Have you been wondering what the deal is with those salt lamps? It’s not just the nice ambient light. Salt lamps actually help filter the air, removing dirt, pollen, bacteria, viruses, pet dander, mold spores, positive ions, and more. Right now, salt lamps seem to be all the rage within the natural health community. Users report a dramatic change in the quality of air in their home, leading to many health benefits.
Reported Health Benefits of Himalayan Salt Lamps Include:
- Improves difficulty with breathing
- Reduces allergy symptoms
- Less stress due to a calming and soothing effect
- Better cognitive function, ablility to concentrate
- Less fatigue when working for long periods around other electronics
- Fewer headaches and migraines
- Reduced symptoms from many autoimmune diseases like rheumatism and arthritis.
- Skin is healthier, more supple
- Insomnia is relieved (though those who suffer from insomnia may not do well with the light on at night; reviews are mixed on this issue)
- Fresher air that smells better and feels better to breathe
- A better overall sense of health and wellbeing
Positive and Negative Ions
An ion is a molecule that, through environmental influences, has lost or gained an electron. The names seem a little backward from our perspective. Positive ions have a negative effect on us while negative ions have a positive effect. Positive ions are usually carbon dioxide molecules that have been stripped of an electron. Negative ions are usually oxygen molecules that have gained an electron. Negative and positive ions are drawn to each other. They bind to neutralize.Positive ions are created by electrical equipment: clothes dryers, computers, hair dryers, vacuum cleaners, microwaves, televisions, electric stoves, wireless networks, etc. They are also created by pollution. City air is filled with positive ions.
Negative ions are abundant in nature, especially in forests, near the ocean, and near waterfalls. They are created by the movement of water, by sunlight, and by the Earth’s radiation. When you sit beside a waterfall or stand on the beach near the ocean, you breathe in air that just seems to fill you with energy. This is the effect of negative ions.
Incidentally, old growth forests produce many more ions than young forests.
The trouble is, with our lives predominantly spent in offices, houses, and cars, we’re blocking out nature’s negative ions while we produce positive ions that bombard our bodies virtually every minute of every day.
The Positive Health Benefits of Negative Ions
This is what most sellers of salt lamps focus on.Bacteria, mold, and yeast flourish in a positive ion environment. Many allergens and other air pollutants are positively charged, and the positive ions themselves are believed to have a detrimental effect on our health as well. Research is really just getting started in this area, and it is a source of much debate and contention. A this point, we do know that at least there are serious health issues with some people when exposed to EMFs.
Negative ions will “detoxify” the air. The negative ions attach to the positively charged particles in large numbers, causing mold spores, pollen, pet dander, cigarette smoke, bacteria, viruses, odors, dust, and other hazardous airborne particles to become too heavy to stay airborne. But negative ions by themselves seem to provide health benefits as well. This surfeit of negative ions has long been associated with improvements in mood and physical health. It’s still early, but research conducted in the last decade is now starting to show that negative ions have a net positive effect on our health (aside from the aforementioned benefits of neutralizing the air). Ideally, we should be spending most of our time in nature not only to get away from positive ions, but to immerse ourselves in negative ions.
Outdoor conditions away from the city have an average ratio of 40% positive ions to 60% negative ions. Inside our homes and offices, there’s a huge buildup of excess positive ions. This is why we have static electricity inside buildings. Rub your feet on carpet and touch a doorknob and you might get a shock, but you won’t be able to repeat this process out in a forest.
Common building materials that contribute to electrostatic buildup include carpets, vinyl, plastics, drapes made with synthetic materials, wallpaper, paints, varnishes, dimmer switches, poorly wired homes (not up to current code), smart meters, and much more. Fluorescent lighting is a huge source of EMFs. Forcing people to work or attend school under this fluorescent lighting was one of the worst ideas of the 20th century. Most of our buildings also have poor ventilation and low humidity which allows static energy to build up. As if that wasn’t enough, the ductwork, copy machines, printers, computers, and other devices that ground will actually ground off the beneficial negative ions, leaving a greater number of positive ions.
How Do Salt Lamps Generate Negative Ions?
Salt attracts moisture. The small amount of heat given off by the light bulb inside of the block of salt creates heat, evaporating the moisture. This evaporation action, as previously mentioned, will reduce the amount of positive ions in the room, which in turn increases the amount of negative ions, and many also believe the evaporation process itself also creates additional negative ions. There’s some debate on this issue. Salt lamps may not actually literally generate negative ions themselves. Regardless, we do know for sure that they do reduce the amount of positive ions in the air, increasing the ratio of negative to positive ions by way of attracting positively charged water molecules and exhausting neutral vapor into the air.When a negative ion comes in contact with a positive ion they neutralize one another. Negative ions attach themselves to the positively charged molecules floating in the air and the molecules become too heavy to remain airborne. And as they fall, they take the airborne allergens and toxins with them, as mentioned in an earlier paragraph.
