Background
Many studies, both pre-clinical and clinical, have studied the relationship between magnesium and your body's natural stress response. Magnesium has an inhibitory role in your body's natural stress response (HPA-axis), and low magnesium has been found in subjects suffering from psychological stress. This relationship suggests that stress causes a magnesium deficiency causing those with low magnesium to be more susceptible to stress. This is the vicious circle of stress and magnesium.
Importance of Magnesium in the Body
Stress has been a common issue for our generation which directly effects physical health as well especially becoming susceptible to chronic diseases. To help with this, a healthy diet with the daily recommended amount of magnesium consumption is needed for physical health as magnesium plays important roles in various bodily processes. Magnesium is a critical mineral in maintaining brain homeostasis. Many studies show that lower magnesium levels are involved in mental disorders, especially depression. 60% of Americans do not reach their daily Mg intake through their diet. This is not surprising because of the common unhealthy American diet. Processed foods can deplete Mg up to 80-90% in the process. Where can you add magnesium in your diet? Nuts, legumes, whole cereals and fruits have the highest Mg content of all foods. In addition, if you are having trouble fitting these foods into your diet, you may consult with a professional about taking magnesium supplements.
Stress
Using the GUTS model, we can assess situations which may lead to chronic stress. The model highlights a few key situations being: obese or aging, a compromised social network, perceived aversive environment, and repetitive negative thinking. Magnesium promotes GABA activity and tends to diminish stress response from catecholamines and glucocorticoids. However, chronic stress can deplete your magnesium storage and lead to an over-activation of the HPA-axis and neuronal hyperactivity. Stress and magnesium have a bi-directional relationship meaning that these two variables influence each other creating a two-way causal connection.
Reflection
From personal experience, I can speak on the benefits of using a magnesium supplement to help regulate chronic stress and improve my sleep. I know I didn't talk much about how magnesium helps quality of sleep, but with reduced stress while going to bed you will be more relaxed and able to fall asleep faster. From my sleep data, I've been able to hit REM and deep sleep for longer periods at night which helps in mental recovery. This relationship between magnesium and stress is a vicious circle, so my advice is be sure to hit your daily recommended intake of magnesium and you will see vast improvements in your daily life.
Source
Pickering G, Mazur A, Trousselard M, Bienkowski P, Yaltsewa N, Amessou M, Noah L, Pouteau E. Magnesium Status and Stress: The Vicious Circle Concept Revisited. Nutrients. 2020; 12(12):3672. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12123672
I have often heard of the benefits of magnesium for brain, muscle, and bone health. Now that I know it can improve sleep quality, I am very interested. I find this topic especially relevant for us students and can admit there are nights when academic stress prevents me from a good night's rest. In my quick google search about magnesium supplementation I found that there are many different kinds of magnesium supplements that can be taken for different purposes. Which type of magnesium was used in this study? Should men and women be taking different doses of magnesium? My blog post was about the role of glucose in neurodegenerative diseases and I came across an article that discusses the neuroprotective role of Magnesium in neurodegenerative diseases. Essentially, many neurodegenerative disesases are marked by inflammation in the brain, which Magnesium helps to reduce and prevent. On the other hand, Mg deficiency is the common denominator in these diseases.
ReplyDeleteHere's the article if you are interested. Happy reading!
Maier, J. A. M., Locatelli, L., Fedele, G., Cazzaniga, A., & Mazur, A. (2022). Magnesium and the Brain: A Focus on Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration. International journal of molecular sciences, 24(1), 223. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms24010223
This is a fascinating study! While I had never previously thought about magnesium in the context of stress and sleep quality, your highlighting of that pernicious positive feedback loop truly highlights how critical magnesium is for staying regulated. Initially, I curious to know if there are any adverse effects for intaking too much magnesium, especially since you mentioned the option of taking magnesium supplements. However, I did find an interesting review article/fact sheet about magnesium from the NIH. It seems like there is a risk for magnesium toxicity, causing cardiac arrest at its worst! This truly highlights the importance of meeting, but not exceeding, those dietary intake guidelines. I'll link this review below, as it also goes over the role of magnesium and potential deficiency in various chronic diseases.
ReplyDeleteLink Here: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-HealthProfessional/#:~:text=Too%20much%20magnesium%20from%20food,and%20abdominal%20cramping%20%5B1%5D.