Is the impending holiday season stressing you out? The anticipation of spending time with relatives, the financial strain and the craziness that comes with it all. You need to relax, but it seems almost impossible. Let’s talk about the calming effect of calcium and magnesium.
Calcium is an essential nutrient for maintaining total body health. It’s necessary not just for keeping your bones and teeth strong, but also to ensure proper functioning of muscles and nerves. Calcium works in harmony with magnesium, but too much calcium can actually deplete your body’s supply of magnesium.
Calcium and magnesium work harmoniously together when the balance is correct. Calcium acts to excite nerves and is necessary for muscle contraction. Magnesium, on the other hand, calms nerves and is needed for muscle relaxation. Calcium makes bones stiff and hard, but magnesium is needed to avoid their becoming brittle.
You very tangibly experience the tensing (calcium) and relaxing (magnesium) interaction of these two elements each time your heart beats, when you feel your pulse, and every time you breathe.
When we are under stress, the balance of calcium and magnesium surrounding our cells gets out of whack. Calcium enters the cells and the calcium level temporarily becomes high. This is the tensing of muscles you feel as you’re getting worked up. Magnesium then saves the day by pushing the calcium out of the cell and the cell is again in its resting, relaxed state.
To maintain homeostasis – that is, the correct balance of calcium and magnesium – you need to ensure you aren’t magnesium deficient. Much emphasis has been placed on the importance of calcium, but not enough attention has been called to magnesium. Magnesium helps your muscles function properly; it keeps your heart rhythm steady and supports a healthy immune system. This essential mineral helps regulate blood sugar levels, promotes normal blood pressure and is required for producing and storing energy.
Unfortunately, many of us are magnesium deficient. According to population studies of average magnesium intake, less than 30 percent of US adults consume the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of magnesium and nearly 20 percent get only half the magnesium they need daily.
So, if you’re having a hard time calming down, chances are your calcium and magnesium levels are out of whack and not working together properly. You should consider taking a high-quality calcium magnesium supplement.
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