The magic of magnesium: transforming women’s health from menarche to menopause.
From PMS to hot flushes, here’s why you and all the women in your life should be talking about magnesium.
Magnesium Deficiency Symptoms in Women: What to Look For
As the fourth most abundant mineral in the body, magnesium plays a vital role in our overall health, and is the unsung hero involved in more than 300 chemical reactions in our cells. Magnesium maintains nerve and muscle function, heart health, blood sugar balance and sleep quality. You can begin to see how a deficiency in this crucial mineral could have widespread, detrimental health effects and leave you feeling tired, weak and emotionally dysregulated.
Recent research suggests that 60% of American adults do not meet the recommended daily intake of magnesium, but what does this really look like? For women, deficiency in magnesium can feel like: tiredness, weakness, more severe menstrual cramps, mood swings, anxiety and depression, hot flashes and brain fog.
Magnesium’s chief effects are achieved by activating the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), which is your body’s ‘rest and digest’ mode. When the PNS is activated, we feel calmer, our digestion is smoother and our immune systems can function properly. For women, a nervous system that feels unable to relax, or unsafe, will not function properly, and this has knock-on effects on our hormonal and reproductive health.
Magnesium for PMS and PMDD: Hormones, Mood and Your Cycle
Magnesium is all about supporting your nervous system, muscles and hormones. When levels are low, this can manifest as irregular cycles, missed periods, anxiety, energy crashes, headaches or migraines and poor sleep, particularly in the luteal phase.
You may have seen the advice of eating dark chocolate to support your menstrual cramps. That’s because dark chocolate contains high levels of magnesium, which can relax the muscles in your uterus, helping to reduce period pain.
Magnesium (specifically, magnesium glycinate) has a widespread calming effect on the body. It supports and stabilises mood, and helps to reduce feelings of anxiety and depression. Women with PMS and PMDD have reported improved mood and overall wellbeing when taking magnesium.
The ‘magic mineral’ is also involved in clearing oestrogen from the body, a process known as oestrogen metabolism. If our levels of magnesium are not sufficient, then our liver cannot break down oestrogen as effectively, allowing levels to rise beyond normal and exert effects such as breast tenderness, mood instability and headaches.
Your nervous and hormonal systems are inextricably linked, and if your body feels as though it is in a state of stress, it won’t enter the ‘rest and digest’ mode, instead remaining in ‘fight or flight’. In this mode, it will divert energy away from processes like ovulation that are not vital for survival. This is why, during times of extreme stress, you might skip your period. It’s your body’s way of helping you survive during a threat.
Magnesium’s calming effect on the nervous system helps to support your hormones, and therefore your menstrual cycle too.
Magnesium for Perimenopause and Menopause: What the Research Says
During perimenopause, levels of progesterone are falling, which can manifest as poor quality sleep, feeling anxious or irritable, irregular cycles, bleeding or spotting between periods, headaches, migraines and bloating. Our bodies need more support during this period, and taking a combined magnesium supplement can really provide the antidote to the perimenopause assault.
A recent study in the American Heart Association Journal found that low magnesium levels are linked to a greater risk of heart failure amongst older women, which gives us yet another reason to supplement magnesium intake, especially as we approach menopause.
Brain fog, memory decline and migraines are all symptoms that can worsen during or after perimenopause. Magnesium has been shown to reduce stress and support mood, which has a positive impact on our body’s ability to remember, focus and process stress. It has also been shown to reduce migraines.
Post-menopausal women are also at a higher risk of osteoporosis (a condition that makes bones thinner and weaker) due to lower levels of oestrogen, which is the hormone that supports bone health. Low levels of magnesium also contribute directly to osteoporosis, which can worsen symptoms of osteoporosis and accelerate the condition. Therefore, boosting magnesium intake can help to support our bones when we need it most.
Magnesium for Sleep: Why It Works and How to Use It
Our sleep is one of the most powerful tools we have for supporting our health. Without enough, good quality sleep on a regular basis, our physical and mental health can deteriorate quickly. Conversely, when we get the sleep we need, we tend to feel happier, more productive and energetic.
