Sol of Life in downtown Fort Myers. (Credit: WINK News) We have a love-hate relationship with salt. Too much in your food is bad for your health, but salt in other forms is considered good. Susan Shoulders owns Sol of Life in downtown Fort Myers. She claims, “It’s antibacterial. Antimicrobial is anti-inflammatory and is very good for aging for your skin. It’s very good for lung conditions. Asthma, allergies, bronchitis, croup, as well as the tiny particles on your skin, is good for eczema, psoriasis dermatitis as well as anti-aging.” Her downtown Fort Myers business, the sol of life, is grounded in salt. “We have 32,000 pounds of Himalayan salt,” Shoulders said. “So we have salt on the walls, we have salt on the floors, we keep it about 65 degrees, the humidity is about 50. We do have a generator, which we put 99% pharmaceutical grade salt in, it grinds it up into microns, releases it into the air.” Dating back to the 12th century, people visited salt caves for therapeutic reasons. There’s a big difference between consuming salt in the diet versus breathing micro particles of salt. And this perceived benefit is fueling the growing trend of halotherapy. Holistic doctor Melinea Holman with the Center for Health & Healing calls halotherapy salt therapy. Sol of Life in downtown Fort Myers. (Credit: WINK News) Holman practices holistic medicine. She finds a grain of truth in the healing properties of salt. It was first looked at by the medical community in the 1800s after it was noted that polish salt miners were extremely healthy … Thardly ever had respiratory issues. And they realized that it was the salt that they were breathing.” Many of us have tried soaking in Epsom salts, using saline sprays, and gargling with salt water to calm conditions. Holman says added minerals found in Himalayan salt, super-charges the benefits. “So this is where that idea of healing the body, whether it’s eczema, whether you’re internally taking it in, it’s the minerals.” Dorothy Foster soaks in the benefits and visits the salt cave almost every day. She said, “It helps if you have any joint pain or like I have post nasal drip from time to time. The salt cave helps tremendously with that.” The owner added, “If we look back to nature, that’s where a lot of the medicinal different properties lie. But sometimes we forget to look at the simple things in life.” A therapeutic salt cave is very hygienic. You are not allowed to touch the salt or walk on it without wearing clean socks provided when you go and the space is sanitized daily. It runs about $60 dollars for an hour-long session.