SALT TREATMENTS PROMOTED TO COMBAT THE EFFECTS OF BAD AIR

By: Chelsea Chavira

CLOVIS-  The Central Valley is the heart of California. It’s in the middle of a lot of lush beauty, but when the climate is dry, dust, dirt, and particles get trapped in the valley. 

Warm, dry air sinks into the valley, trapping pollution in the lower layer of the atmosphere. 

“The pollution, when it’s concentrated near the surface where we all live and breath, which means we are inhaling that pollution and so we have this inherent air pollution problem,” Geography Professor Sean Boyd says. 

People living in the valley breathe the polluted air, which can damage their bodies. 

“The air quality is terrible. We have quite a bit of bad air days here in Fresno,” says Linda Moses, co-owner of the Salt Mine Spa.

The recent fires have brought in smoke, dust and dirt, creating a layer of haze over the valley. The hazy sky comes from particulates that are polluting the air. They’re too small to see, but when sunlight hits them they scatter the light creating that gray sky. 

“Tiny little particles that are so small that when you breathe through your nose the particles go right past your nose hairs and into your cardiovascular system which causes short term and or long term health problems,” Boyd says. 

Some people are turning to alternative therapy to cleanse their systems of these particulates. They believe pink Himalayan salt therapy can help by putting minerals into their body to remove toxins. 

“Going into a salt room is going to give you the same benefit of clearing out your sinuses and clearing out your lungs because all it is is salt. What other treatment is there that is just one ingredient?” Moses asks. 

If the bad air quality is creating mucus because of allergies or asthma then Moses says the salt will help break it out.