The perimenopause is when melatonin levels start to naturally reduce, so increasing your intake of magnesium at this time can be particularly beneficial. A diet rich in magnesium is vital for your body to turn digested food and supplements into energy fuel, which is needed to keep you going throughout the day.
Magnesium is Essential to Balancing Hormones
Magnesium is one of the most essential minerals to help balance hormones. While you can take a supplement, and even spray your skin with magnesium spray, there's no better way of getting the magnesium you need than from the foods you eat.
Hormone creation – magnesium actually makes your hormones progesterone, estrogen and testosterone, so if you're getting into peri-menopause or just off the Pill and your levels are low, it can be your best friend.
Magnesium has a clear positive impact on hormonal health, offering support for things like sleep, mood and premenstrual syndrome. From regulating your sleep cycle to increasing sleep efficiency, why not discover the benefits of magnesium on sleep for yourself?
Magnesium Glycinate: great for calming, helping with sleep and hormone balance.
If you are experiencing hormonal symptoms in perimenopause, a sign that estrogen and progesterone are not in the correct ratio, supplementing with herbs including wild yam, black cohosh and red clover extract can help restore balance to these two hormones and relieve perimenopause symptoms.
Magnesium deficiency is diagnosed via a blood test and sometimes a urine test. Your doctor may order the blood test if you have symptoms such as weakness, irritability, abnormal heart rhythm, nausea and/or diarrhoea, or if you have abnormal calcium or potassium levels.
During perimenopause, levels of estrogen, a key female hormone, start to decrease. You may begin having menopause-like symptoms, such as hot flashes or irregular periods. Perimenopause can last for years. When you go a full 12 months without a period, menopause has begun.
Magnesium has been shown in many studies to be a regulating mineral. If your estrogen levels are too high or too low, then magnesium can help bring them back to stable levels, which will positively impact testosterone and progesterone.
In addition to those health benefits, magnesium can also aid in weight management. A 2013 study in the Journal of Nutrition found that higher magnesium intake was associated with lower levels of fasting glucose and insulin (markers related to fat and weight gain).
Things like oatmeal, full-fat Greek yoghurt, homemade granola and eggs are all good options that help keep your blood sugars stable and release energy slowly to help avoid slumps.
Early Stage. Perimenopause can begin in some women in their 30s, but most often it starts in women ages 40 to 44. It is marked by changes in menstrual flow and in the length of the cycle. There may be sudden surges in estrogen.
Magnesium also tends to diminish the stress response mediated by catecholamines and glucocorticoids. However, a chronic stressor exposure may result in a depletion of various resources as described by Selye, including magnesium [42,93].
Magnesium assists in the activation of vitamin D, which helps regulate calcium and phosphate homeostasis to influence the growth and maintenance of bones. All of the enzymes that metabolize vitamin D seem to require magnesium, which acts as a cofactor in the enzymatic reactions in the liver and kidneys.
Magnesium typically decreases along with estrogen in menopause, making symptoms associated with low magnesium levels more noticeable.