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Anxiety has become the most common mental health challenge affecting Australians, with 1 in 4 of us experiencing it at some point in our lives. That's over 3 million people dealing with racing thoughts, physical tension, difficulty settling, and sleep disturbances. There's often an expectation that we should be able to simply "think our way through" anxiety, that it's purely a mental issue we should have control over. But this overlooks a fundamental truth: anxiety doesn't just live in your mind. It lives in your tight shoulders, your shallow breathing, your racing heart, and your tense jaw. It's a whole-body experience. What if instead of trying to think your way out of anxiety, you learned to work with your body to create an internal environment that allowed the mind to settle? In this article, you’ll learn a simple and practical approach to start supporting yourself this way: an acupressure massage routine using topical magnesium. Understanding Anxiety From A Chinese Medicine Perspective In Chinese medicine, we don't separate the mind from the body. They're two sides of the same coin, inseparable aspects of a whole. The quality of your thoughts and mind are profoundly influenced by your physiology and how well your body is functioning. This is why you can't just "think positive" your way out of anxiety. Your body is stuck in a state of imbalance that creates the internal environment for anxiety to thrive. When I see someone struggling with anxiety in my clinic, there’s several common patterns that come up (individually or in combinations of the following): ●     There's often an unsettled, restless quality - like the mind can't settle in the body or find stillness. Thoughts race from one worry to the next without resolution. There may be dream disturbed sleep or frequent wakings at night. This reflects a deeper disturbance in the body's ability to rest and settle. ●     Many people are running too hot and revved up - stuck in overdrive with no off switch. The body is constantly in a stress response, even when there's no real threat. It's like having your foot on the accelerator all the time. These people may have trouble falling asleep or waking early, unable to return to sleep. They may not even be aware of this because it’s just become “normal”.  ●     Others experience the exhaustion of being simultaneously wired AND tired. Chronic stress has depleted their reserves, but the nervous system won't let them truly rest. This can look like burn out or certain forms of chronic fatigue where sleep does not recharge you like it should. You're running on empty but can't stop running.  ●     Physical tension is almost universal with anxiety. Tight neck and shoulders, clenched jaw, restricted breathing. This tension doesn't just result from anxiety—it actually perpetuates it by restricting healthy circulation through the body. The solution from a Chinese medicine perspective is to cultivate more stillness, coolness, and grounding in the body. We need to nourish the body's capacity for rest, restoring its natural rhythms. Making sure that we have sufficient magnesium is one way that supports this, and when we combine this with targeted acupressure, we have some powerful ways to help our mental health. Magnesium's Role In Calming Anxiety Magnesium levels can play a major role in managing anxiety. Think of magnesium as like a brake pedal for your nervous systems. When you have adequate magnesium reserves, it helps manage the release of stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol.  When you're magnesium deficient, you lose that brake pedal. Your body can get stuck in "fight or flight" mode, constantly primed for threats that aren't really there. Without adequate magnesium, calcium floods into your cells unchecked, causing excessive firing of neurons, muscle tension, and the release of more stress hormones. It becomes a vicious cycle: stress depletes your magnesium, and low magnesium makes you more reactive to stress. To make matters worse, excessive stress hormones also cause dehydration at the cellular level. When calcium floods into cells, it causes water loss, and your body essentially panics when hydration drops too low. This physiological panic can manifest as feelings of anxiety. Magnesium helps to bring the water back into the cells, pushing calcium back out to restore balance and calm. Unfortunately, magnesium deficiency is incredibly widespread. Our modern diets tend to be magnesium depleted for a variety of reasons, and many people suffer from poor magnesium absorption or increased loss through urine. Here's where the gut connection becomes crucial: chronic stress damages your gut lining and disrupts your microbiome, impairing your ability to absorb magnesium from food or oral supplements. Many people taking magnesium tablets experience digestive upset or simply don't absorb much at all. It's yet another frustrating cycle - the anxiety that depletes your magnesium also makes it harder to replenish through conventional means. This is precisely why topical magnesium offers such an elegant solution. Why Transdermal Magnesium? A main key benefit of applying magnesium directly to your skin is that it bypasses the digestive system entirely. It is absorbed through the skin straight into your muscles, fascia, and bloodstream, delivering the mineral exactly where your body needs it. You also won’t have to worry about overdosing or experiencing digestive issues that can come with oral magnesium supplements. Your body is remarkably intelligent and will only absorb what it needs through the skin, leaving the rest. But there's another profound benefit that goes beyond simple absorption: the ritual of massage and intentional touch itself is deeply calming to the nervous system. When you slow down, breathe, and gently work with your body in this way, you're signaling safety. You're moving out of sympathetic fight-or-flight and into parasympathetic rest-and-digest mode. Even better, when you apply magnesium with the understanding of the acupuncture channels in the body, moving through specific acupuncture points, you're working WITH your body's natural patterns, rather than just generically supplementing. You can target pathways that help with calming, restoration, and emotional balance to amplify your benefits. The Yin Channel Acupressure Routine The routine I'll share with you involves massaging Magnesium Cream (for those with dry skin conditions), or the stronger Charge Lotion (my favourite) along the inner surfaces of your arms and legs, into the hands and feet. These are where the acupuncture "yin" channels pass through and are most accessible. Think of channels as the rivers and water ways of the ecosystem of your body. We want good flow through the channels to nourish the health of our body. The yin channels run deeper and are more associated with rest and relaxation, while the yang channels are more external, protective and stimulating.  