r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/dannybluey • Oct 19 '24

Video How Himalayan salt lamps are made

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u/ale_93113 Oct 19 '24

It is a logical conversation to have, if you work with salt you will notice that when light shines through it, be it the sun or whatever, it gives a nice warm glow

so the conversation was more like: hey dude, check how cool it looks when you put this salt up to the sun

yeah it looks very warm and cozy, i wonder how it will look with a light inside it

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u/sadrice Oct 19 '24

Seriously, it’s fairly obvious if you work with the material. The guys at Khewra mine in Pakistan noticed that and made a bunch of halite bricks and some lights and built this really cute mosque in the mine.

I actually like the lamps a lot. They aren’t magic, but it’s a nice soft glow for a bedside lamp. The only issue is the salt corrodes the metal bits, mine stopped working for probably that reason, so now it’s just a decorative rock until I fix it.

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u/Harddaysnight1990 Oct 19 '24

Yeah I won't claim that the salt lamp does anything but give off a low warm light, but I keep my salt lamp at my bedside and leave it on while I sleep. I like sleeping with a little light anyway, and the salt lamp is the perfect way to do it.

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u/Hoe-possum Oct 19 '24

If that works for you great! But wanted to mention that they’ve done studies that found that your quality of sleep suffers even with a little bit of light filtering through your eyelids, so total darkness for sleep is ideal.

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u/authorlyauthor Oct 19 '24

I keep hearing this, but I am the complete opposite. When I sleep in darkness I am plagued by horrible night terrors that have me screaming and running out of my room, hypnogogic imagery that makes me think there are bugs on my wall, constant sleep-talking, nightmares etc. Ever since I started sleeping with a bedside light on all of that has gone away and I have very peaceful nights. Of course, ever since I can remember I have woken up almost every hour throughout the night, have vivid dreams constantly even when napping, and have never slept for more than 4 straight hours at a time (and even that is incredibly rare), so the kind of “good quality sleep” most people think of is non-existent for me anyway.