Salt Therapy for Breathing Problems
When you are suffering with breathing difficulties cause by a respiratory condition, salt therapy like breathing salty air is known to help relieve symptoms and make it easier to breathe.
It is just like a holiday by the seaside has been recommended for improving respiration for as long as people have been taking holidays!
It seems that the nation's favourite food enhancer, sodium chloride has a lot more to it than meets the eye. This article sets out to clarify this exciting form of healing and how it is now being used as an effective therapeutic aid in helping to alleviate the symptoms of many respiratory diseases and conditions.
Where Medicine Meets Folklore
Medical experts have taken a great interest in this natural remedy that many have come to know as a folk remedy and through anecdotal evidence.
In fact such is that interest that medical researchers have undertaken many in-depth studies into its validity as a natural healing process.
A two week seaside holiday was always seen as a welcome break for the factory and manual workers of the emerging industrial age. But there was more to this period of freedom from the often terrible working conditions of many industrial centres.
Many people suffered from breathing difficulties brought about by the poor quality of the air mainly caused by airborne pollutants from the newly discovered substances used in many manufacturing processes and exacerbated by the often cold, damp conditions those people had to work in. But after spending some time in the salty air of the seaside, many reported their quality of respiration improved, in some cases dramatically.
Modern clinical studies have found that inhaling air infused with sodium chloride particles is extremely successful at treating breathing troubles including many allergy-based respiratory disorders. It has even been found to improve bronchial conditions related to tobacco smoking.
What is Speleotherapy?
The form of therapy that arose from using the inhalation of salt-infused air is more properly termed Speleotherapy and it has become more popular as respiratory patients search for alternatives to their medicated inhalers and drugs to alleviate their symptoms.
It has been shown in many medical studies that the inhalation of dry aerosol based micro particles of salt is very effective at treating respiratory ailments including asthma and bronchitis.
In many landlocked European countries where people did not have easy access to the seashore as in Britain, it is common to visit salt mines in order to naturally treat breathing related conditions. Where long-term visits to these mines were once regarded as a punishment for those breaking the law, they are now seen as therapeutic and a whole industry in clinics and treatment centres has grown up around them.
How Does Speleotherapy Work?
This particular therapeutic process works by letting patients breathe in a sodium chloride charged micro-atmosphere that infiltrates the respiratory system. This air cleanses and clears the bronchial airways, dissolving excess phlegm and killing infectious microorganisms that are present.
At the same time, the salty microclimate stimulates the natural cleansing mechanisms employed by the body while helping it to fight infection and reduce inflammation and irritation. It acts in ways that drugs cannot and because it works with the body's natural defences, there are no side-effects and no chance of overdose.
This treatment is now available to everybody without them needing to visit salt mines, the seaside or even specialist clinics.
By placing a Himalayan Salt Lamp in the room, you can benefit from the salty air it creates simply by it being turned on.
Or by purchasing and using a simple salt pipe inhaler device, you can enjoy the benefits of speleotherapy wherever you are.
Does Salt Therapy Replace the Steroid Inhaler?
While speleotherapy is highly effective at bringing down the symptoms of many respiratory ailments, it should not be perceived as a direct replacement for steroid inhalers and prescribed drugs. In most cases it will enable patients to rely much less on their inhalers, but it is not recommended that you dispense with them altogether.
There may still be times when you will need the inhaler in emergencies, so it is simply a sensible precaution to keep it with you as normal. In all cases of doubt, you should consult with your own doctor and take their advice.
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