Seven Health Benefits of Magnesium that Can Change Your Life

Magnesium is an essential mineral that plays a role in supporting and sustaining both life and health. It is the second most abundant mineral after potassium. It’s involved in over 600 enzymatic reactions including energy metabolism and protein synthesis. Magnesium plays an important role in the function of the heart, brain, and skeletal muscles. According to Dr. Norman Shealy, an American neurosurgeon, “Almost every known disease is associated with a magnesium deficiency.” Hearing that one statement makes me never want to have a magnesium deficiency!

This should make you eager to learn these Seven Health Benefits of Magnesium that can change your life. Are you ready?

Relieves constipation and bowel issues. Magnesium is a natural stool softener that draws water into the intestines. In addition, it plays a role in regulating muscle contractions in the intestines. Dr. Connie Ross recommended a magnesium supplement for me about 15 years ago to relieve constipation. It has helped, and I never go anywhere without it—especially when we travel.

Improves sleep. Magnesium is involved in the production of a neurotransmitter in the brain that promotes relaxation called GABA. Your sleep will be impacted if you have a magnesium deficiency and not enough magnesium to support adequate GABA production. Magnesium improves sleep time and efficiency, especially in older adults with insomnia.

Relieves muscle cramping and tension. When you experience muscle cramps, the first thing you should do after standing is to reach for a magnesium supplement or foods that contain high amounts of magnesium such as bananas or green leafy vegetables. When my husband has a leg cramp in the middle of the night, it’s usually me who runs to get the magnesium. Never forget that magnesium is essential for proper nerve transmission.

Improves heart arrhythmia. Did you know that the heart relies on magnesium for proper heart contractions? Magnesium plays an important role in heart function by improving myocardial metabolism, vascular tone, and cardiac output. It also has an anti-inflammatory and vasodilatory effect. If your heart begins irregular contractions, one of the first things you want to look at doing is taking a magnesium supplement. In an interview I did with health and wellness coach, Kimberly McIntyre, it was a magnesium supplement that cured her heart arrhythmia. Her interview, called “Heart Arrhythmia Cure: A Coach’s Incredible Journey,“ will be posted in the show notes below. Dr. Zwillinger was the first to report the anti-arrhythmic effects of magnesium sulfate back in 1935. So this is not something new. Talk with your doctor for suggestions on the type of magnesium and dosage that might benefit you.

Boosts cognitive function. The brain contains the highest amount of mitochondria in the male body. Females show the highest concentration of their ovaries. The importance of the health of your mitochondria is discussed in these three previous videos:

Ten Causes of Mitochondrial Dysfunction

Ten Ways to Improve Mitochondrial Health

Using the Health of Your Mitochondria to Prevent and Survive Cancer

Here’s what’s important in reference to the brain. These mitochondria need sufficient magnesium for energy production. If you have frequent episodes of poor concentration, brain fog, or memory issues, it’s possible you might have a magnesium deficiency. Magnesium helps to balance blood sugar, improves GABA levels as mentioned earlier in reference to sleep, reduces brain inflammation, increases neuroplasticity, alleviates symptoms of depression, and helps to detoxify heavy metals. Now that’s a mouthful of beneficial benefits!

Alleviates chronic headaches and migraines. Magnesium is essential for proper nerve function as mentioned earlier. It also plays a role in regulating neurotransmitter production, which can help with migraines. Regular magnesium supplementation has been shown in research to decrease the intensity and frequency of migraine and non-migraine headaches. Magnesium regulates calcium balance within neuronal cells. Too much calcium can be a cause of migraines and headaches. So can dehydration. Dehydration is the number one cause of headaches.

Boosts energy levels. Magnesium supports the adrenal glands and your mitochondria, which both determine your energy levels. Increasing your magnesium intake through diet and/or supplementation can improve your energy levels. If you are dealing with chronic fatigue, you might ask your doctor to check your magnesium levels. You may be deficient in magnesium.

Magnesium levels can be depleted by certain medications such as chemotherapy drugs, cancer drugs, statin drugs, antacid drugs, diuretics, ADHD medications, antidepressants, and antibiotics. If you are on one or more of these drugs daily, you might want to consider supplementation with magnesium.

Supplementation is not the only way to increase your magnesium levels. You can eat foods that are high in magnesium such as dark leafy greens, avocados, raw cacao, wild-caught fish, nuts, pink salt, bananas, oranges, papayas, blackberries, figs, kiwi, and pumpkin seeds.

You can also soak in an Epsom salt bath or foot bath. These salts are a form of magnesium that can be easily absorbed through the skin. Epsom salt baths are a great way to relax while getting more magnesium into your body. For children under 60 pounds, use ½ cup of salt. For those 60 – 100 pounds, use one cup of salt. For those 100-150 pounds, use 1 ½ cups of salt. And those 150 – 200 pounds need about 2 cups of salt.

The US nutrition board recommends 420 mg of magnesium for men and 320 mg for women daily. Children need about 200 mg daily. Recent reports show that 60-70 percent or more of Americans are deficient in this essential mineral. Reasons given are soil depletion, food processing, and the prescription drugs I mentioned earlier. This is one of the many reasons I now make my own bread from freshly milled flour. In this way, I get all the nutrients God intended, and wheat is loaded with them and provides 40 out of 44 nutrients our bodies need to thrive and be healthy.

Check with your doctor to see if you have a magnesium deficiency and how magnesium might be helpful for you. Your doctor will know the correct dosage and type of magnesium for your particular situation. Next week, we’ll examine the different types of magnesium.

Did you know the importance of magnesium for your health before today? If you have any of the conditions listed above, have you asked your doctor to check your levels?

View this message on YouTube:

Seven Health Benefits of Magnesium that Can Change Your Life

Here’s the magnesium I’m now using by Bioptimizers called Magnesium Breakthrough. It has seven types of magnesium, and it’s easily absorbable. Click this link to buy – Bioptimizers and use code “Unleash” for a discount. If you purchase from this link, this ministry will receive a small portion to help cover expenses.

For Your Health,

Ginny

Ginny Dent Brant is a speaker and writer who grew up in the halls of power in Washington, DC. She has battled cancer, ministered around the world, and served on the front lines of American culture as a counselor, educator, wellness advocate, and adjunct professor. Brant’s award-winning book, Finding True Freedom: From the White House to the World, was endorsed by Chuck Colson and featured in many TV and media interviews. Unleash Your God-Given Healing: Eight Steps to Prevent and Survive Cancer was released in May 2020 after her journey with cancer and was recently awarded the First Place Golden Scrolls Award for Memoirs, a finalist in Serious Writers Book of the Decade, and Second Place in both Selah Awards for Memoirs and Director’s Choice Award for Nonfiction at the Blue Ridge Mountain Christian Writer’s Conference. It recently received the Christian Authors Network’s (CAN) Gold Award for Excellence in Marketing for reaching 62.5 million people with a message of cancer prevention and survival. It was written with commentary from an oncologist and was featured on CBN’s Healthy Living Show, Atlanta Live, and CTN’s Homekeepers along with over 75 media outlets. Learn more and cancer and wellness prevention blog and book information at www.ginnybrant.com. Ginny is on YouTube