The Science of Salt Lamps

Science offers a solid basis for the unanimous claims by lamp owners around the world about the positive effects which salt lamps and salt crystal bring to us through soothing light and color, the cleansing effect it provides for indoor air, and with powerful negative ions which have certainly been studied enough to be known as beneficial, in a myriad of ways.

For ages humans have known of the positive effects of this salt, along with its cleansing and neutralizing effects on your health. Genuine Himalayan crystal salt is the most beneficial, most potent salt available on this planet. It was formed over 250 million years ago, when the light and energy of the sun dried up the original, primal ocean water trapped in valleys of what will eventually become the foothills of the Himalayan mountain range.; a cycle which repeated itself for millions of years in the region - fill it, then evaporate it. This crystal salt is completely pristine and natural, identical in composition to that ancient sea.

We are not referring to simple rock salt or table salt; simply because rock salt assumes a crystalline form doesn't mean that it is of the superior quality that we have been talking about here. Elements within rock salt are not integral to the salt's crystal grid, but instead cling to the outer surfaces and crevices of the crystalline matrix. This is the fundamental difference between rock salt and crystal salt. A Himalayan salt crystal manifests a superior structure while rock salt is a cheap alternative to table salt - and is at least a natural, wholesome product. Edible grade Himalayan salt is superior to anything on the market in taste and purity.

There is no type of salt in this world that can compare to Himalayan salt crystal, including any of the many varieties of sea salt. There are many various "sea salts" sold on the market from all sorts of places, the Dead Sea being one of the more well-known. Sea salt is full of pollution and impurities thanks to mankind mainly; hence nearly 90% of sea salt vendors are selling processed salt rather than natural sea salt.

By evaporating sea water, salt is harvested and normally sent to a processing plant. This process reaps natural minerals from the salt and structurally ruins it. For the few that do not process their sea salt, all the pollution and impurity remains - left from oil and chemical spills, oil/fuel and trash from ships and boats, raw/processed sewage that gets dumped into our oceans by coastal cities and metropolitan areas, aircraft that make it standard procedure to dump jet fuel over the open water before landing. Pure mined bath salt, like Himalayan salt, aged hundreds of millions of years.

Do salt lamps really work?

Salt lamps work wonderfully, owning is believing. We are well aware of the initial skepticism; the initial purchase that led to the birth of the Ionicsalts brand was simply because we found salt lamps to be very beautiful; even if they did not work to improve our air, they were still very pretty glowing lamps. We learned over a matter of days that there was something more to a salt lamp, something natural and good. But, even more was discovered about these lamps in the following year.

Medical Evidence for Use of a Salt Lamp

During a one-year period between scheduled testing, a genetic, chronic, and de-generative lung disorder completely stabilized and reversed course by improving the medical test results which confirm it. This disorder doesn't reverse, even stabilization is a long-reaching goal. Over that year, this person was exposed to Himalayan salt crystal all day and during sleep; began a morning routine of taking a shot of sole ("so-lay"); bathing daily with our Himalayan crystal salt; using edible pink Himlayan crystal salt on food. The doctor is a board-certified pulmonary/critical care specialist here in Charlotte, NC - and now also owns a salt lamp.

We are quite convinced the reversal of this (irreversible) disease is directly tied to daily and nightly exposure to improved indoor air and higher levels of negative ions; and possibly a more unexplainable healing effect of light. These days, six years later, the subject is still stabilized and living life without oxygen tubes and nebulizers; and still surrounded by our salt lamps!

OK, but how do salt lamps improve air and well-being you ask? Simple science really, the bond between sodium and chloride is naturally ionic and attractive to airborne humidity, this is established, scientific fact. Yet, despite many claims, there is no repeatable, verifiable scientific data available for peer review, on the true "ionizing capacity"; or efficacy; or impact on the human mental/bio-physical condition. Scientists in Germany are said to have done studies on salt lamps, but the published data is unavailable or never actually existed - we're still looking though.

Himalayan salt crystal is, by it's very nature, hygroscopic. By removing moisture from indoor air, things such as bacteria, virii, fungi, mold spores, and respiratory allergens and asthma triggers cannot remain airborne; they fall to the floor by gravity and die... especially in an environment with higher levels of negative ions. Ironically, this moisture gets naturally drawn to the salt crystal's surface could be directly responsible in large part for the negative-charged ionic field build-up around the lamp. As it happens, evaporation of water releases negative ions.

Be careful not to misinterpret this based on lack of evidence. There is a mountain of circumstantial evidence, testimonials, and peripheral, corroborating science data. No specific research found yet, but word is spreading. We care little for what lab instruments might indicate or measure, the results are only as good as the instrument and the operator. The answer is in the human response and bio-physical changes on a cellular level.

Negative Ions and Salt Lamps

In nature, negative ions are created through forces of rainstorms, waterfalls, lighning, sunlight, ocean waves, and wind. In fresh country air we find up to 4000 negative ions per cubic centimeter - the size of a sugar cube.

Up to 10,000 negative ions can be found near heavy surf, or close to a waterfall. However the number of negative ions in metropolitan areas often doesn't reach 100! Think about that next time you're stuck in traffic.

The most common myth about salt lamps is that these lamps emit or generate negative ions. This is not true. There isn't enough heat or light energy to eject negative ions from the salt crystal. This doesn't mean that indoor air doesn't experience increased levels of negative ions around a salt lamp, only that these ions do not originate from the salt.

For more in-depth information on a how salt lamp works improves indoor air quality, this article provides good information.

Light Therapy and Electronic Smog

The various colors of the lamp can have positive effects. The therapeutic wavelengths of the colors of these crystals are visible to our eyes and affect reorganization of the epidermal skin tissue (especially in the orange range). These are also used in allopathic medicine for treating skin cancer.

As many of us sit in front of televisions or computer monitors, we are bombarded with "electronic smog", an electro-magnetic frequency of around 100 to 160 Hz. (Hertz). Our brainwaves, however, vibrate at around 8 Hz.; a rate which is equal to the Schuhmann Resonance Frequency. In other words, while watching TV or working at a computer, our bodies are exposed to the vibration of frequencies 20 times faster than our brainwaves. The results are nervousness, insomnia, and lack of concentration. A salt lamp will counter the smog.

Moreover, this electromagnetic pollution causes the increased production of destructive, and often cancer-causing, free radicals. In fact, it is widely accepted that many types of cancer result from reactions between DNA and free radicals, causing the cell to mutate thereby disrupting the cell cycle and leading on to malignant cancer.

Conclusions about Salt Lamps

We're hoping the medical, science, and research communities will take notice. Himalayan salt lamps naturally improve indoor air and environmental quality; the known and potential benefits to human well-being are enormous and not yet fully discovered.