A hot bath can be the perfect way to unwind at the end of your busy day, but baths also possess amazing healing benefits for your overall health.
One of the most known healing baths is one that contains salt.
You might be thinking that there's no way a salt bath can bring added benefits to your health, since nutritionists and doctors try to steer you away from excessive salt. However, you're not going to be dumping table salt into your bathtub. Instead, salt baths are mostly used with sea salt, which is naturally derived from seawater.
Taking a salt bath is a great way to experience relaxation, while also cleansing your body and boosting all the health systems within your body.
For example, when using bath salts, your body is releasing toxins into the bath water, while the minerals from the salt are being absorbed through your skin.
What are the other benefits of a salt bath detox?
Darryl Bosshardt joins Dr. Holly to discuss the amazing benefits of a salt bath and why you should consider filling up your tub when you get home.
Selected Podcast
Health Benefits of a Salt Bath Detox
Featuring:
Darryl Bosshardt is a dynamic and exciting speaker who is passionate about healthily living, healthy eating, and life-long learning.
Darryl is currently employed by Redmond Trading Company which is a manufacturer and distributor for natural, healthy, sustainable products. Darryl grew up working for the family mineral business in Redmond, UT, and then earned a Bachelors of Science degree at Southern Utah University followed by an MBA at Western Governor's University.
Darryl Bosshardt, Speaker
Darryl Bosshardt is a dynamic and exciting speaker who is passionate about healthily living, healthy eating, and life-long learning.Darryl is currently employed by Redmond Trading Company which is a manufacturer and distributor for natural, healthy, sustainable products. Darryl grew up working for the family mineral business in Redmond, UT, and then earned a Bachelors of Science degree at Southern Utah University followed by an MBA at Western Governor's University.
Transcription:
RadioMD Presents: The Dr. Holly Lucille Show| Original Air Date: March 11, 2015
Host: Holly Lucille, ND, RN
She's articulate. She's passionate and she tells the truth about health. She's Dr. Holly. It's time for the Dr. Holly Lucille show.
DR HOLLY: Hi, folks. Thanks so much for listening and joining in on the show. I'm so excited to be here and I'm so excited to have back one of my favorite guests. They're all favorites, but really, Darryl Bosshardt. Welcome to the show.
DARRYL: Hey! Thanks for having me back, Dr. Holly.
DR HOLLY: Yes. It's great. So, last time you were on, you were talking about clay and I remember it was like one of the first books that I ever had as far as natural health. Our Earth's Cure, correct?
DARRYL: That's the one. By Dr. Raymond Dextreit.
DR HOLLY: Yes, you sent it to me and I love it. I love it. I love it. In fact, it's reinvigorated me in just using clay and more getting back to the earth and getting back to really fundamental healing properties. Today, we're going to talk about something else that we can find in our lovely earth. Salt.
DARRYL: Yes. Salt is one of those minerals that's fun to talk about because many people have heard how bad it is for them, but yet, there are so many ways to use salt and salt is actually essential for life.
DR HOLLY: That's right. So, these are the topics that I love to take up the most because I think when, at the end of this segment, people are going to really understand that, hey, salt isn't really that bad for them, is it?
DARRYL: No, not at all. In fact, if you ever went into the hospital for anything and, you know, as a doctor yourself, the first thing you're going to do, if you're in there for very long is you're going to get an IV of saline solution, which is salt water. So, you really can't overdose on saline, if you find you have a catheter hooked up to you, because the saline actually balances the body and the salt in the saline solution balances the body where, you know, sometimes processed foods and foods that are heavy in fats and salts and things like that, that is a problem. But natural salt is not the problem that we heard it was.
DR HOLLY: I completely agree. Now, let's talk about...Because you and I, we sort of teased this last time. Salt baths and salt purges. I want to understand because I know you have this amazing company and tell me, what do you think? Is taking a bath, especially using salt, better than showering?
DARRYL: Well, if you're in a hurry, there's definitely a place for a shower, but as far as detoxing, the bath really is able to open up the skin more. This is kind of why. If you think back to the time in our lives when our skin was the healthiest and our cells were growing the fastest and we had the cleanest bodies we ever were, it's when we were in the womb before we're born and we're floating in a body of saltwater. So, your skin knows how to detox with salt. Native cultures do this. They would make trips to mineral springs and hot spots and even the ocean coast to ritualistically bathe in the salt water and use the salt water for cleansing purposes, but yet, so many of us don't have the luxury of living right next to the ocean, or we might live next to a body of water, like the San Francisco Bay, that you may not want to go and bathe in very often.
DR HOLLY: Right. Right.
DARRYL: So, you can bring the benefits of a salt bath into your own home instead of having to go to Yellowstone to the mineral springs. You can do it in your own home.
