The Health Benefits of Halotherapy with Erin Lee, Executive Director of the World Halotherapy Association
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Announcer 0:00
Welcome to Ageless Fitness and Wellness with your hosts Alisa and Mike McGlothlin
Alisa McGlothlin 0:05
Today we're talking about halotherapy, and how it can help many respiratory and skin conditions. And don't worry if you haven't heard of halotherapy we have an expert with us here to answer questions. And if you've listened to our other podcast, you've maybe heard how I was able to avoid sinus surgery using Halotherapy. And our guest today has her own story with her experience with Halotherapy, so I'll turn it over to Mike to introduce her.
Mike McGlothlin 0:34
Thanks Alisa, our guest has a really unique path into the industry along with her own personal journey. Erin has spent over 20 years in the construction industry and most recently the past 10 years focused in on the wellness and wellbeing sector. Erin became interested in halotherapy after trying it for herself and feeling the benefits for herself. After having such positive results. She wanted others to benefit from halotherapy. So, she decided to set up a room and in Surrey which is located close to London, England, where she resides. In September of 2021, Erin was asked to take on the role of executive director of the world Halo Association seen the world Halotherapy Association, which is dedicated to creating a global standard of excellence in the halotherapy industry, as well as to support educate and inspire those interested in providing Halotherapy. Erin is also the UK representative for the global wellness Institute's initiative and founder of the UK halotherapy network. Erin, thanks for joining us.
Erin Lee 1:41
Thank you very much for having me.
Alisa McGlothlin 1:44
So I'd like to get just right into it, Erin, if someone has never heard of halotherapy, can you kind of talk about what it is and who it can help?
Halotherapy History
Erin Lee 1:55
Absolutely. The best way I find to talk about it is actually to go back to where it came from. So back in 1843, there was a Polish physician who noticed that the men that were working in the salt mines didn't seem to suffer from the same respiratory conditions as the general public. So he did a bit more investigating and realized it was as a result of breathing in lots of tiny little salt particles. So he started to send his patients down into the salt mines for therapeutic reasons, and got fantastic results. As a consequence, there's now hundreds of salt rooms and caves across Eastern Europe, Russia, Poland, all offering halotherapy, or what they actually call it when it's done under the ground is called speleotherapy. It wasn't until the last kind of 15 or 20 years where they kind of modernized it, and they came up with a mechanical device called a halogenerator. Now this halogenerator, what it does is it grinds down pharmaceutical grade salt. And so we don't use that nice, pretty pink Himalayan salt, you know, the ones that we all like the look of. And the reason that they're pink is because it actually has over 80 different minerals in it from magnesium, calcium, iron, and dirt. And we can all react differently to different minerals. So by using pharmaceutical grade salt, we're using salt that has been basically purified and any impurities have been taken out of it, and it doesn't have any caking agents. So it's 99.9% Pure sodium chloride, which is ground up into these tiny little micro sized particles between point three and point five microns in size.
Halotherapy Particle Size
And now to give that some kind of context, if you think about one strand of your hair is anywhere from 50 to 100 microns. And these tiny little salt particles are point three to .5 microns, they're super, super small. And you can't actually see those by the naked eye. And they are so small. But the reason that halotherapy is so good is because those particles are so small. And it means that you can breathe in these tiny little particles both through your nose and through your mouth. But it can also land on your skin and being so small, they can get into the tiny pores of the skin and the hair follicles. But as they go into your respiratory system, they land on the linings of your airways, they land on any mucus that's in there. And basically, I like to call it a bit like a toothbrush for the lungs. So, we will eat food and we end up with plaque and things on our teeth. So, we brush them and that removes the plaque and makes them nice clean and shiny again. With our lungs, no one gets a toothbrush and shoves that down your throat to clean the lungs. But what halotherapy does and with the salt is actually helps to clean our lungs. These tiny little particles of salt if they land on things like mucus, which people with asthma, cystic fibrosis, COPD post COVID coughs and all sorts, you know, we've all got bits of mucus in there. And when it lands on that it actually draws moisture to the mucus helps draw it out and helps to get it out of your system. So that's kind of a really short intro into what halotherapy is, but it's basically sitting, breathing tiny little particles of salt into your respiratory system or letting it land on your skin.
