Hormone creation – magnesium actually makes your hormones progesterone, estrogen and testosterone, so if you're getting into perimenopause or are just coming off the Pill and your levels are low, it's a great help to your body.
Magnesium has a clear positive impact on hormonal health, offering support for things like sleep, mood and premenstrual syndrome. From regulating your sleep cycle to increasing sleep efficiency, why not discover the benefits of magnesium on sleep for yourself?
Magnesium Key Role in Sex Hormone Production
Magnesium has been shown in many studies to be a regulating mineral. If your estrogen levels are too high or too low, then magnesium can help bring them back to stable levels, which will positively impact testosterone and progesterone.
When taken in very large amounts (greater than 350 mg daily), magnesium is POSSIBLY UNSAFE. Large doses might cause too much magnesium to build up in the body, causing serious side effects including an irregular heartbeat, low blood pressure, confusion, slowed breathing, coma, and death.
Magnesium may help to prevent period pain
Taken daily, magnesium may prevent dysmenorrhea (menstrual cramps) in some people (1). It works by relaxing the smooth muscle of the uterus and by reducing the prostaglandins that cause period pain (1,8).
Magnesium is important for many processes in the body, including regulating muscle and nerve function, blood sugar levels, and blood pressure and making protein, bone, and DNA.
High doses of magnesium from supplements or medications can cause nausea, abdominal cramping and diarrhea. In addition, the magnesium in supplements can interact with some types of antibiotics and other medicines.
The benefits of magnesium supplementation in healthy individuals aren't clear, but Dr. Nassar says that taking a magnesium supplement every day likely isn't unsafe for most people. Just be sure you're not taking too much magnesium. The maximum dietary allowance for most adults is around 400 mg or less.
People with diabetes, intestinal disease, heart disease or kidney disease should not take magnesium before speaking with their health care provider. Overdose. Signs of a magnesium overdose can include nausea, diarrhea, low blood pressure, muscle weakness, and fatigue. At very high doses, magnesium can be fatal.
To increase your estrogen levels, consider adding: Boron, a mineral that helps your body absorb testosterone and estrogen. Vitamin B, which helps your body create and use estrogen. Vitamin D, which functions as a hormone in the body and helps with estrogen production.
Magnesium Glycinate: great for calming, helping with sleep and hormone balance. Magnesium Citrate: known to be best for constipation and gastrointestinal issues, it is less bioavailable than other chelated forms of magnesium.
This type of magnesium also helps with PMS, cramps, pain, fibrocystic breasts, cravings, and sleep. According to Examine.com, Magnesium glycinate is also the best choice of magnesium supplement to use when “superloading” or taking more magnesium than is generally recommended in order to correct a deficiency.
One study found that just ten weeks of supplementation with magnesium oxide increased thyroid hormone production -- specifically T4 levels -- and reduced inflammation.
Most women today are juggling so many responsibilities that stress and fatigue is not uncommon. To make matters worse, the body uses more magnesium when under chronic stress, making the need for magnesium even greater. The Recommended Daily Allowance for magnesium for adult women is 320 milligrams.
The time of day doesn't matter so much—it's the consistency of taking magnesium daily that matters most. While some recommend taking magnesium supplements right before bed (to calm your mind and nervous system, setting the stage for sleep), do what works best for you to ensure that it becomes a daily healthy habit.
One study. View Source of older adults with insomnia found that magnesium supplementation at a dose of 500 milligrams daily for eight weeks helped them fall asleep fast, stay asleep longer, reduced nighttime awakenings, and increased their levels of naturally circulating melatonin.
Medical research has linked magnesium to reduced anxiety. Magnesium helps you to relax by stimulating the production of melatonin and serotonin which boost your mood and help you sleep. Magnesium also reduces the production of cytokines and cortisol, which lead to increased inflammation and stress.
Toxicity is rare from food sources because the kidneys will remove excess magnesium in the urine. However toxic levels may occur with long-term use of high-dosage supplements. People with kidney disease have a higher risk of toxicity because their kidneys are not working properly and cannot flush out extra magnesium.
High androgens are one of the main root causes of common PCOS symptoms like acne, excessive facial or body hair, or thinning hair on the scalp. Thanks to its ability to balance blood sugar and insulin levels, magnesium supplements may help lower testosterone levels and reduce these unwanted symptoms (7).
Magnesium also tends to diminish the stress response mediated by catecholamines and glucocorticoids. However, a chronic stressor exposure may result in a depletion of various resources as described by Selye, including magnesium [42,93].