According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), more than 40 million adults in the U.S. have some type of anxiety disorder. That’s roughly 19% of the country’s total population.

Does this number include you? If you suffer from anxiety, then you may have tried different resources designed to help alleviate your symptoms. These are meant to help restore your quality of life, improve your overall wellness, and help you move past the often-debilitating symptoms that can accompany this condition.

In your quest to find relief, have you considered taking magnesium for anxiety? Today, we’re taking a closer look at this supplement, and how it works.

What Is Magnesium?

Before we dive into how magnesium can help anxiety, let’s briefly cover what this mineral entails. In short, magnesium is critical to your body’s daily function.

It’s responsible for regulating your blood pressure, steadying your heart rhythm, and keeping your bones strong. While it’s essential, your body does not produce magnesium naturally. You must ingest it from your food.

Yet, most people do not intake enough magnesium from their diets alone. In fact, studies show that roughly 50% of Americans are magnesium-deficient.

Without an adequate supply, the inflation markers in your body can become triggered. When this happens, it can increase your risk of a range of major health conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis. Thankfully, you can increase your intake through supplements that contain magnesium, such as our Multivitamin Patch.

Magnesium For Anxiety: Understanding the Connection

Though more research is required to perform a definitive analysis, there is a connection between magnesium and anxiety. Let’s take a look at how the mineral affects your brain and body.

Powerful Brain Calming Function

There’s a reason why so many natural sleep aids contain magnesium. This mineral plays a critical role in relaying signals from your body to your brain.

Specifically, it serves as the gatekeeper for your body’s N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors. Located on your nerve cells, NMDA receptors support healthy brain development. They also play an important role in your learning and memory development.

If you have a magnesium-rich diet, then you’ll have stores of the mineral inside of those receptors. As you encounter outside stimuli that may threaten to disrupt your nerves, the magnesium will kick in to prevent them from feeling triggered.

However, if your magnesium supply is low, then the opposite effect can occur. You may find that you’re easily stimulated, which can exacerbate feelings of dread and anxiety. This occurs because your NMDA receptors aren’t blocked as required, which leaves them more exposed to such interactions.

Healthy Stress Response

People who suffer from anxiety disorders know that even a mildly stressful situation can feel overwhelming. The parts of your brain responsible for your stress response are located in your pituitary and adrenal glands.

Your brain’s hypothalamus sends signals to your pituitary glands, which are also located in your brain. In turn, the pituitary glands send signals to your adrenal glands, which are located on top of both of your kidneys. Your adrenal glands are responsible for producing hormones that help regulate a range of essential functions, including your:

  • Stress response
  • Metabolism
  • Immune system response
  • Blood pressure

Magnesium helps support a healthy hypothalamus function, which keeps this cycle running smoothly. Interestingly, magnesium deficiencies can create a seesaw effect within your brain and body. If you don’t intake sufficient quantities of it, then your natural stress response can suffer.

When this happens, the process can deplete your body of magnesium even more. In an attempt to find balance amid chronic mental or physical stress, your internal systems will cling tightly to any stores of the mineral it has saved. When your levels are sufficient, your stress response becomes more balanced, helping you achieve a steadier feeling of calm.

Improved Mood Regulation

In addition to aiding your brain function and stress response, magnesium also affects your overall mood. It helps regulate many of the internal systems involved in mood regulation, including:

  • Brain pathways
  • Enzymes
  • Neurotransmitters
  • Hormones

Magnesium deficiencies can upset this balance, making it more difficult to shake the feelings of sadness or impending dread often associated with anxiety.

Reduced Inflammation

Anxiety and depression are often experienced as co-occurring disorders. Researchers estimate that around half of all people diagnosed with depression are also diagnosed with anxiety.

Though it isn’t the only cause, elevated levels of inflammation can trigger symptoms of depression. It creates changes to your brain and body that make it more difficult to deliver a natural response to stressors and stimuli.

As mentioned, magnesium can help combat this issue by shielding the inflation markers in your body. This can help keep inflammation at bay, which can alleviate some symptoms of both depression and anxiety.

More Restorative Sleep

Sleep disorders are common among people with anxiety. You may find yourself lying awake at night, unable to relax and turn off your thoughts. Again, magnesium may be able to help.

This mineral interacts with a neurotransmitter called GABA, which reduces neuron activity in your brain. If you take a sleep supplement that contains magnesium, it can strengthen and support this interaction, helping to calm your nervous system. As a result, you may find that you’re able to sink into a more restorative, rejuvenating slumber.

This is good news, seeing as sleep deprivation can worsen symptoms of anxiety. It can also lead to insomnia the next night, making it even more difficult to achieve the rest that you need.

Discover the Benefits of Magnesium for Anxiety

Now that you know a little more about the connection between magnesium and anxiety, are you curious about supplementing your routine with more of this mineral?

Not only can magnesium optimize your cardiovascular function, but it’s also pivotal in helping your body manage stress and inflammation, as well as regulate your mood.

If you’re ready to start taking magnesium for anxiety, we can help. Many of our easy-to-use patches include magnesium, so feel free to shop our full online collection today! If you have any questions, feel free to contact our team.

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Magnesium Patches