Epsom Salts

What is Epsom Salts?

Epsom salts is the common name for magnesium sulfate and it is an inorganic salt. It has a lot of uses, as a beauty product, to soothe sore muscles, even in gardening to improve crops.

It also provides us with the mineral Magnesium and it is a vital mineral many of us are lacking in, due to over development of agricultural land, overuse of prescription medications and the consumption of processed and fast foods, to name a few.

Epsom Salts

Advantages of Epsom Salts

Magnesium has a lot of health benefits:

– it relieves stress by promoting the production of serotonin
– reducing the effects of adrenaline
– plays a critical role in the production of energy in cells, helping us to feel invigorated without causing feelings of restlessness or anxiety.
– helps to regulate fluid retention in cells
– controls how much calcium enters the cells
– facilitates the body’s use of calcium to transmit chemical signals throughout the nervous system.
– is extremely important for heart health, muscle and nerve function
– blood sugar regulation
– reduced colon cancer risk
– cholesterol reduction
– brain health  

Furthermore, magnesium increases the absorption, utilisation and metabolization of vitamin D. Vitamin D is essential for bone health, actively fights against cancer cells, and is essential for our immune system.
woman in epsom salts bath

How to increase your magnesium levels

Magnesium deficiency causes severe medical conditions: high rate of heart disease, stroke, arthritis, osteoporosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, digestive disorders and mental illness.

You can increase your magnesium levels using Epsom salts. It can be taken either orally, or topically (dissolved in water, like a bath, or in cream). Both methods have pros and cons.

However, taking it orally, it has a laxative effect, and drinking water with a small amount of Epsom salt is a common oral treatment for constipation. It is mostly absorbed in the small intestine and only small amounts are absorbed.

The absorption of magnesium through the skin is a much-debated topic, with various claims to both the positive (yes, it does get absorbed through the skin) and the negative (it does not get absorbed, or the quantities absorbed is negligible). However, it does seem that even though absorption through the skin might not be great, it is better than internal absorption.
In our current society, popping vitamin pills seems like the normal go-to solution to remedy our dwindling levels of vitamins and minerals. No matter how good our scientists get, the form vitamins and minerals have in food remains the best form for your body to absorb it and utilise it to its full.

The better and much more simple and cheaper solution is actually to just eat healthier, cut out processed foods, sugar, alcohol, cigarettes – all the stuff we know are nasty and bad for our health, drink more milk and get out of the house and into the sun, fresh air and get our bodies moving and the blood pumping. And to relax in a warm bath, with dissolved Epsom salts to naturally reduce stress and increase vitality.
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