Why isn't Everyone Using Castor Oil Packs?

A grounded look at castor oil packs, why they’re popular, what benefits are realistic, and how to choose a clean castor oil without falling for exaggerated detox claims. 

Transcript

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Welcome back to Night Shift with Justin S. King, how to transform your life one night at a time. Tonight we are going to be discussing a nighttime evening ritual which is blowing up and a viral ritual that's blowing up over on TikTok. And that is castor oil packs. Everyone from doctors, nurses, moms, alternate health care experts are all talking about castor oil packs. Specifically wrapping castor oil packs over their belly or livel area before bed, and claiming that it helps boost sleep, helps with bloating, hormones, lymph drainage, liver detox digestion, and inflammation. But is there any proof of these claims? The strongest benefit of a castor oil pack may not be that it's magically detoxing your liver, according to the viral ideas on TikTok, but that it may be that it creates a slow warming and grounding ritual before going to bed. You put oil on a cotton cloth or a wrap, place it over your abdomen, you lie still, you breathe, and feeling that oil on your skin and this nightly ritual can give your nervous system a signal that the day is ending. And that may be where the biggest benefit comes from. The warmth pressure, stillness, and the routine can help shift your body out of a stress mode. So if someone says I sleep better when I use castor oil packs, they may be telling the truth, but it may not be for the reason they are thinking. There is no real medical evidence as far as I could find that your liver is detoxing or your lymph system is drained or your hormones are being reset by using a castor oil pack. You may feel calmer or experience less bloating or better sleep as a result of the nightly ritual of applying it. But I can't find anything as far as real evidence that it detoxes your liver. The one claim would be that it can be used as a laxative and very be very careful with that, specifically about which one you choose and how you pick it. It may help some people feel less tense or less bloated, and it may support the body's natural rhythms because it makes you slow down. I myself have been using one for about a month, off and on, and I do find that when I wake up, I like the feeling of how moisturized my skin is where I had the pack on, and that gives me kind of an overall lift and mood that I could perceive as having other health benefits. So, how do you pick a castor oil if you want to try this out? You want to look for a cold-pressed castor oil, a one in a dark amber glass bottle, and look for a hexene-free, fragrance-free, and preferably one that doesn't have any additional ingredients. A simple clean castor oil is enough. So for the pack itself, use cotton and reusable wrap. Apply a small amount of the oil to the cloth on your abdomen andor upper right belly area and relax before bed. Um, I think having that tightly wrapped, not like circulation cutting off wrap, but the tight hug of the wrap around your body at night is similar to like compression, which has been shown to help you sleep better. So that could be another benefit that people are getting better sleep is actually the compression of the wrap itself around you. There are studies that show that that does improve your sleep through devices or products like the hug sleep. I have that, and I've talked about on a episode in the past about wrapping yourself tightly, if needed. So do not overdo the pack, do not put too much oil on it, do not put too much over on the liver detox that could or could not happen from the castor oil pack. So the sort of balance take with a castor oil pack is they are probably overhyped as a detox tool, but they may be underrated as a bedtime ritual. Use it as a way to slow down, relax your body, and create a screen free transition before you go to sleep. And that extra compression from the wrap itself may help you relax a little bit better as well. So if you are going to try a cast royal pack, I'd love to hear your experience. And if you have any evidence or personal experiences with one, feel to reach out to me at JustinS King.com. My name is Justin S. King, and I help entrepreneurs find peace tonight, tomorrow, and for the rest of their lives through sleep optimization, emotion regulation, and discovering their purpose. Good night.