Magnesium Helps Tackle Stress and Muscle Cramps. Here's How.
Magnesium has some amazing properties for both your brain and your body. It also makes important contributions to many important processes in the human body.
In particular, it helps people deal with both stress and muscle cramps, which all of us have experienced at one time or another.
How Magnesium Helps Tackle Stress
Cortisol is the body’s principal stress hormone, and it helps to keep us alert during stressful moments or emergencies. But when stress becomes chronic, cortisol levels can stay high for too long. That can damage a part of the brain called the hippocampus, and that damage leads to further creation of cortisol (and even more stress). Luckily, magnesium can help to reduce the hippocampus' ability to go into overdrive.
Magnesium also has many therapeutic and restorative effects on the brain. For instance, it helps to keep the neurons in the brain healthy by reducing the stimulating effects of calcium and glutamate on neural receptors. A lack of magnesium in the area of cell receptors means that stimulus from calcium and glutamate can increase, which leads to cell damage — and even cell death — in the brain. Research has also suggested that this mineral can help protect people from falling into periods of depression and anxiety after suffering brain trauma.
Related: 6 Simple Ways to Overcome Stress and Anxiety
How Magnesium Helps Fight Muscle Cramps
Magnesium is the fourth-most abundant mineral in the body, and it has many important functions. Keeping magnesium at the right level can help you in so many ways. Since it plays a role in neuromuscular transmission and muscle contraction, it is linked — along with some other minerals, like potassium and calcium — to muscle cramping when levels are deficient. Such things as nerve compression and poor blood supply can also cause cramping, so if it's troublesome and persistent, make sure to visit your healthcare provider.
Related: These Foods and Healthy Habits Will Boost Your Immunity Naturally
Interestingly, magnesium is part of every single cell in your body. It’s what’s known as a “helper” molecule, which is part of biochemical reactions that are happening all the time in human cells. Everything from the movement of muscles to the creation and repair of DNA and RNA involves magnesium.
Although magnesium doesn’t often make health headlines, it’s presence in all of our cellular functions makes it a critical component of our overall well-being.
Natural Ways to Up Your Magnesium Consumption
Great news! Magnesium is found in such foods as avocados, nuts, lentils, and bananas. There are also magnesium supplements to choose from, but we are proponents of using food as medicine whenever possible.
Keep calm, carry on, and keep your magnesium at a healthy level.
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