What is a Himalayan Salt Lamp, and does they really have health benefits?
It’s become a wellness cliche for a reason: the Himalayan salt lamp is a beautiful and functional natural addition to home or office décor, and even offers health benefits. It’s no secret that I love these popular decorations—my home is full of them. I mean, I’m a sucker for anything pink, and these magical pieces of nature are lovely to look at. But it’s exciting that they can potentially make us feel better, too!
Himalayan Salt Lamps are formed from pink salt crystals, and are mined from the edge of the Himalayan Mountains in Pakistan. They’re typically carved out in the center to make space for a light bulb for use as a light source and decoration. These beautiful rocks range in color from light pink to dark pink with an orange hue, depending on their mineral concentration.
Himalayan salt lamps can add an element of beauty and nature to any space. But aside from just being beautiful, these rocks also offer some powerful proven health benefits! And by proven, I mean actually backed by science. There are a few popular claims that haven’t been supported, but plenty that surprisingly have! So let’s dive in.
Here’s the first thing to know:
Himalayan Salt Lamps emit negative ions into the air.
Salt is pretty cool—it’s a hygroscopic substance, which means it has a net positive ionic charge. In other words, due to its specific electric charge, it attracts water molecules from the surrounding environment and leaves behind more negative ions (versus positive ions) in the air. Wtf is an ion? Well, technically, it’s an atom with a net electric charge due to the loss or gain of one or more electrons.
Sorry to get all Science class on you—basically, just know that the air is comprised of tiny little parts we can ions that have a charge, either positive or negative. Energy is VERY real. And the state of the air can create an affect when the air ions interact with the atoms in your body.
The main debate is how effectively Himalayan salt rocks emit negative ions. Negative ions are most often emitted by running water, like waterfalls and oceans. A little motion tends to help. But Himalayan salt lamps also release negative ions into the air—we’re just not sure how much. And even if it’s a small amount, the more negative ions you have in your home, the better! I mean it really can’t hurt.
Plus I have a theory that placing your rock near a fan or by your AC vent can help get some of those ions circulating.
But we probably can’t say that Himalayan Salt Lamps “purify” the air.
Read any major wellness publication and you’ll see that Himalayan salt lamps are often said to be effective air purifiers.
The idea is that pollutants/toxins hanging out with the water molecules in the air are drawn to the salt rock like a microscopic vacuum, where they stick. Voila, cleaner air! This may be true, or not—unfortunately there haven’t been any studies done on this to either prove or disprove the air quality benefits. So it’s all theory at the moment.
While that hasn’t really been researched yet, the salt rock can’t hurt the air quality, and at best it does help! Plus there IS an exciting benefit to Himalayan salt lamps and their negative ions that actually HAS been backed by science:
Negative ions can help ease depression.
As someone who has lived with depression for a lot of my life, I’ll do just about anything to boost my mood naturally. And all you have to do is put a pretty salt rock lamp in your room? I’m in!
Even though it sounds backwards, negative ions make us feel good, while positive ions in the air make us feel bad. This has been proven by science—check this study from the U.S. National Library of Medicine that concluded “meta-analysis results showed that negative ionization, overall, was significantly associated with lower depression ratings.” They make it clear that the ions didn’t help with anxiety, sleep, mood, or relaxation, but they showed markedly strong results for depression.
I don’t know about you, but this kind of stuff makes me so hyped. Nature’s medicine in action!
A great way to get a huge dose of depression-fighting negative ions is to get to a large body of running water. The ocean is ideal—I’ve found being by it has healed me tremendously (there’s a reason I’ve chosen to live in San Diego after experiencing life on Oahu), as well as waterfalls. But if you’re like most people and can’t get to the water on the daily, it just might help to bring a piece of the negative ion benefits into your home with a Himalayan Salt Lamp.
Himalayan salt rock lamps have been shown to be proven effective in the treatment of seasonal depression. And in a 2010 study, animals exposed to a salt lamp for 14 weeks showed improved tryptophan and serotonin production, leading to an antidepressant effect. (The chemicals tryptophan and serotonin help regulate mood in the body.)
The negative ions from the salt rocks could improve your mood, increase your energy, and improve stress-relief, naturally. And you know that anything that helps the health of your mind is also improving the health of your body. Win-win.
