6 reasons to increase your magnesium intake in perimenopause & menopause

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Today on A.Vogel Talks Menopause, we take a look at six reasons why it's important to increase your intake of magnesium in perimenopause and menopause.

Magnesium is the one supplement that I recommend almost daily and to just about every single woman who comes to me with issues during menopause and perimenopause. So, today I thought we would go into it a little bit more deeply, to show you why it's needed and how it works.

A.Vogel's Nutritional Practitioner Ali explains why she also recommends magnesium to menopausal women in her clinic, "I'm a nutritional practitioner and I recommend magnesium to practically all my clients, to be honest, but definitely to the perimenopausal and menopausal clients.

And as you say, we see it works so effectively. In this phase of your life, your requirements for magnesium are going to increase. It's quite a stressful time physically and emotionally, and both of these things can drain magnesium from your body. So, putting in plenty, just to get you through the challenges of these times, is a very sensible thing to do and a good strategy to introduce."

Why you should increase your magnesium intake during perimenopause and menopause

So, let's have a look at the reasons, and the symptoms that magnesium can really help.

Reason 1: It can help regulate your mood and reduce anxiety

We know that anxiety, apart from hot flushes and night sweats, is probably the second most common perimenopause and menopause symptom that women will experience.

According to Ali, this is one of the key reasons for making sure we have plenty of magnesium because magnesium helps to calm your nervous system. She explains," This is so important because otherwise you can feel the tension building. It can become physical but also, there's that emotional tension; so magnesium is really helping to soothe and calm the nervous system and helping the brain to send reassuring messages to the body."

Reason 2: It can help you feel less tired and fatigued

Who's not tired these days? As women today, we have so much going on. We've got all the physical changes that are going on with menopause and we've got all the things we have to do on a daily basis. It's no wonder that many women end up fatigued or tired all the time. And magnesium is really good for this.

Ali recommends magnesium because it helps with energy production. She says, "Just from a very practical point of view, it's helping your body to produce more energy; but it's also really important for how you metabolise your sugars, your carbohydrates. And that can also help in keeping your blood sugar level stable, and therefore providing you with more energy on a daily basis."

Furthermore, Ali also recommends magnesium for those struggling with cravings. She says, "If you are a little bit prone to sugar cravings, then magnesium is your friend."

Reason 3: It helps support your nervous system

Magnesium supports your nervous system and one of the other things that we're noticing a lot today is that so many women are experiencing brain fog and memory blips.

Explaining how magnesium supports your nervous system and can help brain function, Ali says "Magnesium is super helpful for the way that you pass information along your nervous system. It's something that's called nerve messaging, the way that the information gets to your brain, and then your brain sends instructions to the rest of your body. So, this is really nourishing the way that the brain is able to function."

Reason 4: It can help you sleep better

Again, so many women come to us to say that they're having problems getting off to sleep or that they can't stay asleep. And we know, there's a lot of research out there that shows that if you have a bad night's sleep, that is going to compound problems with many other areas of your health. And if you're tired at the beginning of the day, you're not going to have the energy to see yourself all the way through.

According to Ali, magnesium can help improve your sleep in a few ways. She explains, "Everything seems worse after a bad night's sleep. We all know that. But, on a very practical level, things like your perception of pain increase if you haven't had a good night's sleep, and also if your magnesium levels are low. So those two things really come together.

If the sleep is disturbed, then all sorts of chaos break loose, and magnesium helps, as we've said previously, to calm the nervous system, make you feel more relaxed, less likely to be worrying at night-time - keeping yourself awake with these hamster wheel thoughts going round and round in your brain."

And we know that weight gain is a common issue in perimenopause and menopause, but sorting out sleep issues can help with that too.

Reason 5: It can help relieve aching muscles

Again, muscle aches is another one that seems to be really common at the moment. A lot of women are saying they're just getting mysterious aches and pains, and we have found magnesium can be really helpful for that.

Ali explains that there are lots of reasons that magnesium can be helpful here. "As I've just mentioned, if your magnesium levels are low, then your perception of pain is higher. So, anything that does hurt will hurt more.

Furthermore, on a very practical level, magnesium helps your muscles to relax. So, if you're sitting with your shoulders cramped up and knots in your neck, and especially if you're experiencing more cramping, cramping pains, maybe your periods are a bit more painful or you're getting more cramps in your legs, then magnesium is really going to help to tell the muscles to relax."

Reason 6: It can help keep your bones strong and prevent osteoporosis

Again, we hear from so many women who are really worried about developing osteoporosis post-menopause, and we know too that a lot of fractures that women experience later on in life can be due to lack of magnesium in the earlier years of menopause.

Ali explains why magnesium is needed to help regulate calcium in the body. "I think everyone understands the importance of calcium, but what fewer people know is that without enough magnesium you can't absorb your calcium, so just mainlining extra calcium is not going to do the job. You need to make sure that your magnesium levels are robust as well so that you can absorb your calcium and get it into the right places."

In even simpler terms, when explaining this I like to say that magnesium is the bus that takes calcium to the bones.

How to increase your magnesium intake during perimenopause and menopause

So, now you know why you should increase your intake of magnesium, let's take a look at how you can increase it.

As a Nutritional Practitioner, Ali explains what she recommends to her clients. "It is definitely a great thing to have more magnesium-rich foods in your diet, partly because we're going be eating anyway, so why not eat magnesium-rich foods? But also, because they're all delicious and really good for you.

Magnesium is found in whole grains, whole foods, so all your wholemeal bread, and pasta, and things like that, but also in dried fruits, which are so delicious and contain lots of other great nutrients, minerals, and B vitamins in them, and these are found in nuts as well. The healthier foods are actually full of magnesium! And I do recommend swapping out some things like refined sugar for dried fruits, because you're putting magnesium into your body and giving yourself that delicious taste as well."

Diet alone may not be enough, so you can increase your intake with supplements such as our Menopause Support tablets, which contain magnesium, together with soy isoflavones and hibiscus

A.Vogel Menopause Support tablets with Soy Isoflavones, Magnesium and Hibiscus for all stages of menopause

• Made from soya beans
• Also contains magnesium and hibiscus
• Support for all stages of the menopause
• Unique formulation
• GM Free, suitable for vegans

Read more customer reviews

Find Menopause Support tablets in a store near you

Ali adds, "Most women do tell us that they feel a lot better once they've been taking Menopause Support; but if you feel that your symptoms are really shouting about magnesium issues, then you can put an extra magnesium supplement on top of that, anything between 100 and 400 or 500 milligrams of magnesium daily is fine, and obviously, enjoy all your magnesium-rich foods as well."

So, I hope you found this interesting. Have you included extra magnesium in your daily diet and have you found it helpful? Let us know in the comments section below.

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