What Is the Health Benefit of Bathing in Epsom Salts?

What Is the Health Benefit of Bathing in Epsom Salts?
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Using Epsom salts is a simple and inexpensive way to improve your health. Epsom salts contain magnesium, a vital mineral that helps regulate many body functions. According to the National Academy of Sciences, most Americans are deficient in magnesium, which contributes to many health problems, including stroke, heart disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, chronic fatigue, and digestive and stress-related illnesses. Raising your magnesium levels by ingesting or soaking in Epsom salts can provide a host of benefits, such as cleansing the colon, alleviating stress, promoting healthy skin, and improving nerve and heart health.

Detoxify Your Body

Using Epsom salts as a colon cleanse can help flush metals, toxins and other harmful substances from the body. Taken orally, it is an FDA -approved laxative that works by increasing the amount of water in the intestines, which aids in the body's elimination process. The sulfates that are acquired through Epsom salts play an important role in stimulating the pancreas to generate digestive enzymes that are believed to help in detoxifying the body's build up of environmental contaminants. Check with your doctor before using Epsom salts as a colon cleanse, as it can cause irritation in some individuals.

Alleviate Stress

Epsom salts have been linked with minimized stress levels and an improved sense of well-being. Epsom salts help absorb magnesium into the body, which aids in creating serotonin, a mood-elevating chemical produced in the brain that is known to stimulate a happy, relaxed state of mind. To alleviate stress and promote colon cleansing, pour two cups of Epsom salts in a warm bath and soak for 20 minutes three days a week.

Promote Healthy Skin

Epsom salts have long been used as a remedy for irritated skin by soothing and reducing swelling. Using Epsom salts as an exfoliant can help promote healthy skin. This not only helps remove dead skin cells, but also helps to increase circulation. Because both sulfates and magnesium can be absorbed through the skin, rubbing Epsom salts onto your skin as a scrub can also give you similar colon cleansing benefits as ingesting or soaking in salts. To create a total body exfoliant, mix Epsom salts with a natural oil such as jojoba oil and scrub.

Improve Heart Health

Epsom salts can improve your heart and circulatory health by lowering blood pressure, preventing the hardening of arteries, reducing irregular heartbeats and reducing blood clots. Magnesium is essential in maintaining the right calcium levels in the blood. Epsom salts have also been known to improve the body's ability to utilize insulin, which minimizes the risk of diabetes.

Improve Nerve Health

Epsom salts can also improve the body's nerve functioning by regulating electrolytes. According to the Epsom Salt Council, researchers have found that magnesium can also increase energy and stamina by promoting the production of ATP, the energy packets made in the cells.

References

Article reviewed by Christine Brncik Last updated on: Jul 1, 2010

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