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Twelve Benefits of Magnesium
The Anti-Stress Mineral
4/25/2018 10:08:41 AM
Sleep better. Get rid of stress. Improve brain function. Enhance overall health and well being. These are just a few of the many incredible benefits of getting enough magnesium.
 
Add losing belly fat and having a leaner body composition to that list and you have a nutrient that everybody needs to know about.

Certainly one of the most important nutrients for by the human body, magnesium is involved in all of these issues, as well as at least 300 essential biochemical reactions. These include protein synthesis, testosterone production, insulin sensitivity, calcium absorption, and regulation of the sympathetic nervous system. Plus, magnesium has been shown to enable the metabolism of vitamin D, meaning it is essential for bone health and treatment of osteoporosis. 

Three things you should know about magnesium to begin are:

First, most Americans are deficient in magnesium and this pattern of scarcity is evident across the Western world.

Second, the standard test used by medical doctors for magnesium measures serum magnesium levels in the blood, but only about one percent of this mineral is found in the blood. Rather, about 66 percent is found in bone and 33 percent in skeletal and cardiac muscle.
 
In order to effectively asses magnesium levels that reflect how it works in the body you need to test content in the red blood cells. It’s very common for individuals with serum magnesium lab results in the normal range to actually be deficient in magnesium.

Third, magnesium plays a role in physical performance and muscle function, meaning that athletes and serious trainees are commonly deficient because strength training increases magnesium requirements.
 
Here are the 12 most compelling reasons you should make sure your magnesium levels measure up, with detailed research and TAKEAWAYS if you just want the quick tips. 

1.    Sleep Better and Reduce Insomnia
Magnesium has a calming effect on the nervous system. 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.

A recent study of people with poor sleep quality as measured with the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index found that taking a magnesium supplement decreased chronic inflammation and improved sleep quality.
 
Researchers suggest that adding magnesium to their diets decreased the participants’ sympathetic nervous activity, effectively reducing stress and allowing them to relax. In this study, lower magnesium levels were associated with a higher body mass index, indicating the connection between body fat percentage and magnesium levels. 
 
TAKEAWAY: Take Magnesium to help you sleep restfully throughout the night and de-stress. 

2.    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, allowing for improved learning and memory functions.
 
Research from MIT has shown that magnesium regulates a key receptor in the brain that supports memory and learning. Adequate magnesium content in the cerebrospinal fluid is essential for maintaining the plasticity of synapses. Further, magnesium is necessary for the proper activity of many enzymes within brain cells that control cellular and memory functions.
 
In addition, magnesium plays a major role in neurotransmitter release, which affects the discharge of brain chemicals such as serotonin that makes you feel good. This has implications for preventing depression and a chronic low mood.
 
TAKEAWAY: Magnesium makes your brain work better and improves memory!

3.    Raise Testosterone Levels and Build Muscle
Magnesium is necessary for energy metabolism and physical performance and new research shows that taking it increases testosterone levels. A 2011 study tested a group of sedentary men who received 10 mg of magnesium per kilogram of body weight a day (Group 1), a group of male tae kwon do athletes taking the same magnesium protocol daily (Group 2), and a group of tae kwon do athletes who did not take magnesium (Group 3).
 
Group 2 had the greatest increases in testosterone levels after tae kwon do practice, followed by Group 3, while Group 1 had the lowest levels (no practice or exercise), indicating that magnesium supplementation raises testosterone levels when combined with exercise. Scientists think this increase in testosterone has a performance-enhancing effect.

TAKEAWAY: If you’re not optimizing your magnesium stores, you’re missing out on peak performance and leaving training gains on the table.
 
4.    Get Stronger and Maximize Protein Synthesis
Magnesium supports protein synthesis because it enables enzyme function in the body. Additionally, research shows that magnesium supplementation paired with resistance exercise can make your stronger.
 
This study found that a group that took 8 mg/kg of body weight a day of magnesium while strength training three times a week improved strength significantly more than a control group that only trained. 

TAKEAWAY: Optimal magnesium levels are necessary for muscle and strength development.

5.    Decrease Inflammation: Improve Heart Health
Inflammation is not only an obstacle to recovery from hard workouts; it also contributes to heart disease, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, and diabetes. A study by George Washington University found that magnesium deficiency led to increased inflammation in the body, affecting blood vessels, cardiovascular, and intestinal tissues. 