Mike McGlothlin 5:26
Hey Erin, just for clarification, you talked about the pharmaceutical grade level, but talk about the difference of just being out on the beach and getting that salt air. And then also a lot of people will use nasal rinses. Talk about the difference of halotherapy versus those salt rinses?
Dry Salt versus Wet Salt
Erin Lee 5:46
Yeah, that's a really good question. Because I think most people have heard of, you know, a salt rinse or a neti pot or sinus spray, or you know, as you say, going to the beach, and it's good for you. But simply put, like, saline is saltwater. And they use saline in the medical world every single day. And it's used to help irrigate the sinuses. You've basically added salt to the water, and then you end up flushing it through the sinuses, which can actually be quite uncomfortable for some people. And it's also very difficult to do on children. When it comes to the halotherapy, that's really easy, because you just sit there and breathe. And then talking about the beach, the salt that's actually in the air is not dry, it's actually moist and wet. And once a salt particle becomes even slightly saturated, it can no longer be absorbent. And that is one of the main characteristics of halotherapy: it is actually using dry salt because it's super absorbent. So hopefully that answers question halotherapy is dry saline solutions, nasal sprays and being by the sea as wet salt.
Alisa McGlothlin 6:59
Right? Yeah, we've gotten a lot of clients that come in, and I think they think it's the same thing, but it's not. So, I'm glad you clarified that. I attended the world Halotherapy Association Summit last year, and I heard your story about how salt saved your life. If you wouldn't mind, could you talk a little bit about your experience with halotherapy?
Halotherapy for Eczema and Asthma
Erin Lee 7:22
Sure. Obviously, that was a bit of a longer presentation, we don't have quite that much time today. So I'll try and give you the short version. In a nutshell, as a child, I was growing up living in New Zealand, I suffered from eczema, right from being a small child. And you know, when you suffer from something that is visible, you can actually find that the world can be quite cruel to you. And I went through maybe a bit of bullying but definitely a lot of teasing. And you know, it's hard when you're a child and and certainly when it's something that it's not your fault either you know, you've got a condition, it's visible, people are picking on you pointing things out and it's not great for your mental health. And obviously back then when we were children was a long time ago now. We didn't really have the same kind of support network that there is now for mental health issues. So, it was kind of a we can do attitude of just get on and suck it up and carry on. But anyway, I did all sorts of things with my eczema throughout my childhood. I used to have to paint this red paint onto my eczema which not only stung, but it looked like I'd had beetroot painted all over my feet. And then it would get wrapped up in this like Kota. And to this day like the smell of Sudocrem what we call it over here, and what we might use when you've got a baby on the nappy rash brings back these memories just that smell. It's quite incredible. But you know, I would go to the beach or I'd go to the swimming pool and I'd have these bright red beetroot and feet. And there we go again with the name calling and the pointing or the staring. And so yeah, it was it. It wasn't a pleasant thing.
I also suffered from asthma, and anyone who has asthma will know that not being able to breathe is probably one of the most scariest things that can happen to you. And when you start to think that you can't breathe, it only gets worse. And you know, you start thinking oh my goodness, what's going to happen? I don't have my inhaler with me. Oh, who's going to help me and it kind of snowballs and makes that asthma attack even worse. So, add that on to the eczema and I was quite kind of self-conscious. I guess you could say you know, getting out an inhaler even and using it, I also had a bit of a I can do anything type attitude, and I thought that taking an inhaler was cheating. So it has all these different effects when your lifestyle as you're growing up.
But it wasn't until, what, four odd years ago that I came across halotherapy. And I was quite skeptical actually to be completely honest. And I'm thinking, how on earth is this going to help me? But, I was in the wellness industry where I had access to be able to actually go and try halotherapy. So I thought, right, I'm going to give this a go and just see what it's all about. And I did, and after a few weeks, I realized that I had stopped reaching for my inhalers. Wow, what's changed here? And the only thing that I had changed was the fact that I had been doing regular halotherapy sessions, so three or four sessions a week. And it started off by me not needing them during the day, you know, when you take one, if you're struggling to breathe, to then thinking, well, I don't need my inhalers, you know, morning and night. So I actually stopped taking those. And it's been now four and a bit years, and I haven't actually used an inhaler. So that is much healthier as well.
