Epsom salts are the soothing bath salts you might notice in your mom’s cabinet or on the shelf at the grocery store. While many people take warm bubble baths or take scented soaks for the pure relaxation experience, Epsom salts are much more than standard bath salts. You can find Epsom salt blends that smell nice or even mix them with your favorite essential oils to create a spa day. They also have genuine health benefits you can take full advantage of.

While various baths and bath blends can enhance your experience, Epsom salts offer an array of benefits for a range of ailments, so you can use them periodically to help ease various issues.

1. Muscle Relief

One of the best-known uses for Epsom salts is soothing achy muscles. Putting a few cups into warm water and letting it dissolve can help treat aches and pains throughout the body. Particularly, Epsom salts do a great job of reducing swelling and inflammation in tired muscles and joints. 

While there isn’t much scientific reasoning about why Epsom salts are so helpful for sore muscles, they’re a natural remedy that tends to offer soothing support.

2. Promoting Skin Health

Just like Epsom salts can help reduce inflammation in muscles and joints, they can help soothe the skin as well. Specifically, they can be excellent for treating inflammation and rashes as long as you don’t have an allergy or sensitivity. Epsom salt baths can also help keep the skin healthy through purging out toxins — you can even soak a splinter in Epsom salts to get it closer to the surface and remove it with ease.

3. Metabolism Boosting

While there isn’t a ton of scientific backing behind it, many celebrities swear by Epsom salt baths to boost their metabolism. The magnesium ions within Epsom salts have a reputation for promoting an active metabolism. The magnesium ions are partially responsible for the inflammation relief Epsom salts provide, too, so you can feel less bloated and more energized. You might notice the effects of your metabolism moving quicker.

4. Sunburn Soothing

Since Epsom salts benefit skin health, it makes sense that they can even speed up healing from sun damage. Similar to the way Epsom salts can help purge the toxins from skin cells to expel splinters, they can also speed up new skin cell generation and skin healing, so your sunburn can resolve more quickly and you can get some relief.

Since sunburns tend to cause discomfort with heat, you may want to make a lukewarm or even cool bath when soothing a sunburn — or even wait for the water to cool off before you get in. That way, you can get the refreshing benefits of cool water on your skin.

5. Aromatherapy

While taking a sweet-smelling bath might not be at the top of your list of priorities, aromatherapy can do more for you than you might realize. Different scents can encourage various moods and health benefits, like eucalyptus for respiratory relief and lavender for relaxation.

While you can buy naturally scented Epsom salts blended specifically for certain benefits, you can also add essential oils to create customized blends. That way, you can personalize it to your preferences and goals. 

6. Calming the Mind

And the magnesium strikes again with yet another benefit! The magnesium ions in Epsom salts don’t only work to relieve muscle tension, but mental strain as well — magnesium can treat all kinds of mood ailments, and has even been proven to help with depression and anxiety.

Bathing in Epsom salts can calm the mind, relieve stress and help stabilize moods and emotions. If you’re feeling stressed, tense or upset, a hot bath with Epsom salts might just help you on a scientific level.

Take a Dip

There are so many ways taking an occasional Epsom salt bath can chill you out and make you happier overall. From relaxing your emotions to purging the odd splinter, these bath salts have so many uses for the body, mind and mood. What scent do you want to try with your next dip?