United States: Want to give your exercise sessions a boost? Looking for migraine headache relief?
Need help reducing stress and anxiety? Or, maybe you’re looking for ways to get a good, solid night of rest?
Do you struggle with constipation? Worried about your high blood pressure and the health of your heart?
Is PMS plaguing you? Think osteoporosis could be in your future?
Fighting chronic inflammation?
Whew!! That’s quite a list, right?
Those troubles and potential ailments seem to be all over the spectrum, too.
But, despite the vast range of topics listed, there truly is one mineral that offers relief for those ailments listed while also being crucial for the healthy function of hundreds of processes that occur within your body, as per reports.
What’s that one magic mineral? Magnesium!
Magnesium is essential for so many functions within our body, most of which we likely take for granted.
So, here we’ll discuss ten benefits you can enjoy by ensuring you’re consuming adequate amounts of magnesium.
Why You Need Magnesium
Magnesium is needed in hundreds of physiological processes that occur inside your body on a regular basis. In fact, it is needed for your very cells, the building blocks of your body, to function.
If you are lacking sufficient levels of magnesium, your body suffers from your cells to your organs, and so on.
The damage that can be caused by a lack of magnesium multiplies with age.
Worse than that, the damage caused by a lack of magnesium can have long-term consequences on your health, as per reports.
But now, let’s turn from this gloom and doom and see what benefits await you when you focus on getting adequate amounts of magnesium from either your diet or supplementation.
Magnesium helps to repair and create DNA and RNA, essentially maintaining your genes.
Magnesium works to turn the foods you eat into energy.
It turns proteins into amino acids, which your cells need to function properly.
Magnesium helps regulate neurotransmitters in your brain that are responsible for sending messages throughout your body from your nervous system.
It is an essential mineral needed to help your muscles both contract and relax.
Getting a sufficient amount of magnesium is also associated with the prevention of chronic diseases like Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes.
So, where can you get magnesium, and how much do you need?
Most crucially, we need to know what forms of magnesium are essential for maximal health. Most “healthy” people get only 1-2 forms at best (much of the population is deficient in all forms) – but when you get all 7 major forms of magnesium, that’s when the magic happens. Learn more about the 7 major forms of magnesium here. << (offer link)
According to the National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements, the recommended daily allowance (RDA) of magnesium for adult males (ages 19+) is 400-420 mg and 310-320 mg for adult females (ages 19+). However, the RDA of magnesium may be too low for athletes (or those that consistently perform higher levels of exercise or physical activity). Athletes may need 10-20 percent more magnesium than the average person. This is due to increased loss of magnesium through sweat and urine during training and competition.
Many people opt to take supplements to get the proper daily allowance, but there are also many nutritious foods that are excellent sources of magnesium, such as the following:
Pumpkin seeds
Almonds
Cashews
Dark chocolate (70-85 percent cacao)
Bananas
Spinach
Swiss chard
Avocado
Potatoes (with skin)
Quinoa
Brown rice
Whole wheat bread
Oatmeal
Black beans
Halibut
Mackerel
Salmon
So, now that we’ve whetted your appetite with the delicious foods containing magnesium and a few of the wonders of this magical mineral let’s take a more detailed look at the 10 science-backed benefits of powerfully potent magnesium.
1- Heart Health
Several research studies have confirmed magnesium to have a vital role in keeping your heart healthy.
It works to protect your heart’s “pump,” may prevent heart attacks, and makes your heart more resilient.
Negatively speaking, those individuals who are deficient in magnesium are at a greater risk for cardiovascular disease. Some studies have shown magnesium deficiency to be common in people with congestive heart failure.
Positively speaking, receiving magnesium shortly after a heart attack has been shown to reduce a person’s risk of death.
Magnesium has often been used to treat heart conditions such as arrhythmia, abnormal heartbeat, and congestive heart failure.
Taking only 100 mg of magnesium daily has also been shown to reduce the risk of stroke.
2- Improves Exercise Performance
Magnesium is often heralded as a muscle relaxer, making it a friend to athletes everywhere. But, its benefits for exercise certainly don’t stop there.
Magnesium actually works to move blood sugar into your muscles while getting rid of build-up lactate. Since lactate can accumulate in your muscles as you exercise and cause those muscles to tire, magnesium can combat this muscle fatigue.
Studies have shown magnesium supplementation to improve running, cycling, and swimming performance and times for triathletes.
And, aside from muscle support, magnesium has also been shown to increase energy, providing another needed boost during exercise.
Magnesium also aids in ATP production, the energy molecule for the cells in your body. If you’re deficient in magnesium, stress can build up in your body and deplete ATP, making you feel tired and sluggish.
So, consuming adequate amounts of magnesium can keep energy levels healthy for exercise performance as well.
