Our body and mind need multitude of nutrients to function properly and find us healthy and energetic. These mainly come from the foods we consume daily, although sometimes they are also obtained in the form of … supplements on prescription or medical recommendation.
Although they are all important in their own way, today we are talking about a nutrient that you have surely heard about lately, because it intervenes in multiple crucial aspects. for the proper functioning of our body.
It is magnesiumwhich is one of the essential minerals for the body. Among some of the aspects in which it intervenes we find the proper functioning of muscles, the health of the brain and nervous system and the regulation of blood sugar. Below we will tell you more about this nutrient, how its intake affects the body and at what time it is recommended to ingest it.
What happens in the body if we take magnesium every day?
According to the “MedlinePlus” website, magnesium is necessary for more than 300 biochemical reactions in the body. If we take it daily it will help, as we mentioned, our muscles and nerves to function well, it contributes to a healthy immune system, keeps our heart rate constant and promotes the strength of our bones. In addition, it helps regulate blood sugar, protecting against diabetes and is necessary for the production of proteins, also providing us with energy.
What time should you take magnesium?
Applied particularly to people who take supplements of this mineral, Frank Suárez, specialist in obesity and metabolism, explained when it is best to take magnesium.
“After using magnesium for 18 years, we worked with over 120,000 people, I found that there are people who, if they took magnesium instead of putting them to sleep, it woke them up. What is the reason? The body works in a cycle, the circadian cyclewhich is like an internal clock that the body has and, magnesium, is a mineral, and like all minerals, it is a metal, since it is a metal, it is difficult to digest”, he begins by explaining.
“The time you take has everything to do with it, it was a discovery…” he says. “For the body to use it, this magnesium has to get into the stomach and it produces hydrochloric acid.. This acid is what allows you to digest metals like magnesium. People who have an excited nervous system or who have hypothyroidism have hypochlorhydria, low acid production in the stomach to be able to digest things like magnesium,” he says.
Thus, it indicates that, especially for people suffering from this disease, although it affects everyone, it is necessary to take into account that: “the production of this acid stops functioning after the six o’clock in the afternoon. After this time, the body prepares for sleep and no longer digests well. This is why people with excited nervous systems do not sleep if they eat late at night. And people who have a passive nervous system can eat something fatty at two in the morning and I sleep as I want. If you’re going to take magnesium and you want the effect and it’s not going to wake you up, you have to digest it, and to do that you should take it at six in the afternoon or earlier. This way, your body continues to produce acid, it can digest it and magnesium will provide you with the benefits you deserve,” concludes the expert.
The amount of magnesium each person needsor determine both your age and gender and, from the National Institutes or Health (NIH), they state the following:
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Babies up to 6 months: 30 mg
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Babies 7 to 12 months: 75 mg
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Children 1 to 3 years old: 80 mg
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Children 4 to 8 years old: 130 mg
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Children 9 to 13 years old: 240 mg
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Adolescents (men) 14 to 18 years: 410 mg
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Adolescents (girls) 14 to 18 years old: 360 mg
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Men: 400 to 420 mg
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Women: 310 to 320 mg
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Pregnant adolescents: 400 mg
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Pregnant women: 350 to 360 mg
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Breastfeeding adolescents: 360 mg
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Breastfeeding women: 310 to 320 mg
Foods rich in magnesium
We must keep in mind that, whenever possible, it is healthier to take magnesium naturally through food than to take supplements, and the latter should be taken under the supervision of a doctor. SO, before considering taking supplementsit may be good to increase your intake of foods rich in magnesium.
Some of them are: legumes, nuts, pistachios, hazelnuts, green leafy vegetables like spinach or chard, snails, seeds, whole grains, milk, yogurt, fruit, chocolate, sardines or shrimp.