Lithium: the sordid history and bright future of a little acknowledged essential mineral.
Mineral Series Part One: Lithium
In my work on healing I seek to emphasize our great responsibility for caring for ourselves through the simplest means of giving ourselves the exact nutrients, activities and tools we require to thrive and nothing less. I believe that these tools are found in the natural world all around us and that understanding your body as a living organism and treating it as such is the best way to obtain optimal health and mental stability.
For this reason, I have chosen to begin my deep dive into trace minerals and whether we should be supplementing them, with lithium! This feels like the perfect starting point since lithium is already widely recognized as a treatment for mental instability, (albeit in much higher doses than the body requires!) and much less known for it’s role as an essential nutrient. I feel that such a mineral that is, as we will see, necessary for your brain, for your emotional well-being and for psychological stability is the most fitting place I can imagine beginning this journey since my hope is to encompass our great need as human beings to integrate our body, mind and spirit in this and future writings by means of blending psychology, neuroscience, nutrition and trauma work into a holistic paradigm for truly human-focused health.
Another aspect of lithium that has drawn me to it during my research is the fact that it has been hailed by cosmologists as one of the first three elements present when the universe *began*. And as the 27th most abundant element lithium can be found throughout our atmosphere and beyond, in rock, soil, salt, ocean water and springs, as well as the sun and stars, which I find absolutely poetic. Additionally it is present in every organ and tissue of the human body— especially the brain! With that knowledge, it may come as no surprise that lithium has a higher concentration in the body than many trace minerals we are told to supplement with daily, And yet, many, if not most people nowadays are deficient in this essential trace element. A sad reality, that is likely responsible for much of the psychiatric distress and aggressive or violent behaviours of modern people… But before we get into all of that, let’s cover the basics!
What is lithium?
Lithium is what’s known as an alkali metal; a soft, grayish metal; it is known as the lightest metal, so light, it can even lighten your mood! Importantly for us humans, it is also an essential trace mineral, even though it is more widely known for it’s many uses in modern technology (think batteries) or perhaps even it’s use within psychiatry in the treatment of mania, depression and bipolar (since as early as 1949). In pure form it is a metal, though it never occurs in nature that way as it is highly reactive in it’s pure form, much like it’s sister metals, sodium and potassium, also essential nutrients; rather, in nature it most often occurs as a salt or an ionic compound, and is rarely or never found in pure form due to it’s high reactivity.
MORE FACTS ABOUT LITHIUM
According to Wikipedia, lithium is a relatively rare element constituting 0.002% of Earth’s crust. As mentioned earlier, it is an alkali metal along with sodium, potassium, rubidium, caesium, and francium.
Lithium is a soft metal, which like sodium is soft enough to be cut with a knife. It has the lowest density of any element that is solid at room temperature; it’s density is so low it can float on water—as can sodium and potassium— though I don’t recommend trying this yourself as they are all highly reactive when combined with water. Here is a short video showing lithium’s reaction with water. Lithium is also a good conductor of heat and electricity, which is likely why it is so useful in batteries and modern tech.
Lithium is mined from ionic compounds known as pegmatite minerals—or in other words, crystals— as well as from brines and ocean water. According to research compiled by Matthew Carlson in November of 2020, there may be as much as 62 million tonnes of unidentified lithium deposits on earth, though there are currently only 17 million tonnes of identified lithium deposits with the majority (75%!) being found in “The Lithium Triangle” of Chile, Bolivia, and Argentina. [7] He states that there is a further estimate of 230 billion tons of lithium dissolved in the oceans at a 0.1-0.2 ppm concentration, with higher concentrations around 7 ppm being found near thermal vents (according to Wikipedia).
LITHIUM HAS BEEN GIVEN A BAD REP, BUT IS IT DESERVED?
If you’ve heard of lithium you’ve likely heard some wild tales around it. Even though lithium is an essential trace mineral, it has been given a scary reputation over the years. Many articles give delightfully detailed accounts of how that came about and if you’d like to read the full story I recommend this article by James Greenblatt, MD. and Kayla Grossman, RN the most, and it is what I will be condensing this history from. I will only offer you the cliff notes version here of this magic mineral’s history, for the more in depth tale, please click the link.
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