Magnesium - benefits, DIY and two brands reviews

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Magnesium oil, it's benefits and DIY

Let's talk about Magnesium today, shall we? Are you like me and suffer from anxiety (I swear, my brain and imagination are working overtime at all times, running all these "what if this happens" kind of scenarios, which is quite frankly, exhausting), difficulty in falling and staying asleep, muscle cramps, numbness and tingling in some parts of your body? They are surefire ways of telling your body is low in magnesium, as well as PMS, chronic fatigue, constipation, tension, migraine headaches and so on. Magnesium is vital for our optimum health, and yet so few of us are thinking or researching into it. I highly suggest you do your own research, as sadly our soil is very depleted of crucial minerals including magnesium and it is practically impossible to get all you need with the diet alone. Research shows that up to 80% of us are deficient, with 55% of us falling way below RDA. And let's not forget that RDA or Recommended Daily Allowance is very far from Optimum Health Level, again, I urge you to do your own research, you might be astonished to find out that RDA is the absolute bare minimum our bodies need for surviving, not thriving! Turns out the industry does not have best interests for people's health, but that is another topic for another time. Magnesium deficiency is also majorly under-diagnosed condition, as it does not show in the blood test. Turns out only 1% of it is stored in our blood and the rest are stored in our bones. Needless to say, severe deficiences lead to chronic illnesses.. If you want to delve deeper into it, Patrick Holford books are a great way to start. 
Anyways, back to my own story - once I connected to dots on my newly developed insomnia and other stuff (I've had eye twitches and have been an anxious person for years but I kept soldiering on) to magnesium, I purchased a magnesium spray immediately. I chose a spray because it is better absorbed that way and you can feel the difference way faster than if I took the pills, with pills it might take a couple of months to notice any difference, and with my liver working at only 20% rate, anything I can do to make it less taxable on it, I will. And what can I say, the first time I sprayed it onto my skin, it tingled like crazy (that is how you know you are deficient) but I slept like a baby for the first time in months! I can't say it was the best sleep I ever had and I heard angels sing when I woke up, it was more like exhausted heavy sleep and I had an argument with the alarm clock the next morning, aka real difficulty waking up, but I can honestly say I slept through the night without waking up at all, whereas before I had a real difficulty falling asleep, AND I used to wake up a few times a night too. Needless to say that resulted in a groggy Renata. We developed a inner joke about it, "don't pull a dragon by the whiskers" - aka don't annoy the sleep deprived mommy! The following nights were better and better, and I can honestly say I was amazed at how simple the solution to a mass of the ailments was, and it kind of made me feel stupid - I have tried a ton of remedies for insomnia and nothing worked. Apart this. By the way, I followed the instructions and was applying the oil (the spray is rather oily and a bit hard to rub in, but I am putting up with it) on my arms, legs and tummy, but my tummy being the sensitive area, it resulted in ...errr. more frequent trips to the bathroom, (without going over the recommended limit of ten sprays I should say) so if you are using magnesium spray and too have this problem, I say leave out the tummy and spray it onto your legs only. It works perfectly fine now.
The very first brand I got was Better You and I thought it was kind of expensive at 16.99€ at first, but I quickly changed my mind seeing how little I needed each day, and I am pleased to say the bottle lasted me well over a year. Little did I knew I picked up the best stuff in the market without even knowing, because when I ran out, I purchased Holland & Barrett own brand magnesium spray (not pictured) as it was half price at a time. I perused the ingredients to make sure not to get any nasty surprises (H&B own brand vitamins and minerals are full of fillers and I stopped buying them because of it) and the bottle said "super concentrated formula" so assumed it must be the same as the other brand I had, and oh boy how wrong I was! Not only it is watery as hell, I am halfway done with it in a month! Needless to say I won't purchase Holland & Barrett own brand anything from now on! Take it from me, do yourself a favour and skip this product as it is complete waste of money whether half price or not. 

