"Magnesium helps improve your skin's overall appearance, reducing acne and other skin disorders by lowering cortisol levels, stabilizing hormonal imbalances, and improving cellular processes," says Dendy Engelman, a dermatologist in New York City.
The Benefits of Magnesium
Other than improving your muscle function and energy levels (and avoiding all of the negative side effects mentioned above), magnesium keeps your skin looking glowy, says Joshua Zeichner, M.D., director of cosmetic and clinical research in dermatology at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
Magnesium helps to ensure your skin is armoured against external damage as it regulates cellular regeneration and repair. Everyday your skin is under attack from free radicals. This is one of the most important magnesium benefits for skin and hair because it actively helps your skin in terms of protection and recovery.
Magnesium helps support the synthesis of collagen and a lack of collagen as we age is one of the key factors in wrinkles. Without adequate Magnesium, your skin is far more susceptible to harmful free radical damage that can ultimately lead to wrinkling and skin damage.
Magnesium supplementation has been used successfully in the treatment of different conditions such as PMS, PCOS, mood disorders, and postmenopausal symptoms and consequent risk factors, particularly in the association with other dietary components with proven antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity.
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.
The claimed benefits of magnesium supplementation range from boosts in everyday wellness — better sleep, increased energy levels and improved mood — to specific health benefits, such as lower blood pressure, reduced risk of heart disease and improvement in migraines.
That is why we want to focus on the fact that magnesium supports the natural production of collagen. Therefore, you cannot go wrong if you take both substances together. Magnesium plays a crucial role when it comes to your bone health. In fact, together with vitamin D, it helps to absorb calcium properly.
In a peer reviewed human study, a magnesium compound has been shown to reverse markers of brain aging by as much as 14 years!
Apart from vitamins, minerals are very important for hair growth. While iron and zinc help with hair's shine and luster, magnesium plays an important role in promoting follicle hair growth, which results in healthy hair growth.
Benefits of Magnesium for Skin
Reduces sun damage: Magnesium can be a huge help when it comes to hyperpigmentation and sun damage. "In a small human study, topical treatment with magnesium chloride affected the inflammatory response in the skin post-UVB radiation," notes King.
Magnesium can also help to protect your skin from external damage, as it regulates cellular regeneration and repair, increasing the recovery when skin is disturbed and strength when it's under attack.
Vitamin D is one of the best vitamins for your skin, along with vitamins C, E, and K. Making sure you get enough vitamins can keep your skin looking healthy and youthful. This could translate to a reduction in: dark spots.
Vitamin C is essential for an even skin tone and a glowing complexion. The daily requirement of vitamin C is 90 mg in men and 75mg in women in normal, healthy conditions.
Magnesium begins to take effect after one week of consistent supplementation.
The intake of natural vitamin E products helps against collagen cross linking and lipid peroxidation, which are both linked to aging of the skin.
If there is any underlying gut bacteria imbalance or other nutrient deficiencies and these are fixed, magnesium levels should start to improve within 2-4 weeks. However, everyone is different and deficiencies can take a few months for certain individuals.
Eating foods rich in vitamin C and amino acids can increase the levels of hyaluronic acid and collagen in the body as both are important for skin. Foods such as oranges, red peppers, kale, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and strawberries are all rich in vitamin C.
A diet full of protein-rich foods, whether from plant or animal sources, can help supply these critical amino acids. Other nutrients that aid the process of collagen production include zinc, vitamin C, and copper. So, fruits and vegetables high in vitamins and minerals are also a friend to supple skin.
Besides time, three main things will lower your collagen levels: sunlight, smoking, and sugar. Too much exposure to ultraviolet light makes its fibers unravel. This can lead to sun damage, such as wrinkles.
High doses of magnesium from supplements or medications can cause nausea, abdominal cramping and diarrhea. In addition, the magnesium in supplements can interact with some types of antibiotics and other medicines.
Therefore, magnesium supplements can be taken at any time of the day, as long as you're able to take them consistently. For some, taking supplements first thing in the morning may be easiest, while others may find that taking them with dinner or just before bed works well for them.