Women’s Health, Stress Relief & Magnesium Deficiency

Stress causes magnesium deficiency and a lack of magnesium magnifies stress. Stress relief and stress management can be achieved with…

…nutritional magnesium. Although stress can come at you in many forms both physical and mental, our bodies respond similarly to both types by increasing the use of and need for magnesium to manage the stress.

Magnesium Supports Our Adrenal Glands, Which are Overworked by Stress

When stress becomes constant in our lives be it mental, emotional, environmental or physical the continual state of hypervigilence of our bodies and cells can be detrimental to our health. This is especially true when one is low in magnesium often the case in today’s diet of highly processed foods. Going through a stressful period without sufficient magnesium can set up a deficit that, if not corrected, can linger, causing more stress and further health problems.

Without sufficient magnesium, the nerve cells cannot give or receive messages and become excitable and reactive. This causes a person to become stressed, highly sensitive and nervous.

Nervousness, Irritability and Being Unable to Relax are Signs of Needing Magnesium

The stress response involves the influx of calcium into cells, resulting in a drastic change in the cells’ internal magnesium-to-calcium ratio. Normal cells contain 10,000 times more magnesium than calcium. If the amount of cellular magnesium falls, however, calcium flow into the cell. With such an imbalance, calcium puts the cell into a hyperactive state. This can cause muscle contraction and lead to painful cramping. The muscles need magnesium in order to relax.

Low magnesium/high calcium levels can cause cells to physically change. High calcium makes bones stiff and hard, which is good, but in soft tissues it becomes a problem of calcification. This stiffness in artery and heart cells can hamper proper function and can be a factor in heart disease. Excess calcium is a very widespread problem. Excess calcium depletes magnesium in the body.

Noted author and researcher, Mildred S. Seelig, MD, explains Calcium is an important essential nutrient, but it must be guarded and controlled, and balanced by adequate magnesium if it is not to cause damage to the cells and the body as a whole. For these exact reasons excess calcium can become a real problem, while excess magnesium, on the other hand, is not a concern. Unlike calcium, magnesium does not build up in the body excess amounts are simply flushed out.