Magnesium is an essential mineral that helps maintain a steady heartbeat, a normal blood glucose level, and normal muscle and nerve function. It was proven that it may be absorbed strongly through the skin than doing so orally. This makes Magnesium bath salts a remedy to aching joints and muscle pains. But how do these bath salts help with restlessness?
What are Epsom Salts?
Epsom salts are bath salts which are a combination of magnesium sulphate and/or sea salt. These may be dissolved easily into the warm water where you could soak the part of your body that needs ease, healing, and relief from dull pain and strain.
Bath salts transform the usual bubble baths into something beneficial to the body since Magnesium is part of bone strength and muscle function. Most especially, those who engage in sports and extreme physical activities such as dancing and training. Also, to those whose job maybe like a stuntman, a cameraman, or a bodybuilder, who has a huge investment in their bodies through diet, exercise, and wellness program.
Bath salts help in reducing joint inflammation, arthritic discomfort, muscle stiffness, and relieves stress.
Also, a study made in 2004 proved that these Epsom Bath Salts benefit people who have a Magnesium deficiency. 17 out of 19 respondents have had a significant change in their blood exam for Magnesium, somewhat balancing the deficiency experienced, reducing its harmful results such as Restless Legs Syndrome for which magnesium is the answer.
How do you use a bath salt first?
Depending on the part of your body that you need to relieve, there are a lot of ways on how to use the bath salt:
- By soaking (e.g. foot soak, hand soak)
- By total body submerged through a bubble bath.
- As a scrub mixture, if you prefer a shower instead.
How can they help with restlessness?
Being restless in general is due to some kind of stress. There are somatic manifestations when you are chronically stressed out. As restlessness develops, stress adds up. All the more adding up to the development of fatal restlessness wherein even though at rest or asleep, its manifestation becomes involuntary.
The thing is, taking a warm bath improves one’s mood on a superficial level. Warm water help in dilating the blood vessels improving blood flow, therefore facilitating healing. Since the body has a natural way of doing so, giving yourself a 10-20-minute soaked relieves yours from stress. This gives way to many releases of serotonin, the happy hormone.
When you feel the breeze flowing through your hair, when you feel good about an achievement that you did, or when you make your favourite radio jam while taking a warm bath, these trigger serotonin release. Therefore, getting into a meditative state of calming down.
This is the best part where the magnesium is absorbed topically by the body, particularly by the skin area where hair follicles are, faster than when you take it orally. While you enjoy your bath, magnesium is absorbed since it can penetrate the stratum corneum or the outermost layer of the epidermis.
Recommendation
Proven by many studies, Magnesium may be absorbed by the skin. Magnesium Deficiency, if topical remedy will be applied, would be alleviated in about 4-6 weeks as compared to oral supplements that could take 4-12 months to take effect. This resulted from one of the first studies made to find out whether transdermal magnesium absorption is possible. In 2000, published by Norman Shealy, M.D. PhD who is the founder of the American Holistic Medical Association and a naturopathic doctor, argued about it.
Another one concerning the same query aimed to prove the effectivity of topical Magnesium absorption By testing 19 subjects through a full-body bath. With a temperature range of 50-55°C for a week, they soaked their bodies in an Epsom solution. This happened for 12 minutes every day. Samples of bodily fluids that were taken after the first bath did not fail. Out of the 19 subjects, only 3 didn’t show a rise in magnesium plasmic concentrations.
So the next time you take your bubble bath, supply it with Epsom salt, then add essential oils like peppermint and lavender for a better mood. Cinnamon, on the other hand, could help further in reducing swelling of joints.
