Taking a soak in an Epsom salt bath, an old-fashioned remedy, may help ease your allergy symptoms come allergy season. How does it work? During allergy season, our bodies are filled with toxins and inflammation. The compounds in Epsom salt help send toxins or pollutants in your body packing. The result is less body-wide inflammation.

Epsom salts are made up of the compound magnesium sulfate. Both magnesium and sulfate play essential roles in how our bodies function. The earliest discoveries of magnesium sulfate took place in Epsom, England.

Taking an Epsom salt bath helps restore magnesium and sulfate in your system because they can be absorbed through your skin. Some doctors recommend soaking three times per week for about 12 to 15 minutes.

Are you ready to take an Epsom salt bath? Here’s how you do it.

Add a cup or two of Epsom salt to warm water in a standard-size bathtub. Adjust the amount of salt if your bathtub is bigger or smaller.

Use warm water, not hot, in your bathtub. Allow the Epsom salt to dissolve before stepping into the bathwater. Any salt that hasn't dissolved in the water may dry on your skin as a harmless white powder that is easily rinsed off.

Other benefits of your soak

Magnesium:

•Relieves stress and improves sleep

•Helps regulate electrolytes in your body, ensuring proper functioning of the muscles, nerves and enzymes

•Improves heart health and blood circulation, lowers blood pressure

•Increases the effectiveness of insulin in the body by raising levels of magnesium and sulfate in the body

•Reduces inflammation to relieve pain and muscle cramps

•Improves oxygen use for asthmatics or those with respiratory issues

Sulfates:

•Flushes toxins by triggering a process called reverse osmosis, which pulls salt out of your body and harmful toxins along with it

•Improves absorption of nutrients

•Help prevent or ease migraine headaches

Epsom salt baths have many benefits but aren't for everyone. They aren't recommended for people who have conditions such as heart problems, high blood pressure or diabetes. If you aren't sure whether an Epsom salt bath is safe for you, consult your doctor first.