In anxiety, there is often too much yang activity in the mind, and so we want to help move things deeper into the body, promoting more calm, relaxation and rest. We'll be working with six specific channels: On the arms: Heart, Pericardium, and Lung channels On the legs: Pancreas (Spleen), Liver, and Kidney channels By massaging along them with magnesium, you're achieving multiple benefits simultaneously: mineral absorption over a large surface area, stimulation of the channels' regulatory effects, activation of specific calming points, and the grounding ritual of self-care. The routine is very simple and can be made as long or short as you like. It’s perfect in the evening as part of your wind-down routine before bed. Step-By-Step Routine Arm Yin ChannelStart by applying your magnesium cream to your hands and the inside of your forearms. Then looking at your forearm with your palm facing you, you’ll work along three paths between your elbow and wrist (see arm yin channels image). Pass through these channels as many times as you like, spending more time on any areas that feel particularly tight or sore. Only use as much pressure as is comfortable for you, this is not a “no pain no gain” situation. We’re trying to cultivate a feeling of relaxation. Once you’ve worked through the forearm on one side, move into the palm of your hand. Pay close attention to the thumb pad, the centre of the palm and the area of the palm below the space between the 4th and 5th fingers (see arm yin channels image). Repeat this on both sides. Leg Yin ChannelsAgain begin by applying the magnesium cream to the inside of your legs below your knees and into the feet. Massage along three paths between the knee and ankle. The first just next to the inner shin bone, the next two roughly a finger width apart each (see the leg yin channels image). If you come across any particularly sore or tight areas, spend more time there to help open up the channel more. Move onto the foot, paying particular attention to the sole, the inside of the big toe and the area below the space between the big toe and second toe (see the leg yin channels image). Be sure to repeat on both sides. Making It Part of Your Daily Routine For best results, practice this routine daily. I recommend doing this in the hour before bed to support more restful sleep. Your nervous system thrives on consistency and ritual—over time, just beginning the routine will signal to your body that it's time to wind down. Consider pairing this routine with magnesium foot soaks 2-3 times per week for an even deeper effect. Simply dissolve 1-2 tablespoons of Elektra’s magnesium flakes in warm water and soak your feet (submerged to just above ankles for best effect) for 15-20 minutes. The soak will act to stimulate and open up the channels around the feet and ankles. Anxiety can also be a symptom of dehydration, so make sure to drink enough spring water containing magnesium (or filtered water with added magnesium) for enhanced hydration to support the electrical conductivity along the Yin (river and waterway) channels. Give this daily practice 2-4 weeks of consistent use before evaluating its effectiveness. Pay attention to if you notice things like better, deeper sleep, less anxiety, reduced muscle tension throughout the day, improved resilience to stress (things that would normally trigger you don't hit as hard), and a calmer baseline emotional state. Wrapping Up  Anxiety isn’t something to be managed purely in your mind. By working with your body, your nervous system, your circulation, your muscles, you’re creating a more ideal environment for your mind to settle for improved mental health. The beauty of this approach is that it puts powerful tools directly in your hands. You don't need special equipment or expertise. You just need a few minutes, some magnesium cream, and a willingness to slow down and care for yourself. I encourage you to incorporate Elektra Magnesium's range of products into your daily self-care practice. Their products are specifically designed for topical use and absorb beautifully. Their magnesium flakes are also perfect for those deeper, more restorative foot soaks. It's important to note that while self-care practices like this can be genuinely powerful, persistent or severe anxiety deserves professional assessment and treatment. Everyone's anxiety has unique root causes—it might stem from inflammation, gut imbalances, unprocessed trauma, hormonal issues, or a combination of factors. If you'd like a personalised holistic approach tailored to YOUR specific anxiety pattern, I invite you to consider acupuncture for anxiety. In my practice at Acupuncture Grove in Bondi Junction, I take the time to understand the underlying imbalances contributing to your anxiety and create a treatment plan that addresses your whole system, not just symptoms. I hope you found some value from what I’ve shared in this article. Remember, it’s the small daily rituals that create the most profound change over time. Start taking care of yourself today. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Gavin Martin-Rentz is a registered acupuncturist and Chinese medicine practitioner at Acupuncture Grove in Bondi Junction, Sydney, where he focuses on helping those with complex health conditions and chronic pain to regain their lives and start feeling like themselves again.

