26 Apr Halotherapy — preventing and treating respiratory diseases
Halotherapy is a method that has proven its benefits in the treatment of respiratory diseases over the last 50 years. Together with conventional pharmacological treatments, salt therapy is successfully used for treating bronchial asthma, bronchitis, infections of the respiratory system, etc. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, at the beginning of 2020, halotherapy has been increasingly considered a potential part of preventative, prophylactic, and healing measures in the fight against COVID-19.
In this article, our colleague here at metta, and future doctor Ilian lays out the scientific data to support the benefits of salt therapy. His research brings together data published over the past decades, supported by scientists and doctors from around the world.
More on halotherapy
Halotherapy (dry salt therapy) is a modern method that positively affects symptoms related to respiratory and skin diseases. The therapy is carried out in small rooms with a regulated microenvironment, where clean, dry air is introduced with the help of a halogenerator, which is saturated with finely ground salt particles — pure sodium chloride, which is the primary therapeutic factor.
Therapeutic sessions last 40 minutes for adults and 30 minutes for children, and experts advise starting with a series of 10-15 days of treatment for maximum effect. Visitors inhale salt-saturated air, and the salt particles reach the smallest segments of the bronchial tree, nasal cavity, and paranasal sinuses. Halotherapy has a mucolytic, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulating effect. What does this mean?
Mucolytic effect
The mucosa of the upper respiratory tract consists of two types of cells: granular cells that produce the so-called bronchial secretion (mucus), which has an immunological and cleansing property. And ciliated cells help the mucus move to the oral cavity, where it’s evacuated. Sodium chloride improves the physical properties of secretion and its production, as well as the function of the ciliated cells, which remove foreign bodies, dust particles, and microorganisms, that have landed on the mucous membrane. In other words, salt helps our lungs get rid of accumulated secretions and potentially disease-causing microbes and organisms.
Antibacterial effect
Sodium chloride has an antibacterial effect and, in the past, it was used to preserve and store food productst. As for microorganisms inhabiting the upper respiratory tract, including pathogenic ones, salt exhibits the same antibacterial effect. This is due to the bacteriostatic (restricts the growth of microorganisms) and bactericidal ( breaks down the outer wall of bacteria, thus killing them) effect that sodium chloride has.
Anti-inflammatory and immunomodulating effect
The anti-inflammatory effect of halotherapy has been proven in clinical studies of patients with asthma, chronic and allergic bronchitis, acute and chronic rhinitis, and hay fever. First, salt reduces swelling in the lining of the upper respiratory tract. Next, it increases the number of phagocytes in the airways and enhances phagocytic activity (increasing the activity of macrophages). Macrophages are cells that have the ability to recognize foreign bodies. They engulf bacterial cells and, with the help of the enzymes that store specialized cell organelles (lysosomes), break them down and destroy them. Halotherapy also affects the local immune response in the respiratory tract, and positively affects on local immune and metabolic processes. And, increases the secretion of SIgA – an immunoglobulin that is present in bronchial secretion, and functions through binding to pathogens, viruses and toxins, i.e. neutralizing them and preventing them from accessing the epithelial cells of the mucous membrane and infecting them.
We reviewed a number of studies that have shown the positive effects of halotherapy in: upper respiratory tract infection, bronchial asthma, allergic and chronic bronchitis , COPD, colds, pharyngitis, sinusitis, tonsillitis, pneumonia (after the acute phase), and cystic fibrosis — which is associated with the infection with COVID-19. Apart from having a purely physical beneficial effects, a 40-minute session in a salt room (which resembles the conditions of a salt cave) calms the nervous system with infrared rays and helps us ground ourselves and slow down. Furthermore, any rest gives the body an opportunity to activate its self-healing mechanisms and is extremely important for our health.
You can find links to the sources we’ve cited in this article, and we hope this information helps us all be a little more informed nd relaced in our choices about how to protect ourselves physically, mentally, and emotionally from COVID-19 and other viruses coming our way this autumn-winter season.
Here at metta, you can combine salt therapy with other procedures such as a full body massage, Bowen therapy, acupuncture, or flotation in order to enhance the beneficial, anti-stress effect of halotherapy in a holistic way.
Check out our calendar for reservations.
Author: Ilian Petrov
Sources:
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10161255/
- https://www.breatheofstgeorge.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Halotherapy-as-asthma-treatment-in-children_-A-randomized-controlled-prospective-pilot-study.-PubMed-NCBI.pdf
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9019826/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10439712/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11197648/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25870681/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9424823/
- https://clinmedjournals.org/articles/ijrpm/ijrpm-2-009.pdf