When I started taking medicinal baths for relaxation before bed, it changed my sleep in a number of ways.

The way I know this is because I could see a clear difference in my sleep scores before I starting taking these relaxing baths before bed and after I started taking them.

I encourage you to track your sleep with something like an Oura Ring or Whoop Band for a week before you start taking these calming baths and a week after.

Gather your scores and average them out and you’ll most likely notice big differences in the length of your sleep, the depth of your sleep and how many sleep cycles you’re able to have.

I love taking baths for relaxation but the other massive motivation for me is that I also get transdermal medicine in my body right before bed.

There’s a magical connection humans have to bathing and water. In ancient Rome there were bath houses where sick people would soak to heal their injuries or calm their minds. In recent times you can find hot springs all around the world where the healing waters help troubled souls.

Some people argue that humans evolved from the ocean which explains our love for the water and just being immersed in body’s of water. I don’t subscribe to that idea but I’ve always felt a very strong connection to water. I used to love swimming in pools growing up.

Any chance I got I’d sit in a jacuzzi or swim with my friends. I used to love going to the beach all day and swimming in the ocean. I love being in huge bodies of water. Salt water is my favorite.

In recent times I took up soaking in a float tank. This is where you go into a 100% blacked out “pod” with water that’s the exact same temperature as human skin (around 93.2 degrees) so you cannot feel the water. You have a hard time figuring out where your body stops and where the water begins.

You cannot hear anything because the tank is completely sound proof and you cannot see anything because not even one photon of light is in the float tank. It’s completely blacked out. You also cannot feel anything or hear anything.

All five senses are taken away from you.

The water is only about 12 inches deep but has over 1,200 lbs of magnesium salt in it so you float, like in the dead sea.

You become one with pure consciousness. It’s incredible and it involves water and bathing.

In that vein I love taking medicinal baths for relaxation and calmness, especially before bed. If I can combine it with detoxification I can do both at once. I can heal, detox and get transdermal medicine into my system all while I get calm and feel my cares being taken away.

After a relaxing bath like this, I flop into bed and just melt away.

I tend to fall asleep much quicker, sleep longer and feel more rested when I get up in the morning.

Benefits of Bathing

If you’re going to take a bath and spend 30 minutes soaking your cares away, why not ramp it up to the best of your abilities? Doing these types of medicinal baths for relaxation before bed can help calm your mind and relax your body.

Here are some of the benefits of these medicinal detox baths that I love so much…

1.  You’re getting transdermal medicine (magnesium, boron, baking soda, minerals)
2. This has a calming effect on your blood pH and your nervous system.
3. It makes you tired for sleep
4. It allows you to have “me time“
5. You can read a book or listen to a podcast (I enjoy the latter)
6. The kids are sleeping so you know you will not be interrupted.
7. It allows you to escape the cares and worries of the day

Prepping Your Bath

What you can put in…

• Start with filtered water (use a bath filter or better yet a whole house filter)
• Magnesium (as much as you can, there’s no upper limit when it comes to transdermal applications)
• Magnesium oil if you don’t have the bath salt
• 1/4 cup Borax
• 1 cup Baking Soda
• 1 Bath bomb
• 10-15 drops lavender essential oil

Optional ingredients…

• Hydrogen – Video
• Bentonite clay
• Extra oxygen
• 1/4 cup hydrogen peroxide
• DMSO
• trisodium phosphate
• sodium thiosulphate
• Apple cider vinegar (don’t add this if you’ve already added baking soda)

Bathroom Environment

This is more important than what you put into your bath. I like to have a essential oil diffuser going in my bathroom diffusing lavender essential oil into my bathroom. Inhaling these types of herbs and essential oils impacts your nervous system and is extremely calming and relaxing to the body.

I also like to listen to something empowering. If I’m reading a book in the bath, I’ll play soothing meditation type of music while I read.

If on the other hand I’m listening to something, I’ll usually make it something calming and relaxing but also mentally stimulating. I like listening to stuff like this when I’m in the bath. I know, I’m a sucker for that kind of stuff.

As far as lights go, I’ll always have on my red lights so that it doesn’t suppress my melatonin while I’m in the bath. The last thing you want is to have all of these relaxing things going on but also have stimulating blue lights on which completely counteracts all of the relaxing things you’re doing.

I also try to use as little light as possible while in this relaxing bath. If you don’t have any red lights yet, I would turn off all your lights and use candle lights.

Bathing Time

I always recommend taking a shower first to get excess dead skin of your body. I like to skin brush before I even take a shower. I’ll use a hard bristled brush for 5 minutes and then get into the shower. I’ll wash my hair and my skin with soap and this is when I do The Big Six lymphatic massage. It works great with soap.

Give yourself enough time to be in this relaxing bath. Don’t stress yourself out, with only having a certain amount of time. If you don’t have quite enough time for a relaxing bath, then I’d suggest skipping it and doing it the next day.

This medicinal bath is about utter relaxation, peace and tranquility. Make sure that it’s similar to a spa type situation where everything is designed for utter relaxation and stillness.

How Often Should You Take Medicinal Baths?

I recommend only once a week to start. These types of baths can be very cleansing and detoxifying to your body. It could be pulling heavy metals out of your tissues through your skin. This is usually called a Jarisch–Herxheimer reaction or a detox reaction. Some people call it a detox flu.

I also recommend avoiding going heavy on the ingredients. If you’re new to taking medicinal baths for relaxation and you’re sensitive to things, you should start slow and ease in. If you’ve been taking care of your health for a while, you might be able to bring in more of these ingredients.

Start slow and see how you feel as you continue to do these detox baths for relaxation before bed.

You’ll probably notice that when you get out of the water your muscles are no longer sore and they’re loose. You might feel slightly light headed or an inability to cool down before bed. This could be a reaction to liberating toxins, chemicals and poisons from your blood stream.

I notice after I get out of one of these relaxing baths that I’m calm, centered and I can breathe deeper. I feel relaxed and have a feeling of exhaustion before I get into bed.

Like I mentioned above I always have the best sleep scores when I do these medicinal style baths before bed.

What Not To Put In

I wouldn’t add in any of the ingredients under the “Optional” list above. They might be too intense. Also make sure to avoid vinegar with using baking soda.

Conclusion

If it’s in the Summer, it might be too hot for these relaxing baths. During the Fall and Winter, I look forward to this relaxing time all day. I can’t put the kids to bed soon enough. Start small and start with a little amount of the ingredients and see how you feel.

If you feel good, then increase the amount of each of the ingredients each time you draw up a bath. Then you can go from one medicinal bath per week to two and see how you go. I really utilize the relaxing baths during the Fall and Winter time. It’s too hot to do them here in the Spring and Summer. During the warmer months I focus on getting to the beach and maximizing my sun and vitamin D exposure.

Each season seems to have their own benefits.

Try these pre-bedtime relaxing baths for a few weeks and see how you feel and most importantly see how they can improve your sleep!

Questions:

1. Have you ever tried a relaxing bath for sleep?
2. How long did you do them for?
3. Did it help your sleep?
4. What’s your favorite thing to add to your relaxing baths?

Comment below.