My favourite thing is my office is my Himalayan salt lamp.
It radiates out orange light, and acts as a soothing and grounding presence.
In fact, they are also extremely useful in your bedroom as a natural sidelight.
So what are Himalayan salt lamps, and what health benefits do they provide?
Let’s have a gander.
What is a Himalayan Salt Lamp?
Himalayan salt lamps are made from pink Himalayan salt.
Funnily enough, this salt isn’t actually sourced from the Himalayas, but from the Punjab region of Pakistan – which is about 190 miles away!
Salt lamps are commonly made from one solid chunk of salt, which is normally mounted on a wooden stand with a bulb inside. You can also find pretty baskets that are made up of several smaller chunks of pink salt, like this one.
It is a common belief that Himalayan salt lamps are a great source of negative ions, and that they purify the air.
Both of these statements are correct, but within moderation!
So What Are Negative Ions?
The air in our atmosphere contains both positive and negative ions, and a good balance of both is healthy.
In short, an ion is a molecule that has a positive or a negative charge.
Negative ions are strongly present in nature, and as webMD explains, they are created by events such as storm, the natural flowing of water and sunlight.
It is believed that negative ions can help alleviate depression, increase serotonin, boost our energy levels and increase the oxygen flow to our brains.
And that is why we get such a good feeling when we go for a walk in nature. It helps us de-stress, makes us feel more alive – and the negative ions contribute towards that.
Positive Ions
Many people do not get enough negative ions.
Electronics in our workplaces and home are large generators of positive ions. This can cause an ‘electric smog’ in the places we spend the most of our time.
Positive ions are the opposite of negative ions, and they can transform into negative ions in the body, and damage healthy cells.
The effects of too many positive ions can be extremely damaging. They can suppress our immune system, increase the effects of illnesses such as asthma, make our allergies worse, and increase levels of serotonin in our system (which can be damaging in high amounts).
Positive ions can also impair our brain function – forcing us to function less effectively in our daily lives.
These are just a few of many possibly effects of positive ions, but let’s get back onto salt lamps!
Salt Lamps and Negative Ions
Salt lamps do create negative ions, but nothing on the scale that you get from nature, or from a negative ion generator.
Having said that, the long-term effects of a salt lamp to your health can be fantastic.
A Himalayan salt lamp is also fantastic at reducing the effects of electromagnetic radiation from electronics.
Sometimes if you are working on the computer all day it can leave you feeling drained and mind-boggled. Having a Himalayan salt lamp on your desk during the day will help alleviate the symptoms of any radiation from electronics, and will help keep your mind fresh throughout the day.
Benefits of Himalayan Salt Lamps
Himalayan salt lamps have an array of benefits – here are the main reasons to get one:
They Clean The Air
The real benefit of a Himalayan salt lamp, is that it is Hygroscopic by nature.
This means that the lamp attracts absorbs moisture from the air, which is then evaporated back into the atmosphere by the heat from the bulb.
Very often our air can contain allergens, dirt or bacteria. Fortunately when a Himalayan salt lamp absorbs our air, it strips it of those impurities, and then the moisture is then evaporated back into our environment.
Whats even better is that this process also acts as a source of negative ions, which are beneficial to your health.
They Are Useful in Light and Colour Therapy
A Himalayan salt lamp is a great tool for overcoming seasonal affective disorder (SAD), which affects many people around winter time.
The vibrant orange hues given off by a salt lamp can be extremely calming – especially when you have a salt lamp on your desk at work during a particularly stressful day!
On a more general note, if you have a Himalayan salt lamp in a variety of different rooms around your house, then the calming effect will follow you around!
It is quite ironic to describe a Himalayan salt lamp as having a positive effect on your mood, when it releases negative ions. But it really does!
They Help to Sooth Allergies
Because Himalayan salt lamps clean the air of impurities, they will also have a positive effect on your allergies.
This can be especially useful in the summer months if you suffer from hay fever!
You can also get pink salt inhalers like this one here, which can be useful for relieving the symptoms of allergies, as well as asthma.
Although do make sure that you check with your doctor or a health professional before starting to use one – just to make sure that it is right for you!
They Make a Great Night Light
Apart from helping to cleanse the air in your room, a Himalayan salt lamp makes a great night light.
Certain types of light like the light emitted by a mobile phone or computer can interfere with our natural circadian rhythm.
They can disrupt our natural sleep hormones that come into action with the rise and fall of the sun.
This basically confuses your body as to what time of day it is, and can lead to problems getting to sleep!
To be honest, you will even find that your sleep will not be great quality when you do eventually get to sleep. You might be waking up on several occasions in the night.
The great thing about having a salt lamp is that the light emitted is a soft orange colour, which has far less of an effect on your natural rhythms.
This makes it a great reading light at night, and great for when you need a light that will not disrupt your rhythms.
They Improve Mood
A Himalayan salt lamp is a great choice to improve the Feng Shui of any room in your house.
The beautiful nature of a salt lamp will also help to relax and reinvigorate you.
This also ties in with what I mentioned about colour therapy and salt lamps.
Sometimes they remind me of fire gazing – you can sit and stare at a salt lamp for hours!
Choosing a High-Quality Salt Lamp
There are a couple of things to bear in mind when searching for a salt lamp.
- Make sure that the Himalayan salt lamp is made from 100% Himalayan pink salt.
- Generally the darker the colour of the salt lamp, the higher quality the pink salt.
- The bigger the surface area of the lamp, the greater the hygroscopic potential, as there is more area for water evaporation.
- Some lamps come with a bulb included, but you will need a bulb which pumps out a decent amount of heat for your lamp to work effectively. Like this one here.
- Himalayan salt lamps can last for decades if they are well looked after!
We get our salt lamps from a trusted retailer on Amazon – here is a link to the type that we have.
To conclude, Himalayan salt lamps are great for improving the space within your home, and they do yield health benefits over time.
They do not give off as many negative ions as a negative ion generator. So if your main reason for buying a salt lamp was for extra negative ions, then you should consider whether a negative ions generator would be more effective – or just getting out into nature more!
Salt lamps really improve the mood in a room, and their vibrant orange light is very useful in colour therapy. In our opinion, they are one of the best things that you can get to improve any room in your home.
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