Himalayan Salt Lamps: A Trilogy of Claimed Benefits

Take them with a pinch of salt plus or minus a salt lamp

Himalayan salt lamps are basically chunks of rock salt that are mined from the Himalayas (usually in Pakistan). They have been hollowed out to allow ample space for a light bulb or candle in the centre. When switched on or lit up, they show a muted red glow.

Believers of the benefits of salt lamps claim that they can alleviate the symptoms of your allergies, purify the air in your home, elevate your mood, and help you sleep better. They’re commonly sold in sculpted (crafted) or natural form. Their natural red glow can be modified to show white, pink, and orange colours (most common). Additional colours include sepia, purple, green, blue, black, and magenta. The sizes are based on their weights and can range from one to over ten kilograms depending on the area you want to place it.

How Himalayan Salt Lamps Work – according to their believers

Himalayan salt lamps work by acting like natural ionisers, meaning they convert the electrical charge of the air around you. They apparently form negative ions by a mixed interplay between water attraction (salt is hygroscopic) and evaporation. Say what? It’s a phenomenon that generates a lot of negative ions which are deemed beneficial to overall health. This is the basis of how salt lamps work: generation of negative ions.

Sadly, it remains unproven if they do generate sufficient amounts of negative ions that can be beneficial to your health.

The Trilogy of Claimed Benefits

Purify the air in your home. This is a big one and hard to prove I might add. But testimonials do abound and state that salt lamps can purify the air in your home and as a result, alleviate the symptoms of asthma or allergies.

The salt lamp attracts water molecules in the surrounding air. Suspended together with those water molecules are air pollutants (carbon monoxide, particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and sulphur dioxide). Believers claim that the water that’s attracted to the salt lamp evaporates and is recycled into the air around you while the air pollutants are trapped within the salt lamps. Of course, this works while the salt lamp is heated or is switched on. Trapping air pollutants would mean fewer allergens or triggers for your allergies or asthma. No single research study has proven or demonstrated how this process works.

This belief that salt lamps can purify the air in your home may be based on halotherapy. During ancient times, people suffering from different lung conditions were placed inside salt caves. The presence of salt in the air of those caves relieved the symptoms of their lung conditions.
Improve your mood. Are you having a bad day? Staring at and sitting beside a salt lamp might help elevate your mood according to its supporters.

A research study in 2010 demonstrated that rats exposed to illuminated salt lamps had increased production of serotonin in their brains. Serotonin has natural antidepressant properties, and may enhance cognitive abilities, and this by itself can improve mood. We’re just not sure if it can improve your mood (as compared to a rat). They also proposed that the improved mood is secondary to the salt lamp’s ability to generate negative ions, which remains to be proven.
Help you sleep better. It’s no surprise that bright lights during bedtime can hinder the production of the sleep hormone, melatonin. There’s no shortage of scientific proof on that. A bright light will not help you sleep better. On the other hand, a dim light originating from a salt lamp may help promote sleep and increase the production of melatonin. Again, to the odds not in favour of salt lamps, no studies have been done directly linking salt lamps and their ability to help you sleep better.

If you want to sleep with the light on and would like to use a salt lamp as your source of light, choose the red or orange salt lamp. According to a study done at Ohio State University (2013), the best night light for sleeping is still red or orange (or even a combination of both). Of course, the best scenario for sleeping would still be no light at all.

We Leave It Up to You

Unfortunately, there’s little direct scientific evidence backing up the claimed benefits of Himalayan salt lamps for now. More clinical trials are needed. But hey, it’s a free world, you can always try them out if you want to. They do give out a peaceful ambience and they are aesthetically pleasing to look at in your home, which can help you relax. They can be a great option for a night lamp for kids who have a fear of the dark!