Can magnesium help reduce anxiety? | BBC Global

There's a lot of online hype around magnesium and its supposed ability to alleviate anxiety and depression.
But does it work? And if so, how?
In our new series: Health Decoded, science journalist Melissa Hogenboom explores whether the mineral has a positive impact on mental health.
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[@nrauhauser]

Long term magnesium user here. The inexpensive oxide form is poorly available, look for a citrate, chelate, glycinate, etc. I recently got 240 tablets 100mg each for $16 USD. Anxiety is a mental thing, the jury is out on the effect there, but there is no question a bio-available magnesium will work quickly to reduce heart rate and decrease blood pressure. So it's really good on the physiological components of anxiety, and if you address the physical aspect, then you're in a better place to deal with the mental component. My trouble is a digestion related thing, but I have suggested magnesium to friends who are dealing with an actual anxiety diagnosis, and they've reported it helped with the symptoms. It's an inexpensive thing to try and it's good for you even if it doesn't make a lot of inroads on your anxiety. Do keep in mind that your body needs vitamin D to absorb both magnesium and calcium. If you overdo it with magnesium you can get calcium deficiency symptoms like cramps, so the safest thing are combined supplements, which are also inexpensive and readily available.

[@GhastlyCretin]

So, like a natural beta-blocker?

[@martf1061]

1:44 Wtf??? 🤨🤨🤨😣😔

[@chinookvalley]

Combine Mg, D3, K2, and Hawthorne. Made a HUGE difference for me. I'm taking if before bed and am sleeping better.

[@namrofni6236]

I don't think you should take d3 at bedtime. Which hawthorne do you take?

[@oneshotme]

I very much enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up

[@diligentmindz]

Watermelon has 15milligrams of magnesium per cupful, 4% of daily requirement. Why did you use that irrelevant stock video footage 🙄

[@livephysiology]

An important point is made towards the end of the video. While something may be essential for human health, the question is is it already readily available in the diet? Or is supplementation needed?

[@errgo2713]

In other words, just eat a balanced nutritious diet to be healthy

[@23zchris]

Peanuts is rich in magnesium.

[@HeartFeltGesture]

Peanuts ARE rich in magnesium.

[@jonathan99097]

i'm allergic

[@rodrigodegani]

New thought acquired: magnesium-based lifeform

[@mravacado1587]

Can magnesium help reduce anxiety? the video didn't answer the question it set out to answer.

[@holysong2099]

It actually did

[@RAHIM621]

I love to eat. Seeing your food reminded me of my food

[@billyponsonby]

A stock footage feast

[@oo0Spyder0oo]

So all these years of people working to cure anxiety etc they didn’t think to use magnesium?

[@ml48963]

But who won the staring contest? 👀

[@christopherlawman9521]

So you can get magnesium from most healthy foods and magnesium helps to reduce anxiety. So what you are saying is that eating healthy leads to better health? Someone throw a Nobel Prize at her head.

[@wilmh9586]

HAHAHA🤣

[@chinookvalley]

I do not agree with this video. Food no longer has the nutrients it did. Depleted nutrients in soil and water, polluted air and water. We must take supplements in order to be healthy. This video isn't helping anyone.

[@akg9991]

Thank you chinook valley - I’ll get on that lmao

[@sunmarsh]

Would love to see the scientific papers you read leading to that very broad generalization. Please feel free to link!

[@oo0Spyder0oo]

If the nutrients were missing in the soil and water then those foods wouldn’t/couldn’t be grown to begin with. Stop and think.

[@ronniecarson8756]

Most foods are imported from other countries. Most are not locally grown.😫😞

[@exodus1823]

I think your approach is too binary, does or doesn't. It's not completely wrong nor are you, but somewhere in between, there is nuance because not everyone's situation is the same. There are many whose diet is straight up lacking in the kinds of foods that can help sustain them, because their diet is made up of over processed and nutritionally empty foods. I can agree many healthy foods aren't as nutritionally dense as they used to be, but it's not like they're completely empty so it is still good advice to eat more whole foods. The other point of the video is also true, you can take in too much of certain minerals through supplements, because there are people who over consume what they think is healthy as a shortcut to health not considering there's dangerous dosage levels to everything, and are now able to consume dangerous quantities of certain substances through supplements where they couldn't only through food.