How Magnesium Deficiency Impacts Your Health | Know Your Numbers

Mark Hyman

Jan 12, 2024

Episode description

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Magnesium is a critical mineral that is responsible for more than 600 enzyme reactions in the body, yet most people are not getting enough of it. Magnesium is critical for your cells to make energy, for many different chemical pumps to work, to stabilize membranes, and to help muscles relax. Essentially, anything that is tight, irritable, crampy, or stiff—whether it is a body part or even a mood—can be a sign of low levels of magnesium, and magnesium deficiency has even been linked to inflammation in the body and higher CRP levels.

In today’s episode of a new series I’m calling Know Your Numbers, I dive deep into magnesium. I discuss why millions of people suffer with undetected magnesium deficiency, how conventional medicine misses the mark in measuring magnesium levels, how Functional Medicine treats magnesium deficiency, and much more.

You can test your magnesium levels with Function Health, a company I co-founded. It has been a lifelong dream for me. Function is the first-ever membership that includes 100+ lab tests and personalized insights from globally renowned doctors based on your results. Join Function at FunctionHealth.com.

This episode is brought to you by AG1 and Open.

Get your daily serving of vitamins, minerals, adaptogens, and more with AG1. Head to DrinkAG1.com/Hyman and get 10 FREE travel packs + a Welcome Kit with your first order.

Take your meditation practice further and start your FREE 30-day trial of Open by visiting WithOpen.com/Mark today.

Here are more details from the episode (audio version / Apple Subscriber version):

Symptoms of magnesium deficiency (5:23 / 3:25)
Why is magnesium deficiency a problem? (6:19 / 4:21)
Testing magnesium levels (7:27 / 5:29)
How magnesium works in the body (8:45 / 6:47)
Why magnesium deficiency is so prevalent (11:46 / 9:48)
The Functional Medicine approach to measuring magnesium levels (16:14 / 14:16)
Root causes of and conditions related to magnesium deficiency (17:48 / 15:50)
Addressing magnesium deficiency (23:27 / 21:29)

Episode description

View the Show Notes For This Episode

Get Free Weekly Health Tips from Dr. Hyman

Get Ad-free Episodes & Dr. Hyman+ Audio Exclusives

This episode is brought to you by AG1 and Open.

Get your daily serving of vitamins, minerals, adaptogens, and more with AG1. Head to DrinkAG1.com/Hyman and get 10 FREE travel packs + a Welcome Kit with your first order.

Take your meditation practice further and start your FREE 30-day trial of Open by visiting WithOpen.com/Mark today.

Here are more details from the episode (audio version / Apple Subscriber version):

Symptoms of magnesium deficiency (5:23 / 3:25)
Why is magnesium deficiency a problem? (6:19 / 4:21)
Testing magnesium levels (7:27 / 5:29)
How magnesium works in the body (8:45 / 6:47)
Why magnesium deficiency is so prevalent (11:46 / 9:48)
The Functional Medicine approach to measuring magnesium levels (16:14 / 14:16)
Root causes of and conditions related to magnesium deficiency (17:48 / 15:50)
Addressing magnesium deficiency (23:27 / 21:29)

Mindsip insights from this episode:

Beware acid blockers: they can lead to magnesium deficiency

Common acid-blocking drugs used for reflux can cause magnesium deficiency because they block the stomach acid needed to absorb minerals.

#deficiency

#magnesium

Increase magnesium intake to reduce heart risk

The Rotterdam study reported that people with low serum magnesium had a 54% greater risk of sudden cardiac death.

#heart

#magnesium

Select magnesium forms for targeted health benefits

Different forms of magnesium have specific benefits, such as glycinate for sleep, citrate for constipation, and threonate for brain health.

#magnesium

#supplement

Address magnesium deficiency to alleviate muscle irritability

Basically, anything that twitches, spasms, cramps, or is irritable in your body is likely related in part to inadequate magnesium levels.

#deficiency

#magnesium

Rethink serum magnesium test for accurate body levels

The common serum magnesium test is not a good indicator of your body's true magnesium levels because only 1% of your body's magnesium is in your blood.