What Is Salt Therapy (Halotherapy)?

What is salt therapy? What is Halotherapy?

Read This article to learn how salt therapy can benefit your health and your wellness.

The word halotherapy comes from the Greek hals for salt. It is a modern method that mimics the natural microclimate of salt mines in the manmade salt rooms.

Halotherapy was developed as a medical treatment, and thus required scientific and clinical evidence for safety and efficacy.

what is salt therapy (halotherapy)

In classical halotherapy the main acting factor is dry sodium chloride aerosol (salt) with the following parameters:

  • Salt particle size: 1-5 mkm in at least 80% of the particles
  • Salt concentration in the room that ranges from 1 – 24 mg/m3
  • Salt with the following chemical composition:
    • NaCl: 97.7 % - 100%
    • Ca-ion: less than 0.5 %
    • Mg-ion: less than 0.1 %
    • SO4: less than 1.2 %
    • K-ion: less than 0.1 %
    • Fe2O3: less than 0.01%
    • Na2SO4: less than 0.5 %
    • Moisture: less than 0.25%

The benefits of halotherapy have been widely researched and reported in a range of professional medical and general literature over the past few decades, showing that:

  • Aerosolized salt has natural decongestive and cleansing properties that may help maintain breathing comfort and health.*
  • The skin may benefit from dry salt therapy’s natural anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties.*
  • Dry salt therapy may even boost the bloodstream’s ability to circulate in the tiny vesicles near the surface of the skin.*
woman relaxation in salt room spa taking salt therapy session
Salt therapy - woman taking salt massage session

In the last dozen years, halotherapy has been embraced by the public and as a result, stand-alone salt spas have opened and existing spas and wellness centers have added salt rooms to their existing facilities.

The Story of Halotherapy

The term “halotherapy” was introduced by scientists of the Institute of Pulmonology in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the late 1980s. Driven by desire to make salt-mine therapy accessible to a wide range of people, Russian physicians and scientists developed a modern method that improves on the original method.

woman breathe salt therapy

Along the way, pioneering researchers learned many valuable facts about transforming a natural, yet difficult-to-access therapy.

Early attempts to replicate the salt-mine environment above ground revealed a fundamental fact: though scientists could recreate the look and feel of natural salt caves by encasing the interior surfaces of rooms in numerous layers of salt, these lab-created facilities did not convey the benefits of the underground mines. Researchers soon realized that they would need a technological solution to saturate the air with salt in concentrations similar to those found in salt mines. This led to the development of the first dry salt aerosol generator, or halogenerator.

Halogenerators grind salt into an ultra-fine powder, which is then dispersed as dry salt aerosol. Halomed researchers have developed Halomed halogenerators that do just that, plus they constantly monitor and control a salt room’s concentration of salt aerosol, and adjust aerosol output accordingly.

Benefits of Salt Therapy (Halotherapy)

  • A natural, effective approach, with no side effects

  • Promotes relaxation and reduces stress

  • Halomed technology makes it easy to offer in your own community

  • Affordable, for businesses to offer and for consumers to access

Want to learn more about how to make a salt room?

Read our quick start guide

How to Guide

* These statements have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.