The essential minerals in salt act as important electrolytes in the body. They help with fluid balance, nerve transmission and muscle function. Some amount of salt is naturally found in most foods. It’s also frequently added to foods in order to improve flavor.

Sea salt and table salt have the same basic nutritional value, despite the fact that sea salt is often promoted as being healthier. Sea salt and table salt contain comparable amounts of sodium by weight. Whichever type of salt you enjoy, do so in moderation.

As a preservative, salt helps to prevent spoilage and helps to keep foods like ready-to-eat meats and cheeses safe to eat. Salt is also used in fermenting processes for foods like sauerkraut, pickles and kefir. Sodium chloride also has many other uses beyond seasoning and preserving foods.

A saltwater flush is used to cleanse your colon, treat chronic constipation, and help detox your body. It became a popular trend as part of the Master Cleanse detox and fasting program. A saltwater flush involves drinking a mixture of warm water and non-iodized salt. Drinking salt and warm water has a laxative effect.

Drinking seawater can be deadly to humans. Seawater contains salt. When humans drink seawater, their cells are thus taking in water and salt. While humans can safely ingest small amounts of salt, the salt content in seawater is much higher than what can be processed by the human body.

Saltwater is acidic, and gaggling it every day can soften the teeth enamel and gums. Therefore, you can’t gargle salty water daily Also, people with special medical conditions such as those with high blood pressure should take extra precaution or simply look for other alternatives they can use.

Gargling with salt water — about 1/2 teaspoon dissolved in a cup of warm water — can ease swelling and make a sore, scratchy throat feel better.

Lifestyle and home remedies

1. Movement. Moving and using the muscles in the part of your body affected by edema, especially your legs, may help pump the excess fluid back toward your heart.
2. Elevation.
3. Massage.
4. Compression.
5. Protection.
6. Reduce salt intake.

Simple changes to reduce or prevent swelling

1. Take a short walk every hour.
2. Drink eight to 10 glasses of water daily. Drinking less actually promotes swelling.
3. Limit your salt and carbohydrate intake.
4. Put phone books or bricks under the foot of your bed to elevate your legs and feet at night.

Cold Therapy Applying cold immediately after an injury helps reduce swelling by restricting blood flow to the area and slowing down cellular metabolism. You can use ice packs, cold therapy systems, ice baths, or cryotherapy chambers to deliver cold to the affected area.

Mild swelling

1. Rest and protect a sore area.
2. Elevate the injured or sore area on pillows while applying ice and any time you are sitting or lying down.
3. Avoid sitting or standing without moving for prolonged periods of time.
4. A low-sodium diet may help reduce swelling.

Icing an injury typically takes place immediately after the injury occurs. Using a cold compress or ice pack on a strained muscle can decrease inflammation and numb pain in the area. Icing is effective at reducing pain and swelling because the cold constricts blood vessels and decreases circulation to the area.

Most swelling treatment can be done at home. The vast majority of injuries will heal and the swelling will dissipate after a few days. If you have prolonged swelling or if it gets gradually worse instead of better, see a doctor. First, you want to protect yourself from further injury.

Swelling isn’t good for us all the time. It initially helps by recruiting healing factors that accelerate how quickly cells migrate to the site of injury – but swelling is also bad because it destructs and distends the tissues, and distorts the anatomy.

This nighttime spike in immune system activity and inflammation can also bleed into the morning hours, he says. So if, despite your symptoms, you’re able to sleep through the night, you may find that you feel worse first thing in the morning when you wake up.

Ice should be applied to an acute injury for 10 minutes at a time. Any longer than this could result in tissue damage to the skin by frostbite or lack of blood flow. You can apply ice several times each day.

Greater than 20 minutes of icing can cause reactive vasodilation, or widening, of the vessels as the body tries to make sure the tissues get the blood supply they need. Studies have also shown 30 to 40 minutes in between icing sessions are needed to counter this reaction.

The problem with using ice as a vasoconstrictor is that, while it limits blood supply and therefore reduces swelling, it also limits arrival of immune cells and thus interferes with core parts of healing.

Nerve Pain It’s best to use cold when the pain is still sharp and move on to heat once that sharpness has subsided. The heat will increase blood flow and help tissues heal faster.

Exercise releases natural painkillers called endorphins. Exercise also promotes blood flow to the nerves in the legs and feet. Researchers believe that regular exercise may create a long-lasting expansion in blood vessels in the feet, nourishing damaged nerves back to health.

Sleeping with your knees elevated may alleviate your painful symptoms by minimizing the pressure your lumbar discs place on your nerve roots. Lie flat on your back—keep your heels and buttocks in contact with the bed and bend your knees slightly towards the ceiling.

There are also a number of natural treatments to help reduce symptoms and peripheral neuropathy.

• Vitamins. Some cases of peripheral neuropathy are related to vitamin deficiencies.
• Cayenne pepper.
• Quit smoking.
• Warm bath.
• Exercise.
• Essential oils.
• Meditation.
• Acupuncture.

Treating Nerve Pain

1. Topical treatments. Some over-the-counter and prescription topical treatments — like creams, lotions, gels, and patches — can ease nerve pain.
2. Anticonvulsants.
3. Antidepressants .
4. Painkillers.
5. Electrical stimulation.
6. Other techniques.
7. Complementary treatments.
8. Lifestyle changes.

Vitamin B1 (thiamine) provides your nerves with energy to function, while vitamin B6 relieves nerve pain and transmits nerve impulses correctly. Vitamin B12 regenerates the nerves, protecting them from damage. A deficiency in vitamins B12 or B1 may be partly responsible for your nerve pain.

The research mentioned above included lavender, bergamot, tea tree, geranium, rosemary, blue chamomile, and lemon eucalyptus oils. Other studies show that bergamot, cinnamon, geranium, ginger, lavender, and lemongrass essential oils may help ease pain. But not all of these oils have been tested on neuropathy.