A “detoxifying” skincare therapy, a soothing act of self-love, a pampering follow in your pet—if TikTok is to be believed, the advantages of an Epsom salt bathtub are virtually infinite. However, fashionable as they’re, the chemical compounds are previous as hell: The salts are named after the English city of Epsom the place they had been found within the early seventeenth century, they usually had been subsequently extracted and studied for his or her potential medicinal properties.1
Although they had been as soon as thought of a high-society luxurious, Epsom salt is now tremendous accessible to the plenty—it’s offered in baggage or packing containers at most drugstores and supermarkets, normally for lower than $10, and your mother in all probability has some beneath her rest room sink. And whereas Epsom salt has been linked to all kinds of wellness advantages, it’s in all probability most recognized for its alleged pain-relieving properties. You could have seen a health influencer recommend an Epsom salt bathtub to alleviate muscle aches after a troublesome coaching day or long term, or maybe your pregnant buddy has been attempting an Epsom soak to appease their sore toes.
However simply because a wellness follow is fashionable doesn’t make it legit. Under, consultants clarify what you must know in regards to the potential advantages of Epsom salt baths (and Epsom salts typically)—and which claims you must take with, ahem, a grain of salt.
What’s Epsom salt? | Advantages of Epsom salt baths | Epsom salt for sore muscle mass | Advantages for skincare | Potential dangers | The best way to make an Epsom salt bathtub
What precisely is Epsom salt?
Epsom salt is a type of magnesium known as magnesium sulfate, Chris D’Adamo, PhD, director of the Heart for Integrative Medication on the College of Maryland Faculty of Medication, tells SELF. Magnesium performs a task in additional than 300 enzyme reactions within the physique that have an effect on muscle and nerve perform, blood sugar and strain regulation, bone progress, electrolyte perform, vitality manufacturing, and extra. The first supply of magnesium for most individuals is meals—leafy greens, fish, legumes, and complete grains are all excessive within the vital mineral.
When it comes to its medical functions, hospitals typically use Epsom salt to deal with sufferers, Dr. D’Adamo says. Medical doctors could inject intravenous (IV) magnesium sulfate for ache and blood strain regulation, for instance, significantly amongst pregnant individuals with preeclampsia, he says.2 And well being care practitioners additionally typically use IV and oral magnesium sulfate dietary supplements to deal with continual ache situations, together with migraine, or to deal with magnesium deficiencies, he provides.3
Contemplating that magnesium typically is extraordinarily vital for conserving your physique operating in high kind (and there’s analysis to recommend {that a} good proportion of individuals have lower-than-optimal ranges of the mineral) and magnesium sulfate, particularly, is often used as a medical therapy, it’s not a stretch to suppose that an Epsom salt bathtub could do your physique good. Which leads us to…
Are there any confirmed advantages of Epsom salt baths?
First, it’s value figuring out that there are some advantages to taking any bathtub. It could actually assist your sleep, for one factor, and never simply because it’s soothing and de-stressing (which it will be). Heat water additionally will increase your core physique temperature, so whenever you get out of the bathtub (or bathe), your physique temperature begins to drop, which indicators to your mind that it’s time for relaxation. (That’s additionally why sleep consultants suggest snoozing in a cool room.) In reality, analysis suggests {that a} 10-minute soak within the tub (or heat bathe) one to 2 hours earlier than bedtime may also help you go to sleep sooner and really feel as when you’ve had a greater evening’s relaxation.4
However what about the advantages of an Epsom salt bathtub, particularly? To reap any potential perks—past the soothing nature of the nice and cozy water—you’d want to have the ability to get the magnesium into your physique ultimately, the place it may then create physiological adjustments. That may very well be both by absorbing the magnesium within the bathwater by way of your pores and skin or inhaling it from the steam of the new water, says Dr. D’Adamo.
