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Tired? -
Can’t sleep?
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Tight muscles?
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Cramps?
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Headaches?
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Stressed?
Let’s Talk Magnesium
Magnesium may be the most commonly deficient mineral in human nutrition. It is involved in around 300 essential biochemical reactions, including protein synthesis, testosterone production, insulin sensitivity, calcium absorption, and regulation of the sympathetic nervous system. Because it is the calming or anti-stress mineral, it’s very important to many human functions and is crucial if you suffer any stress symptoms, like the ones above.
5 Reasons You Should Make Sure Your Magnesium Stores Are Full
1. Stress: Magnesium Necessary for Detox of Cortisol
Magnesium affects the sympathetic nervous system and norepinephrine release, which causes cortisol release as part of your stress response. Magnesium is essential for the detoxification of cortisol (the stress hormone) and adequate levels help return you to more relaxed state.
2. Sleep Better and Reduce Insomnia
Magnesium has a calming effect on the nervous system, meaning that if you are deficient your heart rate and sympathetic nervous system will be sent into overdrive. Additionally, lack of magnesium has shown to alter electrical activity in the brain, causing agitated sleep and frequent awakenings.
3. Improve Brain Function and Fight Depression
Magnesium is essential for a great memory. Supplementing with magnesium has been shown to increase brain function by improving brain electrical activity, meaning elevated learning and memory functions. This has implications for depression and a chronic low mood as well. Magnesium plays a major role in neurotransmitter release, which affects the discharge of brain chemicals such as serotonin that makes you feel good.
4. Reduce ADHD and Hyperactivity
Studies of children with ADHD consistently point to low magnesium levels as a cause. Supplementing with magnesium has been shown to increase attention span, which researchers suggest is due both to its calming effects and the fact that it improves brain activity.
5. Abdominal Fat and Central Obesity: Waist Circumference Can Suggest Magnesium Deficiency
This may be the single most valuable point highlighting the essential role of magnesium in weight management: because of magnesium’s role in glucose regulation, insulin sensitivity, and its ability to decrease inflammation and anxiety, lower cortisol, improve HDL cholesterol levels, and stimulate protein synthesis, adequate levels are absolutely critical for a lean body. Magnesium is particularly important in treating obesity, because extremely overweight individuals commonly have metabolic syndrome and chronic low-grade inflammation, which is magnified by typically low magnesium status. Additionally, research shows that high abdominal fat levels are related to excessive cortisol, low magnesium, and greater risk of all the related health issues listed above.
How Do I Know Which Magnesium Supplement To Take?
Magnesium oxide? Magnesium citrate? Magnesium tablets? Powered magnesium? Magnesium with calcium?
With so many different forms of magnesium out there, it can be hard knowing which is the best value for money – which one you will not just waste when you sit on the toilet! With supplements, it is not so much how much of a substance is present but how easily absorbed it is – how much of it actually makes its way into your bloodstream – that matters.
In the case of magnesium, it is not a mineral easily absorbed in the body unless first attached to a transporting substance, which means the type of magnesium you take is very important. Often, supermarket brands offer very little use, in the end. Generally, forms of magnesium that dissolve well in liquid are more completely absorbed in the gut than less soluble forms, making them better for you to take.
A magnesium supplement is always best taken with calcium, and although we never recommend self-prescribing, always make sure you take a magnesium supplement with both in it.
We have a large range of magnesium supplements in the clinic – each one of the best quality absorption-wise which we can educate you in. Each magnesium complex differs slightly in what health problem it assists with – from muscle cramps to stress – so again, consult your Practitioner to determine which one is best for you.
High Magnesium Foods
You find magnesium mostly in plant foods — grains, legumes, vegetables, nuts, and seeds — although seafood is also high in this mineral. Dark green vegetables are a particularly good source of magnesium.
