Why take Epsom salt bath after receiving treatments?
Why not pick up some Epsom salt and put your best face forward? Epsom salt is made of magnesium and sulfate. Epsom salt is unique because its benefits are not found in other bath salts. Magnesium is responsible for more than 300 enzymatic reactions that help make proteins and DNA. One of the earliest discoveries of magnesium sulfate took place in Shakespeare’s day in Epsom, England.
Epsom salt has numerous health benefits:
Eases stress and relaxes the body
Calms the nervous system
Relieves pain and muscle tension
Helps muscles and nerves function properly
Eliminates metabolic toxins from the body
Magnesium is beneficial for making bones, regulating muscle and nerve functions, blood sugar level and blood pressure. It has a positive role in reducing inflammation; helps to produce serotonin (a mood-elevating chemical) that creates a sense of relaxation and calm, improve sleep and concentration, reduce irritability by lowering the effects of adrenaline; and helps muscles and nerves to function properly.
Sulfates improve the absorption of nutrients, flush toxins and heavy metals from the cells, ease rheumatoid arthritis and muscle pains, and eliminate toxins from the body.
Epsom salt bath can help supplementing magnesium in the body via a process called “reverse osmosis.” Osmosis plays an important role in the gastro-intestinal system and the kidneys. Reverse osmosis helps you get nutrients out of food, dispose waste products out of your blood, and recycles useful compounds.
Epsom salt has a key function in soothing muscles and supporting recovery from sport injuries, swollen joints, aches and pains. Soaking into Epsom salt is beneficial for mineral deficiency. Doctors recommend Epsom salt to help reduce inflammation when hemorrhoids flare up. Sitting into the warm or hot Epsom salt bath has a soothing effect.
Magnesium is important for the conversion of many B vitamins into their active form. In other words, taking any vitamin supplement without magnesium and other minerals will be futile, as their interplay is what makes the brain work. Magnesium and calcium can modulate the transmission of nervous stimuli.
Magnesium is necessary for the function of many metabolic enzymes involved in brain function. It is also a key regulator of calcium channels involved in neurotransmission, including the maintenance of learning and memory. Magnesium is key regulator of brain activity and plasticity, and enhances learning abilities, working memory. Magnesium reduces the risk for dementia. According to a 2011 J. Neursci. study, magnesium helps to promote proper electrical and neurotransmitter functions in the brain. Magnesium influences the production of BDNF, a compound used by the brain to rejuvenate cellular function. Magnesium is required to dissipate the effects of traumatic stress that can occur from intense episodes of fear or anxiety. Magnesium is essential to maintain high brain energy.
Daily ritual of Epsom salt bath is simple. Its efficacy to bring back balance, clarity and harmony into our hectic life is unquestionable. I am a firm believer in Epsom salt bath and I continue to recommend my clients to do it on a weekly basis whenever they come for massage sessions.
Recommendations for an Epsom salt bath:
First things first. Clean your tub! Then, take a shower.
Fill the tub with water above waistline for increasing kidney yang energy.
Water temperature as hot as bearable and comfortable.
Add 3 cups of Epsom salt + 1 cup baking soda to the bathwater.
Give the water a swirl to mix in the Epsom salt and baking soda.
Soak for 20-30 minutes.
Caution: Don’t use soap or shampoo while soaking in Epsom salt bath because they may inhibit the effectiveness of the Epsom salt and baking soda. If you don’t have a bath tub, substitute with a “foot bath” and use 1 cup of Epsom salt with 5 tablespoon of baking soda and you will obtain similar results.