05-3 Efficacy of radon in the Japanese radioactive hot spring

抄録

1.　What is radon
  Radon which belongs in the rare gases, is the main element of the radioactive hot spring. As radon is chemically inert, it dose not make any complex with other chemical component present in hot and mineral spring water.
  There are three kinds of radioactive radon gases in nature, even though the word radon(Rn) often means ²²²Rn. The two others are thoron(²²⁰Rn) and actinon (²¹⁹Rn) and all of the three are decay products of the natural radioactive chains of Uranium, Thorium and Actinium. Since the half-life of ²¹⁹Rn is too short (4.0 seconds) and there has been little study done on it.
  Radon research is presently being performed in environmental science, geochemical science, medical science, physics, biology and technology with many other applications.
2.　Japanese radioactive hot spring
  The Japanese Hot Spring Law defines the radon concentration in hot and mineral spring water as follows.
  Radon (Rn): 20 x 10-10 Ci/1(74 Bq/l) or over : The concentration for distinguishing mineral spring water from common waters.
  Radon (Rn): 30 x 10-10 Ci/l(111 Bq/l) or over: Therapeutic spring waters containing specific minerals (radioactive hot spring)
  However, mineral springs for medical care are not covered by the Japanese Hot Spring Law, but are considered to be the springs that are expected to have a healing effect in view of experience acquired through the medical science on hot springs.
  The hot and mineral springs distribution map of Japan indicates that the radioactive springs constitute about 8% of the total number of springs. It is well known that the hot spring phenomenon is closely related to the volcanic activity. Hot springs in the volcanic country of Japan are distributed all over the country, while so-called radioactive springs of high radon concentration are mainly distributed in the western half of the Honshu island. In Hiroshima prefecture where the largest number of springs are located, 89.1% of the springs are radioactive springs. Most of the springs in Hiroshima prefecture are cold mineral springs flowing out in the granite areas, mainly from the matrixes consisting of Hiroshima granite.
  The yield of the radioactive springs in Japan, is 1/2〜l/3 of that of the remaining types of springs and are neutral or weakly alkaline, consisting mainly of simple cold mineral springs including almost no soluble chemical components other than radon.
3.　Effects of radon
  The human body is made up of approximately 60 trillion cells, and the number of cells is known to decline with age. Recent research results show that radon bathing helps reactivate cellular function, thus helping ease symptoms of chronic illnesses and aging.
  Radon decays continuously until final stable element, Lead(Pb), producing many alpha and beta rays. When radon and its daughters decay, a very strong ionization effect occurs that strongly reboots the body cells function, as a result reactivating body organs as well and raising the physical homeostatic level thus the body system to its original normal healthy state.