Healthy Living - Magnesium
Healthy magnesium levels protect metabolic health, stabilize mood, keep stress in check, promote better sleep, and contribute to heart and bone health. Few dietary elements have more influence over the body than magnesium. Let’s take a closer look at how maintaining magnesium levels can benefit your sleep, as well as your mental and physical well being.
What is Magnesium?
Magnesium is an essential mineral, one of seven essential macro-minerals that the human body needs in large quantities. The body does not produce magnesium. The magnesium your body needs must come from outside sources. You receive magnesium through your diet. Magnesium-rich foods include:
• Dark leafy greens
• Seeds and nuts, including sunflower and sesame seeds, cashews and almonds
• Squash, broccoli, and other vegetables
• Legumes
• Dairy products
• Meat
• Unprocessed whole grains
• Chocolate
• Coffee
Magnesium deficiency is common among adults. Estimates suggest nearly half of adult men and women in the United States aren’t getting enough magnesium. Older adults are more vulnerable to magnesium deficiency. Women are also at higher risk for low magnesium, especially with age.
How Does Magnesium Work?
Magnesium plays a widespread role in the human body, helping regulate and facilitate many essential functions. One of magnesium’s most important roles is as an enabler of healthy enzyme function. Magnesium is involved in more than 300 different enzyme-related reactions in the body’s cells.
In addition, magnesium:
• Plays a key role in energy production, activating ATP, the energy molecule that fuels your body’s cells
• Regulates transport of calcium, potassium, and other essential minerals, helping muscles and nerves function properly, and maintaining heart rhythm
• Regulates blood pressure, cholesterol production, and blood glucose levels
• Aids bone development and guards against bone loss
• Functions as an electrolyte, maintaining fluid balance in your body
• Helps control your body’s stress-response system, and hormones that elevate or diminish stress
Benefits of Magnesium
With such a broad, comprehensive role in the body’s functioning, it’s no surprise that the benefits of magnesium are widespread.
Here are some of the ways science indicates magnesium can protect your health:
Better sleep. Insomnia is a common symptom of magnesium deficiency. People with low magnesium often experience restless sleep, waking frequently during the night. Maintaining healthy magnesium levels often leads to deeper, more sound sleep. Magnesium plays a role in supporting deep, restorative sleep by maintaining healthy levels of GABA, a neurotransmitter that promotes sleep. Research indicates supplemental magnesium can improve sleep quality, especially in people with poor sleep. Magnesium can also help insomnia that’s linked to the sleep disorder restless-leg syndrome.
Stress reduction and mood stabilization. Magnesium increases GABA, which encourages relaxation as well as sleep. Low GABA levels in the body can make it difficult to relax. Magnesium also plays a key role in regulating the body’s stress-response system. Magnesium deficiency is associated with heightened stress and anxiety. Recent research indicates that magnesium deficiency can negatively affect gut health and is linked to anxiety behaviours.
Bone health. Magnesium plays a critical role in bone formation, and in maintaining bone density. It helps the body effectively use the building blocks of strong bones, including the nutrients calcium and Vitamin D. The role of magnesium to bone health becomes increasingly clear with age. Higher magnesium intake is linked to greater bone density in older men and women. In postmenopausal women, magnesium has been shown to improve bone mass.
Relief from pain. Research indicates magnesium may help with pain problems in a number of health conditions:
• Supplemental magnesium may help reduce pain intensity and improve mobility for people with chronic lower back pain
• Supplemental magnesium may improve pain and tender points (as well as depression) in people with fibromyalgia. Low magnesium appears to make fibromyalgia symptoms worse.
• Magnesium deficiency is linked to headaches. Research suggests that supplemental magnesium may help improve headache pain, including for migraines.
Help with PMS. Research indicates magnesium can reduce premenstrual symptoms, including mood swings, irritability, anxiety and tension, and bloating.