 

Magnesium oil DIY

Then I remembered I can DIY it too, I have seen videos of Sophie Uliano and Vita Lives Free doing it, and it seemed a no brainer - all you have to do is pour boiling water over magnesium flakes. So I immediately did that following their instructions (both recommended 50% water and 50% of magnesium flakes, but I have to say I was disappointed with the results, the end result was very watery (just like my H&B spray) and not what I wanted at all, so after trying to use it for a couple of days, I re-did the whole thing, I poured the oil from the both bottles into the double boiler, and added as much of the magnesium flakes as I could cram aka melt into it, I was much happier with the result, it was much more thicker and oilier, and I imagine, much more concentrated. So my recommendation is 70% of the magnesium flakes and 30% of the water. Water has to be distilled. Tap water won't do, because it can grow mold over time. This is what I use now, but when I will be finished with them, I will go back to the Better You one as I liked it the best. So I am giving you one more option for DIY, and it is up to you if you want to do it or not. Some people just won't DIY anything at all, and that is ok with me, as I do realize we are all different - and some people are super into DIYs and just won't buy anything they can make themselves! I fall somewhere in the middle, I am happy to make some of the stuff on my own, when I feel the results are the same or better then a shop bought one, but many of the things (like face creams and foundations, as well as any SPF product) I prefer to leave to the professionals, even though I know how to make the exact same thing.
 
I am using magnesium for a second year running, and I really see the difference if I forget to use it for a couple of days. I also use it on my four year old too, just a couple of sprays, and I really noticed a difference in her sleeping pattern - she sleeps much more soundly and for the first time in years I can have a peaceful night sleep too - just like she can't sit still in the day time, night time is equally un-resting, she is constantly tossing and turning, kicking off her duvet, coming to me asking or water or accompany her to the bathroom - you get the picture. Magnesium helped so much with it! I am now facing a battle of persuading my other two family members to get into it too, and I will get there, damn it! One way or another, I am going to get you, get you, get you good! (gettit?)
Of course, diet is to be adjusted too, and that perhaps should be done before adding supplement, but again, my thinking is that it is nearly impossible to get what you need for diet alone, because quite frankly I could never eat cups upon cups of spinach or swiss chard every day, and half of a cup of beans only gives 15% daily norm. Of course I do what I can, but I will happily supplement too, as I know how good it is for me from experience. Top ten magnesium rich foods are spinach, swiss chard, pumpkin seeds, yogurt or kefir, almonds, black beans, avocado, figs, dark chocolate and bananas. Less rich in it are salmon, coriander, cashews and goats cheese. Plus artichokes. 

So, here are my two cents on magnesium, and if this post helps at least one person, I will be a happy women and consider my work done. Oh, if only I knew about this remedy when I was suffering from those dreaded leg cramps in both of my pregnancies! No doctor ever mentioned magnesium, I was told it is the third trimester thing and it will pass, and I was expected to relax as much as possible and do gentle stretches. Yes, those things helped to a certain extend, but I remember crying in pain every time it happened, and the leg used to be so painful for three days after that! Forget walking, I was limping. Now that I think of it, I will make sure to gift this to any girlfriend of mine if anyone happens to get pregnant.

How about you, do you take magnesium? In what form, pills, spray, lotion? Has it helped you? Please share with me below, I would love to know.


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That is all for now,
Lots of Love,
Renata.
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Update a couple of weeks later: I completely forgot to add that you can use magnesium as a foot soak too (mainly because I don't get a chance to do so in the madhouse that is my home, haha)
Interesting discussion developed on my IG page here, so make sure to check it out, and follow me once you are there.

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Disclaimer: Products featured are bought with my own money. Please also remember that I am not a doctor and I am not qualified to give you medical advise on what to take or not. I am only sharing what works for me, and I can't be held responsible for what you will do with this information. Thanks for readind the boring but necessary bits.
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Information sources from DrMercola, DrAxe, Wikipedia, Drugless Doctor and Health.com