begin to search for new molecule homes. These tiny explosions are what cause the smell in the air and the destruction of harmful biologicals in the atmosphere.

So, why does the smell usually precede the actual rainstorm? Because the prevailing wind, that pushes the storm, blows through the ozone charged storm and carries the molecules ahead of it. You get an ozone filled atmosphere just prior to the storm reaching you. In some cases the ozone is so thick that the odor gets well ahead of the storm. In some cases the storm actually goes in another direction so the ozone smell reaches into a community but the storm never arrives. This is rare but we’ve all smelled the ozone and never got the rain.

The ozone odor is so refreshing. Why is this? Well, it’s because the ozone gets into your brain and stimulates receptors that are in need of stimulation. In other words, the ozone is good for you. It stimulates not only your brain but your blood, your heart and other vital organs.

When ozone permeates the atmosphere it is, in all actuality, refreshing the atmosphere. It is God’s (nature’s) way of replenishing and purifying the oxygen in the atmosphere. Without this phenomenon occurring from time to time, the oxygen might run a bit low. When this happens, natural occurrences within our atmosphere start to slow down. The air around the Earth begins to get a bit stale and a type of lethargy overcomes us.

Fortunately, we are provided that wonderful ozone with which we refresh our stale bodies and begin anew.

Ok, why does that smell make us usually feel so good? As mentioned above, it stimulates our bodies but it also triggers memories of moments in the past when we felt good and refreshed. Invigorating odor memories are something our brain stores readily. When we smell something that, in the past, has made us feel good, the brain stores that away and when it occurs again, the brain says to us, “ahh…remember that smell? It made you feel so good and refreshed the last ten times you smelled it.” So, naturally, we begin to relive those moments and it makes us feel good again.

Ozone is also known, as mentioned earlier, to be biocidal. This simply means that it tends to kill any harmful bacterial or biological contaminants in the air. Without this occurring from time to time, the atmosphere would be overrun with floating microbes, just waiting to enter your body and cause harm.

How could knowing this produce something good from technology? Smells play a great role in our psychological being. The science of aromatherapy has known and understood for years that certain smells trigger our body to do various things. If it is known that the smell of rain makes someone feel good, the reproducing of that smell could go a long way toward helping depression therapy. If a person smells rain and develops good feelings, the brain can be manipulated into providing stimulation when that odor was in the air. People would find it easier to transform their moods by either thinking of or actually smelling the ozone in the atmosphere.

This is one of the many ways that aromatherapy can be used to good purpose.

Also, by placing ozone into certain contained atmospheres, such as clean rooms or operating rooms, any harmful microbes in the room can be destroyed without damaging anything else.

So, don’t fear a dark and stormy night. Enjoy it every chance you get. It’s really very good for you.