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What is an Oxygen Bar?
2/11/2015
If you’ve stopped by one of those massage places in the mall, you may have seen a sign referring to an oxygen bar. You may even find these interesting areas at a day spa or at a salon. There are even some stand-alone oxygen bars. But what is an oxygen bar, and is it really worth paying for? After all, aren’t you already breathing in a good amount of oxygen? If you weren’t, you’d be dead!
So what exactly is an oxygen bar? The concept of selling oxygen to help you feel better or even for recreational use sounds very bizarre. However, you’re not just breathing in air. The oxygen has been flavored with an aromatic solution, so it smells really nice. Some bars use aroma oils, while others add food-grade particles to the oxygen to make it smell like it does.
The idea of an oxygen bar actually goes as far back as 1776 when Thomas Henry, a British apothecary, put forth the idea that oxygen might actually become as popular as French wine. Jules Verne also touched on the idea in the novel Around the Moon, which he published in 1870.
The first real oxygen bar opened in 1996 in Toronto, Canada, and it set off at trend. Soon, there were oxygen bars spread across the U.S. and Canada. People would actually place a small plastic hose into their nostrils and breathe in flavored oxygen. Today, you’ll find oxygen bars or small stations at restaurants, spas, salons, resorts, coffee houses, airports, casinos, and much more. People usually pay per minute or for a set amount of time.
Do these bars really do any good? The oxygen level in the air provided is higher than the atmospheric content, so you do get a more concentrated amount of oxygen. Some people claim that this helps remove toxins from the body. Some even say it can cure cancer. However, no actual scientific evidence has supported any of these claims.
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