Updated January 25, 2012

Salt Lamps Are Good for Your Indoor Air

Salt lamps, especially Himalayan salt lamps, are widely known and regarded for their natural ability to improve indoor air quality, enhance mood, and generate warm ambiance. The health benefits of using salt lamps around the home or business are well-documented anecdotally and based firmly in scientific principle.

What are Salt Lamps? How does a salt lamp work?

A "salt lamp" is the generic term for what is basically a mined chunk of crystalline rock salt, with a light bulb placed inside; often including a wooden base or plastic feet. The most popular variety of salt used for lamps is Himalayan salt due to the vast amount available to be mined, as well as the varied salt colors and quality levels to be found. Salt lamps are also commonly made from yellow-ish Polish salt; while Persian salt lamps are quite rare given the limited amount of this purple and white salt that can be annually mined and exported for manufacturing.

Salt lamps work naturally by attracting airborne moisture to the lamp surface which should be at least warm to the touch for optimal results. This hygroscopic process is the special relationship of salt and water. Water evaporation creates a small field of beneficial negative ions around the salt lamp; over time the balance of these ions in the air increases against typically more numerous (and harmful) positive ions, essentially neutralizing them.

This natural change to indoor air reduces airborne mold, fungi, bacteria, viruses, and many asthma and allergy triggers by creating an inhospitable environment for these things to exist. All of these pathogens and irritants carry a natural positive electrical charge AND require humidity to remain airborne and alive; the two conditions a salt lamp works to change for the good.