# Salt therapy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 10, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-therapy/745720 "2016-02-10T15:41:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Anny\_Middon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Anny\_Middon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anny_Middon)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-therapy/745720/1 "2016-02-10T15:41:39Z")
My cousin gave me a salt crystal lamp for Christmas. A friend gave me a trip to a salt cave for Christmas. We’re going next week. All of a sudden salt therapy seems to be the trendy thing. Supposedly breathing in dry salty air is good for you somehow. Is this true or is it just hype? When I googled Salt Therapy I got mostly websites from salt caves and salt lamp purveyors, plus one from Prevention that didn’t really say anything substantive. Also, I have a tendency toward high blood pressure. Will the salt lamp cause me to take in extra sodium and possibly cause a rise in my BP? ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-therapy/745720/2 "2016-02-10T16:38:51Z")
Not sure about the BP question, you should confer with your doctor on that, but “Salt Therapy”, or [Halotherapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halotherapy), has been around for a while. Whether it helps most people seems to be up for debate. Again, I would consult with a trusted medical practitioner before going too far down the road, however I don’t think it can really hurt you that much. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-therapy/745720/3 "2016-02-10T20:50:30Z")
The salt lamps are pretty, but [don’t do anything for your health](http://www.negativeionsinformation.org/saltcrystallamps.html). ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2016, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-therapy/745720/4 "2016-02-10T21:25:52Z")
Salt… air? How? Salt isn’t volatile. That lamp will remain a solid lump of salt, and unless you’re licking it none of it will enter your body. Unless it’s finely powdered, and you have a fan blowing it into the air. In that case, I can unambiguously state that it is not a good idea to breath in lots of salt. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-therapy/745720/5 "2016-02-11T00:26:04Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > Salt… air? How? Salt isn’t volatile. That lamp will remain a solid lump of salt, and unless you’re licking it none of it will enter your body. > > Unless it’s finely powdered, and you have a fan blowing it into the air. In that case, I can unambiguously state that it is not a good idea to breath in lots of salt. By inappropriately extrapolating the Antoine Equation to ludicrously low temperatures, I’m seeing a vapor pressure at 25 C of 10[sup]-34[/sup] bar. Which, if we pretend an ideal gas, gives us 10[sup]-36[/sup]moles per liter, or 10[sup]-12[/sup] molecules per liter 😃 So yeah, not volatile. Homeopathic salt vapors? Salty aerosols are a thing. They’re well-studied but not fully understood. But they’re formed over liquid solutions. I’m not seeing home air currents over a solid aerosolizing much. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-therapy/745720/6 "2016-02-11T00:48:54Z")
Here’s rationalwiki’s entire entry on [halotherapy](http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Halotherapy): > [@](#): > > Salt therapy (or halotherapy, speleotherapy, salt cave therapy) is a form of alternative medicine which involves staying in a salt cave to breathe the air and treat respiratory problems. It’s quite popular in Eastern Europe (Poland, for example, is renowned for its salt mines).[1] Currently, not much research has been done on the subject, and the effectiveness of the treatment remains up in the air (no pun intended).[2] > > Halotherapy is related to salt lamp use, which involves lighting a candle or electric light inside a salt rock to “release negative ions”. However, salt cave therapy could possibly work, while salt lamps are just woo. ---
**Author:** ![NinthAcolyte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ninthacolyte/32/13676_2.png) [@NinthAcolyte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinthAcolyte)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-therapy/745720/7 "2016-02-11T03:21:35Z")
Here’s Skeptoid’s [article on the same.](https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4376) Nothing but woo. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-therapy/745720/8 "2016-02-11T16:47:17Z")
> [@Anny\_Middon](#): > > Supposedly breathing in dry salty air is good for you somehow. “Good for you somehow” isn’t exactly a very precise claim. What, exactly, are the benefits supposed to be? For bonus points, what is the claimed mechanism by which these benefits are achieved? ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-therapy/745720/9 "2016-02-11T17:21:31Z")
It is beneficial only in that “breathing in” is good for you, as compared to “not breathing.” ---
**Author:** ![iceiso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@iceiso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iceiso)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2016, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/salt-therapy/745720/10 "2016-02-11T17:39:30Z")
On a related side note, I once worked at a salt mine/processing plant, where several of the personnel mentioned that they developed new hypertension/high blood pressure problems since they started working there. I don’t have the background to validate their claims, but there was certainly a noticeable amount of salt in the air; your lips/clothes were always salty, a lot of rusty cars in the parking lot, etc.