Your health: Salt to heal the soul
Halotherapy centers in Israel bring new, natural relief option to respiratory ailment sufferers
Staff Report
For years, medical doctors in the United States have been telling their patients to cut out the salt. However, many doctors in Europe are actually sending their patients to get more salt in their lives. Not to eat, but instead sending them to man-made rooms of salt where they can find a natural therapy solution to their nagging ear, nose and throat medical conditions.
Back in the middle ages, Roman Catholic monks utilized the power of salt caves to help sick people suffering from medical conditions such as asthma, snoring, chronic bronchitis and other respiratory ailments. However, they were not the first. The therapy actually dates back to ancient times in Israel, where Breathewell is keeping the traditional remedy alive today.
“There are currently 13 salt rooms throughout Israel helping people suffering from respiratory diseases find some relief, and often a simple cure, to their afflictions,” said Jonathan Bennett.
Bennett and his partner, Jonathan Kestenbaum, are both Five Towns natives who co-founded Breathewell after working together on various business ventures over the past six years.
“This is a time tested natural therapy that helps patients and does not require life-long prescription medication or expensive invasive surgical procedures,” said Kestenbaum.
The salt room therapy — more commonly known as halotherapy from the Greek word “halos” meaning salt — helps patients because when the salt particles are breathed in, they act as a natural disinfectant and absorbent material that clears the lungs of foreign matter and phlegm, allowing the patient to breathe easier.
“During the session in the Cheder Melach [Hebrew for salt room], patients simply have to sit in our specialized halotherapy room and breathe to allow the tiny salt particles to enter their lungs,” Bennett said. “The salt provides a cleansing experience that helps the patient breath easier.”
Many patients find some relief after a few sessions; however, for optimal relief from respiratory ailments, Breathewell recommends halotherapy spread out over a therapy period of seven weeks with two quick one-hour sessions per week.
“Halotherapy centers can be found throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and Canada,” Kestenbaum said.
“People, young and old, are finding substantial relief from their respiratory ailments by visiting salt rooms.”
It has even been demonstrated that halotherapy can assist children with very late stage chronic ear infections.
“Doctors tell parents that their only solution is antibiotics or the implantation of tubes in the child’s ear canals,” Bennett said. “However because the ear, nose and throat are all connected, many patients overseas are finding dramatic relief from chronic ear infections by using the natural and non-invasive solution –– halotherapy.”
Along with chronic ear infections, record numbers of children are suffering from asthma in the United States. Lung disease is one of the leading killers in our country. Despite all of the Americans suffering from respiratory ailments, Halotherapy hasn’t yet made its way to the United States.
Breathewell is on a mission to change that by bringing this natural therapy here. After opening two more salt rooms in the coming months in Jerusalem and Modiin, the founders of Breathewell are focusing their efforts on helping thousands of Americans breathe better.
“We are working on securing investment capital to open a chain of these centers across the nation to help people in the United States find relief from their respiratory illnesses,” said Bennett. “With some partnership assistance, we think 2009 is the year that this ancient halotherapy solution finally arrives in our country.”
With the recent growth in natural therapies, homeopathic medicine and non-invasive medicine in the United States, the time may have finally arrived for halotherapy to be accepted here. For millions of people suffering from respiratory problems and children fighting chronic ear infections, the time couldn’t be better. Halotherapy may truly be an ancient answer to a very modern health problem.
For more information on the Breathewell halotherapy centers and their mission to bring the time-tested therapy to the United States, please visit their web site at www. breathewell.biz.