DR HOLLY: See, that is amazing. People do. You know, I was talking to somebody who actually hikes around certain areas and she was actually looking for hikes that would lead her to these mineral salt baths, but you can do this in your own home. What are the benefits of taking a salt bath?
DARRYL: There are several, actually. So, the first is, in terms of salt bath, there are really kind of 3 things you're going to do. First off, is you've just got temperature therapy, because most people don't want to take a cold salt bath, so by having it a hot bath, you get temperature therapy, which is very relaxing. It increases circulation.
So, you get some benefits just by being in the hot water. Now, by adding the salt in there, then we start talking about minerals. If you talk about a natural salt that's rich in calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium, the skin, actually through a process called diffusion, can absorb or draw minerals into the skin. So, if you're low on magnesium, taking a salt bath that has magnesium in it, can draw that in. It's very relaxing, helps with sleep and all kinds of things. Then, through the process of osmosis, it increases moisture because osmosis will bring the moisture into the skin where diffusion will bring in the minerals. So, there is benefit from the minerals in the bath water.
Then, the most important, or maybe the reason that most people turn to salt baths outside of maybe my back is tired and my legs are sore. Maybe I ran a marathon and I'm all kind of tense. Between the temperature therapy and the minerals, that is all great. But then, we get to this idea of detox and cleansing.
So, salt and bathing in salt water, through ionization, can really detoxify the skin. So, running, when you're in salt water, your skin opens up and it's almost like you're in a sauna. So, the salt helps open the pores and get rid of that junk. You know, anything in our body that's a toxin, we have to get rid of through and organ. So, it's got to come through our skin or through urination or defecation. More so, our skin. So, we need to clean those pores and clean that garbage in our bodies. The skin, being the largest organ, a salt bath is a great way to do that.
DR HOLLY: I love it. And, it's so passive. I always say something about a detox that it's kind of like forgiveness. You're not going to really like it until it's over, but this is such a nice, sort of passive, thing that you can do.
Now, I know that a lot of folks have heard about Epsom salt, perhaps. What kind of salt do you recommend people take salt baths with and what do you prescribe? How much? How much water? How long should they sit in this bath and how often should they do it?
DARRYL: Well, I try to take a salt bath at least once a week and that kind of sounds like a lot to some people. For me, if I'm not going out and running in the morning or doing a cardio workout where I'm sweating, I will try to do a salt bath in place of it because I think it's good for the body to go through a really good sweat every day. So, if you don't have chance to work out or maybe you're tired from the previous workout, doing a salt bath will give you that sweat.
Now, there are a lot of opinions on how much salt to put in the water. I will usually do a minimum of 2 cups of salt and then, if you want to add some essential oils, you can. I particularly like a little bit of lavender. I find it very relaxing. So, salt with about 3 drops of the lavender essential oil with the salt. If you're going to add essential oils to your salt bath, you want to add the oil to the salt first.
Then, add the salt to the water. So, a 2 cup of salt for a normal tub, I think is a good amount. If you put a half a cup, you would be fine. Some of your salt experts would say that if you really want to get the full benefit of the detox bath, you can go up to about 1% salinity which would be about 1 ½ ounces of salt per gallon. So, this would be about like 2 ½ pounds of salt in a normal bathtub. That would give you the salt that's the same about like saline solution—about like your body. So, that can be as detoxifying as about a 3-day fast if you do that right.
DR HOLLY: Nice. Now, is this a salt purge? Because I want to talk to you about what a salt purge is and how is that done?
DARRYL: Yes. So, the salt bath is different. The salt purge is when it's attached to a lot of cleanse programs. So, the salt purge will actually clean the bowels kind of from top to bottom. We don't recommend this. Visit with a doctor or your natural health professional. But, basically, what you do is, you mix 2 teaspoons of salt in a quart of warm water. You mix that up and you drink that whole quart of water within about 5 minutes. That salt water is the same density as the solutions in your body, so it doesn't get absorbed. It just flushes the entire system.
DR HOLLY: Nice. Alright. Well, now, Darryl, you are just a wealth of information. People can find out more about you and great salts at RedmondTradingCompany.com, is that correct?
DARRYL: That's correct. We've got some nice bulk bath salts. We've also got a lot of information on just natural salt and how to incorporate it into your life.
DR HOLLY: Yes, because salt is such an amazing thing. I have one more question for you. Now, these trace minerals you talked about. When we get into the bath, people can absorb those into their bodies, isn't that correct?
