The Benefits of Epsom Salts

Marie-Eve most recently recommended them to me.

I thought it was a wives tale, which my grandmother put into my head and ya, I used them now and again, if anything because of how my skin felt afterwards.  Being in Alberta where it is so dry, especially in the long winter, I would take anything I could to re-hydrate my skin and rid my body of aches.

Which is odd.  I moisturize my face faithfully, but I don't the rest of my skin/body (another post, another day).

But there are some amazing wellness (don't confuse with health) benefits to using Epsom salts.

Epsom salts is magnesium sulphate (MS).  MS is an inorganic compound (lacking carbon and hydrogen) but containing magnesium, sulfur and oxygen and occurs naturally as a pure mineral and it can be ingested to treat medical conditions, or used externally  - as in the case with bath salts for relaxation.
Magnesium is very important to our bodies.  Most people think calcium and Vitamin D, but Magnesium is a must.  It helps regulate enzymes, muscle control and electrical responsiveness.  BUT HUMANS ARE DEFICIENT OF MAGNESIUM.  It's lacking in our diet, perhaps because of the over farming which depletes the magnesium from the soil.

According to some, (just Google that) the easiest way to get my MS is to bathe in it.  It makes a fabulous skin mask, an exfoliate, a cleanser and it helps out really greasy hair (of which I am afflicted) and adds serious volume to otherwise straight, flat, boring hair.

But a bath of Epsom salt for me is best after a massage or physical therapy or exercise or injury.  Here's why - and this is simple -- it is apparently because of our bodies ability to absorb magnesium through the skin, Epsom salts can reduce inflammation.

After I work out with weights (which is new to me and is an amazing feat for me in my determined state of "lose weight and get healthy") I am seriously achy afterward.  I'm achy because my forty year old haven't-done-much-except-sit-at-work for 20-year muscles and my joints are seriously underused and thus become inflamed.

But now, I soak in Epsom salts after a particularly laborious workout and not only feel rejuvenated, but my skin feels great.

I am not a doctor or a scientist and I don't even play one or the other on TV so I do not know if the claims that many websites make are true - perhaps it's use is psychosomatic. If so, it's working.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnesium_sulfate

http://www.epsomsaltcouncil.org/

http://saveyourself.ca/articles/reality-checks/epsom-salts.php

http://health.howstuffworks.com/skin-care/problems/treating/epsom-salt-baths.htm