Latest / The Brain Dump / The Mineral Files Part 1: Everything Your Doctor Didn't Tell You About Magnesium | Episode 32

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The Mineral Files Part 1: Everything Your Doctor Didn't Tell You About Magnesium | Episode 32 · The Brain Dump

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, I'm Sandy Boone, therapist, coach, and nervous system educator with 30 years in healthcare and mental health.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: I built two practices, got diagnosed with ADHD at 50, and learned the hard way that healers need healing to.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: I help female therapists and healers regulate their nervous systems, reclaim their lives, and stop being everyone's everything.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Braindump with Sandy Boone.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Before we get started, I am a licensed therapist and a functional medicine educator, not a physician.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing in this episode constitutes medical advice, and listening to this podcast does not create a clinical relationship between us.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Please talk to your own health care provider before making any changes to your supplements or your treatment plan.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the first episode of what I'm calling the mineral files, a series where we go through the minerals on a hair tissue mineral analysis one by one.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: I want to explain what they do in the body, what it looks like when they're out of range, how they connect to mental health, and where you can get more of them.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm starting with magnesium because I think it's the one that people have heard of most frequently, and it's the one that people are probably thinking about wrong, including me for a while.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: When I got my own HTMA results back, my magnesium came back elevated.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: My first thought was, great, I have plenty of magnesium.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's one less supplement I can take.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: So I did.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: And welcome to the two worst nights of sleep I've had in years, back to back.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: When I talked to my mentor about it, she explained what was happening.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: The magnesium wasn't getting into my cells.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: It was simply sitting in my tissue.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: It was showing up elevated on the test, but it couldn't do the job that it was supposed to do because of other things that were happening in my chemistry at the same time.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Specifically, my calcium and adrenal patterns were blocking it at the cellular level.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: That is the counterintuitive thing about HTMA that standard lab work almost never catches.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: A high number on a test does not automatically mean you have enough of something where your body actually needs it and can use it.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: A number that looks fine on a standard panel can mask a real functional deficiency.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium is one of the most common examples of this.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: If you're going to use blood work to test your magnesium, I highly recommend it an RBC magnesium.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: That is not a test that is standardly ordered by your physician.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: You're going to have to ask for it.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about what magnesium actually does and why it matters so much.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: It matters for your nervous system, your mental health, and a lot of physical things your doctor may not be connecting to your mineral status.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: First, we'll go into what magnesium actually does.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium is the fourth most abundant mineral in the body.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: It is involved in over 300 enzymatic reactions.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: That is not a mineral doing just one thing.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's a mineral that participates in almost every major biological process that your body runs.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium supports muscle relaxation.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: It is essential for protein synthesis.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's required for cellular energy production, specifically ATP, which is what your cells use as fuel.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_00: It regulates your blood pressure.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's involved in blood sugar metabolism.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: It helps regulate the stress response through its effect on the HPA axis.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: And it is directly involved in the production of GABA.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: And GABA is the primary calming neurotransmitter in the brain.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: GABA is what puts the brakes on your nervous system.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's the thing that allows you to downregulate after stress, to fall asleep, to feel a sense of calm and safety.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: And when GABA is insufficient or when the receptors that respond to it aren't functioning well, you're going to feel it.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to show up as anxiety, hypervigilance, that wired, tired state where you can't settle even when you desperately want to.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: Spoiler alert, if you have a high cortisol level, you are zipping through magnesium.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: It is required for GABA receptor function.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And without adequate magnesium in the cells, not just in its tissue like mine was, but in the cells, your brain's ability to calm itself down is compromised.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium deficiency is extraordinarily common, and the symptoms show up in places that don't always get connected back to minerals.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: The one I hear the most frequently is migraine headaches.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Sleep.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium is involved in melatonin regulation.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: It helps the body transition into the parasympathetic state that sleep requires.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Poor sleep that doesn't respond to sleep hygiene, racing thoughts at night, waking at 2 or 3 a.m.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: and not being able to get back to sleep.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: These can all have a magnesium component, and sleep is absolutely imperative for the function of our bodies.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium is involved in anxiety.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_00: Given what I said about GABA, this one makes perfect sense.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm talking about the chronic low grade anxiety that doesn't have an obvious trigger, the kind that just lives in the background of your days.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's worth looking at through a mineral lens.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium impacts muscle issues.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium and calcium work together to control muscle contraction and relaxation.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Calcium triggers the contraction, magnesium triggers the relaxation.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: When magnesium is insufficient, the relaxation part of that cycle doesn't complete the way it should, and this can show up as muscle cramps, tightness, and restless leg syndrome.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: If you're lying in bed at night and your legs will not be still, magnesium is one of the first things worth looking at.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: It's involved in constipation.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium draws water into the intestines and supports the muscular contractions that move things through.