Can the Salt Cave Prevent the Coronavirus?
The short answer: no.
We can’t make that claim for various reasons, the main one being that there have been no studies on it. And how could we? We all had to shut down. Also the FDA has not approved Dry Salt Therapy as a viable option for treatments for really anything, even though there are increasing studies about the efficacy of Dry Salt Therapy.
The long answer:
When considering whether or not you are going to contract COVID-19, you have to consider that it’s not only and exclusively about being exposed. “Getting” sick is more complex.
Let’s talk about how the body “gets” sick.
First, you have to be exposed to a pathogen. This can be bacteria, viruses, or fungi. Then it has to grow within your body faster than your body can kill it, basically. You start to get symptoms because your body has been trying to fight it and get rid of it on a cellular level, but it’s grown too fast and too much. Then you get symptoms. The runny noses, the coughing, etc. That’s when you’re “sick,” even though you’ve had the pathogen for days before.
With the body having white blood cells and other cells that fight off infections, obviously they can’t fight off everything all of the time. So why do some people seem to get sick all of the time while others don’t?
For that, we go to the microbiome.
Now some people seem to never get sick, or if they do, it’s never super bad. A large part of that can be attributed to the microbiome. The microbiome is the microorganisms that’s in and on us as humans.
Fun fact: you have more bacteria cells in and on your body than you have human cells. So you are more bacteria than human. (Sorry for the germaphobes out there.)
This microbiome is absolutely necessary for you to live and be healthy. These cells are responsible for how well your digestive tract works, keeping your skin from being too oily or too dry or too… anything. This bacteria also helps you fight off infections and other intruders. It’s the reason why we have probiotics and so many people focus on probiotics for increased health. The fascinating thing about the microbiome is that we are still finding new types of bacteria within our bodies!
Now the microbiome of your lungs starts with the microbiome that originates in your mouth, nose, sinuses, and throat. With breathing into masks, we are circulating more of that same bacteria within our breathing passages, so be sure to brush your teeth and if you’re into nasal rinses, do those too!
The microbiome and the white blood cells work together to help you fight off infections. But people still get sick, even with taking probiotics and eating really healthy foods.
How about a little salty help?
We know that salt kills bacteria and other things. That’s why the Dead Sea is … called the Dead Sea! Nothing lives there with the salt content being over 30%, but we also LOVE the salt that the Sea provides. (It was also home to one of the first health resorts because salt is a magical rock.)
We’ve used salt as a species for centuries to preserve food because it naturally kills bacteria, viruses, fungus, and given enough salt, everything. We also use salt for nasal rinses like the Neti Pot and know the power of saline solution, which is salt water and nothing else.
So that means it can kill the Coronavirus, right?
Well, killing any bacteria or virus takes time. And time is what a pathogen needs in order to work inside your body.
There’s an interesting company based in Alberta called Outbreaker Solutions’ that is doing research and development on a Compressed Sodium Chloride textile that we can use in hospitals, senior living care facilities, and more. The current research with this new textile is that it can kill bacteria and fungi in minutes! Other surfaces we have used for forever takes hours to days.
Now I bring this up because it shows how there is a huge push to be able to use salt for more than just your food.
We cannot make the claim that salt therapy can prevent the Coronavirus for a LOT of reasons. Also studies on prevention are difficult in general because you need to know a lot about the disease / injury to determine viable options for prevention. We still are learning about COVID-19.
However, here is what we know about the benefits of salt caves: Dry Salt Therapy could play a role in helping your body fight off infections in general. In fact, there has been a study on Salt Therapy and Acute Respiratory Infections that was done in 2009.
Ultimately, taking proactive steps toward increasing your health and wellbeing will help you either way. If you take steps to try to prevent you from getting sick with exercise, eating good foods, meditation to decrease stress, taking good supplements, and coming to the Salt Cave, even if you get sick, you will be able to recover more quickly.
The inspiration behind this post came from an intriguing webinar (second video) from the Salt Therapy Association. We’ve had a lot of questions about the Salt Cave and Coronavirus because of the information we have in general about the benefits of the Salt Cave and lung health.