Magnesium deficiency also decreases lipid metabolism and increases blood pressure, negatively impacting the health of the arteries and ultimately causing atherosclerosis. 
 
Research shows that adding magnesium to the diet in the form of 365 mg magnesium twice daily for six months can reduce the likelihood of experiencing exercise-induced chest pain.  Research participants had previously experienced chest pain before the study. Taking magnesium also allowed them to improve exercise duration by 14 percent over a control group.

TAKEAWAY: Magnesium is critical for cardiovascular health because it decreases inflammation.

6.    Get Stronger Bones: Prevent Osteoporosis
Calcium is necessary for stronger bones, but it does nothing if you don’t have adequate levels of magnesium and vitamin D. Magnesium activates cellular enzyme activity, allowing the body to convert vitamin D into its active form to help with calcium absorption and bone building.
 
Magnesium leads to the release of the hormone calcitonin, which helps to preserve bone structure and draws calcium out of the blood and soft tissues and back into the bones. Plus, magnesium suppresses parathyroid hormone, which breaks bone down.

Research studies point to the importance of the calcium to magnesium ratio (ideally in the 1:1 range), and the integrated role of vitamin D and magnesium in bone health. Support for the relationship between these two minerals was from research that found that giving a vitamin D supplement to obese women who are deficient in both vitamin D and magnesium resulted in an increase in magnesium concentrations. 

TAKEAWAY: A calcium supplement is useless without adequate magnesium. Combine calcium and magnesium in equal doses… and don’t forget the vitamin D. 

7.    Improve Insulin Sensitivity: Prevent Diabetes
Low magnesium levels will decrease your insulin sensitivity, making it harder for you to lose fat and get lean. It will also hamper the body’s storage of glycogen, meaning a longer recovery from workouts. Also, increased insulin resistance and poorly controlled diabetes results in more magnesium loss, magnifying the whole problem.

A review from the journal Biological Trace Element Research reports that magnesium plays an important role in carbohydrate metabolism, while influencing the activity of hormones that control blood glucose levels. Low magnesium can cause insulin resistance, which may result in the kidneys being unable to retain magnesium during episodes of hyperglycemia, creating a downward spiral of magnesium deficiency and subsequently diabetes.

TAKEAWAY: Magnesium supports a lean body composition AND prevents diabetes.

8.    Prevent Metabolic Syndrome: Magnesium and Pregnancy
Low magnesium levels are common in pregnant women and have been found to increase risk of the development of diabetes and metabolic syndrome in the child after birth. Metabolic syndrome is an inflammatory condition, and lack of magnesium results in a stress effect that activates the sympathetic nervous system, increasing oxidative stress and inflammation. 

TAKEAWAY: Magnesium deficiency in pregnant women can lead to diabetes and metabolic syndrome in the child.

9.    Stress: Magnesium Necessary for Metabolism of Cortisol
Remember that magnesium affects the sympathetic nervous system and norepinephrine release, which causes cortisol release as part of your stress response. Magnesium is essential for the metabolism of cortisol as well and adequate levels help return you to more relaxed state faster.

TAKEAWAY: Healthy magnesium levels lower cortisol and help you cope with stress.

10.    Digestion: Magnesium Deficiency Causes Constipation and Digestive-Related Diseases
There are a number of symptoms of magnesium deficiency including constipation, fatigue, irritability, insomnia, muscle tremors and twitching, and poor mental function. 

Studies shows that magnesium improves digestion and researchers suggest the beneficial effect of dietary fiber on a healthy gastrointestinal tract is due to its high magnesium content. An added benefit to faster transit time through the GI tract is to reduce the risk of disease including colon cancer and diabetes.

TAKEAWAY: Magnesium improves digestion and eliminates constipation. This lowers diabetes and colon cancer risk.

11.    Treat 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.

TAKEAWAY: Get adequate magnesium to improve focus and decrease ADHD.

12.    Belly Fat and Central Obesity:  Waist Circumference Can Suggest Magnesium Deficiency
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.

TAKEAWAY: Adequate magnesium is crucial for treating obesity and achieving a lean body composition.
 
References
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