Epsom Salt Crystals
Dissolve one to two cups of Epsom crystals in a hot bath―immersing your body in it will soothe tired muscles. These crystals are added to the potting soil as a fertilizer, particularly while growing roses. They increase the level of magnesium in soil, which enables healthy growth of plants. They are also used as a coagulant while making tofu.
A foot soak made by dissolving half a cup of this salt removes foul odor from feet, softens rough skin, and relaxes the feet. Medical uses of Epsom salts include treatment of problems like athlete's foot and fungal infection of the nails, as well as for reducing bruises and sprains.
This salt can also be used as a face and body scrub. Take a handful and mix it with extra virgin olive oil. Massage this scrub in a gentle circular motion all over your body, for removing dead skin. This bath salt can be used to make a natural hair volumizing formulation.
Combine equal amounts of it with your favorite conditioner, and fill this inside a small bottle. This salt also helps to soak up excess oil from hair. Dissolve 8 to 10 tablespoons of it in ½ cup of shampoo, and apply one tablespoon of this concoction to your hair. Using a mixture of Epsom crystals dissolved in liquid dish detergent is very effective for cleaning bathroom tiles.
These crystals can also be used in various beauty treatments such as removing blackheads. Dissolve a tablespoon of these along with iodine in a cup of boiling water, and apply this mixture on the blackheads with a cotton ball. Pour the hot water into the shallow dish or bowl and add a bit of the salt in it. Stir the water until all the crystals dissolve. Keep adding the salt and repeating the process till the crystals stop dissolving. Add a drop or two of food coloring and place the dish inside the refrigerator, undisturbed, for about 3 hours, after which you will find the dish filled with thin crystals that are very fragile.
An mp3 player with some great music helps. Lay out your gear. The fewer obstacles and less friction there is in forming your new habit, the more likely you are to be successful. If you have to not only wake up early but get a bunch of gear together while half awake, you might just want to go back into bed.
But if you lay out your workout clothes and shoes and watch and mp3 player, or whatever you need for your exercise, you’ll be ready to go with no friction at all. Just head out the door. My rule is just to get my running shoes on and get out the door.
I don’t worry about how long I have to go or how hard it will be. Just get out and get started. Once I’ve done that, it’s a piece of cake. Mix it up. One thing I like about triathlon training is that daily exercise isn’t boring — instead of running every single day, now I’ve got a variety of sports to do, and that makes it much more interesting. But perhaps just as important is that with each sport, I’m using different muscles, especially with swimming.
Sure, some of the same muscles are used, but they’re used differently with different stresses on them. What that means is that I’m not pounding the same muscles, every day. That gives them a chance to recover, because without recovery, you’re just breaking your muscles down over and over. Have a relative rest day.