But at the same time, I also noticed that the eczema on my hands had started to go away. And it certainly wasn't as obvious. And I hadn't actually gone in there exposing any other areas to start with. But when I started getting these results from my asthma, and noticed that my hands improved, I then started to expose the other areas of eczema that were troubling me at the time. And I started to get really great results from that as well. So, you know, it was amazing that just something so simple and natural, had all of a sudden taken away the need for me to use both inhalers and steroid creams. You know, we all know that when you start using these kinds of medications over time, that they do have an impact on your life, and then you have to keep changing them or upping them. And there will come a point in time when they stop being so effective. So yeah, it's been quite transformational for me.
Mike McGlothlin 12:24
Yeah, congratulations on the transformation. It's a great personal journey. You know, we always talk about, if you just give the body a chance to heal itself, it can do a lot. So your story just supports that. Now in your design of some of the wellness places and things that you talked about, were focused in on some thermal aspects of it. I would love to get your thoughts. We have two ways of accessing halotherapy in our facility: either through vitality booths that includes red light, and then a halo infrared sauna. Talk about the benefits of heat and red light combined with Halo versus just setting a salt booth or in a salt room.
Therapy Layering
Erin Lee 13:12
Yeah, so um, my background is also designing and installing heat experiences. So saunas, steam rooms, ice cabins. And heat experiences have always been known for many, many years, as great or having great therapeutic effects. You look at the Scandinavians, and they are using saunas every day, it's part of their lifestyle. And they encourage children to use it as well, and they are happier and healthier. I think they are. And they're getting very good results from a physical side, but also from their mental side.
Infrared Sauna plus Halotherapy
But from the experience of using infrared. Infrared Saunas itself has so many different benefits, you know, ranging from relaxation, targeting the muscles, detoxification, helping with arthritic pain. And a really good thing about having an infrared sauna is that it's a much more gentle heat as well. A lot of people don't like to necessarily go into a really hot sauna, they might struggle to breathe, they feel quite uncomfortable, it can bring on maybe a panic attack or something like that. But with an infrared sauna, it's a very nice gentle heat. And the difference between infrared saunas and traditional saunas is that a traditional sauna will actually heat up the air around you. Whereas an infrared sauna actually targets the solid or the mass and in this case, it's your body and the muscle, so it's a very nice direct heat. So to be able to do this with halotherapy is absolutely fantastic. I think it's an Incredible concept. And it's what we would call therapy layering. You're getting twice the benefit in the same amount of time.
And if you think about heat, heat always expands things, isn't it? Like, when you're warm, you open up when you're cold, you constrict. If you are in a warmer environment, your lungs and your airways are opening up. So it means that you're able to inhale the salt much better. And it also means that the pores of your skin opening up and being more receptive to the salt there too. You do need to be careful, though, that you're not going to the point of inducing sweating during a halotherapy session. Otherwise, that's going to negate the benefits of having the salt landing on your skin. From an infrared point of view, I think it's absolutely fantastic concept, a great way forward.
Red Light Therapy plus Halotherapy
With red light, this is something that is huge in the wellness arena at the moment, there's a lot of scientific evidence coming through with all the benefits of red light therapy. And again, being able to do it with halotherapy is fantastic therapy layering. On top of all your respiratory benefits from that halotherapy, you've got all the cell benefits, like the mitochondria, so with red light, you're helping to rebuild, and reproduce and get your cells are working really well. So, it's helping to make you feel better. You've got the benefits from wound healing and scarring and skin conditions. But one of my top things that I've found with red light is it is fantastic for people who suffer with SAD. If you struggle over those winter months with lack of sunlight, having a short session of red light therapy, absolutely incredible. And it feels like you're lying on a beach. And you know, the cognitive function, functional benefits are fantastic. So, again, adding all of this in with halotherapy. That just is such a fantastic concept. I really like it.
Alisa McGlothlin 17:16
We live in Florida, so people do have access to the beach. However, right now, since we had the hurricane, there's a lot of beaches around us that are closed anyway. So, you know, I never really thought about people in Florida having SAD, but maybe some are that you're not going to sit outside in the heat.