3- Migraine Relief
When your body is lacking magnesium, this can affect blood vessel constriction as well as certain neurotransmitters within the brain, both of which have been linked to migraine headaches.
When experiencing a migraine headache, magnesium levels within the brain are thought to be insufficient.
Some studies have shown magnesium to be beneficial in preventing and relieving migraines as well as reducing migraine symptoms.
“The American Migraine Foundation reports that people frequently use doses of 400-500 mg per day (of magnesium) for migraine prevention.”
**Talk with your physician to make sure these amounts are safe for you.
4- Reduces Stress
Studies show low levels of magnesium to be associated with higher instances of anxiety and stress.
If your body lacks adequate levels of magnesium, something known as glutamate can build up in your brain.
Glutamate, in high amounts, can essentially overstimulate your nerve cells, even causing them to die.
While glutamate is needed for increased focus and times when your body needs a big dose of energy, too much can tip the scale, causing chronic stress, which puts you at a higher risk for heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure.
Ensuring you have a proper amount of magnesium allows your body to convert any excess glutamate (into something known as GABA), which keeps your body calm and reduces unwanted stress.
5- Improves Sleep
Supplementing with magnesium has been shown to increase the total amount of sleep time in elderly people, improve sleep efficiency, reduce the amount of time it takes for a person to fall asleep, and reduce early morning (earlier than intended) awakenings.
Magnesium works to relax your muscles and even calm your nerves as you prepare for Sleep.
It also works to regulate the neurotransmitters in your brain that are responsible for keeping you awake.
Magnesium is an essential mineral that your body needs to maintain a healthy circadian rhythm.
Offer: BiOptimizers – Magnesium Breakthrough | OW ID: 1481 | Use Offer URL: Main (1400)
Find out how to reset your “internal body clock” so you sleep through the night and wake up feeling refreshed, rested, and ready to go. << (offer link)
And it may even work to prevent restless leg syndrome, a condition known to keep many folks awake at night.
6- Anti-Inflammatory
Chronic inflammation is at the root of a long list of health problems and diseases. Magnesium deficiency has also been linked to such inflammation.
Magnesium supplementation has been shown to reduce C-reactive Protein (CRP), a substance that is made in the liver in response to inflammation within the body, as well as other inflammatory markers in adults, prediabetes patients, and obese individuals.
Magnesium supplements and foods rich in magnesium, such as fatty fish and dark chocolate, have been shown to reduce inflammation.
7- Digestion Aid & Constipation Relief
Your body needs magnesium to digest your food.
It helps in the production of stomach acid, aids in the repair and protection of the organs within your gastrointestinal tract, and makes digestive enzymes that help your body break down nutrients.
So, obviously, deficiencies in magnesium will affect your body’s ability to digest your food properly.
But, we can also experience digestive distress or constipation due to mineral imbalances or dehydration (or poor hydration).
Magnesium, along with boosted hydration, can work to relax the muscles within your gastrointestinal tract, loosen stool, and relieve constipation.
Consuming adequate amounts of magnesium through your diet or supplementation can keep your digestive system working as it should and can prevent and relieve constipation.
8- Reduces High Blood Pressure
In individuals with high blood pressure, taking 450 mg of magnesium daily has been shown to greatly lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
One study showed no decrease in blood pressure when taking magnesium in those individuals with normal blood pressure, but significant decreases were observed in those who already had high blood pressure, suggesting magnesium may be able to specifically target high blood pressure.
Magnesium is thought to work by relaxing the muscle cells in your veins and arteries, keeping the blood flow from being restricted.
It also works by keeping your body’s levels of potassium and sodium balanced, regulating other minerals, and keeping your body from depositing calcium in your arteries by aiding in proper absorption.
9- Improves Bone Health
When we think of healthy bones, we generally think of calcium as the hero in this category. But did you know that magnesium is just as essential when it comes to bone formation and health?
Magnesium works to regulate needed calcium and vitamin D, improves bone crystal formation, and increases the density of your bones, helping to prevent osteoporosis.
Research has shown that low levels of magnesium in men increase the risk of bone fractures. And, in women, those who consumed the recommended daily amount of magnesium either through diet or supplementation reduced their risk of bone fractures by 27%.
Consuming calcium and magnesium together is recommended for improving bone health.
10- PMS Relief
Many women suffer throughout their menstrual cycle with irritability, abdominal cramping (sometimes severe), fatigue, and water retention. These symptoms, when associated with menstruation, are referred to as PMS or premenstrual syndrome.
And, here, magnesium can come to the rescue yet again, as taking magnesium supplements has been shown to reduce water retention and bloating, improve mood, and decrease instances of breast tenderness.
Have you ever tried adding a magnesium supplement to your nutritional regimen? Did you experience any of the benefits mentioned above? Share your experiences in the comments below.