For some reason, lately I am waking up with severe pain all over my body. No matter how much I deny it, I guess my age is catching up with me. Normally a tablet or two of Tylenol will do the trick of alleviating the pain. Though only temporarily.
To solve this problem, my son suggested that I take a Epsom salt bath in my bath tub. He says Epsom salt not only alleviates the pain, but also rejuvenates the skin and makes you look younger.
He is standing proof. He looks young alright (but don’t tell me that he is young anyway).
So the upside seems attractive. Especially the younger looking skin, with the pain taking the back seat now.
But what is the downside? That I should spend at the least 20 mins of my time soaking in the saltwater doing nothing.
That is 20 Mins of my time!!
Didn’t I tell you that I am getting old and driven to do this or that before my time is up.
Four years before I wrote a post titled ‘The concept of time’ in this blog and to this day the answer is elusive. 20 mins of my time still seems to be a tall order.
My prior experience of whiling away my time in my bath tub was in a motel in London, England. That was way back in 1987. It was reassuring to think that my employer was paying for my time and it wasn’t my time. Or was it?
Today I came across this post, ‘How to be good at life (the definitive collection)‘ and was taken in by the suggestion # 6 Slow down and take it all in.
I finally mustered enough courage to slow down and take it all in. And that is by soaking in my bath tub full of water.
So I asked my son one last time, as to how best to do this.
His instructions were oral and rapid before he headed out the door to his gym:
- Fill up the bath tub with warm water, but not to the brim. Just enough to cover the body and not so much that it overflows.
- Just take 2 handfuls of Epsom salt and dissolve in it
- Then I must immerse my body and cover it as much as I can, by stretching out.
- Lay still for about 20 mins.
On the surface, the instructions seem to be clear enough. But only when it came to putting the experiment to test did I get all kinds of doubt.
Believe me, I wasn’t this careful even when I was doing my lab experiments in college.
- First the water level: how high should it be. I wasn’t Archimedes, I was weak in Physics and I forgot how much I weigh lately. I guess I should go trial and error on this.
- Then how warm should the water be? Should it be just a little above cold? Or should it be tepid? For sure, it can’t be boiling hot that it burns my delicate parts and puts me out of commission for a week or month or God knows for how long.
- Two handfuls of Epsom salt. Whose handfuls? His, or mine or a new born baby’s?
- Finally the time: About 20 mins. What if it is less or more?
Definitely It can’t be more than 20 mins. Because I can’t bill myself far more than that.
So I took an alarm clock into my wash room just to be sure that I am out on time. That took care of the time part. Or so I thought.
As for the Epsom salt, I mixed it with a measured cup.
As for water temperature, I wish I had a thermometer with me for consistency. I took the second best approach. First I dipped my finger, then my toes, finally my body.
Then I laid still with my eyes closed, silent and forgot to watch the clock. A good 45 mins had gone by and I didn’t notice. It was wonderful and refreshing.
I suggest you try it too, for no other reason than to have a timeless experience.
Note for those who don’t know me: The guy in the picture is not me. I am not crazy enough to take a dip putting on my cowboy boot and hat.
At least not yet.