What’s the deal with Mg?

Of all the minerals, magnesium probably gets mentioned the most. So why is magnesium so important and what should we do about that? Here’s my summary.

The more stressed you are, the more magnesium you’re using. This applies whether the stress is physical, emotional or mental, as magnesium is used in all those muscles and neurotransmitters. You may also make less nutritious food choices when stressed, or self-medicate, increasing the load on your detoxification pathways.
When you’re stressed, blood and energy is diverted away from your digestive system, because your body prioritises skeletal muscle and brain function to help you escape whatever is threatening you. This means you’re absorbing less nutrients from your food.
Stress causes increased sweating and urination, so you’re losing more magnesium.

Stress lowers magnesium levels in a myriad of ways, and the less mg you have, the more stressed you get, which lowers mg even more. It’s a vicious circle which ends with one point: you need to get more magnesium! (Well, and work on your stress levels, but that’s a whole other post.)

Food is medicine. Be mindful of increasing your food sources - this is much more sustainable than all of us constantly chowing down supplements. In saying that, if you’re struggling with your digestion or have much higher requirements, you may need to supplement for a short (or long) time to get your levels up.

All magnesium supplements are not equal. The varying forms are absorbed and used very differently. Magnesium oxide, for example, is what you will commonly find in the cheapest Mg supplements. It is poorly absorbed and makes a good laxative.
If you’re wanting to actually absorb your supplement, choose magnesium citrate, orotate or gluconate. Amino acid chelate is also pretty good and usually reasonably priced. Magnesium orotate is used by cardiac muscles, while Mg taurinate crosses the blood-brain barrier, so if you need neurotransmitter support, look for that. Many supplements will have multiple forms forms, so look at which has the highest level. If that is sounding too complicated, simply visit your friendly local naturopath! I’d be happy to help.