Himalayan Salt Lamp Benefits

What is a Himalayan salt lamp?

Himalayan salt lamps are made from pink salt crystals mined from the edge of the Himalayan Mountains—the only place where you can acquire authentic Himalayan pink salt. However, the lamps themselves range in color from light pink to pink with an orange hue, depending on the mineral concentration. The pink Himalayan salt crystals are mined, then hollowed out and fitted with a bulb to provide both light and heat. Himalayan salt rock lamps also come in baskets of crystal salt blocks with a light underneath.

People use these salt crystal lamps for a number of different reasons; Their soothing, pink glow can stimulate deep relaxation. They make an attractive and organic-feeling addition to home décor, creating a more balanced and mindful space. For these purposes alone salt lamps make a welcome addition to almost any home.

Himalayan salt lamps can help you create a more mindful space in your home. But did you know there are also some health properties and benefits associated with Himalayan salt lamps that can improve your mind, body, and soul? Here’s how they work.

How does a Himalayan salt lamp work?

Salt is hygroscopic, which is a scientific word meaning that salt attracts water molecules from the surrounding environment.

Water molecules float around in every room in your home. However, water molecules aren’t the only invisible substance hiding all around you. Alongside these water molecules are dust, pollen, mold, and other allergens. Even bacteria and viruses can hitch a ride on these water molecules.

A large block of salt, like a pink Himalayan salt rock crystal, works by attracting the water molecules in your room. In so doing, it also pulls in all the pollutants and contaminants attached to these molecules. The salt rock lamp helps to detoxify your room by capturing and holding these particles so they aren’t left floating around for you to breathe in. Then, as the bulb heats the lamp, the water vapor is released back into the air, but the rock salt lamp retains the contaminants.

Along with the hygroscopic benefits, Himalayan natural salt lamps are also said to release negative ions into the surrounding environment. For those curious, negative ions are simply oxygen atoms with an extra electron.

These negative ions occur in nature via the effects of water, air, and sunlight. Have you ever gone for a hike through the mountains or near a waterfall only to feel rejuvenated? Negative ions are partly to thank for that wonderful feeling. Nature has the ability to heal, and proponents of Himalayan salt lamps argue these pink salt rocks can mimic, to an extent, the feeling you get from being outside.

Other Himalayan Rock Salt Lamp Benefits

Commonly reported health benefits of Himalayan salt lamps include:

• Improving breathing problems and reducing allergies.
• Less colds and flu (due to less airborne viruses).
• Increased relaxation and calmness and less stress.
• Improved ability to concentrate and work for longer periods around electrical equipment like computers.
• Fewer headaches and migraines.
• Reduced symptoms from disorders like rheumatism and arthritis.
• An improvement in skin diseases.
• Easier to get to sleep at night.
• A better overall sense of health and wellbeing.

It’s difficult to back up these claims with scientific studies, though there is of course little incentive for research to be done on salt lamps in the first place.

There are, however, two other potential salt lamp health benefits, aside from negative ions, that proponents point to that may help explain why so many people report positive effects from using Himalayan rock salt lamps.