Salt, Water Vapor Attraction, and Evaporation
Water vapor is in the air we breathe. Indoor humidity carries a positive charge. Airborne pathogens (bacteria, viruses, mold, fungus, etc.) and other irritants and toxins use the airborne water molecules (humidity, vapor) to travel onto our skin and into our lungs.The ambient air surrounding a salt lamp is measurably cleaner by the transformation cycle of hydrogen and oxygen, as well as sodium and chloride ions. This characteristic is especially helpful for relieving the symptoms associated with asthma and allergies in general.
The range for the wattage of bulb that should be used is pretty wide, but large salt lamps need more wattage to produce desired results but too much wattage will retard the lamp’s ability to absorb the water from the air.
Electromagnetic Oscillation
An electromagnetic field surrounds the Earth. All life on this planet depends on this electromagnetic field of vibration. This field is known as the Schumann resonance frequency. The frequency of this electromagnetic field resonates at 7.83 Hz (cycles) per second. We also know that our brains (and we believe our entire body and all other mammals) operate on this frequency.In its neutral state, a salt crystal exhibits the very same frequency oscillation value, just under 8 Hz. EMFs caused by electronic devices have very diverse, chaotic frequency values. As mentioned above, we now know that these frequencies disturb our natural electric field, which upsets the natural development of our cells, unbalances our hormones, disrupts our natural sleep rhythm, and promotes illness. We are electrical beings, and the wrong electrical energy surrounding us robs our bodies of energy we use to live.
Himalayan Salt Lamp Color Therapy
The light emitted from a salt lamp may not strike most people as a substantial health benefit, but light color has huge effect on our lives!- Pink – Supports loving emotions, trust, compassion.
- Brown – Supports emotional balance and emotional clarity, a “grounded” feeling.
- Orange – Facilitates a feeling of security, beneficial to our nervous system, and helps to activate the kidneys and bladder.
- Yellow – Encourages mental comprehension, and activates the pancreas, liver, and gall bladder.
- Red – Strengthens the heart and blood circulation, contributes to a feeling of alertness.
- Blue – Raises energy levels, suppresses melatonin, boosts mental clarity, and elevates mood.
- White – This is balanced light which includes all of the other colors. White light has a cleansing and detoxifying effect on the body.
While we recommend LED lights over fluorescent lights for health reasons, it should be know that LED lights emit a blue light. It looks very white to most, and some bulbs look whiter than others, but it’s still a blue light to our body, which is great for daytime, but should be totally avoided as the sun goes down. This blue light from our computers, TVs, cell phones, and other electronics, inhibit the release of melatonin, which causes sleep disturbances and leads to other hormonal imbalances.
Salt lamps don’t emit blue light. The soft pink, brown, and/or orange light of a Himalayan salt lamp is soothing. The specific oscillation values of salt crystal lamps depend upon the crystalline color structure of the salt.
Some people choose to sleep with the lamp on. Some lamps have dimmers, but dimmer switches may put out enough EMFs to counteract the lamp’s effects when the lamp is turned down low. Some people say it helps to leave the light on while sleeping, but while it certainly is not as disruptive as some of the other light spectrums, no light is usually considered best for facilitating deep sleep.
Where and How To Use Himalayan Salt Lamps
To receive the maximum benefit from salt lamps, position them close to you in places you frequent. For instance, if you work at a desk, put one on your desk, closer to you than your computer and other electronic devices. If possible, place one in every room.Remember the salt attracts moisture and the light bulb evaporates that moisture. If the light is not turned on for several hours a day, it will become wet, enough to cause a puddle. If your lamp will be turned off for a long period of time, wrap it well in plastic, sealing out humidity.
How to Choose a Himalayan Salt Lamp
There are plenty of low priced salt lamps on Amazon, at Walmart, etc. Most of them work (check reviews), and if you’re unsure, a cheap one may be a good place to start. But cheap salt lamps really are a pain in the butt. A high-quality salt lamp looks much better, should last for decades, and you'll see its worth in comparison to a cheap lamp. Cheap lamps have cheap bases that break in no time, bulb fixtures that don’t stay in, and the larger lamps often come with a bulb that doesn’t have enough wattage.Every Himalayan salt lamp is unique. The shape and colors vary. Generally, the darker shades of pink and orange are considered higher quality. Cheap lamps are usually a very light pink and typically have visible black deposits within them.
- On a desk, a smaller crystal salt lamp between 5 and 10 pounds is large enough as long as the lamp is positioned closer to you than the computer itself. If this sort of positioning isn’t possible, 10-15 pounds may be a better choice.
- For small- to medium-sized bedrooms that do not have heavy EMF loads (no TV, etc.), 5 to 10 pounds is enough.
- For larger rooms, 10 pounds and up will yield the most benefit. If possible, get a very large lamp for large rooms and open office environments.
Conclusion
If your lamp isn’t warm or drips too much water, particularly in humid environments, try increasing the wattage of its light bulb. Also, remember that you need to use light bulbs that produce some heat. This is no place for the eco-friendly LED. Most cheap salt lamps within the 6-12 pound range and any good quality salt lamp will come with the right kind of light bulb, but you will need to replace them.Start with one salt lamp. Chances are, you'll end up with at least one for every major room in no time.
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