What Causes Low Magnesium In The Body – Magnesium is one of the most abundant minerals in the human body and is used in over 300 different physiological processes. Unfortunately, magnesium is also one of the most common deficiencies in our society today. Can magnesium deficiency negatively affect your health? This article describes the signs of magnesium deficiency and the best ways to get more in your diet.

According to American neurosurgeon Norman Shill, MD, PhD, almost all known diseases are associated with magnesium deficiency. This may sound like a bold statement at first, but it actually makes a lot of sense considering its roles in the body. This also explains why there is such a diverse set of symptoms that occur when you don’t get enough of it.

What Causes Low Magnesium In The Body

There are 10 key signs that indicate whether someone has a magnesium deficiency.

Health Issues Related To Magnesium Deficiency

If you have frequent bouts of brain fog, poor concentration, or persistent memory problems, you may be deficient in magnesium. Structures in every cell in the body called mitochondria are responsible for producing the energy the body uses for everything.

The brain contains the highest concentration of mitochondria in the male body (women have a higher concentration in the ovaries). Mitochondria are highly dependent on magnesium for energy production, so a deficiency can significantly impair your brain’s performance (1). No wonder extra magnesium improves learning and memory (2)!

Chronic migraine sufferers have been found to have low levels of magnesium in their bodies. Considering how important magnesium is to proper nerve function, this makes a lot of sense. Magnesium also plays an additional key role in regulating the production of neurotransmitters, which may also affect migraines.

Supplemental magnesium taken regularly has been shown to reduce the frequency and intensity of migraine headaches (3). Additionally, magnesium has been shown to have the same effect on non-migraine headaches as well.

Low Magnesium Symptoms: What Are The Early Signs Of Low Magnesium?

Much of this has to do with magnesium’s ability to help regulate calcium balance in neuronal cells. Excessive amounts of calcium can cause neurotoxic effects, where brain cells are overstimulated, and this is a major factor in the development of headaches and migraines.

Constipation is a digestive problem that I hear all the time. Adequate magnesium intake actually softens the stool by adding water to the intestines, which promotes healthy elimination. If the stool becomes too hard, it moves more slowly through the colon and becomes a problem. This is why I always recommend magnesium when I hear this complaint.

In addition, magnesium plays a major role in regulating muscle contraction in the intestines, and this is why magnesium deficiency often causes constipation. In this way, magnesium can also be very helpful in relieving discomfort and cramping due to IBS or other similar conditions.

Magnesium is involved in energy production. As mentioned earlier, the mitochondria in your cells rely heavily on magnesium for energy production (4). Your mitochondrial function primarily determines your energy levels. In addition, magnesium supports the adrenal glands, which can play a large role in energy production as well.

What Is Magnesium, And Why Should You Care About It?

And most importantly… since magnesium is involved in many enzymatic processes in the body, a deficiency will make more than 300 normal processes difficult to perform. It acts as a chronic stressor on your body and saps energy!

If you are chronically fatigued, you may be deficient in magnesium, and increasing your magnesium intake can dramatically improve your energy levels.

Insomnia is one of the big conditions I see a lot of improvement in when starting magnesium supplements. This is because magnesium is involved in the production of GABA in the brain. GABA is what is known as an inhibitory neurotransmitter. It simply means a chemical that promotes relaxation.

If you don’t have enough magnesium to produce adequate amounts of GABA, your sleep will likely suffer. Although there are other nutrients involved in the production of GABA, magnesium is a critical factor that greatly determines the quality of your sleep.

Top 7 Health Benefits Of Magnesium & Magnesium Supplements

Since magnesium is so important for proper nerve transmission, it’s no surprise that it also plays an important role in muscle contraction. When magnesium is depleted, muscle contractions can become weak and uncoordinated, leading to involuntary spasms and painful cramps.

Signs of magnesium deficiency. Spasms usually occur in the legs, feet, and sometimes in places like the eyelids. If you are a woman, PMS-related cramps may worsen when magnesium stores are low.

