Inhale and have fun: In so-called salt playgrounds, children can play with salt instead of sand and breathe in salty air, which is supposed to help them stay healthy. In the north the trend is still in its infancy, although there has been a “salt room” in Hamburg for a long time. What providers promise, doctors say and the consumer advice center recommends:
What are salt playgrounds?
Salt playgrounds are indoor playgrounds whose floor is covered with salt. Providers also use generators to ensure that the air in the rooms contains salt. “It is a child-friendly room where the children play in the fine salt and enjoy the inhalation therapy in a playful way,” says von „Babybeach“. According to its own information, the provider has 50 branches nationwide.
Where are there salt playgrounds in Hamburg and the north?
The trend is just beginning to spread, but it hasn’t really caught on in the north yet. “Due to the many health resorts with salt caves in the south, salt playgrounds are much more widespread there,” says Saskia Albrecht of MOPO. She has been operating in Hamburg since 2016 “Salt Room”. “Salt therapy has been around for a long time, but many considered it to be in the esoteric corner, but now it is considered more modern,” says Albrecht, explaining the current developments on the market. There is one in Neu Wulmstorf in the Harburg district “Salzoase”. “Babybeach” has several locations in Lower Saxony, for example in Bad Oyenhausen, in Hameln or in Bad Hersefeld. This works in Springe near Hanover “Wild Wutz” salt therapy in Osnabrück “salt box”.
What do salt playgrounds promise?
Kerstin Hartwig, owner of the Berlin “Salz-Reich” emphasizes: “Salt playgrounds don’t heal, they support.” Regular visits, for example, ensure that children’s mucous membranes are moistened. “The mucous membranes are then sealed and no or significantly fewer viruses and bacteria can enter,” says Hartwig. “Rio’s Salt Playground” in Aschaffenburg sees salt as a “miracle cure” for respiratory diseases such as asthma, bronchitis, RSV, COPD, coughs and hay fever. The children’s salt paradise in Berlin-Pankow promises: “While your little ones play in the salt, they inhale valuable minerals. This proven therapy is effective against allergies, fungi, ENT diseases and skin diseases such as neurodermatitis or psoriasis.”
What do doctors say about the effect on the respiratory tract?
“From our point of view, visiting salt playgrounds makes no medical sense. We no longer recommend inhaling to recover or prevent illness. The salt particles are usually not small enough to get where they are supposed to go,” says Jakob Maske, spokesman for the professional association of pediatricians and adolescent doctors.
“You really need good equipment to produce fine particles,” says pulmonologist Norbert Mülleneisen, chairman of the North Rhine-Westphalia professional association for pulmonology, allergology, sleep and respiratory medicine. Inhaling can help with bronchitis, but the particle size is crucial, the specialist also emphasizes. The salt-containing particles therefore lead to mucus liquefaction. This makes it easier to cough up thick mucus. Important: Visits to a salt playground are not harmful for the children, according to the experts, but you are expecting too much.
Do salt playgrounds help with skin diseases?
“Salz-Reich” founder Kerstin Hartwig reports that as a childminder she once experienced how a wound in a child with neurodermatitis suddenly healed after a visit to a salt playground. That was a key experience for her. The Kiel professor of dermatology, Oliver Wiedow, however, says: “From my point of view, the claim ‘This proven therapy works against allergies, fungi, ENT diseases, skin diseases such as neurodermatitis or psoriasis’ is not tenable.” It cannot yet be used in this way once effective on psoriasis, in which the best effects of concentrated saline solutions have so far been observed. “Misting rooms with brine is an idea you can have. “I don’t know of any evidence of a therapeutic effect,” said the doctor at the University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein. Staying on a salt-covered ground cannot be effective simply because of the lack of contact with the diseased skin.
You might also be interested in: Green instead of gray: Will Eimsbüttel’s street lamps become a city garden?
Is a visit to the salt playground comparable to a stay by the sea?
“At the sea you can breathe in small salt particles through the surf air, which then swell in your moist respiratory tract. This leads to the mucus becoming liquefied and making it easier to cough up,” explains pulmonologist Mülleneisen. Attempts are being made to imitate this mechanism in various salt baths. “But that doesn’t come close to the quality of the surf air.” Nature succeeds in producing particularly fine salt crystals that can be inhaled deep into the lungs. Good inhaler devices could also do this, says Mülleneisen. As a patient, you can borrow these from a doctor’s office or have them prescribed for chronic illnesses.
Providers sometimes recommend that sick children visit their salt playgrounds. Is it safe to let them play with healthy children?
According to its own statements, “Babybeach” mist a 14 percent brine in its rooms. According to pulmonologist Mülleneisen, this salt content kills viruses and bacteria. But he points out: “If the air were that salty, no child would be in it. The brine is diluted in the surrounding air and you breathe in this air. How sterile and clean is that? I would be skeptical. Sick children should generally not be brought together with other children. There are so many different ways of transmitting diseases, especially among children, for example via smear infections.” The “Babybeach” center website recommends speaking to a doctor before inhaling salt. Visits are also discouraged if you have a fever.
Can salt playgrounds help against allergies?
One provider also advertises that salt helps against allergies. “Allergies are based on an antigen-antibody mechanism. “Salt doesn’t do anything here,” says Mülleneisen. Olga Günter, director of the “Children’s Salt Paradise” in Berlin, reports that adults with hay fever in particular often visit her facility. A stay helps relieve symptoms such as a stuffy nose.
You might also be interested in: Termination! Hamburg district is fighting for its only ice cream parlor
What does the consumer advice center say?
“The alleged health effects of inhalation in salt caves have not yet been scientifically proven due to the lack of studies,” says Gesa Schölgens, project manager of “Fact Check Health Advertising” at the North Rhine-Westphalia Consumer Center. Among other things, the project warned a provider because of advertising statements such as “Our indoor salt playground relieves the symptoms of bronchitis, asthma, coughs, runny nose or severe mucus.” These are inadmissible, according to Schölgens. According to the expert, parents contacted consumer advocates who doubted the advertising claims. (dpa/rei)
2024-03-15 05:29:33
#Salt #playgrounds #children #trend #good
