What is a Salt Room?
A “Salt Room” short for “Himalayan Salt Room “, also known as a “Salt Cave” is a place where guests spend 45 minutes relaxing in a lounge chair and breathe in air that’s been filled with micronized salt particles, mimicking the atmosphere and conditions of authentic European salt mines. This practice is known as salt therapy, otherwise known as Halotherapy, and is a relatively new form of natural holistic wellness that’s been gaining momentum all around the world. Those that have tried it are reporting remarkable results for mind and body.
History of Salt Rooms
Evolved from Speleotherapy which is an alternative medicine of respiratory therapy involving breathing inside a natural underground cave that contains salt. In the 1800s, a polish doctor noticed that salt mine workers had fewer respiratory concerns than other miners. A German doctor also noted respiratory health benefits in people spending time in salt caves. Salt chambers became popular forms of therapy in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1976 the first halogenerator was created to mimic and replicate the particles of air dispersed in the salt caves. The halogenerator is a machine that intakes air and is comprised of a salt grinder that transforms pure-grade sodium chloride into precise micronized salt particles and disperses the dry salt aerosol through a fan into the enclosed salt room.
Benefits of a Salt Room
Dry Salt inhaled can be super absorbent especially when it is micronized salt particles as they are anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and have anti-inflammatory and antiseptic properties. All of this helps builds the immune system. The salt aerosol and negative ions released into the salt room produce an atmosphere that is beneficial in multiple ways for humans. As you breathe the salt room air, the dry salt particles begin to absorb the toxins and allergens in your respiratory tract, and eliminate them from the body, resulting in a decrease in mucus, a decrease in inflammation, a detox of your entire respiratory system, and a feeling of relief during breathing.
Immune Function
Before the invention of the refrigerator, salt was commonly used for food preservation due to its antimicrobial properties. Breathing in salt ions in the air can have a detoxifying effect on our bodies. It’s also well known that spending time at the beach, near the ocean, leaves you feeling rejuvenated as a result of breathing in the salt-rich air. Salt rich air that we breathe oceanside can boost our immune system, and the ocean air is especially beneficial to the respiratory organs and the skin, but also improves circulation and strengthens the body’s defenses. This salt-rich atmosphere in a salt cave is like ocean-air, but in a more controlled and stabilized environment that’s been optimized for healing. The concentration of particles in a salt room is about 10 to 15 times the concentration found by the ocean, making salt room based halotherapy sessions an ideal method to boost your body’s immune function.
Stress Reduction and General Natural Wellness
The detoxifying effects of a salt room can help with breathing, reduce symptoms of various respiratory illnesses and skin conditions, reduce inflammation, strengthen the immune system, and reduce the signs of aging. Salt Rooms can help improve our well-being and quality of life
Besides the therapeutic health benefits the calming environments found in salt rooms also have the added benefit of improved relaxation, which aids in stress reduction, increase energy levels, and promote better sleep patterns — all of which can help improve our overall sense of well-being. But with centuries old tales of the healing powers of salt mines, the overwhelming feedback from salt mine workers over the last several decades, and the mounds of clinical evidence coming to light every day, proving that regular halotherapy sessions in a salt room can improve our quality of life — we can conclude that salt rooms have amazing health benefits for mind and body, for young and old alike.
