What is magnesium good for? According to Faryadi (2012), Magnesium (Mg) is very beneficial for our health, influencing our bones, energy, heart, cerebrovascular system, muscular system, dental health, diabetes, emotion, calcification, stress, depression, anxiety and asthma.
It also indicates that people with magnesium deficiency are always tired, irritable, nervous, have stiff muscles, and are difficult to concentrate. But is there really a link between magnesium deficiency and anxiety? Are they related? If you want to know more about the lack of magnesium, its implication in health and how to take it, keep reading! In this Psychology-Online article we explain it to you.
Index
- Relationship between magnesium deficiency and anxiety
- Symptoms of magnesium deficiency
- Why a lack of magnesium occurs
- Causes of hypomagnesemia according to Higdon et al. (2007)
- How to treat magnesium deficiency
- Magnesium foods
Relationship between lack of magnesium and anxiety.
If you wonder what magnesium is and what it is for, first you have to know that anxiety generates a lack of energy among other things, a feeling of fatigue many times caused by emotional stress and high physiological activation.
In these cases, one of the food supplements that is recommended to ingest is magnesium to relax, since it does a very important job in the discharge and action of insulin. Also, magnesium helps with anxiety and depression because it converts glucose into energy.
Therefore, taking magnesium to sleep is also a great idea, since it regulates stress levels, since its deficiency is associated with the appearance of panic attacks.
Symptoms of a lack of magnesium.
The symptoms of magnesium deficiency occur in a state of hypomagnesemia, that is, they do not appear until the plasma magnesium concentration falls below 1.2 mg / day-l.
Symptoms of magnesium deficiency usually occur in the central or peripheral nervous system, in the system musculoskeletal, digestive tract, and cardiovascular system, but can occur in any other body system human. Now, how does magnesium affect the nervous system and so on? These are some of the symptoms:
- Neurological defects and muscular.
- Spasm or injury
- Anorexy. See more information at How to prevent anorexia.
- Sickness.
- Muscular weakness.
- Lethargy.
- Weightloss (if the shortage is prolonged).
- Hyperirritability
- Hyperexcitability
- Seizures
- Heart disease.
- High blood pressure.
- Osteoporosis.
- Type 2 diabetes.
What causes a lack of magnesium in the body?
Magnesium deficiency is associated with cardiovascular abnormalities, including hypertension, acute myocardial infarction, arrhythmias, dyslipidemia, and coronary artery disease; and it is considered the bridge between various cardiovascular risk factors and atherosclerosis.
Hypomagnesemia produces changes in the electrocardiograms, which are generally masked by those that cause other diseases and metabolic abnormalities.
Why the lack of magnesium occurs.
In the general population, hypomagnesemia occurs frequently in patients with diabetes, chronic gastrointestinal disease, alcoholism, and users of certain drugs. Although this condition appears with increased risk in the elderly, since they are the ones who suffer the most from loss of appetite and the senses of taste and smell.
What does a lack of magnesium produce in the human body? A lack of magnesium or hypomagnesemia is the result of a magnesium deficiency that can be caused by:
- Kidney disease
- Chronic diarrhea.
- Chronic alcohol abuse, since ethanol increases urinary loss by inhibiting reabsorption.
- Surgeries
- Bad absorption.
- Loss of body fluid.
- Hormonal and kidney diseases.
- Nephropathy.
- Diuretic treatments.
- Hyperthyroidism
- Pancreatitis
- Diabetes.
- Parathyroid gland disorders.
- Post-surgical stress.
- Rickets.
- Insulin resistance.
- Metabolic syndrome.
Causes of hypomagnesemia according to Higdon et al. (2007)
If you are wondering "How to know if I am deficient in magnesium," this information may help guide you. And it is that, according to Higdon et al. (2007), hypomagnesemia can be caused by four conditions:
- Gastrointestinal disorders: prolonged diarrhea, Crohn's disease, malabsorption syndromes, celiac disease, resection surgical treatment of a portion of the intestine and intestinal inflammation caused by radiation can lead to a decrease in magnesium.
- Kidney disorders: Diabetes mellitus and long-term use of certain diuretics can cause increased urinary magnesium loss. Many other medications can also cause kidney magnesium loss.
- Chronic alcoholism: poor dietary intake, gastrointestinal problems, and increased urinary loss of Magnesium, aspects that are frequently found in alcoholics, contribute to the decrease in magnesium. If you are interested in improving your health at this point, we will help you with our post about How to quit alcohol.
- Age: Several studies have found that older adults have relatively low dietary intakes of magnesium. Intestinal magnesium absorption tends to decrease with age and urinary magnesium excretion tends to increase; thus, low dietary magnesium intake may increase the risk of magnesium depletion in old age.
How to treat a lack of magnesium.
In general, patients with hypomagnesemia should follow a diet rich in magnesium, and the causes of hypomagnesemia should be treated where possible. If you are interested in knowing how to take magnesium for anxiety and depression, and incorporate it into your daily routine, along with all its benefits, see our post on 11 Effective Natural Antidepressants.
However, patients with symptomatic hypomagnesemia should have a very different treatment and with different options:
- Intravenously. This way of obtaining magnesium is highly effective, cheap and well tolerated. The lack of magnesium or hypomagnesemia is defined by a plasma magnesium concentration of less than 1.7 mg / dL in the blood.
- Oral treatment. It can be carried out in patients with moderate hypomagnesemia or after the use of parenteral magnesium, the appropriate dose is calculated according to with the elemental magnesium contained in each salt and assuming a bioavailability of 33% with normal intestinal function (Reséndiz and Aguirre, 2008).
- Use of amiloride. Patients with diuretic-induced hypomagnesemia who are unable to discontinue them for some reason may benefit from the use of amiloride. Apparently, amiloride would cause hyperpolarization of the cell membrane, which would favor the production of the transmembrane potential necessary for magnesium reabsorption.
It is important to keep in mind the state of renal function prior to the administration of magnesium, since the kidney is the main route of excretion of the cation, a severe hypermagnesemia in the context of impaired renal function.
Neurological and gastrointestinal manifestations of patients with hypomagnesemia, hypokalaemia, and hypocalcaemia may improve with magnesium intake; Although the administration of calcium and potassium temporarily modify the manifestations of the deficiency, the permanent solution requires correct the deficit magnesium.
Magnesium foods.
You already know what diseases a lack of magnesium causes. Now we will tell you how to take magnesium for anxiety and depression; For this, you should know that it is widely distributed in plants and foods of animal origin:
- Green vegetables, mostly, since magnesium is an essential constituent of chlorophyll.
- Nuts and other legume nuts.
- Fresh legumes, such as
- Oilseeds.
- Whole grains.
- Seeds.
- Ground cereal grains.
- Dairy products, like milk.
- Tofu, which is prepared by precipitation of magnesium is a good source.
- Seafood.
However, the most commonly eaten fish, meat, and fruits (ie oranges, apples, and bananas) are poor sources of magnesium. Like refined and processed foods, they also contain low levels of magnesium.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Lack of magnesium and anxiety, are they related?, we recommend that you enter our category of Neuropsychology.
Bibliography
- American psychiatric association, (2014). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders DSM - 5. Madrid Spain. Editorial medica panamericana.
- Baca-Ibañez, S., Ríos-Paico, P., and Rojas-Naccha, J. (2015). Importance of magnesium in the human diet. Agroindustrial Science, 5(2), 177-189.
- Carlson, N. R. (2014). Behavioral physiology. Madrid. Pearson Education, S.A.