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.

Note that dehydrated states can cause feelings of anxiety where we just don’t know the reason for our fear or agitation, but the feeling persists.  Re-hydrating the body with ample water and magnesium can calm down these sensations because magnesium has a dampening effect on adrenaline and cortisol.  When the brain has ample water and magnesium we can think more clearly and make better decisions.  This is especially important during crises because our magnesium reserves can become dangerously low.

Magnesium is so important to cardiovascular function, its scarcity being correlated with the development of cardiovascular disease, that it has become the focus of intense scientific study and review over recent years.  A meta-analysis review of epidemiological studies published in 2017 concluded that magnesium intake is associated with lower risk of major cardiovascular risk factors such as metabolic syndrome, diabetes and hypertension, as well as incidence of stroke and total cardiovascular disease.  Higher levels of circulating magnesium are also associated with lower risk of heart disease, mainly ischemic and coronary heart disease.

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.

The review goes on to explain glyphosate’s mechanism of toxic action. Firstly, it is a strong chelating agent, creating complexes that immobilize the mineral micronutrients of the soil, such as magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, nickel and zinc, making them unavailable to plants. This means that the food supply is robbed of vital mineral nutrients. We eat the food, it fills a void, but it doesn’t supply valuable nutrition. The end result is that we keep eating more and more empty carbs until obesity and other metabolic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes, senile dementia, inflammatory bowel disease, renal failure, thyroid or liver cancer develop.

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.

When you purchase epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) from the supermarket however, it is usually not one harvested from ocean water, but manufactured in a factory as an isolate which is magnesium sulfate. It does not contain the other sea trace minerals that would be present in dehydrated sea salt.  Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) is very cheap and in the event you can’t get hold of anything else, it can certainly save your life.

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.

Whether you are a professional athlete or a gym junkie, if you think you are doing your health a lot of good with over-exercise, then think again.  It can cause serious harm in the case of magnesium deficiency.  In some cases over-exercise or over-training has even resulted in cardiac arrest and death on the track.

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.

Most cramps are preventable, especially cramps during exercise. Are you doing all you can to stop them from affecting your performance? If you understand why cramps happen in the first place, you’re far better equipped to help prevent them. High-heel wearers, those who perspire a lot, are on medications, drugs or drink alcohol and coffee excessively may also suffer frequent cramps.

CASE STUDY: (Photos submitted by Dion’s mother – Desiree Bingham-Smith) I am a Naturopathic student practitioner affiliated with the Wellbeing Clinic at the Australasian College of Natural Therapies located in Pyrmont, Sydney. I took this particular case as a practice case and have been monitoring the client ever since. I have been treating Dion for his Psoriasis since he first came to see me on 7th March 2016 and that was when the first photo was taken. We trialled several other topical ointments and creams, even steroid cream and all only gave temporary relief with only slight improvement. The scaliness improved but the extreme inflammation and redness remained. Psoriasis on leg before Elektra Magnesium Cream Herbal treatment Psoriasis on ankle before Elektra Magnesium Cream Herbal treatment In May 2016 he started using the Elektra Magnesium Cream Herbal and I again took a follow-up photo on 21st June 2016. The improvement was amazing. All the extreme redness and inflammation had virtually disappeared and the client no longer complained of itchiness. Psoriasis on ankle after Elektra Magnesium Cream Herbal treatment This, despite the fact that his leg and ankle are usually covered with thick wool socks and work clothes required for his job as a tradesman. The client says he noticed results immediately in that the urge to scratch was resolved upon first application. The client noticed a marked improvement within two weeks of using the Elektra Magnesium Cream and is continuing to use it to prevent further flare ups of his condition. It is good to know that this is a product he can use long term without any adverse side effects. I was also treating the client throughout this period with diet and lifestyle modification as well as natural medicines to detoxify the liver and support his immune system. It will still be important going forward to support this client’s hepatic and immune systems as the condition tends to return as soon as the topical magnesium is no longer applied. The improvement is remarkable as the client has not always been compliant with his diet and lifestyle changes. I will be recommending this amazing product to future clients suffering from Dermatitis, Eczema and Psoriasis as it has proven its efficacy. I have obtained Dion’s permission to share his story with you as a testimonial for your incredible product. Regards Sharon Clark (ATMS28793) Student Naturopath.