All your organs --
including your kidneys and heart -- need magnesium to function properly.
Magnesium is also crucial for bone and teeth formation, enzyme activation and
energy production. Unfortunately, your magnesium levels tend to wane during
menopause. Replenishing your daily stores of magnesium may not only help keep
your body operating properly, it may also help ease menopausal symptoms.
Why Magnesium Levels Fall with Menopause
Beginning with perimenopause, your estrogen, progesterone
and testosterone hormones fluctuate widely. During your child-bearing years,
when you need more minerals, estrogen promotes magnesium absorption to
accommodate pregnancy. However, as estrogen levels begin to fall with
perimenopause, your ability to absorb magnesium diminishes.
The result is hypomagnesemia (magnesium deficiency),
which, if not addressed, will continue to worsen with age.
What do I need
magnesium for?
Magnesium is a mineral, and some researchers actually consider
it the fourth most abundant mineral in our body. It is needed for numerous
chemical processes in our body. Based on the latest studies, Magnesium may
actually be involved in 1300 biological enzyme systems in the body, which is
about 80% of all the enzyme systems we have inside. Yes, magnesium does
everything! It is a key component of the different functional systems:
* Magnesium is needed to keep your bones healthy.
* Magnesium is essential for good nerve function.
* Magnesium deficiency may negatively affect your mood
and trigger depressive episode. Some actually call it your happy mineral.
* It’s needed for good muscle function.
* It’s needed to keep your heart healthy. The highest
concentration of magnesium is in the ventricle chambers of the heart.
* It’s needed to keep your thyroid balanced.
* It’s needed to regulate calcium in the body, which
again is really important for your bones
* It’s needed for sleep.
* It’s needed to keep your blood pressure level.
* It’s needed to give you healthy hair and nails.
* It’s needed for a healthy weight and metabolism. Fifty-four
molecules of magnesium are required to metabolize one molecule of sucrose,
which is why a high sugar diet causes magnesium deficiency.
How Magnesium Helps Manage Stress and Anxiety?
Stress and anxiety rank high among complaints of
menopausal women. The reason? As estrogen levels drop, you also lose the
ability to effectively regulate cortisol levels.
Cortisol is commonly known as “The Stress Hormone,”
and in some instances, it serves a useful purpose. For example, it can help you
respond instinctively to emergencies, summon courage when threatened and
weather daunting challenges. However, too much cortisol for too long leads to
chronic stress, which isn’t good. In addition to producing stress, high
cortisol impairs normal cell regeneration, production of vital hormones,
cognitive function and healthy digestion.
Stress begins with your pituitary gland, which releases
ACTH (adrenocorticotropic hormone), and in turn, ACTH stimulates your adrenal
glands to produce cortisol. However, if you have enough magnesium, it can:
* moderate the amount of ACTH released from your pituitary
* lessen your adrenal glands’ response to ACTH, preventing a massive release of cortisol
* block the blood/brain barrier, preventing cortisol from entering your brain
* moderate the amount of ACTH released from your pituitary
* lessen your adrenal glands’ response to ACTH, preventing a massive release of cortisol
* block the blood/brain barrier, preventing cortisol from entering your brain
Dr. Carolyn Dean, who authored the bestselling The
Magnesium Miracle, explains how, under stress, “your body creates stress
hormones causing a cascade of physical effects, all of which consume
magnesium.”
It becomes a vicious cycle: Stress robs you of the
magnesium you need to prevent stress, which makes stress still worse. If your
magnesium level is low to begin with, it can be difficult to break the cycle.
To make matters worse, during periods of prolonged
stress, you further reduce your magnesium store by passing it out with urine!
Magnesium and Depression
Under the relentless assault of excessive cortisol and
chronic stress, people may abandon healthy mood-regulation strategies.
Consequently, the longer you’re stressed, the more likely it becomes that you
will find yourself on a downward slide into depression.
There is, however, hope. There’s good reason magnesium is
called “the chill pill”, “nature’s relaxant” and the “anti-stress/anxiety
mineral”. In one study, researchers found magnesium equally as effective as
antidepressants in relieving depression, often within a week.
An interesting article by researchers George and Karen
Eby theorizes that stress, together with magnesium deficiency, can cause damage
to brain neurons that results in depression. On the bright side, they observe
that “Magnesium was found usually effective for treatment of depression in
general use.”
