26 Apr Salt caves and halotherapy
Salt caves are extremely dynamic structures built from naturally formed deposits of Himalayan or rock salt. They are mostly formed in areas with salt deposits such as the Atacama desert, on the Iranian island Qeshm, the Dead Sea region, Israel, Romania, Poland, Austria, Russia, and many other countries. The formation of salt mines consists of a slow and long-lasting process, and water is the main reason for their construction. When it rains, water pours through the cracks on the surface of the ground like a powerful river, opening new vertical shafts, dissolving the salt, and creating semi-horizontal channels along its way. After the rainwater drains, these dried-up “river beds” remain and form salt caves.
In the mid-20th century in Poland, local doctors noticed that salt mine workers very rarely fell ill with pneumonia or other respiratory infections. During the Cold War, research into the topic deepened in Poland, Ukraine, and Russia, and much of their findings remained a secret to the Western world until the 1990s.
The secret to the healing effects of salt rooms (both in naturally formed, and artificially made ones) lies in the saturation of the air with negatively ionized salt particles. They seep through the nasopharynx and the pores of the skin, and thus the properties of the salt are absorbed and have a positive effect on many physiological processes in the human body. You can read more about the specific ways salt heals the respiratory system in our next article on halotherapy.
In the 1990s, salt rooms started popping up in cities, with the purpose to recreate the microclimate of natural salt caves as closely as possible — both in terms of the positive impact on the human organism and in their appearance and atmosphere. Over the last decade, this new treatment has spread rapidly in Europe and overseas. The main elements that make it possible for salt rooms to have the same healing effects as salt caves are:
- Air saturated with pure, tiny salt particles (this is most often achieved through a special machine called a halogenerator, that spreads the salt particles into the room creating a healthy air saturation that matches that of salt caves);
- Infrared radiation, which further ionizes the air, warms the body, has a relaxing effect, and helps strengthen the immune system;
- Maintaining the air temperature at 22-23 degrees celsius.
To this day, the abandoned salt mine in the city of Solotvino, Ukraine is still used for the treatment of respiratory diseases such as asthma, sinus infections, and severe allergies. A large part of the patients visiting the treatment center is children. The procedures at this alternative sanatorium usually last between 2 and 3 weeks, and with results being more than promising, the former industrial city has turned into a kind of health center, visited by thousands of people every year.
Sources:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4575388.stm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_therapy
https://www.wired.com/2010/09/eerie-ukrainian-salt-mines-house-convalescing-asthmatics/