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Hey, this is Dr. Berry. For a few minutes, let's discuss magnesium and the signs of magnesium deficiency that you need to look for. It's very common in the US, Canada, the UK, and Australia to be deficient in magnesium, and I'm actually going to give you more than seven signs of magnesium deficiency. Millions are suffering from magnesium deficiency, so I thought this video would be necessary. If you know someone you think may be deficient in magnesium, please share this with them on Facebook, on Messenger, send them an email, send them a smoke signal, but get the word out, because there are so many people who are magnesium deficient.
But wait a minute, my doctor checked my magnesium level and said it was normal. So what about that, Dr. Berry? Here's the thing. At any given time in your body, only 1% of your available magnesium is present in your blood, or in the serum, and your body regulates that amount very, very tightly, because magnesium is either essential for or facilitates over 400 biochemical reactions in your body every single minute of every single day. It's vitally important for life. It is an essential nutrient, an essential mineral, an element. Your body can't make elements; you have to ingest them. So you have to either eat good magnesium-rich foods, take a magnesium supplement, or both for some people, or you're just not going to get enough.
If your serum level, which is what the blood test would check for, starts to get low, your body immediately pulls magnesium from your cells, from your bones, and from your organs out into the bloodstream to normalize that level, because it has to be normal or you'll get very sick very quickly. If your magnesium level gets too high or too low, you can have severe cardiac problems and other problems, but your body almost won't let that happen if you have normal kidney function and there's not some other serious medical problem. Your body is going to keep your magnesium level at a very tight level in your serum. So you can imagine that you've got a normal amount in your blood supply, but your cells and bones are very depleted of magnesium, and there's really not a good way to check that. A lot of doctors say, "Check RBC magnesium," and I've actually checked that a few hundred times in my practice, and I can't really tell that it helps me much either. But I know that so many people have these signs and symptoms of magnesium deficiency, and the food supply in the US is so deficient in magnesium that some experts estimate over 50 percent of the US population is deficient, at least to some degree.
So let's talk about some signs and symptoms that might give you a heads-up that you are low in magnesium and need to either eat more magnesium-rich foods or supplement. If you have an overall low energy level, that could be any number of medical issues, and you definitely need to see your doctor for that. But magnesium is vital in one of the rate-limiting steps for the production of ATP. You may remember ATP from high school biology; it's the energy molecule in your body. If you're not able to make ATP as effectively as you should, you're going to have low energy levels. So that's one vague symptom of magnesium deficiency.
Another is tachycardia, or fast heart rate. Calcium tends to make your heart contract, and magnesium tends to make your heart relax. If you don't have enough magnesium, your heart can't relax as it should during the contraction-relaxation cycle, and you can wind up with a fast heart rate. I've seen a number of patients who have been to several different doctors, and nobody could figure out why their heart rate was high. They thought it was thyroid, they thought it was something else. It turns out they just needed more magnesium, and their heart rate came right back down to normal.
Another is numbness or tingling in the fingers or toes. The magnesium element is critical for the normal function of nerves all over your body, especially down in your fingers and toes, and if you don't have enough magnesium, you could have tingling and numbness in your fingers and toes. Again, this can be caused by multiple other medical issues, so if you're having this, go see your doctor. But I would also recommend either eating more magnesium-rich foods or taking a magnesium supplement.
A big one, which you probably all know about, is muscle cramps or muscle twitches. You know that little twitch you get right here when that in-law comes over. Well, it could be the in-law, but it could also be low magnesium. Especially if you're having charley horses in the middle of the night, it's either magnesium or potassium almost all the time, and a good magnesium supplement can make those cramps go away.
Another big one that most of you already know about is constipation. Magnesium will help with constipation like no other element really will. If you're taking a magnesium supplement, magnesium has a safety valve. The way you'll know you're taking too much magnesium is you'll get diarrhea, and that's your body's way of saying, "Whoa, back up on the magnesium." Reduce the dose by maybe 10% or 20%, and that should be the perfect dose once the diarrhea goes away. That's the right dose of magnesium for you. So if you're chronically constipated, magnesium might be a big help in your life.
Another is insomnia. Magnesium is not a knockout drug, and it is not habit-forming. You cannot sell magnesium on the black market. But if you take anywhere from 400 to 800 milligrams of magnesium at bedtime, plus or minus a little melatonin, you'll drift off into a more restful sleep and stay asleep through the night for more minutes or more hours and get a more restful night's sleep. I've had many patients benefit from taking a very inexpensive, very safe magnesium supplement right at bedtime.
Another is if you've been diagnosed with osteoporosis or osteopenia. Osteopenia is just the beginning weakness of bone, before it progresses to osteoporosis, which is very brittle bones. Your body has to have magnesium and calcium in the proper ratio in order to store calcium properly in the bones. If you are very low in magnesium, you may not be putting away and rebuilding bone properly, and that can lead to brittle bones or osteoporosis. If you've been diagnosed with that, you definitely need to look into getting more magnesium in your diet and your life.
Another is high blood pressure. Often high blood pressure is just high blood pressure, but sometimes it's low magnesium. Even if you are taking a blood pressure medication, I still advise taking 400 to 800 milligrams of magnesium at bedtime every night. That will help your blood pressure be lower naturally, and then you may not need as much of the prescription blood pressure medication.
Another is arrhythmias, and even atrial fibrillation, or AFib. Many of these arrhythmias are caused by low magnesium levels. Magnesium is very heart-healthy. It's estimated that over half of the people who come to the emergency room with an acute heart attack are magnesium deficient, and that seems to be very strongly correlated with heart disease. Once again, that's another good reason to eat lots of magnesium-rich foods and perhaps take a magnesium supplement. If you have AFib, I would definitely take some magnesium. It may not cure it, and you still need to see your doctor for that, but it might help. If you're having just weird little flip-flops or palpitations, magnesium might fix that, but still go see your doctor.
The final one I want to talk about is morning sickness during pregnancy. A little morning sickness is normal because of fluctuating hormones. But if you had severe morning sickness, or you know someone who is pregnant and has debilitating morning sickness, there are a couple of studies showing that a magnesium supplement makes it much less severe. So severe morning sickness may be due in part to a magnesium deficiency.
If you enjoyed this video and would like to see more like it, consider clicking the subscribe button. I'm going to tell you a secret: in the next day or two, I'm also going to publish a video about the seven magnesium-rich foods you should eat, so you get your natural amount of magnesium. If you click the bell button beside the subscribe button, you'll get a notification when I post that video. If my videos have helped your health and helped you have a healthier, happier life, you can click the Patreon link down below. It's a quick sign-up, and you can throw a buck or two my way to help me have more time to make more videos just like this. This is Dr. Berry, and I'll see you next time.