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When the body is dehydrated it can also cause oedema, a pooling of fluids around the ankles or puffiness around the eyes.   The reason for fluid retention is usually because the body cannot properly eliminate wastes when there is not enough free water flowing through the system. In order to protect the vital organs the body holds back and pools water in regions where the toxicity needs to be diluted most (eg. sites of inflammation or acidity). Waste products can also pool up and cause swelling in the lymph system - the body's protein waste disposal system. This is another case where toxic residues need to be diluted with more water.

It’s been coined the master mineral and deemed as critical as water. But how exactly does it correlate to the process of ageing? The ways are numerous, but we’ll highlight a few of our standouts. From menopause to migraines, bone health to beautiful skin, you’ll be eager to lather up in magnesium cream by the time you’ve finished reading this. And remember, even if you’ve had a blood test that did not show up a deficiency in magnesium, only a small portion of magnesium stores actually sit in the blood. There are other areas more likely to be depleted that won’t be detected so simply.

Healthy cells need lipid protection, magnesium charge and ample hydration to support mitochondrial energy metabolism of Mg-ATP ‘batteries’.  This energy is then used to assemble amino acids into the various proteins we need to build collagen structures.  It is also used to manufacture hormones, enzymes, neurotransmitters and other chemical messengers.

Inflammation and pain can be part of a healing crisis, but if your magnesium status is healthy you will heal and recover relatively quickly because the metabolism can perform the way it should. The lower the cellular magnesium levels get however, the slower it becomes to recover from the stresses and the more painful and amplified are the symptoms.

Premature ageing is usually marked by excessive weight gain (especially adipose tissue around the middle), exaggerated dehydration, hypercalcemia, joint stiffening, acidosis and inflammation.  In other words, getting overweight, dry and stiff with creaky and brittle bones before our time. Skin can also get very dry and saggy looking. As we need magnesium to synthesise collagen proteins and elastin fibres, which are the structures that hold us together as skin, bone, ligaments, sinew, smooth muscle walls in arteries etc, low magnesium means those structures lose their integrity. [6]  Thus magnesium helps us to stay more hydrated, flexible and stretchy longer!

Did you know that our gut microbiome needs a good supply of magnesium for energy to do all their jobs properly? Beneficial gut bacteria are extremely important to good health.  Did you know that we rely on our gut microbiome more than our own cells and enzymes for digestion of food and nutrient absorption?  If digestion is compromised we can be short-changed on magnesium uptake. Low magnesium can lead to feelings of depression, mood disorders, fatigue, restless and disturbed sleep, foggy brain, anxiety and much more.  See the STUDY: "Dietary magnesium deficiency alters gut microbiota and leads to depressive-like behaviour."

Transdermal magnesium absorption means that magnesium ions (electrolytes) can pass into the epidermis (outer layer) of the skin, which acts as a nutritional reservoir until the tiny capillaries of the dermis underneath can absorb nutrients as required. From this skin reservoir the body may also absorb the vitamin D it made when you got some sunshine on your skin.

Keratosis can also develop concurrently with inflammatory states such as eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis, allergies and asthma.  If the inflammation is adequately quelled, the skin issues also tend to dissipate.  Magnesium is a powerful anti-inflammatory. Many studies since last century have confirmed that in low-magnesium states we are more likely to develop inflammatory conditions. Where those inflammatory conditions manifest depends largely on genetics and environmental factors.  Some people can experience skin problems or mood swings and depression, while others develop hardening of the arteries or sugar-sensitivity (metabolic syndrome) and unstable energy fluctuations.   Multiple symptoms can occur and are usually a sign of magnesium deficiency.

Magnesium is the one mineral we lose most of under stressful conditions and will directly affect our longevity if we don’t have enough of it.  It’s also the mineral we need a lot of in order to relax and recover from stress.  Magnesium is used by mitochondria to make ATP (adenosine triphosphate), our cellular energy currency.   It is therefore absolutely essential to all electrical function in the body.  Every message sent by our nervous system, every detoxification event, every action of our immune system and all building of new cells relies on magnesium to give it power.

Magnesium chloride flakes (magnesium chloride hexahydrate) are natural mineral salts that are completely water soluble and able to be absorbed by cells without further digestion.  Adding these salts to your bath is a natural way to boost your magnesium uptake and provides much more magnesium to your muscles and bone cells than oral tablets and powders.   Magnesium chloride flakes derive from ocean, salt lakes or dried up salt pockets sandwiched in rock strata.

Are you suffering from muscle cramps and been told to stay hydrated and consume more electrolytes? The main electrolytes (combined with chloride) are sodium, potassium, calcium and magnesium, but it's magnesium that's the one we usually get most depleted in and it's magnesium that controls the movement of calcium.  They have a direct relationship.  Calcium is a contracting mineral and hardening element, and magnesium is the relaxing mineral because it restores the correct charge and electrolyte balance, allowing muscle flexibility.  We need magnesium for muscle recovery.

There is a great variation of magnesium status in the population, however the overall deficiency levels are growing in line with growth in chronic stress exposures. It’s not so much a question of whether we are magnesium deficient these days, but more a question of by what amount.

Magnesium skin care is a revolution in skin health and beauty maintenance.  One of the reasons magnesium keeps us younger and more ‘juicy’ longer  is because it is used to synthesize collagen, which is a protein scaffolding that forms structures to hold moisture and other nutrients in skin, nails and bones to organs, muscles, ligaments, cartilage, lung sacs and blood vessels.

Ionic Magnesium is the dissolved salt form of magnesium. Many people in our modern industrialised societies are realising just how much they need to add extra magnesium to their diets, as it is lost excessively under stress. A plentiful supply of magnesium helps to defend against the ravages of stress, to calm and relax the nervous and vascular systems, to alleviate cramps and restless legs, to support digestion, metabolism and energy supply, to detoxify, to strengthen the immune system and to build new cells.