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The 5 Warning Signs of Magnesium Deficiency
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No matter how healthy you may believe your meals are, most Americans have dangerously low magnesium levels. Just as with other vitamins or minerals, if you are lacking in them, your body will let you know by displaying certain symptoms.
Magnesium is extremely important for your brain chemistry, muscle function, even the way your heart works. Your body cannot even use those calcium supplements so many people seem to be ingesting to build strong bones and teeth without help from vitamin D, vitamin K, silica and magnesium. Minerals are even more important to your body than vitamins. The truth is vitamins strain to do their intended purpose without minerals to “guide” them. Once you find that you are lacking this vital mineral, you will need to find ways to make up not only for your daily needs, but for your deficiencies as well. Read more if your supplements are actually helping. This is a list of the top 5 warning signs and symptoms of magnesium deficiency.
1. Ringing in ears or hearing loss
One common symptom is ringing in the ears, also called tinnitus, and hearing loss. During a study done in China, scientists found that sufficient levels of magnesium keep free radicals from forming that cause hearing loss. Moreover the risk of losing your hearing, a lack of magnesium causes a high pitched ringing noise in the ears that never stops. The Mayo Clinic in Arizona discovered that by supplementing people’s diets with 532 mg of magnesium for three months, almost all patients showed a major reduction in their symptoms.
2. Muscle cramps and/or tremors
Do you have facial tics? Or painful muscle cramping? At night, many people state that their feet twitch and cramp while trying to sleep. Although some claim this is a sign of a lack of potassium, nothing could be further from the truth, it’s actually a lack of magnesium. Without magnesium, all of the muscles in our body would be in a perpetual, never ending, state of convulsion. This mineral allows muscles to relax, while calcium allows muscles to contract. Working together, these two minerals, although completely different compounds, allow our muscles to function normally.
3. Depression
Although many doctors are quick to give out depression medication, which are filled with dangerous side effects, this was not always the case. More than a century ago, doctors prescribed magnesium sulfate to their patients that they suspected of having depression. During one study done at a psychiatric facility in Croatia, it was determined that those who attempted suicide had drastically low levels of magnesium in their bodies.
4. Abnormal heart function
Many people who experience heart arrhythmias have a severe lack of magnesium in their blood. Doctors at the Henry Low Heart Center in Connecticut give their patients with this heart malfunction a treatment that includes magnesium. Find out other facts you probably don’t know about heart.
5. Inhibits kidney stones
Doctors will tell you that kidney stones occur when there is too much calcium in the body, but in actuality, it a lack of magnesium that is the cause. Magnesium, in reality, hinders the formation of kidney stones by restricting the binding of calcium and oxalate, which are the chemical make-up of a kidney stone. Anyone who has ever experienced the nightmare pain of kidney stones will want to insure that they have sufficient magnesium in their bodies so they never have to experience that again!
Considering that less than 30 per cent of adult Americans consume at least the Recommended Daily Allowance of magnesium, it should come as no surprise to you if you are experiencing any of the above symptoms.
Which foods are magnesium rich?
- Okra
- Pumpkin and Sunflower seeds
- Almonds
- Soybeans
- Black beans
- Squash
- Cashews
- Spinach
- Sea vegetables and kelp
- Nettle
It is sometimes difficult to consume sufficient foods that contain magnesium, so you might find it easier to add a magnesium citrate supplement to your daily diet. Magnesium citrate is easily absorbed, inexpensive, and sold at most health food stores. Or you might want to consider trying a transdermal patch which allows magnesium to be absorbed directly through contract with the skin. Whatever method you choose, be sure you get your daily dose of that master of all minerals, magnesium.
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