11 Signs Your Body is Missing Magnesium
Surprisingly, about 80% of the American population is deficient in the critical mineral: magnesium.
In one recent survey, it was found that 93% of people have heard of magnesium but only 18% are taking magnesium supplements. In my practice, I would estimate it to be closer to 5%!
Honestly, we aren’t that surprised.
Here’s 11 signs your body is craving more magnesium:
- You get muscle cramps. Your muscles cramp and spasm when there’s not enough magnesium to push calcium out of the cells to allow your muscles to relax (calcium helps muscles contract, while magnesium helps muscles relax).
- You’re stressed. Stress has many biological effects and it includes the depletion of magnesium (we refer to this as the “magnesium burn rate” — the more stressed you are, the more magnesium you loose).
- You drink caffeine regularly. Caffeine causes your kidneys to release magnesium resulting in depletion.
- You have stubborn bowels. One of the most well-known symptoms of magnesium deficiency is occasional constipation. Remember, magnesium is a natural muscle relaxer and works well to keep things moving smoothly.
- You crave chocolate. Chocolate (dark chocolate especially), is naturally high in magnesium, so when you’re craving this delectable treat, it might just be your body’s way of saying “I need more magnesium!”.
- You have trouble sleeping. Magnesium is often called “nature’s original chill pill” because of it’s calming properties and ability to support restful sleep.
- You drink soda. The phosphates in soda bind to magnesium in the body causing depletion.
- You get eye twitches. Eye twitches are of the most obvious signs of a magnesium deficiency. In fact, watching for these signs are classic clinical tests used in assessing calcium and magnesium deficiencies.
- You take prescription drugs. As authored by Suzy Cohen (AKA. “America’s Most Trusted Pharmacist”) in Drug Muggers, there’s 14 different classes of prescription and over-the-counter drugs that deplete magnesium.
- You don’t get enough in you diet. We can thank modern farming practices for this one. The soils our foods are grown into today are severely over farmed and therefore depleted of critical minerals like magnesium. Furthermore, we recently sent off a bag of organic, sprouted almonds (one of the most magnesium dense foods you can eat) to a 3rd party lab for testing. One ounce of almonds yields 71mg… you’d have to eat 6oz a day to get 400mg of magnesium. That’s nearly 1,000 calories.
- You have a high sweat rate or exercise regularly. Sweating releases minerals from the cells so if we aren’t eating them back will can become deficient.
As you can see from the list above, there’s many signs that you might need more magnesium. And, it helps explain why 80% of the population is deficient.
We recommend eating a magnesium-rich diet and testing your magnesium stores to see if you are deficient and if so to what degree. Email us today to find out how to test at staff@connorwellnessclinic.com