Erin Lee 17:45
way to get your sunlight or you know, the same kind of red light that you get from the sun, and it's in a healthy, safe way, where you also get the benefits of the halotherapy at the same time.
Alisa McGlothlin 17:57
Right. And, you know, I recently read, and I didn't know this either, that doing red light can actually help you to not burn when you're out in the sun. So, there's so many rabbit holes you can go down with red light. It's fascinating. But what I wanted to make sure we got to today is you know, we've just opened in September and I've been really surprised at the number of people that are coming in specifically for detoxification. So that's mold, chemicals, metals, and then I don't know if you've seen on any news there, but here in America, we have had some train derailments and toxic fires that have happened even here in Florida, near Miami. There's one that's currently burning right now, at a waste management company. So, there's all these toxic chemicals being released in the air that people are breathing in. Would you mind going into how halotherapy helps with that detoxification process?
Halotherapy for Detoxification
Erin Lee 19:07
Yeah, sure. I mean, that's a really good point. I mean, if you consider that we take around 22,000 breaths a day, and we're breathing all sorts of things into our airways, including the air pollution or smoke, chemicals, pollens, mold, spores, germs, all sorts of things going into your lungs, and we can't protect ourselves against everything. So inevitably, it is going to go into your lungs. And as we briefly touched on before, salt wants to get things out. And this is where halotherapy helps. So as the dry particles go in, they actually try to accelerate the transportation of mucus and help to eliminate any residual tar and followed foreign allergies.
Salt in its own right is antibacterial and antifungal. And it's a natural antiseptic. So breathing in salt-rich air, directly detoxify is our respiratory system and our respiratory tract, including the lungs, the trachea, the sinuses and the nasal passages. So, as all the tiny little salt particles are actually all negative ions, they attach themselves to all the toxins and allergens. So that might be your pollen, your dust, your mold, dander, whatever it is that's in there. And negative ions are actually also antioxidants. What they do is they help to neutralize the oxidants and the free radicals. And they also help to balance out the positive ions. So all this is kind of happening inside without you even realizing it. And effectively it is helping to detox the system. So I guess, if you're going to combine that also, with infrared sauna, you can have an infrared sauna and you know, turn the heat up as well. And that will help detoxify via the skin, but from our respiratory system and inside our system, the halotherapy will help to detoxify the lungs by effectively coughing out what's in there. And the salt will be like drawing it out, and then you're coughing it out. And when we do have a clean respiratory system, then that helps us and results in a higher oxygen intake. And then ultimately, that gives us more energy and an improved immune system, which then enables our body to function better, and to then also actually protect more against what's coming into our system, just all working effectively.
Alisa McGlothlin 21:32
Right, so you have your own salt room. I'm just curious if you have any stories of clients of yours that have had success, maybe detoxing mold, or any anything like that.
Halotherapy for Mold and other Allergies
Erin Lee 21:45
Yeah, I think a lot of people probably don't even actually realize that they have a mold allergy. Because it can present itself in the same way as hay fever, might just another allergy, maybe it might be pet dander or something like that. It's only when you kind of track it back and really look at your environment and what it could be that's actually causing the allergy to realize what that actually is. I think that a lot of my clients that do come in with what they call allergies, potentially mold allergies, but we don't know that unless we go back and find that mold. So yes, I see quite a lot of people with seasonal allergies. And the funny thing about seasons is that they seem to be changing and getting all a little bit mixed up at the moment. So where we used to have very defined seasons, this is now much more drawn out. And we're already seeing people suffering from hay fever this early in January, February, and it will go right through into September, August. Some people are unlucky that they may well suffer all the way around the year. And it depends again on where you live and what you're coming into contact with.
But whenever I'm talking with or dealing with someone who has an allergy, like an airborne-type allergy, we talk about when they basically feel worst, or when they find that their allergies are at their peak. But I also need to find out when their allergies start. And ultimately, if we can work out when they start or when they're just the onset, that's the best time to start treating them is before their symptoms actually get worse. And what you want to do is like frontload before the allergies really kick in. And you know, there is no exact science, and everybody is different and everybody reacts differently. So we can't go out and prescribe them X number of sessions. But I would generally tend to say to someone, if you want to really get on top of your allergies come in three or four sessions a week for a good couple of weeks to build up your system. And then we can work at looking at what a maintenance regime looks like for you. And ultimately, we do get really good results. And then kind of looking at maybe 15 or 20 sessions to really get on top of it and then you would go into that maintenance phase.
