How to Give Stress the Flick (Magnesium-Salt Baths)

Nine ways to give stress the flick


  • Eat mood-boosting foods
  • Practise breathing techniques:
  • Meditate. Meditation can be a great way to relax, especially if you are under a lot of stress
  • Get a massage
  • Have a hot Magnesium-Salt bath
  • Exercise daily
  • Practise good sleep hygiene
  • Pre and Probiotics
  • Nutrient supplementation

Spotlight on Magnesium-Salt baths

What are Magnesium-Salt baths?


  • It is a salt made of only magnesium and sulphate


What is the anticipated effect from a Magnesium-Salt bath?

  • Magnesium Salts have long been used to stimulate detoxification, reduce inflammation to sore muscles, promote healthy circulation, and help with relaxation and normalising sleep patterns.
  • Most people respond to an MS bath by appearing happier and more relaxed.
  • If you have the bath in the evenings, you will be able to get to sleep easier and have a more normal sleep pattern.

Why do they work, and why is sulfation important?

One benefit of the MS baths is linked to an enzyme system known as phenol sulfotransferase (PST).

This enzyme, like all other sulfotransferases, has to use a modified form of sulfate: not the form it takes in the bathtub. This change occurs inside your cells by adding the molecules adenosine and phosphate to sulfate before any sulfotransferase enzyme can use it. The molecular additions are said to turn sulfate into its “activated form”.

If you think about it, none of this can be happening in the bathtub: it is happening in your body after sulfate is absorbed through the skin and after a complicated interplay of enzymes.

When PST has enough activated sulfate to use, it will then attach the sulfate part of that molecule to molecules called phenols.

In most cases, adding sulfate sets up those molecules for excretion in the urine, but it can actually activate other molecules.

When there is a deficiency of sulfate inside your cells, phenols may build up. In the brain and nervous system this may interfere with neurotransmitter function since many neurotransmitters are phenolic too.

Other sulfotransferases act on hormones and proteins and carbohydrates of certain sorts.

Again, Magneisum Salts are believed to help PST by providing the much-needed sulfate to the body, by being absorbed transdermally (through the skin) during the bath.

The gastrointestinal system especially needs a lot of sulfate.



Sulfation is important to the intestinal lining.

Over time, decreased sulfation can allow small portions of the gut wall to be exposed, creating the “Leaky Gut” which is suspect in allergies, asthma, and other neurobehavioural disorders.

What do I need, and how much MS, and for how long?

The amount and frequency can vary. You can use as much as 1- 2 cups of MS in a bathtub of water. Soak for around 20 minutes on a daily basis or every few days.