Does a salt lamp really do anything for your health or is it just a good marketing trick?

You see them everywhere, those pink salt lamps. They look so nice on your desk or nightstand, right? They fit well in a nice interior. But do they really work or are they just good marketing tricks?

A salt lamp is said to bring multiple health benefits, but you need to have a real one. The true salt lamp is, indeed, made of salt. That well-known pink Himalayan salt lamp is exactly what you think it is: a chunk of salt from the Himalayan mountains with a hole in the middle, where a lamp is placed. Because of the pink color of the salt (which you can also find in a jar in the supermarket, yes), you get a warm light in your room. And that warm light is said to reduce stress, experts say.

Now, not much scientific research has been done on the whole salt lamp hype, but well, you have to make do. So we rely on the information we have: there are many fakes for sale, even for a tenner. Those do NOT work. Real Himalayan salt lamps come from the western side of the Himalayan mountains, from the Punjab region in Pakistan. That's the most important thing to double-check if you want to believe in it. If you have one made of real salt, then the salt could purify the air in your home a bit. Additionally, salt lamps are said to emit negative ions. And that's what you want, because your electronic devices like your phone and laptop emit positive ions. Something to do with the radiation in the air, to keep it simple. A salt lamp thus masks all that radiation from your devices, and this last point has been scientifically proven. But whether a small lamp is enough for one hundred percent clean air in a house with four laptops, two TVs, and three iPads and mobile phones to mask? Probably not.

So don't believe too much of it. You would need to place four or five large salt lamps in every room of your house where there are devices if you want to have more effect. And they also have downsides. For example, watch out for pets: if a cat or dog licks the real salt too often, it can be dangerous.

And if you want even fewer negative ions around you, then going outside and taking a walk in nature is still the best plan. There you will find very few positive ions. Or you can place a regular houseplant on your desk; it might work just as well for your mood as that pink salt.