Ken (Denver, Colorado) on 07/14/2009
Use 100% dead sea salts or combined with the pure magnesium chloride flakes in a soaking bath. Dead sea salts are cheaper and have other trace supplemental minerals including potassium with the magnesium chloride. Also buy in bulk and look for periodic sales with free shipping. I soak about 1 to 2 times weekly using 3 - 4 cups dead sea salts in a full warm bath for 30 minutes or so. Many benefits including control of athlete's foot, rapid healing of cuts and scratches from my cat, rapid recovery from muscle soreness, relief of minor pains and aches and the main heath benefits of better heart function, general good health, etc. Also enforced downtime to catch up on reading! One caution - don't use cheaper industrial mag chloride.
I am ever puzzled by why absorbing trace minerals through the skin is universally ignored in favor of oral supplementation or eating mountains of salads even when the need for supplements is recognized. If you have low magnesium you can't easily absorb ingested supplements anyhow, creating a vicious cycle. In my case I developed a serious magnesium and potassium deficiency running marathons and then supplemented orally for years with 500 mg. magnesium chelates without much effect. After I started soaking, heart palpitations disappeared and the other benefits made themselves felt over a couple of months of frequent soaking. If I miss a week I can tell the difference and it's always a pleasure to restore the soaking routine.
Jane (Seattle, WA) on 05/16/2009
Response to Charlotte's post about magnesium aspartate being one of the best types of magnesium to take. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think any product with the word aspartate is an excitotoxin and should be avoided. Also to be avoided: aspartic acid, aspartame, etc.
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