Magnesium wears multiple hats in the sleep process: helping to support the production of sleep-inducing hormones, relaxing muscles, reducing tension and calming the nervous system. When levels are low you may find it harder to fall asleep, as your muscles and nerves are not as relaxed. You may also wake up feeling tired, or unrefreshed by the sleep you did manage to get.
A poor night’s sleep has knock-on effects for our mood, digestion, immunity and outlook for the day, which is why it should be everyone’s priority to treat good sleep as a non-negotiable.
In a fascinating discovery, researchers uncovered how sleep and magnesium have a two-way relationship. Whilst low levels of magnesium impair sleep across multiple parameters, poor sleep can also reduce the body’s ability to absorb magnesium from food in our gut. So poor magnesium intake → poor sleep → less magnesium absorbed from our food. This downward spiral can of course be reversed by supporting adequate magnesium intake, and therefore good quality sleep, and so on.
How can I consume more magnesium in my diet?
Consuming magnesium through your diet is the best way to boost levels, as it absorbs into your blood well, and usually comes along with fibre and other minerals to support overall health. Starting with the highest magnesium content, here are some of the best ingredients to boost intake in your diet:
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Pumpkin seeds, roasted
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Chia seeds
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Almonds, dry roasted
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Spinach, boiled
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Cashews, dry roasted
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Peanuts
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Shredded wheat cereal
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Soy milk
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Amaranth
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Black beans
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Edamame beans
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Peanut butter
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Dark chocolate
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Baked potatoes (skin on)
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Cooked brown rice
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Other fortified cereals (where magnesium has been added)
A winning, magnesium-boosting breakfast you can try is overnight oats or chia pudding with pumpkin seeds and peanut butter on top. This supports fibre intake, magnesium intake and is known for providing sustainable energy throughout your morning. Or, simply adding half a cup of boiled spinach, black beans or cashews to your lunch or dinner will also boost magnesium intake.
Best Magnesium Supplement for Women: Glycinate, Citrate and More
Taking a magnesium supplement should not be substituted for a healthy diet, good sleep hygiene and daily exercise, but rather it should do exactly what it says on the tin: supplement these practices. That said, if you cannot consume enough dietary magnesium, or need some extra support with sleep, mood or any of the aforementioned issues, here is a quick overview of the common types of magnesium, and their effects:
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Magnesium glycinate (also known as bisglycinate or diglycinate): high absorption, a powerhouse in reducing anxiety, supporting muscle health and improving sleep quality. This is the go-to option for most women.
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Magnesium citrate: high absorption, it has a calming effect and is usually lower cost. Typically, this is used for constipation relief.
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Magnesium malate: high absorption, though less commonly used. It is helpful for energy, fatigue and fibromyalgia.
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Magnesium oxide: lower absorption, it is typically found in budget supplements. It is typically used for heartburn.
Not all magnesium is created equal: what to look for on the box
There are many different types of magnesium, which can make choosing a supplement feel quite overcomplicated. If you’re supplementing for sleep, stress, muscle tension, PMS/PMDD or for menopausal support, then magnesium glycinate is generally the go to option.
In the US, the recommended daily allowance sits at 320mg for adult women, however emerging research suggests that up to 550mg could be the new optimum for supporting bone, heart and cognitive health.
When buying supplements, look out for the USP Verified or NSF Certified mark on the label, as these signify the product has been tested for purity and potency by a third party. It helps to ensure that what is on the label is what is actually in the bottle. Before starting any supplement, speak to your doctor or health practitioner for more information and support.
We’re all searching for new ways to support our health, but instead of wasting time, effort and money on diet fads and trends, we recommend keeping it simple. Reach for some dark chocolate, a handful of pumpkin seeds and load as much spinach as you like into your dinners.
Written and edited by Dr Rachel Denham.
Sources:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40647330/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6163803/
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/23264-hypomagnesemia
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32192409/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352364621000079
