Air pollution is growing alarmingly and becoming an increasing concern amongst the masses. And this deteriorating air quality has given birth to many chronic diseases, including lung cancers, respiratory allergies, and skin diseases. To effectively reduce your risk of contracting these diseases, you can install carbon monoxide detectors, air purifiers, and indoor plants in your homes. Ingenious solutions like salt saunas are also gaining popularity.
Salt saunas are a modern and innovative solution for the health hazards of today’s high pollution levels and stressful living. They are built in ambient spaces with Himalayan salt bricks. The saunas have soft lighting that provides a relaxing environment where you breathe in the salty air as part of a wellness treatment known as halotherapy. This article explains halotherapy and the benefits of salt saunas.
What Is Halotherapy?
Halotherapy involves using salt to treat severe respiratory conditions naturally. Researchers believe salt absorbs toxins and allergens, and are also a remedy for skin diseases and allergies. You can try weekly visits to salt saunas as part of your wellness routine. Patients with existing health issues are advised to consult their doctor before starting salt therapy.
Types of Halotherapy
Halotherapy is categorized into two main types based on their administration method:
- Dry Salt Therapy
Dry salt therapy involves using active salt rooms with a halogenerator machine that breaks down salt particles into microparticles. These microparticles circulate the room and enter your lungs, improving breathing. The micronized salt particles are antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antifungal. These features make halotherapy a more effective treatment than wet salt therapy, producing higher salt concentrations to be inhaled more readily for a therapeutic, detoxifying effect.
- Wet Salt Therapy
In wet salt therapy, you bathe in, gargle, and drink salty mineral-containing water. It also includes nasal irrigation using a neti pot. The trace minerals in the bath include magnesium and potassium, which are vital dietary minerals essential for the proper functioning of the cardiovascular and neurological systems of our bodies. The sea salt and minerals get absorbed into our bloodstream to eliminate toxins and relieve muscle aches and inflammation of the nasal cavity.
Benefits of Salt Saunas
- Better Breathing
Halotherapy increases blood flow to all organs, including the lungs, and improves their function. Experts recommend salt therapy to patients suffering from respiratory disorders like asthma and COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases), including chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and cystic fibrosis.
The anti-inflammatory properties of dry salt prevent mucus build-up within the sinus cavities, facilitating improved breathing and reducing the infection risk. The microparticles of salt line the airways and draw moisture in, thinning the mucus and reducing oxidative stress and chronic inflammation.
- Improved Hair and Skin
Salt therapy cleanses and hydrates your skin, giving you a healthy glow. It prevents the build-up of acne-causing toxins on your skin. Detoxification with salt is also known to rejuvenate your hair follicles and scalp, giving your hair a shiny gloss and preventing breakage. Halotherapy repairs skin cells and prevents aging and skin infections.
- Stress Relief
In today’s fast-paced life, anxiety is prevalent, leading to unhealthy weight gain, insomnia, digestive issues, and heart diseases. It is essential to slow down and pamper yourself in a salt sauna. A sauna increases your metabolism, helping in healthy fat loss, increasing blood volume, and decreasing hypertension risk. Thirty minutes in a salt sauna makes you feel refreshed and rejuvenated as your endorphin levels increase, improving your mood and helping you unwind.
- Detoxification
Salt produces negative ions in contact with moisture and heat in a sauna. According to research, the pollutants in our air, like carbon dioxide, have a lot of positive ions that can harm our health. Negative ions produced in salt saunas absorb the positive ions leaving the air fresh and clean.
Endnote
There is enough historical evidence to support that physicians have used salt therapy to treat patients for a long time because of its numerous health benefits. It’s also linked to a positive influence on the immune system. Salt saunas provide the perfect environment by combining serenity with the proper arrangement of salt chambers to reap the maximum therapeutic effects of halotherapy.
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