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Low magnesium slows that process down.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: This is why magnesium citrate is often used as a laxative.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: The dose is high enough to pull water into the gut rapidly.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: At lower, more therapeutic doses, magnesium supports regularity without the urgent effect.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium is also involved in stomach acid production.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: This one surprises people.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: When someone tells me that they are struggling with reflux or GERD, it's often because the stomach acid pH is not low enough to close that sphincter.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: So the body doesn't get the message that the sphincter doesn't need to be opened.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, the reflux can go up into the esophagus.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium is required for the production of hydrochloric acid in the stomach.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: And thinking back to our middle school days, hydrochloric acid is going to have a low pH.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Low stomach acid means you're not breaking down protein efficiently, you're not absorbing minerals well from food, and you may experience bloating, gas, and that feeling of food just sitting there after a meal.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Brain fog can also be impacted by magnesium levels.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: Cellular energy production requires magnesium.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: When your cells can't produce energy efficiently, cognitive function suffers.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: The fog that makes it hard to find words, hard to hold a thought, hard to get through the afternoon, it has a mineral component that almost is never investigated.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, magnesium levels affect depression and mood instability.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Low magnesium correlates with higher levels of inflammatory markers.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Inflammation is increasingly understood as a significant driver of depression.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_00: The connection between magnesium status and mood is well documented in the research literature and is essentially never discussed in standard mental health treatment.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: Let me come back to my own results because I think my mistake is more instructive than a straightforward deficiency story would be.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: My magnesium came in at a 21 on my HTMA.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: The optimal range is much lower than that.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: So on paper it looked like I had plenty of magnesium, perhaps even too much.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: My results also showed a calcium level of 161, which was significantly elevated, a low sodium to magnesium ratio, which pointed to depleted adrenal function, and a slow metabolizer pattern overall, that meant my cells were not efficiently utilizing the minerals available to them.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: My calcium shell, that calcium sitting outside the cells rather than inside of them, was essentially blocking magnesium from getting into the cells where it belongs.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: The magnesium was in my tissue.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: It just wasn't where it needed to be to do its job.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: When I saw the elevated number, I stopped supplementing, and I thought that was the smart thing.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: I was actually removing one of the few things that was trying to help my nervous system stay regulated.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: Two nights of terrible sleep later, I talked to my mentor.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: She explained the elevated tissue magnesium in the context of a calcium shell and how low adrenal function doesn't mean you have enough.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: It means the delivery system is broken.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: The fix is not to stop the magnesium.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: The fix is to address the underlying pattern that's blocking it from getting into the cells.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: For me, that's meant working with body bio PC.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's a liposomal phospholipid complex that supports cell membrane health and helps minerals get into the membrane where they're supposed to go.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm still on that journey because the calcium shell does not resolve overnight.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: But the magnesium, I kept supplementing it.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: And the sleep improved.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: That's the story that I want you to hear.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: Not just about magnesium, but about what the HTMA shows that a standard panel doesn't.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: A number in isolation doesn't tell you the whole story.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: The ratio, the patterns, the context.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: That's where the real information lives.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: The mental health presentations that most commonly connect magnesium insufficiency, whether it's a true deficiency or a bioavailability issue like mine, are anxiety, poor sleep, depression with an inflammatory component, brain fog that isn't resolving with rest, and that burned out, depleted, can't quite recover state that a lot of healers know all too intimately.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: These are also the presentations that taught therapy alone cannot fully address.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's not because the therapy isn't good, it's because the body doesn't have the raw materials to support the nervous system regulation that healing requires.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: We heal when we sleep.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: If you are a therapist who has clients stuck in this pattern, doing the work, making real progress cognitively and emotionally, and still struggling with sleep or anxiety or even persistent brain fog, a functional medicine lens that includes mineral status is worth considering.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is exactly why I offer the root cause roadmap, because sometimes the missing piece is not another therapeutic modality.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's a hair sample and an honest look at what the body is running on.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: And if that's something you'd like to explore, check the show notes for how to book one.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: Before we talk supplements, because we know that I am not a fan of replacing medications with supplements, let's talk about food.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Whole food sources of magnesium come with cofactors that supplements cannot fully replicate.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: The food is always the foundation.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Dark leafy greens such as spinach, swishard, and kale are among the highest.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Cup of cooked spinach has over 150 milligrams of magnesium.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Pumpkin seeds are one of the most magnesium dense foods available.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Dark chocolate, 70% cacao and above is a meaningful source.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: An ounce has about 50 milligrams, permission granted to go get the good chocolate.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Avocados.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: One medium avocado has about 58 milligrams along with healthy fats that support miner mineral absorption, and your brain loves healthy fats.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Legumes such as black beans, lentils, chickpeas, a cup of cooked black beans has about 120 milligrams of magnesium.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Whole grains such as quinoa has about 118 milligrams per cooked cup.