DARRYL: Absolutely. Yes. That's the process of diffusion. The big one, when we're talking about salt, is the sodium which is good for the body and that's why your skin feels nice after you went swimming in the ocean. Then, magnesium is really important, too. We've got a fun, new product that is the natural salt from real salt with added magnesium. Really cool product that's just coming out.
DR HOLLY: Wow. And is that mostly used for the tub, or can you ingest that as well?
DARRYL: No, that's mostly for the tub. The ingesting salt, the sodium chloride, is what you want to eat with the other natural trace minerals. The potassium chloride based salts and the magnesium chloride based salts aren't as ideal for eating, just more for bathing.
DR HOLLY: It's such a great distinction. Darryl, I've got to tell you, thank you so much. I'm enjoying your products from Redmond Trading Company so much on my face, in my bath, in my food. I really, really appreciate it.
This is Dr. Holly Lucille. You're on RadioMD. You can check us out on Twitter or Facebook @YourRadioMD. I really appreciate you listening and please stay tuned.
RadioMD Presents: The Dr. Holly Lucille Show| Original Air Date: March 11, 2015
Host: Holly Lucille, ND, RN
She's articulate. She's passionate and she tells the truth about health. She's Dr. Holly. It's time for the Dr. Holly Lucille show.
DR HOLLY: Hi, folks. Thanks so much for listening and joining in on the show. I'm so excited to be here and I'm so excited to have back one of my favorite guests. They're all favorites, but really, Darryl Bosshardt. Welcome to the show.
DARRYL: Hey! Thanks for having me back, Dr. Holly.
DR HOLLY: Yes. It's great. So, last time you were on, you were talking about clay and I remember it was like one of the first books that I ever had as far as natural health. Our Earth's Cure, correct?
DARRYL: That's the one. By Dr. Raymond Dextreit.
DR HOLLY: Yes, you sent it to me and I love it. I love it. I love it. In fact, it's reinvigorated me in just using clay and more getting back to the earth and getting back to really fundamental healing properties. Today, we're going to talk about something else that we can find in our lovely earth. Salt.
DARRYL: Yes. Salt is one of those minerals that's fun to talk about because many people have heard how bad it is for them, but yet, there are so many ways to use salt and salt is actually essential for life.
DR HOLLY: That's right. So, these are the topics that I love to take up the most because I think when, at the end of this segment, people are going to really understand that, hey, salt isn't really that bad for them, is it?
DARRYL: No, not at all. In fact, if you ever went into the hospital for anything and, you know, as a doctor yourself, the first thing you're going to do, if you're in there for very long is you're going to get an IV of saline solution, which is salt water. So, you really can't overdose on saline, if you find you have a catheter hooked up to you, because the saline actually balances the body and the salt in the saline solution balances the body where, you know, sometimes processed foods and foods that are heavy in fats and salts and things like that, that is a problem. But natural salt is not the problem that we heard it was.
DR HOLLY: I completely agree. Now, let's talk about...Because you and I, we sort of teased this last time. Salt baths and salt purges. I want to understand because I know you have this amazing company and tell me, what do you think? Is taking a bath, especially using salt, better than showering?
DARRYL: Well, if you're in a hurry, there's definitely a place for a shower, but as far as detoxing, the bath really is able to open up the skin more. This is kind of why. If you think back to the time in our lives when our skin was the healthiest and our cells were growing the fastest and we had the cleanest bodies we ever were, it's when we were in the womb before we're born and we're floating in a body of saltwater. So, your skin knows how to detox with salt. Native cultures do this. They would make trips to mineral springs and hot spots and even the ocean coast to ritualistically bathe in the salt water and use the salt water for cleansing purposes, but yet, so many of us don't have the luxury of living right next to the ocean, or we might live next to a body of water, like the San Francisco Bay, that you may not want to go and bathe in very often.
DR HOLLY: Right. Right.
DARRYL: So, you can bring the benefits of a salt bath into your own home instead of having to go to Yellowstone to the mineral springs. You can do it in your own home.
DR HOLLY: See, that is amazing. People do. You know, I was talking to somebody who actually hikes around certain areas and she was actually looking for hikes that would lead her to these mineral salt baths, but you can do this in your own home. What are the benefits of taking a salt bath?
DARRYL: There are several, actually. So, the first is, in terms of salt bath, there are really kind of 3 things you're going to do. First off, is you've just got temperature therapy, because most people don't want to take a cold salt bath, so by having it a hot bath, you get temperature therapy, which is very relaxing. It increases circulation.
So, you get some benefits just by being in the hot water. Now, by adding the salt in there, then we start talking about minerals. If you talk about a natural salt that's rich in calcium, potassium, magnesium, sodium, the skin, actually through a process called diffusion, can absorb or draw minerals into the skin. So, if you're low on magnesium, taking a salt bath that has magnesium in it, can draw that in. It's very relaxing, helps with sleep and all kinds of things. Then, through the process of osmosis, it increases moisture because osmosis will bring the moisture into the skin where diffusion will bring in the minerals. So, there is benefit from the minerals in the bath water.
