Magnesium: The Stress Reliever

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Magnesium: The Stress Reliever

 

 

Leo Galland M.D., F.A.C.N.

, Foundation for Integrated Medicine

(Author of Power Healing: Use The New Integrated Medicine to Heal Yourself,

Random House, 1997)

 

 

 

 

 

Magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral in your body, a necessary

co-factor for hundreds of enzymes, and the most critical mineral of all for

coping with stress. Stress-related diseases which run rampant through modern

society, like heart attacks and high blood pressure, are often accompanied by

magnesium deficiency. Unfortunately, most Americans consume diets that fail to

meet the government's RDA for magnesium, and magnesium intake is even lower than

average among people who develop heart disease.

The best food sources of magnesium are vegetables like buckwheat (kasha), mature

lima beans, navy beans, kidney beans, green beans, soy beans (including tofu),

blackeyed peas, broccoli, spinach, Swiss chard, oats, whole barley, millet,

bananas, blackberries, dates, dried figs, mangoes, watermelon, almonds, Brazil

nuts, cashews, hazel nuts, shrimp, and tuna.

When you are chronically stressed, you can become magnesium deficient even if

you eat these foods regularly. The complex relationship between magnesium and

stress explains why many of the patients I see require magnesium supplements,

because even a nutritious diet does not correct their magnesium deficiency.

If you are like most people, when you are exposed to the stress of contin-uous

loud noise, for example, you become irrita-ble, easily fatigued and lose

concentration. Your blood pressure may increase as the level of adrenalin, a

stress hormone, in-creases in your blood. Under conditions of mental or physical

stress, magnesium is released from your blood cells and goes into the blood

plasma, from where it is excreted into the urine. Chronic stress depletes your

body of magnesium. The more stressed you are, the greater the loss of magnesium.

The lower your magnesium level to begin with, the more reactive to stress you

become and the higher your level of adrenalin in stressful situations. Higher

adrenalin causes greater loss of magnesium from cells. Administering magnesium

as a nutritional supplement breaks this vicious cycle by raising blood magnesium

levels and buffering the response to stress, building your resistance.

Personality has a marked effect on the stress-magnesium cycle. A study done in

Paris found that stress-induced depletion of magnesium was much greater for

people who show the " Type A " , competitive, heart-disease prone behavior pattern

than for their less competitive colleagues. Dr. Bella Altura, a physiologist at

the State University of New York, has proposed that depletion of magnesium among

Type A indiviudals is the main reason why Type A individuals are at increased

risk of heart attacks.

It appears that the body's magnesium economy is an integral part of the stress

response system. When stressed for any reason, the body's hormonal reponse

causes an outpouring of magnesium from cells into plasma. This outpouring is a

bit like taking magnesium by injection, except the source is internal. The

effect of the sudden increase in magnesium is both energizing and calming.

Magnesium is needed to burn sugar for energy; it also calms the excitation of

cells produced by the stress-induced release of calcium. If there is

insufficient dietary magnesium, or if there is insufficient rest in between

episodes of stress, the body's magnesium stores are slowly depleted. The

hormonal response to stress disintegrates. The plasma magnesium does not elevate

in response to stress as it should, so that the energizing/calming effect of

magnesium is not present to counter the nerve-jangling effects of adrenalin and

other stress hormones. Consequently, the disorganizing effects of stress are

intensified and coping is impaired. Higher blood pressure, abnormalities of

your heartbeat and an increased risk of heart attacks or of angina (cardiac

pain) may be one reult.

Laboratory tests for magnesium are often misleading in evaluat-ing your need for

magnesium, because blood magnesium levels fluctuate, depending upon where you

are in the cycle of stress responses and magnesium depletion. Your symptoms are

a better guide. Muscle tension, spasm and twitching are the most characteristic

symptoms of magnesium depletion, followed by palpitation and breathlessness.

Irritability, fatigue, trouble falling asleep and hypersensitivity to loud

noises are also common. The presence of migraine or tension headache,

unexplained chest pain, strange sensations of the skin (like insects crawling)

and abdominal pain or consti-pation are further indications of magnesium

deficiency. If you are suffer from any of these symptoms, or if you are being

treated for heart disease or high blood pressure, you may need a magnesium

supplement.

The best dietary supplements are the acid salts of magensium like magne-sium

chloride, citrate, gluconate or glycinate. The dose needed varies from one

hundred milligrams to about five hundred milligrams per day of elemental

magnesium. Too much magnesium can cause diarrhea. Magnesium taken by mouth is

very safe, except in people who suffer from kidney disease or are severely

dehydrated. These people may develop levels of magnesium in blood that are too

high; they should only take magnesium supplements under strict medical

supervision. Just as magnesium taken at bedtime can induce sleep, so high blood

levels of magnesium may cause drowsiness and lethargy.

Much has been written about the need to balance the calcium/magnesium ratio when

taking supplements. This notion is based upon the known interactions between

magnesium and calcium in cells. Calcium freely dissolved in the fluid of each

cell has a stimulating effect that leads to rapid contraction of muscle cells

and excitation of nerve cells. These cellular effects of calcium result in

muscle spasm, poor circulation, and rapid heart beat. Magnesium in the cells of

your body is nature's calcium blocker and many of its protective benefits reult

from blocking these undesirable effects of calcium, reducing high blood pressure

and stopping palpitations. No dietary formula can balance calcium and magnesium

in the cells, however. Only your body can do it. Your job is to give your body

enough magnesium and enough calcium so it can get the job done right.

People who take magnesium supplements do not automatically require extra

calcium. In France, where therapy with magnesium pills has been widespread for

thirty years, calcium is rarely given in conjunction with magnesium. There is

also no evidence that magnesium and calcium interfere with each other's

absorption. Calcium and magnesium are absorbed into the body by distinct and

separate mechanisms. Similarly, people who benefit from calcium supplements do

not always have to take extra magnesium, although many women who are taking

calcium for the purpose of preventing osteoporosis may well need magnesium in

addition. There is a growing body of evidence that magnesium in the diet is as

important for prevention of osteoporosis as is calcium.

 

 

 

 

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