diff --git a/app/controllers/notifications_controller.rb b/app/controllers/notifications_controller.rb
index 2fb715287..199893bd7 100644
--- a/app/controllers/notifications_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/notifications_controller.rb
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ class NotificationsController < ApplicationController
 
   def index
     @notifications = current_user.notifications.unread.recent.for_render
+    @notifications.each { |notification| notification.mark_as_read! }
   end
 
 end
diff --git a/app/models/notification.rb b/app/models/notification.rb
index aff5c38fa..0f387f61f 100644
--- a/app/models/notification.rb
+++ b/app/models/notification.rb
@@ -9,4 +9,8 @@ class Notification < ActiveRecord::Base
   def timestamp
     activity.trackable.created_at
   end
+
+  def mark_as_read!
+    update_attribute :read, true
+  end
 end
diff --git a/spec/controllers/notifications_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/notifications_controller_spec.rb
index c4ff5f247..fa6104a9c 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/notifications_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/notifications_controller_spec.rb
@@ -4,13 +4,18 @@ describe NotificationsController do
 
   describe "#index" do
     let(:user) { create :user }
-    let(:notification) { create :notification, user: user }
 
-    it "assigns @notifications" do
+    it "mark all notifications as read" do
+      notifications = [create(:notification, user: user), create(:notification, user: user)]
+      Notification.all.each do |notification|
+        expect(notification.read).to be false
+      end
+
       sign_in user
-
-      get :index, debate: { title: 'A sample debate', description: 'this is a sample debate', terms_of_service: 1 }
-      expect(assigns(:notifications)).to eq user.notifications.unread.recent.for_render
+      get :index
+      Notification.all.each do |notification|
+        expect(notification.read).to be true
+      end
     end
   end
 end
diff --git a/spec/models/notification_spec.rb b/spec/models/notification_spec.rb
index ee5f00e6d..8d5e3dd97 100644
--- a/spec/models/notification_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/notification_spec.rb
@@ -41,4 +41,14 @@ describe Notification do
       expect(notification.timestamp).to eq comment.created_at
     end
   end
+
+  describe "#mark_as_read" do
+    it "set up read flag to true" do
+      notification = create :notification
+      expect(notification.read).to be false
+
+      notification.mark_as_read!
+      expect(notification.read).to be true
+    end
+  end
 end