Then, the most important, or maybe the reason that most people turn to salt baths outside of maybe my back is tired and my legs are sore. Maybe I ran a marathon and I'm all kind of tense. Between the temperature therapy and the minerals, that is all great. But then, we get to this idea of detox and cleansing.
So, salt and bathing in salt water, through ionization, can really detoxify the skin. So, running, when you're in salt water, your skin opens up and it's almost like you're in a sauna. So, the salt helps open the pores and get rid of that junk. You know, anything in our body that's a toxin, we have to get rid of through and organ. So, it's got to come through our skin or through urination or defecation. More so, our skin. So, we need to clean those pores and clean that garbage in our bodies. The skin, being the largest organ, a salt bath is a great way to do that.
DR HOLLY: I love it. And, it's so passive. I always say something about a detox that it's kind of like forgiveness. You're not going to really like it until it's over, but this is such a nice, sort of passive, thing that you can do.
Now, I know that a lot of folks have heard about Epsom salt, perhaps. What kind of salt do you recommend people take salt baths with and what do you prescribe? How much? How much water? How long should they sit in this bath and how often should they do it?
DARRYL: Well, I try to take a salt bath at least once a week and that kind of sounds like a lot to some people. For me, if I'm not going out and running in the morning or doing a cardio workout where I'm sweating, I will try to do a salt bath in place of it because I think it's good for the body to go through a really good sweat every day. So, if you don't have chance to work out or maybe you're tired from the previous workout, doing a salt bath will give you that sweat.
Now, there are a lot of opinions on how much salt to put in the water. I will usually do a minimum of 2 cups of salt and then, if you want to add some essential oils, you can. I particularly like a little bit of lavender. I find it very relaxing. So, salt with about 3 drops of the lavender essential oil with the salt. If you're going to add essential oils to your salt bath, you want to add the oil to the salt first.
Then, add the salt to the water. So, a 2 cup of salt for a normal tub, I think is a good amount. If you put a half a cup, you would be fine. Some of your salt experts would say that if you really want to get the full benefit of the detox bath, you can go up to about 1% salinity which would be about 1 ½ ounces of salt per gallon. So, this would be about like 2 ½ pounds of salt in a normal bathtub. That would give you the salt that's the same about like saline solution—about like your body. So, that can be as detoxifying as about a 3-day fast if you do that right.
DR HOLLY: Nice. Now, is this a salt purge? Because I want to talk to you about what a salt purge is and how is that done?
DARRYL: Yes. So, the salt bath is different. The salt purge is when it's attached to a lot of cleanse programs. So, the salt purge will actually clean the bowels kind of from top to bottom. We don't recommend this. Visit with a doctor or your natural health professional. But, basically, what you do is, you mix 2 teaspoons of salt in a quart of warm water. You mix that up and you drink that whole quart of water within about 5 minutes. That salt water is the same density as the solutions in your body, so it doesn't get absorbed. It just flushes the entire system.
DR HOLLY: Nice. Alright. Well, now, Darryl, you are just a wealth of information. People can find out more about you and great salts at RedmondTradingCompany.com, is that correct?
DARRYL: That's correct. We've got some nice bulk bath salts. We've also got a lot of information on just natural salt and how to incorporate it into your life.
DR HOLLY: Yes, because salt is such an amazing thing. I have one more question for you. Now, these trace minerals you talked about. When we get into the bath, people can absorb those into their bodies, isn't that correct?
DARRYL: Absolutely. Yes. That's the process of diffusion. The big one, when we're talking about salt, is the sodium which is good for the body and that's why your skin feels nice after you went swimming in the ocean. Then, magnesium is really important, too. We've got a fun, new product that is the natural salt from real salt with added magnesium. Really cool product that's just coming out.
DR HOLLY: Wow. And is that mostly used for the tub, or can you ingest that as well?
DARRYL: No, that's mostly for the tub. The ingesting salt, the sodium chloride, is what you want to eat with the other natural trace minerals. The potassium chloride based salts and the magnesium chloride based salts aren't as ideal for eating, just more for bathing.
DR HOLLY: It's such a great distinction. Darryl, I've got to tell you, thank you so much. I'm enjoying your products from Redmond Trading Company so much on my face, in my bath, in my food. I really, really appreciate it.
This is Dr. Holly Lucille. You're on RadioMD. You can check us out on Twitter or Facebook @YourRadioMD. I really appreciate you listening and please stay tuned.