The Sweet Powers Of Salt Therapy

Salt therapy, aka halotherapy, is said to reduce stress, promote better sleep, boost the immune system and ease cold and flu symptoms.Can it also shake up your Pilates practice?

- Stacy Baker Masand

When I got the assignment to write a story on salt therapy, my first thought was,how am I going to get through this? I’d been battling a cold and a sore throat for two weeks. My regular two- to three-times a-week Pilates habit, which began back in 2006, hit the rails. Once I started researching the benefits of salt therapy, otherwise known as halotherapy, which include easing cold symptoms, I decided to turn work into my own research experiment. I hit a local salt cave for three days in a row, 20 minutes per session, to see what the hype was about. Ten minutes into my first session, I could feel my airways open and my breathing become easier—sort of like using a mentholated ointment sans the Vicks VapoRub aroma. Happy to say, after day one, my throat pain seriously lessened, I slept soundly that night for the first time in days, and I woke up with enough energy to take a Pilates class. By day two, my sore throat disappeared, my energy was higher than normal and I’d even gotten rid of two cystic acne blemishes that had been lingering for weeks. I took a third session because I loved the way I felt even the morning after. Salt cave, I’m sold.

Salt therapy isn’t a modern invention; in fact, it’s a centuries-old practice that began in Europe after a local doctor noticed that salt miners in Poland had fewer respiratory and skin conditions than the general population. Today, there are countless spas offering halotherapy throughout Europe, including salt baths and caves, that tout their ability to soothe allergies, improve skin conditions, boost immunity and get rid of cold and flu symptoms. Treatment rooms that aren’t in actual salt caves use high-tech infusers and nebulizers to disperse salt-infused air throughout the room.

SALT OF THE EARTH