epsom salt after workout

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"I relax my muscles at the end of the day by adding 1 or 2 cups of Epsom salt to my bath, plus a drop each of lavender and chamomile essential oils," says Mariska Breland, the founder and an instructor at Fuse Pilates in Washington, D.C. "I soak for as long as the water stays warm, then I'm done." There's not much research backing the case for Epsom salt baths (the thinking goes that muscle-relaxing magnesium released by the salts gets absorbed through the skin), but lavender oil has some science on its side for overall relaxation. The smell of it can lower your blood pressure and heart rate, according to a small study in the Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand.