Maintain Healthy Balance with Magnesium

A healthy, nutritious diet should provide you with all the necessary nutrients, including magnesium. I have mentioned this important mineral many times, but today I would like to take a closer look at it from a slightly different perspective and focus on its role in maintaining mental health.

Who’s not exposed to chronic stress nowadays? The most important issue is having effective ways to relieve everyday tensions, but diet is also important. Magnesium is a friend without which it is difficult to maintain balance. See for yourself! 🙂

 

Why do we need magnesium?

According to the Polish Nutrition Standards, magnesium is one of the most important intracellular cations. It activates over 300 enzymes! Our nervous, muscular and skeletal systems need it. It takes part in the regulation of blood pressure, insulin metabolism, and thermoregulation. So, as you can see, these are many complex and important processes.

Food sources of magnesium include primarily cereals, legumes, various nuts, cocoa, green leafy vegetables, and drinking water.

 

The Consequences of Deficiencies

According to Polish and European data, magnesium consumption remains too low (compared to the norms). This is especially visible in women. The results of the 2010 Multicenter Nationwide Polish Population Health Survey (WOBASZ) indicated that women consume on average 235 mg of magnesium per day, while according to Polish RDA standards (Recommended Dietary Allowances) it is 310-320 mg.

Moreover, researchers emphasize that with age, the risk of magnesium deficiency increases, which is due to many coexisting factors, including: decreasing intestinal absorption, dysfunctional kidney function, and the effects of certain medications.

The first symptoms of mild magnesium deficiency are quite non-specific. These include: weakness, drowsiness, increased risk of depression, loss of appetite, nausea. Prolonged malnutrition can lead to a number of more serious consequences:

• cardiovascular diseases,
• insulin resistance,
• type 2 diabetes.

Insufficient magnesium intake has also been linked to the occurrence of neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, multiple sclerosis) and mental disorders.

 

Magnesium and Stress

What I would like to draw your attention to today is the connection between magnesium deficiency and… stress! The topic of life under too much stress keeps coming back to us. I think I can dare to say that nowadays most of us experience the adverse effects of living in chronic tension. It is good to be aware of the huge role that proper nutrition, including magnesium intake, plays in this context. Magnesium takes part in many physiological processes related to the body’s response to stressful stimuli: neurotransmission, neuroprotection, inhibition of free radicals in the brain.

In the research studies that deal with this subject you will even come across the term vicious circle of stress and magnesium deficiency. On the one hand, stress may increase the body’s loss of magnesium, on the other hand, magnesium deficiency increases the body’s susceptibility to stress.

 

 

Many researchers have attempted to assess the bidirectional relationship between magnesium and stress. Exposure to various stressful stimuli (including lack of sleep, noise, excessive physical effort, chronic mental tension, student exams) increased the excretion of magnesium in urine and decreased the content of magnesium in plasma and erythrocytes. In turn, research studies focusing on the body’s susceptibility to stress depending on nutritional status showed that insufficient magnesium intake occurred in people suffering from sleep problems, depressive and anxiety disorders and reporting chronic fatigue.

One of the proposed solutions to this problem is planned, controlled supplementation, which brings benefits not only to people with diagnosed health problems, but also to those who are relatively healthy, but exposed to chronic stress. If you are wondering which preparation to choose, I recommend one of our newest Levann H2O Magnesium supplements (available HERE) in the form of convenient drops. This is the perfect solution for those of you who don’t like pills. You can add Levann H2O Magnesium to your morning glass of water (thus supporting another healthy habit which is proper hydration!)

 

Summary

I hope that once again I managed to convince you that what we eat translates into many areas of our health. Take care of what ends up on your plates, and if you need it, use supplementation, which can be a valuable support. Stress cannot be eliminated, and what’s more, getting rid of it could even be harmful. But working on ways to help you deal with it is key. Remember that in Diet & Training by Ann (HERE)) there is the Balance tab with many tools to work on your daily balance. And if you feel that the demands of everyday life are beyond you, do not hesitate to seek help from specialists. Our health is in our hands 🙂

 

Bibliography:

1. Barbagallo M, Veronese N, Dominguez LJ. Magnesium in Aging, Health and Diseases. Nutrients. 2021; 13(2): 463. doi: 10.3390/nu13020463
2. Maier JAM, Locatelli L, Fedele G, Cazzaniga A, Mazur A. Magnesium and the Brain: A Focus on Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration. Int J Mol Sci. 2022; 24(1):223. doi: 10.3390/ijms24010223.
3. Normy żywienia dla populacji Polski i ich zastosowanie. NIZP-PZH, Warszawa 2020.
4. Pickering G, Mazur A, Trousselard M, Bienkowski P, Yaltsewa N, Amessou M, Noah L, Pouteau E. Magnesium Status and Stress: The Vicious Circle Concept Revisited. Nutrients. 2020; 12(12):3672. doi: 10.3390/nu12123672.
5. Waśkiewicz A, Jakość żywienia i poziom wiedzy zdrowotnej u młodych dorosłych Polaków – badanie WOBASZ, Probl. Hig. Epidemiol., 2010, 91, 2, 233–237.