9 Benefits of Magnesium for Hormone Balance
Magnesium is an important mineral involved in 1000s of reactions in the body. Magnesium plays a crucial role in the production of your hormones and can help to balance the stress response. You can think of magnesium as your calming and relaxing mineral.
It helps to loosen tight muscles, maintain the health of our muscles (including our heart – the most important muscle), prevent migraine headaches, balance blood sugar, ease anxiety due to its role in our stress response, and ease PMS symptoms.
Food sources include:
avocado
nuts
dark chocolate
edamame
spinach
lentils
Sometimes a magnesium supplement may be indicated. I’ll recommend either magnesium glycinate or magnesium chelate or if struggling with constipation magnesium citrate. I do not recommend magnesium oxide as it is poorly absorbed.
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You may be wondering: “are there specific benefits of magnesium for hormone balance ?”
The answer is YES - there are many benefits of magnesium for hormone balance.
This important question we need to be asking is: do I need to support magnesium levels in my body?
This is taking a root cause approach when it comes to understanding our health and hormones. When we answer this question, we are understanding what is driving the imbalance (which is showing up as symptoms in the body).
By addressing the root cause, not simply just the symptom (or the hormone imbalance for that matter), we can find long-term, sustained healing.
I’m here to help you have better periods, symptomless cycles, and optimize fertility (whether that’s now or in the future) all through simple nutrition and lifestyle shifts that feel simple, doable, and empowering (not overwhelming).
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As always, I’m giving away my best hormone tips here, answering your burning questions, and letting you in on the what the science says.
This is the kind of insider info I share with all of my 1:1 coaching clients and students in my signature course, Heal Your Period.
I’m so passionate about sharing this info with anyone on a hormone healing journey, so I’m letting you in with all the info here!
So, let’s dive in into it!
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What are the benefits of magnesium for hormones?
Here are 9 benefits of magnesium for hormone balance:
1. Magnesium Supports Sleep
Supporting sleep is another benefit of supplementing magnesium for hormone balance. One study has shown that participants who supplemented with magnesium every day for 8 weeks had longer sleep and better sleep efficiency. This is because magnesium impacts our circadian rhythm, which is basically our body’s time clock that senses when we need to be awake and alert, and when we need to get rest. Additionally, melatonin has been measured to increase after supplementation of magnesium. This is important because melatonin is a naturally produced hormone in our brain that helps us sleep at night. Its role is to help us react to darkness and lightness to increase our circadian rhythm functioning. Since magnesium has an effect that increases melatonin production, magnesium for hormones helps aid in sleep functioning.
Source: 31850132
2. Magnesium Supports Healthy Blood Sugar Levels
Supporting healthy blood sugar levels is another benefit of supplementing magnesium for hormone balance. Studies show that magnesium supplementation may be beneficial for those with conditions like PCOS where blood sugar metabolism is altered. Blood sugar imbalances occur when your cells are resistant to accepting glucose from the messenger hormone insulin. When this occurs there is a high concentration of insulin in the blood at a time, and then periods with very low insulin at a time. The imbalance of insulin can make the ovaries produce more testosterone, so blood sugar imbalances are one of the symptoms for those with PCOS. Luckily, magnesium has positive impacts on hormones and blood sugar.
3. Magnesium Supports the Stress Response
Supporting the stress response is another benefit of supplementing magnesium for hormone balance. The effect on stress is due to our brain’s sensitivity to magnesium, specifically the limbic–hypothalamus-pituitary–adrenocortical axis, which controls emotions and our nervous system. Magnesium can also reduce the release of adrenocorticotropic hormone from the pituitary gland in the brain, and this hormone controls the production of cortisol in your adrenal glands. By consuming magnesium, you decrease the internal stress response.
Source: 28445426
4. Magnesium Supports Optimal Thyroid Function
Supporting optimal thyroid function is another benefit of supplementing magnesium for hormone balance. The thyroid is a gland in your throat that produces hormones T4 and T3. These hormones aid in metabolic function, temperature balance, and also impact the other reproductive hormones estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. These thyroid hormones can be produced in excess, called hyperthyroidism, and in limited amounts, called hypothyroidism. Magnesium helps to convert inactive thyroid hormone (T4) into active form (T3). One study found that severely low serum magnesium levels were associated with an increased rate of positive thyroglobulin antibodies, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and hypothyroidism.
Source: 29967483
5. Magnesium Supports Phase 2 Estrogen Metabolism
Supporting phase 2 estrogen metabolism is another benefit of supplementing magnesium for hormone balance. Estrogen levels need to be metabolized through the gut, if they are not metabolized, they will recirculate and cause estrogen levels to rise in the body. When estrogen is too high this causes a cascade effect on hormone balance, decreasing progesterone levels. Phase 2 estrogen metabolism is the form of excreting excess metabolism when high estrogen levels are gut issues cause high estrogen levels caused by gut issues.
Source: 22249877
6. Magnesium Supports Healthy Ovulation
Supporting healthy ovulation is another benefit of supplementing magnesium for hormone balance. Having healthy ovulation each month is an indicator that you have healthy hormone levels, specifically progesterone. When the egg is released from the follicle, the remaining sac, called the corpus luteum, releases progesterone to help promote ovulation. A study found that magnesium can increase progesterone levels to support healthy ovulation.
Source: 10231048
7. Magnesium Key Role in Sex Hormone Production
Supporting sex hormone production is another benefit of supplementing magnesium for hormone balance. All of the reproductive hormones are connected, so when one is imbalanced, the others can become imbalanced as well. 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.
8. Magnesium Helps Alleviate Period Cramps
Alleviating period cramps is another benefit of supplementing magnesium for hormone balance. Small contractions cause cramps in the uterus, which function to help excrete the endometrial lining. These contractions happen when the smooth muscle of the pelvic region tightens. You can think of magnesium as our calming and relaxing mineral. It helps to loosen tight muscles, prevent migraine headaches, balance blood sugar, ease anxiety due to its role in our stress response, and ease menstrual cramps. A study found that magnesium supplementation had an inverse relationship to endometriosis risk, a condition defined with life-disrupting period pain.
9. Magnesium Supports Healthy Serotonin Levels
Supporting healthy serotonin levels is another benefit of supplementing magnesium for hormone balance. Estrogen especially has a high impact on mood. Estradiol is a form of estrogen, and estradiol is more beneficial to regulate depressive episodes and has antidepressant effects when taken in normal limits, but with low levels, it can cause sadness and unstable emotions. Magnesium can help regulate estrogen, which has a positive impact on mood.
Additionally, there is a natural drop in serotonin when we are on our period. Serotonin is our happy mood chemical, so when it drops, we can feel sad and have more mood changes. Studies show that those who have magnesium deficiency have lower levels of serotonin. Many physicians prescribe magnesium as a treatment for major depressive disorder to restore serotonin levels.
Source: 23990808, 10231048, NIH
FINAL THOUGHTS
There are many benefits of magnesium for hormone balance.
While we chatted through lots of different benefits, remember that every body is unique and it’s about determining what works best for your body.
The main benefits when it comes to magnesium for hormone balance are supporting sleep, blood sugar levels, the stress response, and hormone metabolism (to name a few).
-Krista
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KRISTA KING, MS, RDN, LDN, IFNCP
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