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One of the most important minerals (if not the most important) for brain health is magnesium. It is a vital macromineral that the body uses in over 600 enzymatic reactions from the making of proteins (including DNA, hormones, collagen and neurotransmitters), as well as immune regulation, control of calcium channels, electrolyte balance and mitochondrial metabolism. It is integral in the operation of the electrical nervous system, and therefore brain function.

Arrhythmia is a condition where the heart beats irregularly (skipped or half beats), too fast (tachycardia) or too slow (bradycardia). It can feel like light flutters starting in the left ventricle of the heart, and if the issue isn’t addressed, over time it can progress to atrial fibrillation, an irregular beat of the main atrium of the heart. This can cause a panic response with extra adrenalin and rapid heart beats. It can lead to heart attack if the condition becomes severe enough.

Magnesium (Mg2+) is required for homeostasis and regulation of the immune system. Chronic magnesium deficiency leads to enhanced baseline inflammation associated with oxidative stress, which can lead to temporary and long term immune dysfunction. The lower the magnesium status, the more hypersensitive and primed for inflammation the immune system becomes.

All stress causes excessive loss of magnesium via urine, but we tend to feel feet stress more due to their extensive enervation. Feet are very sensitive parts of our body! The lower the magnesium in cells the more likely feet stress can cause oedema, referred pain, headaches, migraines, sleep problems and anxiety – as well as cramps, muscle twitches, and restless legs.

We can use the skin to deliver large amounts of magnesium very safely and effectively in order to avoid crisis and maintain optimum magnesium status.  The skin, being the largest organ of the body and part of the integumentary system (skin, hair, nails, bones, teeth), can act as a reservoir to store magnesium where the body may draw from it what it needs in a self-regulating manner. 

As neuropathic pain is strongly correlated with magnesium deficiency and the associated hyper-inflammatory state, researchers have discovered that supplementary magnesium can directly affect the nerve recovery process to alleviate peripheral neuropathy.

Irritating skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis and dermatitis can become very debilitating for some people, with inflamed itchy skin tormenting them year after year.  If you are in this category and have been shunted from pillar to post trying a multitude of creams, ointments and pills without success, then you may be very interested in some nutritional solutions that work.  The health of the skin is a window to what is happening on the inside of the body, and is just as dependent on gut health, as it is on the care of skin. Optimal results occur when you can work both ends towards the middle.

A magnesium bath using epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) is better than nothing, but over time the sulphate strips out too much oil from the skin, leaving it feeling dry and itchy (like a detergent does). Magnesium sulphate also only has 9% elemental magnesium, but our magnesium chloride flakes have 15-16%. Magnesium chloride is also kinder to skin.  Overall, magnesium chloride is more effective and offers better value.

As magnesium is an essential component of the electrical nervous system, it’s like running out of spark plugs so there is nothing to ignite the engine to burn the fuel and perform tasks. It’s like unplugging your battery power.  If you don’t have enough electrical ‘juice’ running through your system, it will slow down accordingly.

Magnesium tablets and oral supplements may not be able to deliver the magnesium to your cells that you really need. Most people don’t realise how hard they are to digest and absorb, and that most of the magnesium ends up going down the toilet. Our nutritional needs are increasing, as can be seen by the increase in magnesium deficiency symptoms. This is because of depletion in the food supply, drug interactions and chemical exposures, as well as loss of magnesium due to stressful conditions, via perspiration or urination (hypermagnesuria). 

Long Covid seems to present with stronger, more acute inflammatory symptoms. It commonly affects the lungs, brain, heart, gastro-intestinal system, and the kidneys. Patients can experience hair loss, fatigue, muscular weakness, joint pain (arthralgia), followed by dyspnea (labored breathing) or cough, and chest pain and palpitation. Neurological symptoms also occur frequently, such as headache, sleep disorders, anxiety and depression, and cognitive disturbances including lack of concentration or ‘brain fog’.

If children are sugar sensitive they can become hyperactive with only small amounts of sugar. That gives you another clue as to possible magnesium deficiency because as magnesium becomes more deficient in the body, sugar sensitivity increases.  In contrast, as magnesium stores go higher, it dampens down the sugar sensitivity and hyperactivity. This relationship has a see-saw effect.

Lemon is an important medicinal plant of the family Rutaceae. Studies have found lemon peel is full of nutrients including Vitamin C, potassium, calcium, magnesium and pectin. Pectin is a soluble fibre which is great for gut health, weight loss and the cardiovascular system.  It brings more hydration to the bowel, which supports colon health and the microbiome. Lemon peel may even have several anti-cancer properties because it works to detox and neutralise acidic waste products and free radicals, which supports pH balance.

Kidney (renal) disease can also cause magnesium deficiency as the tubules become stiffer with ageing and don’t recycle magnesium as well as they used to. If your kidneys lose too many alkalising minerals, it gets harder to control pH balance and the acids take over.

Neuropathic pain is the type of pain you feel if your nervous system has been damaged or isn’t working correctly. The pain comes from the various levels of the nervous system, which include the peripheral nerves, the spinal cord and the brain. People often describe it as a shooting or burning pain, but it can also be felt as tingling or numbness. Neuropathic pain sometimes goes away on its own, but often it’s a chronic condition that persists, particularly in the senior years when arthritis sets in, or after injuries. For some people, it can be severe and unrelenting and for others, it comes and goes like a phantom. What can you do to allevaite the symptoms naturally?

Hormones greatly influence our growth and development, health, behaviours, metabolism, sex life and fertility. Pretty well everything we do and experience in life is governed by the chemical messages of hormones. As we get into our more mature and senior years, or are young but chronically stressed, our energy and hormone production can become out of balance, acidic, oxygen-deprived and dehydrated.  In this article I will focus on magnesium's effect on catecholamines (stress hormones), including cortisol, adrenaline and aldosterone, which are produced by the adrenal glands and directly affect the cardiovascular system.