Last updated on June 6th, 2022
Himalayan salt lamps are a popular home decoration these days. They make for great conversation pieces, and they’re also supposed to purify the air in your home. But do Himalayan salt lamps really work?
In this post, we’ll explore their history, how they supposedly cleanse the air, and what conclusions you should draw from all of this information about whether or not it’s worth buying one for your home.
History of Himalayan salt lamps
The first time that people started using crystals with other forms of therapy was during World War II when miners used them as protection against gas attacks underground while mining uranium ore. It wasn’t until 1972 that anyone began selling them commercially under the name “Himalayan Salt Lamps.”
Later more coals were added to the fire when Dr. Karl A. Ziegler, a German chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on organometallic chemistry (a branch of chemistry that focuses on organic compounds containing metal) and worked at Hoechst AG’s research laboratory in Wiesbaden, Germany discovered that “the concentration of salt ions is higher inside these lamps.”
This led him to theorize that this particular type of lamp can purify air by ionization without needing an electric charge or heat from a flame–which means it could be used as a form of therapy against respiratory problems such as asthma and allergies.
Dr. Ziegler wrote up an article about what he called “Inert gas generation” which was published in the “Bulletin of Alloys and Compounds.”
The article states that sodium chloride, or salt, has a molecular structure that makes it very easy for these molecules to shed their electrons.
That meant that any lamp made from Himalayan salt will have small amounts of sodium ions floating around inside–and they are responsible for ionization (the process by which an atom or molecule gives off one or more electrons after absorbing energy).
Modern Understanding
Unfortunately, modern researches haven’t found any proof that Himalayan salt lamps work. They do not purify the air or help to regulate your body’s natural cycles.
If you want to clean air inside your home it’s better to look at modern air purifier which are certified by AHAM and uphold industry standards such as Nuwave Oxypure, Winix, Coway or many others that have thousands positive reviews and are leading choice for air purification.
Himalayan salt lamps are not a good choice if you want to purify the air inside your home (they simply don’t do that), but some people buy them as decoration for room or for spa therapy because of their beautiful colors and shapes. If you want to breathe cleaner air take a look at real air purifiers. Even the cheapest one does its job better than any other salt lamp.
My name is Alex Evans and I own this website. I have been in air purifier industry for several years now and nowadays I write about air purifiers, their features, benefits and downsides. Cheers!