Epsom Salts, sold in bulk packages at your local grocery store and pharmacy, can provide numerous health benefits and relieve many health conditions you may be experiencing.
The active ingredient in epsom salts is magnesium sulfate, so understanding the role that the mineral magnesium plays in your health will reveal why it provides so many incredible health benefits.
In a medical review on the research of Magnesium, one researcher wrote:
“Magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral and the second most abundant intracellular divalent cation and has been recognized as a cofactor for >300 metabolic reactions in the body. Some of the processes in which magnesium is a cofactor include, but are not limited to, protein synthesis, cellular energy production and storage, reproduction, DNA and RNA synthesis, and stabilizing mitochondrial membranes. Magnesium also plays a critical role in nerve transmission, cardiac excitability, neuromuscular conduction, muscular contraction, vasomotor tone, blood pressure, and glucose and insulin metabolism. Because of magnesium‘s many functions within the body, it plays a major role in disease prevention and overall health. Low levels of magnesium have been associated with a number of chronic diseases including migraine headaches, Alzheimer’s disease, cerebrovascular accident (stroke), hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes mellitus.”
With the importance of magnesium now established, let’s go over 10 practical scientifically-backed benefits that you can receive by using epsom salts:
Sinking into a warm bath containing 2 cups of Epsom salts will help the body slip from a tense, sympathetic “fight or flight” nervous system state into a parasympathetic one marked by soothing relaxation and calm. In a study on rats, magnesium was found to increase circulation and promote relaxation by improving vasodilation.
2. Pain Relief
With the ability to reduce tension, pain, muscle aches and soreness, Magnesium sulfate is a great treatment for cramps or for headaches. In 2012, researchers conducted a double-blind study to examine the effect of intravenous and oral magnesium therapy in patients with chronic lower back pain. The study found that “In the magnesium group, the patients’ numerical rating scales revealed a significant reduction in pain intensity.”
3. Nerve Health
By balancing calcium with magnesium in the body, nervous system function is improved, and absorption through the skin of magnesium from Epsom salts is a great way to accomplish this. A 2011 study found that “improved neurological function recovery and enhanced nerve regeneration were found in mice with a sciatic nerve injury that were fed a high- Mg diet.” Additionally, researchers found that the magnesium prevented cell death by decreasing inflammation.
4. Improves Circulation
Magnesium sulfate has been proven to improve circulation while at the same time reducing inflammation of the arteries and increasing their elasticity, thus decreasing the chance of clots. In a study of pregnant mothers “oral magnesium supplementation in pregnancy is safe and that it has a positive effect on the fetal circulation.”
5. Regulates Blood Sugar
By taking part in multiple enzymatic reactions, magnesium plays an important role in insulin production, homeostasis, and glucose metabolism. A study examining type-II diabetics found that “Oral magnesium supplementation with proper dosage has beneficial effects on blood glucose, lipid profile, and blood pressure in patients with type II diabetes.”
6. Relieves Constipation
Researchers have wondered what effect magnesium could have on bowel constipation, and a study has answered that question. Published in the US National Library of Medicine, a 2014 study has found that, in less than two weeks of daily consumption, magnesium-sulphate rich natural mineral-water “reduced constipation and hard or lumpy stools in a greater percentage of women with functional constipation than natural low-mineral water.”
7. Helps Remove Splinters
If you have a splinter in your finger, be sure to soak it for a while in a basin with water and Epsom salts. This will help to reduce the swelling around the splinter and make it easier to remove. Evidence of reduced swelling (or inflammation) is evidenced by the following study.
8. Sooth Sprains and Bruises
The discomfort and pain from a sprain or bruise can be relieved by soaking it in water and adding Epsom salts. Its anti-inflammatory properties will reduce pain caused by swelling and edema. In this study, magnesium reduced postoperative pain in patients, and this study reduced inflammatory pain
9. Athletes Foot Treatment
By way of a depressed immune system from a deficiency in magnesium, studies have verified that fungal infections such as athlete’s foot can be treated naturally using epsom salts or magnesium supplementation. Other research indicates another way that magnesium helps to eliminate fungal infections. A 1998 study has discovered that tissue calcium concentrations play a critical role in the maintenance of a functioning mycorrhiza (fungus), and that supplemental magnesium depressed tissue calcium levels.
10. Treatment of Gout
The anti-inflammatory properties of magnesium can also be utilized to treat the painful inflammation experienced by a flare-up of gout. As one study found, magnesium supplementation eliminates inflammation caused by a deficiency of magnesium. Unlike prescription drugs, which treat symptoms and not the problem, by soaking your feet in the warm water with added epsom salt, you could effectively be correcting the problem of a magnesium deficiency at its root.
As you can see by this evidence-based look at the role magnesium plays in health and what correcting a deficiency can do, magnesium supplementation, including (but not limited to) epsom salt baths, is a safe and inexpensive method of treating numerous health disorders and conditions.