Magnesium & Migraines

Migraine headaches have often been linked to deficiencies of magnesium in the diet. Magnesium serves a lot of functions in the body. It is a mineral that helps you get to sleep. It also maintains strong bones, assists in protein synthesis and keeps the muscle and nerve functions normal and healthy. It has been believed for over seventy years that people who lack magnesium are prone to developing migraines.

Causes

Several factors could cause a body to run low on magnesium. Running low on magnesium could cause a migraine to come on or could lower your body's resistance to them. These factors are stress, menstrual periods for women, and consuming excessive amounts of alcohol. Also, various antibiotics and diuretics can lower the body's magnesium levels.

Prevention/Solution

Approximately fifteen to twenty percent of Americans have low levels of magnesium. In order to combat this and prevent migraines from happening, you can be sure to consume a lot of foods that are full of magnesium. Individuals with extremely low magnesium amounts can only consider taking supplements or getting magnesium injections to make up for the deficiencies. The average adult needs between 310 and 420 milligrams of magnesium a day.

Symptoms

It is a good idea to be able to recognize if your magnesium levels are low. Some symptoms that are warning signs to your body regarding your magnesium levels are insomnia, appetite loss, an irregular heartbeat pattern, shortness of breath, feelings of weakness, pre-menstrual syndrome, nervousness, anxiety, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and bad coordination.

Examples

One important way to prevent migraine headaches that are caused by magnesium deficiencies is to reduce the amount of processed foods you consume, and to consume foods that are brimming with magnesium such as beans, wheat germ, seafood, green, dark, leafy vegetables, whole grains, milk and many others.

Significance

It is important to know exactly what magnesium's importance to the body is. Magnesium is vital for over three hundred metabolic body reactions. Magnesium is necessary for producing energy for the body's cellular reactions and synthesizing protein in the mitochondria. It is also present in several very important enzymes.

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