Himalayan Salt Lamps - do they really work?

Do Himalayan salt lamps actually do what it is claimed? Its claimed the ionize the air, turn positive ions to good negative ones and have a purifying effect as well as creating an atmosphere of calm.

Living in the Himalayas I decided to ask what people living in the mountains believe. Naturally in the high Himalayan mountains few people have access to electricity (perhaps through solar) and certainly going back more than a couple of decades no one had power to run electric lamps. However, it is believed that if you place a lump of Himalayan salt by the door, if a bad person enters your house, the negative effects of this visit, or evil spirits will be kept away by the salt.

So maybe there is something in this. Or is there?

I have three salt lamps - one at my desk, near my laptop, one in the lounge and one in the bedroom. Do I feel any different? No. Does the atmosphere feel any different? No. Do I believe there is some magic going on? Yes. I live in - they have just announced - the 5th most polluted country in the world - Nepal (hard to believe right?). Kathmandu is constantly full of dust and vehicle pollution. So maybe I need more than 3 lamps to mitigate the effect of all this. The dust is actually tangible - I would say it would take about 3 hours after dusting a table for it to be visibly dirty again. The pollution from exhaust fumes is less easy to see but we do have monitors in place. And that's a topic for another blog entry!

Meantime, all three lamps of are left on while I am in the house. The one in the lounge is left on all night. A friend in Ireland found the element of her salt lamp would get rusty quickly and need to be replaced. On enquiry she was told that they should be left on. This is because the salt absorbs moisture and thus, turning the lamp off for a long time will make it 'sweat' and the moisture will cause rusting on the electric element part. So now she leaves her lamp on 24/7. In Ireland.

Over in Kathmandu, I do not trust the electric supply or wiring enough to leave my lamps on when I am out of the house!
However, I have found that having the lamps have not 'sweated' or caused rusting. If I'm at home the lamps are on around 15 hours a day, if I am out then maybe around 7 hours a day. So that seems enough to keep them dry. In the 15 months I have had my lamps only one has needed its bulb replaced.

So what is my overall opinion of Himalayan salt lamps? I really do think there is something in the believe that they can provide healing, I just think that 3 are not enough if the positive ions in the air are abundant. But mainly I believe they do create a calming atmosphere. The light they radiate is warm and homely and that's enough to create calm.