Originally published by Release Well-Being Center December 1, 2020
Release Well-Being Center’s Salt Therapy Room exemplifies our unique fusion of ancient and cutting-edge healing methods. Salt has been used throughout history in many ways—as a cooking ingredient, as a preservative, and even on icy roads to name just a few. That’s only the beginning. It is essential to our well-being. From a nutritional standpoint, we need certain amounts of salt for proper muscle and nerve function, and to maintain our fluid balance. But there are other ways that salt can help our health too!
Active Salt Therapy: Wet and Dry
Salt is also recognized for its healing and medicinal properties, in hospitals and in the home. Wet salt therapies include saline solutions, nebulizers, skin scrubs, salt baths, and Nettie pots. New research and technological innovation has revealed that in its dry form, salt has other amazing benefits! Salt’s ability to absorb moisture, combined with its anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory properties, has significant therapeutic benefit for respiratory issues, skin conditions, athletic performance, detoxification, and general well-being. It gives your body the boost it needs for the processes it performs naturally.
How does it work?
Pure sodium chloride is placed into a halogenerator, which grinds the salt into specific micro-sized particles. It then disperses these particles as an aerosol into the air of a closed environment, such as a room or chamber. This application is called “dry salt therapy” or “Halotherapy.” As the salt travels throughout the room, particles are inhaled into the respiratory system. They land on the skin’s surface, and affect the layers beneath. The dry salt begins absorbing allergens, toxins, and foreign substances in lungs, throughout the respiratory tract, and on the skin.
Dry salt therapy for respiratory care
Every day, we’re exposed to pollutants, airborne diseases, bacteria, allergens, and other irritating factors. These irritants can wear down our respiratory system. This can cause breathing difficulties and illness. Halotherapy is the only known method to cleanse and detox the lungs as well as invigorate the entire body with increased lung capacity and oxygen intake. Dry salt particles also accelerate the transportation of mucus, the elimination of residual tar, and foreign allergens. That leads to a quicker recovery. A clean respiratory system naturally results in higher oxygen intake, increased energy, and an improved immune system. Studies in both the US and Europe show that Halotherapy has therapeutic benefits for people suffering from allergies, asthma, bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, and COPD.
Dry salt therapy for the skin
Halotherapy can help with many different types of skin conditions. It works for psoriasis, rashes, eczema and acne. The smaller particles reach beneath the skin’s surface and infuse moisture into the skin. The larger salt particles land on the skin and absorb any unwanted bacterial and foreign substances. Additionally, Halotherapy boosts cell rejuvenation and improves skin rigidity. This helps keep you fresh-faced and glowing!
Passive Salt Therapy
Passive salt rooms are environments full of large amounts of salt such as Dead Sea, Himalayan or Rock Salt. By regulating airflow, humidity, and temperature in passive salt rooms, the heated salt crystal absorbs water molecules in the air and evaporates them. This releases great quantities of negative ions. Negative ions are air molecules that are created naturally in lightning storms and rainstorms, next to waterfalls and near strong waves by means of sunlight and wind. This is the reason we feel energized in fresh country air or beside a waterfall. Research conducted in the last decade concluded that negative ions have a positive effect on health. These effects include improving mood swings and relieving seasonal depression. It also reduces fatigue, stress, and headaches, as the ions affect oxygen and serotonin levels in the bloodstream.
Modern Usage
The environment we live in today has far more sources of positive ions than in the past, which creates an electrical imbalance in the air and in our bodies. The discharge of high-voltage networks, air conditioning, microwaves, TVs, radios, radar systems, and computers all produce excessive positive ions. Our technology-laden environments create a potent source of positive ions that gradually build up and deteriorate our health. They can damage cells, and may be a major reason for an accelerated aging process and cancer. However, you can combat that. Exposure to and contact with Himalayan salt neutralizes the harmful effects of excessive positive ions in our surroundings. It is no surprise that salt caves and grottos are becoming increasingly popular.
Eastern Europe is well aware of the benefits of salt therapy. In fact, doctors in Hungary actually recommend salt treatments to their patients. Health insurance even covers these treatments. But you don’t need to travel to Eastern Europe to reap the benefits of salt. You can try it for yourself right in Westborough, Massachusetts. Visit Release Well-Being Center and begin the healing proce