The list of patients who can benefit from a stay at the lowest point on earth is growing.
By Judy Siegel-Itzkovich
There are few places to vacation as relaxing as the Dead Sea - the blue, sunny skies, waveless sea, spas and hotels make it a pleasure to be there. But being there can give you more than
a chance to unwind: you could also find relief from a range of heart, lung and skin diseases.
Doctors who have been studying the therapeutic effects of the Dead Sea have long pointed out that the unique atmosphere and topography of the area are beneficial to health. The low altitude of the sea - 402 meters (1,319 feet) below sea level - causes high oxygen concentrations and barometric pressure, and allows many of the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays to be filtered out by the layer of mineral gases that hang as a cloud over the sea. Pulmonary experts claim that being at the Dead Sea for a week or two can have a beneficial effect on children and adults suffering from breathing difficulties, and these effects can last for several months. Ben-Gurion University Prof. Asher Tal, Rabin Medical Center lung expert Professor Mordechai Kramer and Clalit Health Services physician Dr. Eldar Berkovits agree that the high-pressure oxygen and salts benefit patients of all ages suffering from cystic fibrosis (CF), emphysema, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD).
CF is an incurable hereditary disorder in which large amounts of mucus clog the lungs, causing frequent chronic lung infections, which can only be ameliorated by physiotherapy to break up the mucus, or a lung transplant. The disease affects thousands of young people worldwide, including scores of Israeli children. "The high oxygen level at the Dead Sea gives the patients more oxygen in their blood, thereby improving their breathing efficiency. This helps them exercise and eases their daily life," Berkovits explains. The Dead Sea air is also free of pollen, he adds.
Kramer notes that CF patients not only enjoy an improved quality of life while at the Dead Sea, but this continues after they have returned home. "We found that the higher the altitude of the patient's regular residence, the greater was the benefit of a sojourn at the Dead Sea."
Tal and Kramer say that health funds would benefit if they subsidized, at least partially, the Dead Sea visits of their members who have CF, since they are less likely to contract infections and thus require less treatment when they return home. Health insurance providers in numerous European countries already subsidize the trips and therapies for patients there.
Professor Michael David, a senior dermatologist at the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva, has conducted numerous studies showing that psoriasis sufferers go into remission for many months after spending weeks at the Dead Sea. Psoriasis is an incurable genetic skin disease that causes itchy, unsightly red scales on any part of the body, from the scalp to the soles of the feet. Sunlight is known to improve the condition of psoriasis patients, but they cannot expose themselves to ordinary sunlight for long periods because of the risk of skin cancer. However, the low altitude and mineral clouds at the Dead Sea filters out most of the UV radiation, allowing patients to lie in the sun for hours at a time without even reddening. This experience has been found to be particularly beneficial to patients with psoriatic scales over more than 20 percent of their bodies who cannot benefit from laser and other localized treatments.
While relief from these lung and skin diseases has been recognized for a number of years, Prof. Edward Abinader of the Faculty of Medicine at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, believes that a stay at the Dead Sea can also help heart patients. He examined 24 patients - 12 with heart conditions and 12 without - first in Haifa (427 feet above sea level) and then at the Dead Sea, and found that cardiac patients showed signs of better overall cardiac performance at the Dead Sea. In a recent issue of the American Journal of Cardiology, he explained that the high-pressure oxygen improves the delivery of the gas to the heart and lungs, thus improving their performance. He presented his research before an international conference at the Dead Sea Research Center in Israel.
"I originally set out to prove that the Dead Sea wouldn't harm patients with cardiac problems, but I discovered that it actually helps them," Abinader said. "Patients were able to exert themselves significantly more there than in other environments."