The Hard Way With Joe De Sena31 Mar 2019

Magnesium: A Mineral to Calm the Mind // SPARTAN HEALTH 020

Magnesium has some amazing properties for your brain and body. It also makes important contributions to many important processes in the human body.

Two things that many of us have experienced are stress and muscle cramps.

First, let's look at magnesium and its impact on stress, especially in relation to cortisol.
Cortisol is the body's principal stress hormone. This hormone helps to keep us alert during stressful moments or emergencies. But when stress becomes chronic, cortisol levels can stay high for too long which can lead to damage a part of the brain called the hippocampus; this damage leads to further creation of cortisol – and even more stress! Luckily, magnesium can help to reduce the ability of the hippocampus to go into overdrive with the production of cortisol.

Second, magnesium 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. This 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 depression and anxiety after suffering brain trauma.

Third, magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral in the body and it's part of 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. Things like nerve compression and poor blood supply can also cause cramping so if it's something persistent and troublesome see your health care provider.

Not many people know this but magnesium is part of every cell in your body. It's what's known as a "helper" molecule that 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 the health headlines, it's presence in all our cellular functions means that it's a critical component of our overall well-being.

How about some natural ways you can up your magnesium: it's found in avocados, nuts, lentils, and bananas. Of course there are Mg supplements but I love food as medicine whenever possible.

So keep calm and carry on … by keeping your magnesium at healthy levels.

KEY TERMS & IDEAS

Magnesium is ubiquitous in the body and plays a role in all of the processes of our cells. It also plays an important role in mental health by both reducing cell death in the brain and mitigating the levels of cortisol released by the brain during times of stress.

Cortisol is the body's principal stress hormone.

The hippocampus "is a small, curved formation in the brain that plays an important role in the limbic system. The hippocampus is involved in the formation of new memories and is also associated with learning and emotions."

LINKS & RESOURCES:

Follow Dr. Nada on:

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/nada-milo...
Sage Tonic www.sagetonic.com
Sage Tonic on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sagetonic/

Franziska Spritzler, "10 Evidence-Based Benefits of Magnesium," Healthline, September 3, 2018, https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-proven-magnesium-benefits#section9, accessed January 2019.

Inna Slutsky et al., "Enhancement of learning and memory by elevating brain magnesium," Neuron 65.2 (2010): 165-177, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627309010447, accessed January 2019.

Emily Deans, Magnesium and the Brain: The Original Chill Pill," Psychology Today, June 12, 2011,
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201106/magnesium-and-the-brain-the-original-chill-pill, accessed January 2019.

Kendra Cherry, "Hippocampus Role in the Limbic System, verwellmind, https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-the-hippocampus-2795231, accessed January 2019.

"What is Cortisol?" Web MD, https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/what-is-cortisol#1, accessed

Lisa Fromm, et al., "Magnesium attenuates post-traumatic depression/anxiety following diffuse traumatic brain injury in rats," Journal of the American College of Nutrition 23.5 (2004): 529S-533S,
https://www.spectracell.com/media/uploaded/0/0e2016839_020fullpaper2004jamcollnutrmagnesium-attenuates-post-traumatic-depression-anxiety.pdf, accessed January 2019.

SUBSCRIBE:
Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpShow
YouTube: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpYT
Google Play: http://bit.ly/SpartanUpPlay

FOLLOW SPARTAN UP:
Spartan Up on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/spartanuppo...
Spartan Up on Twitter https://twitter.com/SpartanUpPod

CREDITS:
Producer: Marion Abrams, Madmotion, llc.
Writer and Host: Nada Milosavljevic MD, JD

Denne episoden er hentet fra en åpen RSS-feed og er ikke publisert av Podme. Den kan derfor inneholde annonser.

Episoder(1021)

Ashley Hunter on FitKids, 195 Schools, and Why Kids Need Hard Things Before They Need Anything Else

Ashley Hunter walked away from investment banking to teach kids how to move. Fifteen years later, Fit Kids operates in 195 schools across 13 states and has reached roughly 500,000 children. Joe De ...

15 Sep 22min

Tyler Andrews on Surviving Aplastic Anemia, Running Everest in 9:55, and a Decade of Grinding

Joe De Sena sits down with Tyler Andrews, a cancer survivor turned elite endurance athlete who just set the fastest known time from Everest Base Camp to the summit: 9 hours and 55 minutes, breaking a ...

8 Sep 24min

Mark Allen, Dane Miller, James Lawrence, and Leif Babin on Daily Consistency, the Three Best Lifts, and Extreme Ownership

Joe De Sena opens this Labor Day episode with a direct question: what does it actually look like to show up every day, year after year, with no days off? Six-time Ironman World Champion Mark Allen,...

1 Sep 21min

Andy Stumpf on Getting Shot, Watching Hundreds Quit SEAL Training, and Why Momentum Beats Direction

Andy Stumpf's BUD/S class started with 180 students. 18 graduated. As a BUD/S instructor years later, he got to do something most SEALs never do: sit down with the hundreds who quit and ask them why. ...

25 Aug 25min

Richard Baker and Adam Weitsman on Capital, Discipline, and What Separates Entrepreneurs Who Survive

Richard Baker raised $700 million in February 2021 and burned through it in three years. Adam Weitsman served time in federal prison, lost his ego, and rebuilt his business with a level of discipline ...

18 Aug 26min

Joe McConaughy on the PCT Speed Record, Hallucinating at the Finish, and Why 50–90% of Every Race Is a Grind

Joe McConaughy was a college miler who had never raced anything longer than a mile when he Googled "run the Pacific Crest Trail" at 22 years old. 53 days and 2,600 miles later, he held the speed rec...

11 Aug 27min

Mike Sarraille on Leaving Delta Force, Scaling a Company to 500, and Why Entrepreneurship Is the Real Fight

Mike Sarraille served 20 years in special operations as a Recon Marine, scout sniper, Navy SEAL, and troop commander in Delta Force. He graduated number one out of three hundred in Marine boot camp, f...

4 Aug 22min

John Kelly on the Barkley Marathons, Quitting From the Lead, and Training for Real Adversity

Only twenty people have finished the Barkley Marathons in forty years. John Kelly has finished it twice. But between those two finishes, he quit from first place after two loops because he already kne...

28 Jul 24min