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: And with whole grains, we really want to make sure that they are organic because of the risk of glycosphate.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: Nuts are also a good food choice.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Almonds and cashews, particularly.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: An ounce of almonds has about 76 milligrams.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: One caveat that's worth naming soil depletion has reduced the magnesium content of most conventionally grown produce over the past several decades.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: You are getting less magnesium from the same foods than your grandparents did.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is one of the reasons supplementation has become increasingly relevant even for people eating well.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium will probably always be a supplement that I take.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of supplements, not all magnesium supplements are created equal.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: I will frequently encounter clients that say, My doctor told me that I needed magnesium.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: And when I ask them what they're taking, they're taking magnesium citrate.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes they even tell me, I tried magnesium and it caused diarrhea.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: Again, because they're taking the citrate.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: The form matters significantly, and most of the cheap magnesium oxides that you find in the big box store is not well absorbed.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium glycinate is magnesium bound to glycine, which is an amino acid.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: It is highly absorbable, gentle on the stomach, and particularly good for anxiety, sleep, and muscle relaxation.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: The glycine itself also has calming properties, which adds to the nervous system benefit.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: This is the one I reach for the most often.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium three inate is the form that most effectively crosses the blood-brain barrier.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: If brain fog, cognitive function, and mood are primary concerns, this is a form worth considering.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Research has specifically looked at it for cognitive support, and the results are promising.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium malate.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: This one is bound to malic acid, which is involved in cellular energy production.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: This form is particularly useful for fatigue and muscle pain.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's often recommended for people with fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue patterns.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium citrate is well absorbed and commonly used for constipation relief because it draws water in the intestines.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: You can also find this one in colonoscopy preparations.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: At lower doses, it works as a gentle daily support for regularity.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: At higher doses, it becomes a laxative, which is not always a goal, particularly if your client is experiencing irritable bowel syndrome in the form of diarrhea.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium oxide is the cheapest and most common form you'll find on drugstore shelves.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: It has very poor absorption and it's essentially useful only as a laxative too.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's not what you want for nervous system support.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium taureate, bound to taurine, is an amino acid with cardiovascular and calming properties.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's good for blood pressure support and heart rhythm, and that's worth considering if those are part of the clinical picture.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Magnesium L3N8, same as 3N8 above, is designed specifically for brain health, and it's sometimes listed separately on labels.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: The two forms that I've used and I personally recommend most consistently for the nervous system, sleep, and mental health are glycinate and three and age.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: They are the ones that do the work without the undesirable side effects.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: The brands I recommend and use personally are Source Naturals, DaVinci TriMag, and RNA Reset.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: These are the brands that prioritize third-party testing and ingredient integrity.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: In the supplement world, you get what you pay for, and cheap supplements with poor testing standards can contain contaminants or deliver far less of the active ingredient than the label claims.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: The integrity testing matters.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: It also matters where you get your supplements from.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: We all like Amazon because they will deliver rapidly.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: However, we have no idea how long those supplements have been sitting on a shelf, maybe even in a hot storage facility.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: You can find my recommended supplements through my Full Script dispensary.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: The link is in the show notes.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Full Script carries professional grade supplements, and ordering through my dispensary gives you access to practitioner level products with the testing standards I trust.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: In closing, magnesium is not a supplement you take because someone told you it's good for stress.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's a mineral that participates in over 300 processes in the body that your nervous system depends on for basic regulation, and that most people, especially people under chronic stress, are not getting enough of and a form their cells can use.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: My elevated magnesium level taught me that more important than the number on the test is whether the mineral is where it needs to be.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: That's the question HTMA answers that Standard Lab Work doesn't even ask.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: In the next episode of the Mineral Files, we'll be looking at calcium.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot more to say about calcium than drink your milk.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for being here.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: If something today resonated, check the show notes.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: You'll find information about booking your root cause roadmap with me at sandyboon.com, plus my full script link for the magnesium supplements I mentioned today.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_00: Come find me on Instagram at thesandyboon.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're a healing professional looking for a community that actually feels good to be in, come join us in the Rooted Calm Collective on Facebook.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's a space built for support, nervous system tips, and building your best life as a healer without the drama.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Links for everything are in the show notes.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for being here.