Magnesium is an essential, whole-health mineral, key to helping the body run well, both sleeping and waking. Paying attention to magnesium in your diet—and considering magnesium supplement to support healthy levels are ways to ensure you get all this protective and therapeutic benefits magnesium offers.
What is Magnesium?
Magnesium is an essential mineral, one of seven essential macro-minerals that the human body needs in large quantities. The body does not produce magnesium. The magnesium your body needs must come from outside sources. You receive magnesium through your diet. Magnesium-rich foods include:
• Dark leafy greens
• Seeds and nuts, including sunflower and sesame seeds, cashews and almonds
• Squash, broccoli, and other vegetables
• Legumes
• Dairy products
• Meat
• Unprocessed whole grains
• Chocolate
• Coffee
Magnesium deficiency is common among adults. Estimates suggest nearly half of adult men and women in the United States aren’t getting enough magnesium. Older adults are more vulnerable to magnesium deficiency. Women are also at higher risk for low magnesium, especially with age.
How Does Magnesium Work?
Magnesium plays a widespread role in the human body, helping regulate and facilitate many essential functions. One of magnesium’s most important roles is as an enabler of healthy enzyme function. Magnesium is involved in more than 300 different enzyme-related reactions in the body’s cells.
In addition, magnesium:
• Plays a key role in energy production, activating ATP, the energy molecule that fuels your body’s cells
• Regulates transport of calcium, potassium, and other essential minerals, helping muscles and nerves function properly, and maintaining heart rhythm
• Regulates blood pressure, cholesterol production, and blood glucose levels
• Aids bone development and guards against bone loss
• Functions as an electrolyte, maintaining fluid balance in your body
• Helps control your body’s stress-response system, and hormones that elevate or diminish stress
Benefits of Magnesium
With such a broad, comprehensive role in the body’s functioning, it’s no surprise that the benefits of magnesium are widespread.
Here are some of the ways science indicates magnesium can protect your health:
Better sleep. Insomnia is a common symptom of magnesium deficiency. People with low magnesium often experience restless sleep, waking frequently during the night. Maintaining healthy magnesium levels often leads to deeper, more sound sleep. Magnesium plays a role in supporting deep, restorative sleep by maintaining healthy levels of GABA, a neurotransmitter that promotes sleep. Research indicates supplemental magnesium can improve sleep quality, especially in people with poor sleep. Magnesium can also help insomnia that’s linked to the sleep disorder restless-leg syndrome.
Stress reduction and mood stabilization. Magnesium increases GABA, which encourages relaxation as well as sleep. Low GABA levels in the body can make it difficult to relax. Magnesium also plays a key role in regulating the body’s stress-response system. Magnesium deficiency is associated with heightened stress and anxiety. Recent research indicates that magnesium deficiency can negatively affect gut health and is linked to anxiety behaviours.
Bone health. Magnesium plays a critical role in bone formation, and in maintaining bone density. It helps the body effectively use the building blocks of strong bones, including the nutrients calcium and Vitamin D. The role of magnesium to bone health becomes increasingly clear with age. Higher magnesium intake is linked to greater bone density in older men and women. In postmenopausal women, magnesium has been shown to improve bone mass.
Relief from pain. Research indicates magnesium may help with pain problems in a number of health conditions:
• Supplemental magnesium may help reduce pain intensity and improve mobility for people with chronic lower back pain
• Supplemental magnesium may improve pain and tender points (as well as depression) in people with fibromyalgia. Low magnesium appears to make fibromyalgia symptoms worse.
• Magnesium deficiency is linked to headaches. Research suggests that supplemental magnesium may help improve headache pain, including for migraines.
Help with PMS. Research indicates magnesium can reduce premenstrual symptoms, including mood swings, irritability, anxiety and tension, and bloating.
Magnesium is an essential, whole-health mineral, key to helping the body run well, both sleeping and waking. Paying attention to magnesium in your diet—and considering magnesium supplement to support healthy levels are ways to ensure you get all this protective and therapeutic benefits magnesium offers.
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