There's some heavy breathing going on at Trolley Square, and people who've tried it say they like it.
Utah has joined the ranks of far-out California and exotic Japan in welcoming its first oxygen bar, Breathe. Situated near the Gap in Trolley Square, Breathe offers Utahns their first lungful of aromatic, purified, super-charged oxygen.The bar opened earlier this week, and even without spending any money on advertising, bar owner Jalene Greer said the response has been impressive.
"We've been pleasantly surprised with the response we've gotten," Greer said from her office in Las Vegas, where Breathe Inc. is headquartered. "We've done no advertising, and yet we've been quite busy. People have come in, curious, and have asked a lot of questions. And people who know what oxygen bars are are just thrilled to finally have one in Salt Lake City."
Greer came upon the oxygen bar concept at a trade show. After doing her homework, she decided to get involved. She became a licensee, with the rights to open Breathe bars in Boise and Salt Lake City.
Coming to Utah was an easy, natural business decision, Greer said.
"There were a couple of things we looked at. The people there are conscientious to healthy alternatives to 'getting high.' You really do get an endorphin rush, like having a cup of coffee without the caffeine jitters." Greer said she and Breathe Inc. also are hoping to capitalize on the 2002 Winter Games. The world community has been exposed to oxygen bars longer than Americans, she said, and they'll be looking for places to get their oxygen fill.
The concept is simple: provide "purified" air with some enticing aromatics thrown in, and let people breathe their way to inner peace, a more robust love life, that extra burst of energy.
"The air that we breathe is about 21 percent oxygen," Greer said. "At an oxygen bar, it's between 94 percent to 97 percent pure oxygen."
The technology is more complex. Regular room oxygen is pumped through a special diffuser, which "purifies" the air, Greer said. The oxygen is then pumped through an infuser station, where it goes through distilled water containing a selected aromatherapy scent. From there, it travels through sterile tubing into a nose piece (which patrons can keep).
Though Greer is careful to emphasize that neither she nor Breathe Inc. claim there is any proven medical benefit to "oxygen therapy," she said her customers speak for themselves.
"It's a healthy alternative to vitamins and drugs and things like that," said Ben Anderson, who works at the Gap at Trolley Square. Anderson has tried the oxygen bar twice now, and said he has recommended it to many of his friends.
"I did it for like 10 minutes, and it totally gave me a boost. I tried it because I didn't get much sleep the night before, and afterward I stayed pretty perky the whole day until I went to bed. . . . It feels like a natural rush. You just have more energy. It's like a second wind that lasts the whole day."
Lori Haun, manager of the Elegant Illusions copy jewelry store, said she tried the bar a few days after it opened. Though she didn't feel the instant boost Anderson reported, she did say she noticed a difference in the way she felt that day.
"I didn't really notice a lot," Haun said. "It's not like a big rush. You just have more energy. You can kind of feel it coursing through your body."
Wayne Samuelson, a practicing physician and associate professor in the pulmonary division at the University of Utah, said even though oxygen bars are probably harmless, they likely don't have measurable benefits, either.
"What are the health benefits of a normal, healthy person breathing higher concentrations of oxygen? There are probably none," Samuelson said. "I tend to think that it is more of a fad thing than anything else."
Normal room air is usually enough to saturate the body's hemoglobin, Samuelson said. Hemoglobin carries oxygen from the lungs to the body's tissues.
"The addition of oxygen to otherwise healthy people really doesn't confer any health benefit. Oxygen is a drug -- we use it to treat people -- and excess amounts of any drug is not a good thing.
"But, as long as your exposure is brief and at low concentrations, it's probably not going to do much harm. High concentrations of oxygen are dangerous, but I doubt they're doing that."
Greer comes to any conversation prepared to address those and other issues. Is it safe? Is it just a fad? Is it worth the money? (It costs $1 per minute at Breathe, though the bar is currently offering a special introductory price of 10 minutes for $7).
"There is a common misconception that because they are oxygen bars, we're using canisters of compressed oxygen. That's not true. We have special equipment that purifies the air that's already there. We're not using the medical oxygen cylinders to do this. Compressed oxygen is a prescription drug.
"The whole idea behind this is to improve ourselves naturally, without any harsh drugs or chemicals."
Greer also disputes oxygen bars' current "fad status."
"We think they're really going to be more than a fad or a passing trend," she said. "They've been in Japan and Canada for years and years. It's not really a new concept. It's just new to Utah.
"And think about it: 10 years ago, nobody thought you'd pay $3.50 to $5 for a cup of coffee, or buy bottled water. Based on the response we've gotten, we think we're on the right track."