So you know, it's really positive for people with allergies because it means that they can stop using as many of these over the counter drugs and prescriptions that you might get. With halotherapy being completely natural, it is considered a complementary therapy. So then, you know, I'm not going to say that it's definitely going to solve all your allergies and you won't have any side effects. But it will really help I believe in reducing the symptoms down more to a manageable level. So that you don't have these itchy, crying eyes. and constantly sneezing. So we've seen some really good results through that.
Alisa McGlothlin 25:05
I love it. Yeah, I'm in ours all the time, we have one at home, a HaloIR at home. And even my dogs love to get in with me.
Erin Lee 25:15
Yeah, animals. I mean, that's another really great thing that your animals can benefit from halotherapy as well. But, you know, having good access to being able to do halotherapy is fantastic.
Alisa McGlothlin 25:25
As we end things, Mike, do you have a final question?
Mike McGlothlin 25:31
Just real quick comment. There’s a lot of anxiety in the world today. How can halotherapy just kind of relax people?
Halotherapy for Stress and Anxiety
Erin Lee 25:42
Yeah, that's a really good question as well, and how halotherapy can really help with people with stress and anxiety from a point of view that we all are actually positively-charged, we all live in a very positively-charged environment and are subjected to electromagnetic radiation. And this comes from things like computers, TV screens, microwaves, iPads, iPhones, all sorts. And so, we're very, very highly positively charged. Now, all the tiny little salt particles that come into the room when you're doing halotherapy are actually negatively-charged. And what that does is it helps to bring us into a much more neutral, calm, and relaxed state, which ultimately helps us to de stress.
I find that in my salt room, that people often actually fall asleep, even though they didn't think they were going to. But they definitely float out of there. But it's all to do with the negative ions. And also, the halogenerator itself actually creates quite a nice, white noise. So it's very calming for the brain as well. And if you can get people also to be focusing on their breathing while they're in there, when you're when you're counting your breaths or following some kind of breathing pattern, you can't think about all the other external factors. So that again, helps to combine with helping to reduce that stress and anxiety.
Alisa McGlothlin 27:10
Yeah, I see our customers, like you said, they kind of float out. They feel so good after they've been either in a vitality booth or the halo sauna.
Erin Lee 27:20
Yeah, no. I mean, there is. I think there's no better feeling than coming out of a halotherapy room, but I might be slightly biased.
Alisa McGlothlin 27:30
We love it. As we're nearing the end here Erin, would you want to let people know how they might be able to get information about what the world halotherapy association is doing? And if they want to look at some research articles themselves?
World Halotherapy Association
Erin Lee 27:48
Yeah, absolutely. We do have a website, www.worldhalotherapy.com. There's lots of information on there. Just explaining a bit more in detail what halotherapy is, we also have Facebook and Instagram, there's lots of little bits of information there to you know, share the benefits of halotherapy. And we do offer some memberships if you are interested in learning a whole lot more or becoming a halopreneur, which is a little training program that we also provide.
But, you know, from going to yourselves, you know, ageless fitness. I'm sure you've got lots of knowledge and expertise and experience from seeing a lot of your clients as well. So it's always just good to talk to your actual provider, as well. And if you have any questions specific to what you're going through, to talk to them about it because there's a high chance that someone else has actually been going through the same thing too. So yeah, you'll have the answers there. But anyone can reach out to us as well. There's a Contact Us form on the website.
Alisa McGlothlin 28:52
Great. Well, thank you for being our guest on our very first Ageless Fitness and Wellness podcast episode. It's very exciting.
Erin Lee 29:01
I feel very honored. Thank you so much. And congratulations.
Announcer 29:04
Thank you for listening to ageless fitness and wellness. To learn more, call us at 239-301-4121 or come see us at 10011 estero town Commons place unit 101A Estero, Florida. Check out our website agelessfitnessfl.com We look forward to helping you achieve lifelong vitality!
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