An Overview
Magnesium is a mineral that’s crucial to the body’s function. It is a key factor in making several parts of the body run smoothly: the heart, bones, muscles, nerves, and others. Without enough magnesium, these areas malfunction. This is summarized in research, which finds that a magnesium deficiency or low magnesium diet leads to health problems. Although epidemiological studies show that higher magnesium diets are associated with lower rates of disease, results are mixed from clinical trials showing that magnesium supplementation can correct these conditions. It may be because a magnesium-rich diet is often higher in other nutrients, which collectively work together in disease prevention as opposed to a supplement containing a single nutrient.
For disease prevention, a good rule of thumb is to eat a daily diet that includes some magnesium-rich foods and take a supplement if directed by a physician to correct a deficiency if blood levels are low.
How does it work?
Magnesium is required for the proper growth and maintenance of bones. Magnesium is also required for the proper function of nerves, muscles, and many other parts of the body. In the stomach, magnesium helps neutralize stomach acid and moves stools through the intestine.
Benefits of Magnesium
1. Helps in Boosting Workout Performance
Working-out and exercising are the two most important aspects of maintaining a healthy lifestyle. And to have a better exercise time, a proper magnesium level in your body is important. It is said that during exercise, 10-20% extra amount of magnesium may be required depending on the activity. Magnesium helps in moving the blood sugar to your muscles and then disposes of the lactate, which builds up during the exercise, causing fatigue. Magnesium supplements benefit a lot for boosting workout performance; however, consult your physician for the same.
2. Magnesium Helps in Fighting Depression
One of the common conditions that many people, irrespective of their age, go through is depression. At times, you will not even get to know that you have slipped into depression and mistake it just for laziness. As mentioned before that magnesium benefits in the body are in abundance, starting from brain functioning to enhancing mood. Studies have shown that low levels of magnesium in the body increases the risk of depression. In elderly people, it is found that social isolation and loneliness leads to greater risk of depression and if they have low magnesium level, it just adds on to their depression level.
3. Helpful against Type-2 Diabetes
Another health benefit of magnesium is that it is helpful against type-2 diabetes. It is said low magnesium levels in the blood can impair the ability of the body’s insulin to keep the sugar level under control. This indicates that people with low levels of magnesium are prone to developing diabetes, irrespective of their age. A study shows that increase magnesium intake each day has significantly improved blood sugar and insulin levels. Eating magnesium-rich foods benefits a lot in increasing the levels while keeping diabetes in check.
4. Regulates Muscle Contraction
Just how the benefits of magnesium for the elderly and seniors include keeping the heartbeat healthy by blocking heart muscle contraction; it also helps in ensuring that your muscles are relaxed throughout the body by acting as a natural calcium blocker. Calcium binds to proteins like troponin C and myosin that leads to change in their shape, resulting in muscle contraction. Magnesium competes with this and helps the muscle relax. If your body has low levels of magnesium, competing with calcium for these spots becomes difficult, leading to muscle contraction that causes cramps, spasms, and so on. Here again, magnesium supplement benefits you in enhancing the levels.
5. Helps in Reducing Insulin Resistance
One of the major causes of metabolic syndrome and type-2 diabetes is insulin resistance. It is categorised as an impaired ability where the muscles and liver cells absorb sugar from the bloodstream properly. Magnesium plays a vital role in this process and people with lower levels face issues in the same, leading to high sugar levels or metabolic syndrome. Adding to this, insulin resistance also leads to the loss of magnesium through urine, which further reduces the body’s magnesium level. To avoid this and reduce insulin resistance in your body, proper magnesium intake is very essential. Apart from these, there are excellent benefits of magnesium for the skin that helps in keeping the skin glowing and rejuvenated. Improvements in sleep patterns, lower blood pressure levels, prevention of migraines, and so on are some of the other benefits of magnesium.
”Working-out and exercising are
the two most important aspects of maintaining a healthy lifestyle.”
Symptoms of magnesium deficiency include:
- A loss of appetite
- Nausea or vomiting
- Fatigue or weakness
Research has linked magnesium deficiency with a range of health conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and migraine.
Symptoms of more advanced magnesium deficiency include:
- Muscle cramps
- Numbness
- Tingling
- Seizures
- Personality changes
- Heart rhythm changes or spasms
In Conclusion
Magnesium is an essential macro nutrient that plays a key role in many body processes, including muscle, nerve, and bone health, and mood. Research has linked magnesium deficiencies with a range of health complications. If a person is unable to get their daily requirements from their diet, a doctor may recommend taking magnesium supplements.