Chronic pain and related conditions, such as fibromyalgia, are strongly related to stress carried in the body. This tension can be only physical, but it can also be aggravated by emotional stress. Emotions such as worry, anger, and anxiety contribute to physical tension. Over time, this chronic tension leads to pain.

When magnesium stores in the body are low, the nervous system can become hyper-excitable (meaning easily overstimulated), which can increase muscle tension. Magnesium can play a role here, contributing to an overall calming effect on the mind and body, relaxing muscles and helping to relax.

How To Tell If You Are Low In Magnesium

The heart is a muscle that constantly contracts in our body without conscious control. As with other muscles in the body, the heart relies heavily on magnesium for proper contractility. This is thought to be due to its role in regulating calcium and potassium concentrations in muscle tissue (5).

If you notice that your heart is beating irregularly, magnesium may be the answer. These include fast heartbeats, slow heartbeats, and sudden changes in heart rhythm for no apparent reason.

If you often feel numbness or tingling in your body, such as your hands and feet, this is likely due to a change in nerve activity. For example, peripheral neuropathy (a common side effect of diabetes) is characterized by these sensations.

Because of its role in healthy nerve transmission, magnesium deficiency may at least partially play a role here. Limited research has been done specifically on this mechanism, but some studies have shown that magnesium can relieve or prevent numbness and tingling in the extremities.

Magnesium Side Effects, Dosage, And Supplementation

This effect is highlighted in research showing protective properties against peripheral neuropathy caused by certain cancer therapies (6).

Magnesium plays a critical role in regulating the balance of neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are chemicals in the brain that regulate thought patterns and behaviors, from motivation to sleep to focus (and much more). As mentioned earlier, magnesium is particularly involved in the production of GABA in the brain, which is a calming neurotransmitter.

A poor ability to produce adequate GABA in the brain leads to conditions such as ADD/ADHD, anxiety, irritability, and general mood imbalances. If you regularly identify with these feelings, you should consider increasing your daily magnesium intake.

Now that you know the signs of magnesium deficiency and how important this mineral is to the human body, it’s important to understand the best ways to get it. Follow these 3 strategies to increase your magnesium levels and do your health a huge favor.

Will Taking Magnesium Help Your Depression?

As with most nutrients, I always recommend starting with your diet. There are many excellent food sources of magnesium that are easy to incorporate into your daily life. Some of my favorites are avocados, leafy green vegetables, and raw chocolate.

I recommend choosing a few high magnesium foods and eating them regularly. For example, I use avocados to make Avocado Chocolate Protein Pudding, which I eat for lunch almost every day!

Pick your favorites from the list below and come up with creative ways to incorporate them into your diet every day!

Perhaps one of the most relaxing ways to get more magnesium into your body is to take an Epsom salt bath. Epsom salts are actually a form of magnesium that can be absorbed into the body through the skin while you soak. This is part of the reason Epsom salt baths are so relaxing!

Study Links Anaemia In Adults To Magnesium Deficiency

While traditional Epsom salts are made from magnesium sulfate, there are also newer forms of magnesium flakes that are made from magnesium chloride. Both types of salts are beneficial to the body, although magnesium chloride may provide longer-lasting benefits. This is because magnesium chloride is more easily absorbed and slowly excreted from the body.

This means that less magnesium chloride is needed to get the benefits. One of my favorite brands of magnesium flakes is Ancient Minerals and you can check out their bath soak here.

When it comes down to it, our food supply just isn’t what it used to be. Industrialization and poor attention to soil quality have depleted our soil of vital nutrients that used to go into our food.

Even though we are starting to wake up to this fact and more consciously try to create food farming conditions, our food still lacks the nutrients our bodies need.

Liposomal Magnesium Supplement For Magnesium Deficiency

This is why I recommend magnesium supplementation to many of my patients. It’s so important to make sure you get enough magnesium in your diet that I supplement with daily.

Not all magnesium is created equal. Magnesium has different forms

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