Healing Benefits of Halotherapy and Our Salt Booth

Having had asthma as a child and my own healing journey of trying everything under the sun to help, I fell in love with halotherapy when I first tried it in 2016. Even though I haven't used my inhaler since I was 17, and no doctor would say I have asthma now, I still really enjoyed the benefits of spending 30 minutes in a salt room. Feet up and just breathe deeply while meditating. 

Healing Arts has eight treatment rooms. I wanted one of the rooms to be a Himalayan salt room, but with COVID, I thought shared space for halotherapy was not a great idea. At the same time, we needed support for our lungs and the immune system now more than ever, so I was so grateful when I found a Himalayan salt booth. It is the best of both worlds: halotherapy with privacy!

• Sinus and lung issues
• Skin issues
• Boosting the immune system
• Detoxing from crappy NYC air

We can no longer just assume we are healthy but take preventative measures to ensure we really do stay as healthy as possible. So, we can add wellness care to the list of reasons why one would get halo therapy. 

Salt is anti-bacterial, anti-viral, mucolytic (loosens mucus & phlegm), and anti-inflammatory. For this reason, I have suggested using a Neti Pot, a specific container in which you put warm salt water to wash your nasal passages and sinuses. Instead of just rinsing out your sinuses, wet salt therapy, halotherapy, or breathing in salt vapor takes the healing properties of salt deep into the body through the lungs and the skin. 

Breathing in the salt is super cleansing to the body because it's full of negative ions. How can negative ions help your body? Back to Science 101, "A negative ion is an atom that has more electrons than protons, giving the atom a negative electrical charge." Our bodies are full of positive ions from all the chemical reactions and toxins in our bodies. 

Positive ions also come from electronic devices like computers, TVs, microwaves, and even vacuum cleaners and can often exacerbate problems like allergies, stress, and sleep trouble. An ion having a charge is known as a free radical and causes oxidative stress in the body. That's why eating and drinking antioxidants is healthy for your body, and now, with the Salt Booth, you can breathe in salt, which acts like an antioxidant, helping the body to heal. On a much smaller scale, you can get a Himalayan salt lamp for the health benefits at home. I would keep it at your bedside to get the most benefit of breathing in salted air while you sleep. The salt from the lamp automatically goes into the air from the humidity. 

When you breathe in the salt or negative ions, they neutralize positive ions by binding to them. With less positive charge in the body, there is less stress and inflammation, and the immune system is boosted. Negative ions occur more often in nature; things like lightning storms, sunlight, waterfalls, and ocean waves usually create them. This is one of the reasons people frequently report feeling renewed or refreshed after a storm or at the beach. Other than walking along the ocean or being outside immediately after a thunderstorm, exposing yourself to as many negative ions as possible inside a halotherapy room or booth is hard. It's an enjoyable way to spend time literally recharging your body!

More than 40 years of research conducted around the world shows that treatment with halotherapy has beneficial effects for patients with:

• Asthma
• Chronic Bronchitis
• Sinusitis
• COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease)
• Allergies
• Ear Infections
• Various acute or chronic respiratory diseases
• Smoker's cough
• Viral infections
• Coughs and colds
• Chronic ear-nose-throat illnesses

Salt is so effective at killing bacteria and viruses that new research shows that using salt on face masks can decrease the spread of infection. Salt is also highly beneficial to your skin in treating:

• Acne
• Psoriasis
• Hives
• Eczema

In addition, negative ions have been shown to reduce:

• Stress
• Headaches and migraines 
• Lethargy
• Depression
• High blood pressure
• Negative ions can dramatically increase your:
• Immune system
• Energy
• Mental alertness
• The overall sense of well-being

Healing Arts Salt Booth

Sitting in our salt booth, you want to take deep breaths to get the most out of your salt treatment. The deeper the breath, the more oxygen can come in per breath. The amount of oxygen we inhale through our breathing influences the amount of energy released into our cells. On a molecular level, this progresses all sorts of chemical and physiological processes.

The autonomic nervous system controls breathing. The part of our nervous system we don't have to think about that makes our heart beat and digests our food. There are two parts to the autonomic nervous system: sympathetic and parasympathetic. These two parts control different things in the body. The parasympathetic controls breathing, digestion, sleep, and libido. This part of our nervous system makes us feel relaxed, which is why breathing is so good during stressful times. It helps get us out of fight or flight mode.

Sound and Light Therapy

If that wasn't enough, our salt booth does sound and light therapy. I love light therapy, which you may already know because we have chakra light therapy and chakra glasses in the office as light therapy, but this is my first type of sound therapy.

Sound therapy has been shown to help relieve stress, help people have few headaches, increase focus and energy, have clearer thoughts, improve attention span, and relief from common ailments such as hypertension, stomach pain, depression, and joint pain.

Color therapy has been shown to reduce swelling and decrease inflammation. In this way, it's good for accelerating healing and pain relief.