While some experts suggest that stress relief comes from the warm bath itself, others believe Epsom salt helps stabilize mood and relieve stress, anxiety and depression. In fact, some claim that taking magnesium increases serotonin (happiness or relaxation hormone) production in your brain.
Magnesium-rich Epsom salt baths can promote mental wellness and ease the stress of modern living. They can boost serotonin levels, which is important to regulating your moods. They can also relieve stress and anxiety by helping you relax and get a better night's sleep.
Magnesium sulfate, or Epsom salt, may be beneficial for some people with anxiety, but more comprehensive research is needed. While Epsom salt baths can help calm stress, there is no conclusive evidence that magnesium absorbed through the skin is beneficial.
Benefits of Himalayan Salt for Mental Health
Boosts energy levels by providing you with fresh, clean air. Help dealing with stress, anxiety and depression. Reduces stress and anxiety by cleansing the air. Promotes better sleep.
Facilitates Proper Sleep And Cures Depression
Moreover, sea salt cures depression by producing the two hormones serotonin and melatonin that enable you to deal with stress, thus making you relax and sleep better at night.
The minerals are absorbed through your skin, in much the same way that many patch medicines are. Research has shown magnesium can help to relieve both depression and anxiety. It acts on the nerves in a similar way to pharmaceutical drugs (benzodiazepines) that are used to decrease anxiety and relax muscles [1, 2].
If you are feeling anxious, a bath can physically force your body to change how it processes that anxiety. Not only can immersive bathing help alleviate anxiety, but it's also been suggested that taking a bath can positively impact the symptoms of depression.
Magnesium helps to produce serotonin, a mood-elevating chemical within the brain, that creates a feeling of calm, relaxation and relief from stress. Every time you soak your body in an Epsom Salt infused bath, you replenish depleted levels of magnesium.
Medical research has linked magnesium to reduced anxiety. Magnesium helps you to relax by stimulating the production of melatonin and serotonin which boost your mood and help you sleep. Magnesium also reduces the production of cytokines and cortisol, which lead to increased inflammation and stress.
The Epsom salt will help replenish the body with magnesium, which will contribute to the production of serotonin, providing a feeling of relaxation and calmness. Plus, the ions found in magnesium reduce irritability, leaving adrenaline levels lower.
The body's reaction to being warm naturally relaxes your muscles and thoughts. Because of this mechanism, the risk of depressive symptoms is lower following a shower. Bathing can also be a form of meditation or serve as a healthy break from your daily busy schedule.
Combat symptoms of depression
In one clinical study, participants who took daily cold showers for several months reported decreased depression symptoms. Additional research suggests that cold water may boost your mood and decrease anxiety.
But studies show that the benefits of bathing are more than just skin deep. In a German study, participants with depression reported a boost in mood after soaking in a 40C bath for 30 minutes. In fact, in this experiment, regular baths proved to be more effective in aiding depression than aerobic exercise.
Some research studies also suggest that a type of warm bath therapy may have positive effects on people living with depression. Warm baths are linked to decreases in stress hormones and more balanced serotonin levels, which help regulate mood.
Based on the current data, magnesium taurate and magnesium glycinate are two of the better options that may help those with mental health conditions.
In magnesium deficiency, neuronal requirements for magnesium may not be met, causing neuronal damage which could manifest as depression. Magnesium treatment is hypothesized to be effective in treating major depression resulting from intraneuronal magnesium deficits.
Lithium salts are classified as mood stabilizers.
Lithium carbonate and some other lithium salts are used for the treatment of some psychiatric illnesses, particularly bipolar mood disorders.
Mood and pleasure-related effects of sodium deficiency
The authors say that people who lose large quantities of sodium through sweating while they work in extremely hot environments often experience fatigue, headache, difficulties concentrating and sleeping. These symptoms are often associated with depression.