Do Salt Lamps Have Any Health Benefits—or Are They Just Pretty? A Physician Explains

What do salt lamps do, anyway? Salt lamps (sometimes referred to as Himalayan salt lamps) are an example of a wellness product with a controversial reputation. While we're constantly told to prioritize self-care and focus on wellness, many products are marketed as having definitive health benefits that aren't necessarily scientifically backed.

While it's one thing to enjoy a salt lamp's soft pink glow in your home, believing that it possesses healing properties—or taking it a step further and attempting to use it as a treatment for a medical condition—is something else entirely. That's why we've dug into the research and asked a health expert to find out if there are any proven salt lamp health benefits.

What Are Salt Lamps and How Do They Work?

A fixture of both spa decor and Instagram content, salt lamps are basically large, hollowed-out chunks of pink rock salt that contain a light bulb or other type of heating element. "Authentic" salt lamps are made from rock salt mined from the Himalayan mountains, usually in Pakistan. However, it's often hard to confirm this product's true origins when purchasing it.

When a salt lamp is turned off, it looks like a large, decorative, salmon-colored crystal sitting on a shelf. When it's turned on, it produces a soft (some might even say "soothing") pinkish glow. When the light is on, salt lamps are said to attract water molecules in the air that carry all sorts of bad stuff—like allergens, pollutants, and toxins.

Once these molecules settle on the lamp's surface, they're believed to evaporate, getting rid of those contaminants. However, this hasn't been proven. (Even if it is true that a salt lamp could collect these molecules, critics claim that the lamp would be quickly caked in them, which would then render it ineffective.)

Negative Ion Release

Most of the health claims made about salt lamps stem from the idea that they supposedly release negative ions into the air. Negative ions are said to counteract positive ions in the environment, which can come from electronic devices (i.e., your smartphone) and are believed to contribute to stress.

Scientists have been looking into the sources and potential benefits of air ions since the beginning of the 20th century and have found they can be generated naturally via waterfalls, rain showers, or thunderstorms. However, studies on the potential mental and physical health benefits of negative ions found in nature have largely come up empty, with no consistent or reliable scientific evidence of potential therapeutic effects.

While negative air ionization has been linked to reduced depression, more research needs to be done to really evaluate the influence of positive or negative air ionization on overall wellness.

Purported Health Benefits of Salt Lamps

There are tons of claims out there about what salt lamps supposedly do that are largely up for debate. Here are some of the benefits you might see in marketing language around salt lamps—but note that they're not scientifically proven perks:

• Reduce stress
• Clean the air in your home
• Enhance respiratory health
• Boost mood
• Improve sleep
• Ease anxiety
  
  

So Are Salt Lamps Actually Healing?

When it comes to advising patients who ask about salt lamps, Puja Uppal, DO, a board-certified family medicine physician, makes it clear that there is no data to support their various health claims. "I tell patients it's important to know the root cause of your symptoms," Uppal says.

"Using a salt lamp is like using a bandage over a cut: The bandage can worsen your initial cut by causing an infection. You keep getting new bandages and waste precious time that may be needed for a timely diagnosis, as in the case of skin cancer."

In other words: If someone is relying on a salt lamp to cure a particular health condition instead of actively seeking research-backed treatment, their condition and/or symptoms could get worse the longer they wait to get the healthcare they need. A salt lamp isn't going to be the quick fix.

On top of that, there's also very little evidence that salt lamps even produce and release these negative ions in the first place. That means that there's no reason to take any of the purported health benefits of salt lamps—including claims that they clean the air, boost your mood, or improve sleep quality—seriously.

How to Use a Salt Lamp for Stress Relief

Even if something may not have clinically proven stress-reduction benefits, if you find it helps you unwind and destress, that's certainly something. After all, we know that stress can contribute to a number of negative effects on your body and mind, including but not limited to fatigue, headache, muscle pain or tension, chest pain, mood dips, changes in sex drive, nausea, and sleep and digestive disruption. So everyone should take steps to manage or reduce their stress levels in a way that works for them.

One frequently encouraged strategy to combat stress is to practice relaxation techniques that target the sympathetic nervous system and anxious thought loops, like deep breathing and meditation. While there's no research-based evidence that the use of salt lamps comes with any direct health benefits, relaxation in the presence of a salt lamp can help mitigate stress in a general sense.

So if sitting in a room with a salt lamp helps you feel more relaxed while you practice yoga or mindfulness exercises, then, by all means, bask in that rosy glow. Here are some tips for using a salt lamp for relaxation:

• Keep the salt lamp in a space where you practice those aforementioned calming activities like yoga, meditation, and even reading.
• When you're relaxing under the gentle light of a salt lamp, incorporate other relaxing products, like a lavender essential oil diffuser, to boost your sense of calm.
• Use the salt lamp before bed to help transition your body and mind into a restful state. Research shows that making a bedtime routine can help train your brain to feel sleepy when the time comes.