Studies also show that magnesium therapy benefits
anxiety, irritability, insomnia and water retention ― all common symptoms of
menopause.
In addition, magnesium increases levels of the
mood-elevating neurotransmitter serotonin, which is important to improving
sleep and memory, as well as depression.
What are other
symptoms of a lack of magnesium?
Lack of the sufficient magnesium amount in your body may
cause numerous symptoms. Actually, review the list of the magnesium use
justifications from the previous chapter. During the menopause, the symptoms,
caused by the Magnesium deficiency, can sometimes be actually mistaken for
hormonal problems during the menopausal period. The low levels of magnesium can
interfere with your sleep. It can give you poor sleep pattern. It can cause muscle
and joint aches and pains. It can cause fatigue. It can cause those horrible
food cravings. It can also cause that kind of brain fog that we sometimes get.
It can give us night cramps and restless leg. It can cause nausea. It can also
cause low thyroid issues. It can cause high blood pressure. It can affect your
hair and nails. It can make your hair really weak and it can cause split nails.
And it can also trigger migraines and headaches.
How can you add
magnesium into your diet?
So, you got it! You need Magnesium. So, how do you get
plenty of magnesium in your diet? The best way is to try to get it through your
diet. However, keep in mind, that the magnesium levels in our regular food has significantly
dropped. You may still get it from the magnesium rich foods, like nuts and
seeds, especially from sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, or chia seeds. What else?
* Dried fruits are great, but keep the consumption
reasonable as they are high in sugar.
* Avocados, dark green leafy veg such as spinach and
kale.
* Mung beans, brown rice, and lentils.
* Cocoa beans. This doesn’t mean that you go and stuff
yourself full of chocolate. But a little piece of dark chocolate, over 70 to
75% cocoa can actually be really good for you, as long as you take it in
moderation. Maybe one or two pieces a day.
* You can also get plenty of magnesium in your whole
grains. Include small amount of brown bread, whole meal bread, and brown
spaghetti to your balanced meals.
Lifestyle and
Magnesium
Even if you seem to be getting enough magnesium in your
diet, that doesn’t mean that you’re safe. You see, there are many lifestyle
habits which can bind or destroy the mineral, and prevent it from being
properly absorbed. This means we first need to ditch these destroyers to
improve our chances. They include:
* Sugars: A high sugar intake increases the
amount of magnesium excreted by your kidneys and will also disrupt your hormone
levels. Don’t forget, it’s not just the visible sugar that counts, but the
sugar in processed foods too.
* Stress: Any form of stress in your life
will raise your cortisol and adrenaline levels which cause your cells to ‘dump’
magnesium, worsening your symptoms.
* Caffeine: Coffee, tea and energy drinks all
stress the body and raise your cortisol and adrenaline levels. They also bind
the magnesium in your body, making it much harder to absorb.
* Alcohol: Your body uses up nutrients in
order to process any alcohol you’re drinking, and acts as a diuretic which
flushes minerals out of your system.
* Cigarettes: Smoking robs your body of
magnesium. Even if it is difficult, reduce your cigarettes as much as you can.
How much magnesium
do you need?
In the UK, the daily recommended allowance is 270mg, and
in the USA, it is 320mg. However, during the menopause, it is recommended to
raise the bar a little bit more to keep everything in balance.
You may get extra magnesium in a shape of supplement. For
menopause, it is recommended to take magnesium citrate capsules. Alternatively,
you may consume liquid magnesium tonics or get magnesium powders, mixed with
water or fruit juice.
The initial dosage suggested is 200mg. If you feel good,
you can go up to 400mg a day, but decrease the dosage if your stomach will not
tolerate this amount.
Extras
* Transdermal oil/
gel/lotion. You may increase the amount of magnesium intake without eating
or drinking. Transdermal magnesium oil might be a good solution. Like the gels
and lotions, you apply it directly to your skin and will absorb it better than
oral supplements.
* Epson Salt
baths. Another option is to take Epson Salt baths every week which will up
your magnesium intake and provide a naturally soothing and relaxation remedy
for insomnia or aching muscles. Simply throw a handful into a running bath and
sink right in.
Sources and
Additional Information:
