7 Reasons Why You Should Take Magnesium for Anxiety

Increases GABA

One way that magnesium helps your anxiety is by binding to your GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) receptors in the brain and “waking them up” so that your GABA is increased.

GABA helps to slow down your brain activity and when it’s depleted, it’s like your brain is an engine that’s revving on high all the time.

In this way, GABA is like the antidote to overwhelm.

If you feel like your life is out of control, you can’t control your worrying or your thinking, it could be that it’s not your imagination!

Our biology affects our thinking (it’s all connected after all), and though you can do things to manage worried thoughts, it’s often best to go to the source of those thoughts and make sure that your body chemistry isn’t working against you.

Reduces Stress Hormones

Do you have a lot of brain fog, mood swings, insomnia, etc?

If so, you might be experiencing an excess of cortisol, which is the hormone that is released when you are under a lot of stress.

Guess what? Magnesium works to prevent that cortisol from being released and also helps it not to get into your brain.

But also, when you are stressed out, your body starts to shed magnesium.

That’s why it’s extra important to take a supplement to make sure you are not deficient.

If you become deficient, then you might experience side effects like tight muscles, which can actually trigger panic responses and in turn create more stress hormones.

This is a vicious cycle that can be managed with magnesium supplementation.

Protects Against Inflammation

Did you know that you can have inflammation in your brain just like you do in your body?

One way that magnesium can help your anxiety is through it’s ability to reduce inflammation.

In fact, research has also shown that having low levels of magnesium is linked to high levels of markers that indicate inflammation.

These markers called “cytokines” are sent out by your immune system and tell your brain to start inflammation as a way to control a threat.

But at the same time, they are affecting your brain function.

If you want to read a great first-hand account of what this is like, I recommend the book “Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness” by Susannah Cahalan.

Heal Your Brain

Another good reason to take magnesium is that it promotes greater brain plasticity; in other words, the ability of your brain to heal, create new cells, and make new connections.

In fact, if you’re already receiving a treatment such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) then taking magnesium could help to boost the effectiveness of that treatment.

Why? Because during therapy your brain needs to start forging new pathways and new connections. Magnesium can make it easier for your brain to do that.

Protect Against Hypoglycemia

Have you ever experienced the sensation of low blood sugar? I know I have. It’s that feeling if you haven’t eaten for a while and you start to feel shaky, anxious, dizzy, etc.

Your brain operates on glucose and when it doesn’t get what it needs (i.e., low blood sugar), your body releases stress hormones (like cortisol and epinephrine), which cause stored sugar to be released so your brain can use it.

The good news is that magnesium helps to stabilize your blood sugar levels. So if you’re prone to hypoglycemia or it makes your anxiety worse, magnesium could help.

Have I convinced you yet that magnesium is important to manage your anxiety? I know that I’ve convinced myself!

What if there was something you could easily do to restore your level of magnesium that didn’t require hours of work or expensive medications?

You’re in luck. Taking a magnesium supplement is one of the simplest things you can do to make sure that you are getting enough magnesium.

That being said, in doing my research on supplements, I found that it’s not as simple as purchasing a bottle of magnesium at the store.

There are actually some different types of magnesium so it’s good to know the differences.

Here’s the list of the types that I found:

Magnesium oxide: This is the kind you will probably find at the drug store. In fact, I checked my bottle and this is the type that I have.

However, in doing research for this post, I learned that this type is actually less helpful for anxiety because your brain can’t use it easily. But it’s good if you have constipation and migraines.

Magnesium sulfate: This is the type that you will find in the Epsom salts you put in your bath.

It’s too strong to take internally. But, putting those salts in your bath could help to ease your anxiety.