Salt adds flavor to food, giving our favorite French fries that salty and oily taste we love. It gives the steak that added kick to highlight its beefy taste. But did you know it can also help clear up your nasal passages and fight infection, bacteria, and other illnesses?
Salt is an ancient cure-it-all that is making a comeback to help fight off the basic cold that has been haunting us for ages. Now, we can all rejoice as you can use it to improve your overall well-being. In this post, we’ll go in-depth on what Halotherapy is and how it helps us clear out mucus and all the bad Joo Joo inside us.
What is Halotherapy?
Halotherapy, also popularly known as salt therapy, is an alternative medicine that uses fine particles of dry salt to promote better respiratory health.
The practice originated in Eastern Europe and has been used to treat various respiratory conditions, including allergies, bronchitis, and sinusitis. Halotherapy works by clearing out mucus and toxins from the lungs, reducing inflammation, and promoting easier breathing.
There is some scientific evidence to support the efficacy of halotherapy, but more research is needed to confirm its effectiveness. However, many people who have tried halotherapy report feeling more relaxed and having fewer respiratory problems.
How Does Halotherapy Work?
Halotherapy, in a nutshell, is basically being exposed to a large concentration of salt inside a closed room.
There are two types of rooms where salt exposure is done: active and passive salt rooms. Each room has its own features and benefits for those who need it the most. Let’s talk about them in detail.
Active Salt Room
In this type of room, salt is circulated into the air using a machine called a halogenerator. This machine grinds the salt into fine tiny particles that circulate quickly in the room. This means that the air you breathe has salt, which helps the halotherapy process.
Passive Salt Room
On the other hand, a passive room doesn’t have any fancy equipment. It’s just a room with many salt blocks, letting the blocks naturally break down and circulate in the air. This would naturally mean that the salt concentration in this room is lower than in an active salt room. Passive salt rooms are more commonly used for meditation and relaxation than for Halotherapy.
Aside from these salt rooms, there are other ways to do halotherapy in the form of various procedures. Listed below are some of them in detail.
Dry Salt Therapy
This is what halotherapy is commonly like. The room is cold, and you sit in a room with a halogenerator and breathe in the fine salt particles it releases. You are therefore introducing these salt particles to your body in amounts that won’t hurt your lungs or other organs, as long as it is administered effectively.
Wet Salt Therapy
This type of therapy is either swimming in a pool of salt water, gargling salt water, passing salt water through your nose using a neti pot, or drinking salt water for cleansing.
We can then say that Halotherapy is a type of dry salt therapy wherein the salt is not ingested but instead breathed in to have it clear our passages that need to be cleared and fight off bacteria and viruses in our body via entering those passages.
Halotherapy vs. Other Methods
Wet salt therapy isn’t new to us, as there are tons of commercially available options for wet salt therapy, such as saline solutions, bath salts, nebulizers, and other salt-based or added products on the market.
Although relief from mucus build-up, cough, and colds can be felt immediately from wet salt therapy options, it doesn’t target other areas inside the body. Wet salt only deals with areas they are made for or where they are being ingested. In contrast, dry salt therapy targets more areas just by sitting in a room with high salt concentration thanks to a halogenerator.
Halotherapy goes beyond what saline solutions and salt baths can do. They can help relieve even pressing illnesses that target the respiratory system and help rejuvenate and revitalize the skin.
Benefits You Can Achieve
Salt itself has a lot of health properties or health-aiding effects. In Halotherapy, it can help reduce mucus build-up, prevent infections, anti-inflammation, and immunity-boosting.
As mentioned, it can target other issues that wet salt therapy cannot. Halotherapy is an excellent supplement for treating the following illnesses and ailments.
- Asthma
- Sinusitis
- Rhinitis
- Tonsillitis
- Respiratory issues brought about by smoking
- Throat infections
- Lung infections
- Bronchitis
If you notice these are primarily respiratory-related issues, if you think of it, when you go to the ocean with a clogged-up nose and take a whiff of the sea breeze, you immediately feel some relief. The same principle is applied here for these respiratory-related issues. And to an extent, halotherapy can help individuals who have developed breathing problems due to COVID-19.
As mentioned, halotherapy also has benefits for the skin. Like with upper respiratory tract issues, halotherapy can help protect your skin from bacteria and, in effect, can also be anti-aging. Aside from that, halotherapy can also aid in eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, rashes, acne, rosacea, allergies, fungal infections, and even signs of aging such as fine lines and wrinkles.
Possible Risks and Side Effects
With the setting of halotherapy being in an enclosed room, the salt that the halogenerator uses or the salt in the air must be changed regularly to avoid just passing off bacteria and other viruses.
In the same way, first-timers to halotherapy may actually experience increased mucus build-up. Having foreign particles enter their nasal passages can trigger an allergic rhinitis reaction. Additionally, if the salt in the room is not clean, it can also cause pink eye and skin irritations.
If you’re planning on trying halotherapy, you should consult with your physician first, especially if you have any of the illnesses and ailments below:
- Respiratory failure
- Hypertension
- Open wounds
- Cancer
- Phobia of closed spaces
- Cardiovascular issues
- Tuberculosis
Conclusion
Halotherapy is an excellent supplement for basic respiratory illnesses and skin rejuvenation. Who knew a little salt in the room could go a long way? But before you take a trip and try Halotherapy, consult first with your doctor if you’re safe to go through it.
Once you are cleared, check out The Mystic Spa. They offer Halotherapy and other excellent services to keep you rejuvenated and refreshed from the inside out. The people at The Mystic Spa believe that inner beauty affects your appearance, and you should be healthy and beautiful from the inside out. With The Mystic Spa, you can feel good within yourself without any worries.