Himalayan Salt Rock Lamps can also reduce Allergy & Asthma Symptoms!
In addition to emiting negative ions, salt is known to be helpful for those with allergies, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). And obviously, since it’s COVID times, anything that can potentially help you breathe is a good thing in my book!
One study from the National Library of Medicine looked at 124 patients with various respiratory diseases, and found that spending an hour in a room transformed into an indoor natural salt cave helped ease most of their symptoms. Salt rooms have also been shown to have some beneficial effects in mild asthmatic children!
Why? Breathing in tiny salt particles helps clear your airways and break down mucus. You can actually use a Himalayan salt inhaler for help with respiratory symptoms, which is cute and fascinating. You’ve probably also heard of a Neti Pot, which literally rinses your nasal passages with salt water.
While these studies were done in a large salt room, there’s clearly benefits to having salt in the air, even if it is on a smaller scale. I grew up in the arid desert of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and lived for a couple years on humid, salty Oahu. I have struggled for a long time with seasonal allergies (I’ve shared my favorite tools to help here), and I can attest that I breathed my absolute best on Oahu. The salt air really helps.
So while one single Himalayan Salt Lamp might not be enough to totally transform your airways, it’s a good way to help.
My favorite benefit is that they help you wind down for better sleep.
Himalayan salt rock lamps, when turned on, emit a soothing pink glow that is really calming, and the perfect color tone of light to help signal to your brain when it’s time to wind down.
You’ve probably heard that Blue Light can disrupt your circadian rhythm and trick your brain into thinking it’s daytime and to be more awake, since it’s the same wavelength as the light from the sun. (psst… I’ve rounded up my favorite Blue Light Blocking Glasses here)
Well, Red Light is on the other side of the spectrum and helps your brain settle into nighttime and slow down for a good night’s sleep. I use these incredible Himalayan Salt Lamp night lights; they’re the perfect size to plug in around your bedroom while you get ready for bed to help set the tone.
Plus, Himalayan Salt Rock Lamps are just plain relaxing. They create a more balanced and mindful space thanks to their attractive and organic appearance. They’re grounding—it’s an element of Earth that you bring into your home, apartment, or office, and being in nature is essential for finding peace.
An important tip you won’t often hear but is critical: you need to turn on the light often!
I rarely see this brought up in articles about Himalayan salt lamps, but it’s so important: the role of the lightbulb is not just to make the rock a pretty light source. It’s important to turn on the light frequently because the bulb inside the lamp heats up the rock, which is what helps activate the ionization process. If you don’t heat it, it’s not bad, it’s just not offering the same potential benefits.
The more you can light it up, the better the chances are of it interacting with the air to produce those negative ions for all the mental and physical health boosts.
There’s more benefits that Himalayan Salt Rock Lamps are said to offer, from improving skin quality to reducing static electricity in the air. And all of that may be true, but make sure to light your lamp to help it along! If your rock has a hole but didn’t come with a lightbulb, you can get the right kind of lightbulb here.
Which Himalayan Salt Lamps to Buy:
Here are some of my favorites!
- Large 9″ lamp
- Small 6″ lamp
- Rose-shaped lamp
- Modern rectangular lamp
- Sphere-shaped lamp
- Diamond-shaped tea light candle holders
- Salt lamp bowl with crystal chunks
- Night lights
The verdict is clear—salt rock lamps are worth the purchase!
So feel free to embrace your love of Himalayan salt rocks, and go crazy decorating with them. Just because there haven’t been a ton of scientific studies done on the Himalayan salt lamp benefits doesn’t doesn’t mean you won’t experience positive effects—the work that has been done is clearly pro-salt.
A couple last notes: make sure you purchase an authentic Himalayan salt lamp. There are some lamps out there that look like the rocks but aren’t actually real. True Himalayan salt mostly comes from the Khewra Salt Mine in Pakistan.
Also—Too much salt can be toxic to many kinds of animals, like cats and dogs, so keep your lamp out of reach if you find your pet enjoys licking it! (My girl Peach, pictured here, thankfully has no interest in them except to sit by and absorb the negative ions.) Mmm, salty…
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What do you love most about Himalayan salt rock lamps? Do you have some favorites to recommend? Share with me in the Comments in the Disqus section below!
xo,
Amy
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