Imagine a bathtub piled high with fragrant bubbles. The warm water eases the tension from your muscles as you sink into the caressing foam. Your anxieties melt away. You feel relaxed, pampered and full of hope for the day ahead.

 While many of us associate bath time with splashing toddlers and rubber duckies, time spent in the tub isn’t just for children anymore. Adults are heading back to the basics of bathing as a new crop of bath products hits the market with promises ranging from revitalized skin to a revitalized life. Barely have time for a shower, let alone a luxurious soak? New research shows that even a ten to twenty minute dip in a soothing bath can cure a variety of ailments for adults and give you a whole new outlook on life.  It’s all about adding the right ingredients to your bath!

 Tension Tamers

 Are you sore after a hard workout or stiff from a long day at your desk? Try adding peppermint to your bath. Peppermint, when applied to skin, stimulates cold-sensitive nerve endings that dull pain receptors and create a cooling sensation on contact. German researchers have also found that rubbing a diluted solution of peppermint oil onto temples can banish a tension headache in as little as fifteen minutes. Enjoy the soothing benefits of peppermint at home with homemade bath salts. Just mix one cup of Epsom salts with one cup of sea salt in a large bowl and add approximately fifteen drops of peppermint oil. Several drops of rosemary or eucalyptus oil will also compliment peppermint well. Store the salts in an airtight jar and mix three tablespoons into a warm bath whenever muscles feel achy.