Magnesium Deficiency: Signs, Symptoms & Fixes

Alright, this is a post I have been aching to write for a while.  I’m a firm believer in magnesium and too many of us have this deficiency due to modern day diets and they don’t even know it. A hundred years ago, it was easy to get enough magnesium just by eating a variety of foods and drinking water. However, our modern soil is very depleted.. Plus modern day water-purification facilities have intensified their efforts to remove contaminants like lead, pesticide residues, and nitrates from drinking water. Unfortunately, these modern water-treatment methods also deplete drinking water of desirable minerals like calcium and magnesium.

Magnesium Deficiency can trigger an onslaught of symptoms, concerned you might be one of those people? To determine if you may need added magnesium in your diet, ask yourself the following questions..

Do you suffer from fatigue, insomnia or have trouble sleeping?

Do you experience anxiety or reoccurring stress?

Are you pregnant and experiencing morning sickness?

Have you had painful muscle cramps or body aches?

Have you suffered from migraine headaches?

“The absence of any of these telltale signs does not necessarily mean that tissue levels of magnesium are normal. Then how can one know whether magnesium levels are deficient? There is no easy, available method to gauge body magnesium. In all practicality, because of magnesium’s crucial role in health, its widespread deficiency in Americans, and the growing depletion of magnesium in water, supplementing with magnesium may be the best way to ensure adequate total body magnesium levels.” (Source)

I will admit, the main reason I write this today is for anyone considering pregnancy or currently in it. Magnesium is the greatest answer to morning sickness, however it’s best and critical to start intaking before conception…  because pregnancy hormones actually inhibit the ability to absorb magnesium. Magnesium is important to balancing cortisol levels. We might have all heard by now, excess cortisol levels cause huge spikes and crashes in our blood sugar, which therefore result in fatigue and, you guessed it, nausea aka morning sickness.

As much as we can all say we can get magnesium from our diet.. you must remember our ground water is depleted of this luscious mineral which means our ground and soil is also depleted… hence our food is now deficient in the mineral as well.

Wether you’re pregnant, thinking about growing a family or just anyone that has experienced the list of symptoms above, it’s important to incorporate magnesium into your diet. Not all sources are the same. My favorite way to incorporate magnesium into my daily routine is this magnesium oil spray. You can spray directly onto skin but you will feel a sticky residue, due to the salt. Also, the residue can cause faint itchiness so I recommend blending it with a diluter such as coconut oil if needed. I personally am not bothered by it where my husband notices it.  If you want to get fancy with it, make a body lotion! I have included a recipe to a creamy lotion that can be applied daily to incorporate magnesium into your daily diet. The lavender oil will help aide in sleep as well as fight off dreaded stretch marks if you use it on your growing belly.

Magnesium Oil Body Lotion

• 1/2 cup shea butter (where to buy)
• 1/4 coconut oil (where to buy)
• 1/4 almond oil (where to buy)
• 1/4 magnesium oil (where to buy)
• 10-20 drop lavender oil (where to buy)

Combine first 3 ingredients in a double broiler over low to medium heat. Stir until melted though and remove from heat.

Add in magnesium oil and store to combine. Place mixture in fridge until partially set.

Add in essential oil and use a stand or hand mixer and whip until smooth. To create a thicker butter type lotion, increase the amount of shea in the recipe. Store in a lotion bottle or jar for easy use. In colder weather, I’d recommend storing it in a jar since it will harden with the weather changes or be more loose in the summer.

Due to the liquidity of the coconut oil and magnesium oil, if stored in a warm place, melting and separation can occur. If so, place in fridge to harden and re-blend if needed.

Sources:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14649969