Himalayan salt lamps have become popular mainstays of home decor in recent years. Aside from just being an interesting bit of lighting, though, sellers of these salt lamps have attached all manner of supposed health benefits to them. Among these benefits, some users and manufacturers claim that salt lamps improve air quality and make home air healthier to breathe. Here are the hard facts you need to know about Himalayan salt lamps and air quality.
 How Are Himalayan Salt Lamps Supposed to Improve Air Quality
If you aren’t very familiar with the alleged health benefits of Himalayan salt lamps, you may be wondering how anyone can claim that a lighting fixture can improve air quality. This claim rests on the supposed ability of salt lamps to release negative ions into the air around them. The salt, according to proponents, attracts water particles in the air, which then slowly evaporate from its surface, creating negative ions in the process. This same process is supposed to attract pollen, dust, dander and other debris from the air, thus keeping it from being breathed in.
 What’s the Truth About Himalayan Salt Lamps and Air Quality?
For all of the claimed benefits, there’s no evidence to back up the notion that a Himalayan salt lamp could improve the air quality in your home. In fact, the negative ionization process is one of the ways in which ozone, a harmful molecule made up of three oxygen atoms, is produced. By releasing negatively charged ions into the air, the process allows oxygen atoms to bind in a way different than their standard pairing, thus producing ozone. As a result, negative ionization releases a gas that can be extremely harmful to human health when inhaled.
However, that’s not where the truth about salt lamps ends from an indoor air quality perspective. The worry about ozone is only legitimate if Himalayan salt lamps actually produce negative ions in the way they’re claimed to. In a 2016 fact check, Snopes.com found that these salt lamps do not emit ions of any kind into the air, meaning that the mechanism by which they are supposed to improve air quality isn’t even part of their real function.
The bottom line here is that Himalayan salt lamps are just that: lamps. While they may look interesting, they have never been demonstrated to produce any kind of health benefits. Now, if you want a lamp that really cleans the air, we have the perfect thing for you! The Vortex Air Purifier Lamp is an LED desk lamp with a built-in filterless air purifier rated for up to 175 square feet. With this lamp, you can keep your office, study space or bedroom healthier.