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Magnesium and major depression (2011)

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

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Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#211

Post by lazyeye »

DoreenMichele wrote: post #169
balabaster wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would wager it's a combination of factors: 1. In general, the north american diet is disgraceful. 2. Consumerism and brainwashing people into believing that they can only be happy when they achieve X, Y or Z, does nothing for people's emotional emptiness. 3. The constant barrage of shit news, most of which is largely irrelevant to most of our lives, most of the time. 4. The constant threat of automation and off-sho…

I would add at least two more that I think are huge and largely overlooked most of the time: a. Loss of a sense of community and the very real practical support that provides with moving from small town/rural to big city life for most people. b. "Sick building syndrome" which I think is far, far more widespread than is generally recognized. Among other things, indoor air quality is crap more often than not.

Another one. We now have a much higher exposure to blue light messing up our circadian rhythm. Sleep is incredibly important for health and wellbeing.

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#212

Post by joncrane »

icxa wrote: post #51
marban wrote: post #43

I'm a cardio addict and do 250mg liquid Citrate and 200mg of Bisglycinate before sleep. Otherwise restless legs syndrome would kick in badly during the night. Sometimes adding 1.000mg of Gaba also helps with recovery and falling asleep. Just make sure to stay away from cheap Mg Oxide since bio-availability is somewhere in the 4% range and usually comes in Multi-anything pills.

Someone recommended magnesium to help with my migraines (turns out it was an eye imbalance), so it's been sitting in a drawer but I also have a hard time staying asleep, and am wondering if I should crack it back out. I have some stuff called "Natural Vitality" and it is magnesium carbonate 325mg, does this sound decent to you?

I've found that the Citrate works best for me. I don't want to quote a brand but it's a well-known brand that's found in every store in my area that sells vitamins as well as online.

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#213

Post by dTal »

ipython wrote: post #207
dTal wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd always been dimly aware that I always woke up feeling more refreshed in a tent, but it wasn't until fairly recently that I noticed I got the same effect if I slept with the window open. Now I keep my bedroom window open at all times. In general, I think society is extremely blase about possible health hazards - if it doesn't kill you instantly, people basically don't wanna know. Alcohol is huge. Smoking is even n…

Sorry that I'm focusing on one small part of your comment, but I'm genuinely curious - do you find you have the same effect if, say, you force your whole house fan to run at least five or ten minutes out of every hour? I find that fresh air helps too, but during the winter I can't convince myself to "waste" money heating the house while at the same time leaving a window wide open letting the cold back in... BTW I don…

I don't quite know what a "whole house fan" is - is that air conditioning? I guess it might help depending on the size of the house, the size of the bedroom, and whether the air comes from outside. I feel like it's to do with gas conditions - too much CO2, too little oxygen, carbon monoxide buildup, some kind of material outgassing - who knows.

Winter is trickier, but as I live in a relatively mild climate I usually deal by keeping the bedroom door shut, the room heating off, and snuggling under a thick duvet with pyjamas. You sleep better in cooler conditions anyway. If it's really cold out, I'll air the whole house while I'm not at home and the heating's off anyway - then I sleep with the bedroom door open, in the hope that I at least get the benefit of the larger volume.

In Europe, as you say, a very large number of people smoke, even though they're just as aware of the health problems as Americans. I think America's advantage there is less to do with health consciousness and more to do with a kind of low-key puritanism - smoking is stigmatized and is seen as a moral failing in a way that it isn't in Europe.

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#214

Post by DoreenMichele »

about_help wrote: post #203
DoreenMichele wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article: inadequate dietary Mg is prevalent in America and is the most likely cause. It contains zero qualifiers suggesting it is one of many factors, a major factor among many, etc. It uses the word "the" and the singular form of "cause."

You skipped right over "most likely" and only focused on "the ... cause". To me it sounds like they are saying statistically Mg deficiency is the most widespread underlying factor. Their language is strong, but it does not come off that absolutist and the "most likely" suggests other causes.

I'm a freelance writer by trade. I sometimes write health articles. I could not say what this article says about cause.

At best, I could say something like "Given the proven widespread lack of adequate dietary magnesium and the known side effects of magnesium insufficiency, it seems plausible to suggest that at least some portion of the increase in depression is due to widespread magnesium deficiency."

That may seem like quibbling to you, but scientists get paid to quibble about the details and to be as precise as humanly possible. They should be meeting at least as high a standard as my generally low paid freelance writing.

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#215

Post by mntmoss »

I just started magnesium again after a month or so off the stuff. I have the bottle right here in fact...

What I originally got it for was percieved joint pains in the morning jogging routine I had just started. I seemed to get some results but wanted to do an A/B, and while I don't have lab results to correlate, I did start noticing some joint issues again by the end. So we'll see where I stand after a week.

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#216

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

kevstev wrote: post #85

I started taking magnesium supplements about 9 months ago, not for any depression issues, but more for muscle issues. I had a weird leg muscle injury a few years ago that I never really got a proper diagnosis for that happened when doing some light hiking. In doing my own research on that, a condition similar to my symptoms came up, and one of the causes was a magnesium deficiency. I had a few other minor ailments co…

200mg per day is below the therapeutic range.

The RDA is 350-400mg.

The supplementary range is 300-800mg per day.

Magnesium oxide is useless, orotate, citrate, and diglycinate are far superior.

Refer Henry Osieki’s The Nutrient Bible.

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#217

Post by massaman_yams »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #216
kevstev wrote: post #85

I started taking magnesium supplements about 9 months ago, not for any depression issues, but more for muscle issues. I had a weird leg muscle injury a few years ago that I never really got a proper diagnosis for that happened when doing some light hiking. In doing my own research on that, a condition similar to my symptoms came up, and one of the causes was a magnesium deficiency. I had a few other minor ailments co…

200mg per day is below the therapeutic range. The RDA is 350-400mg. The supplementary range is 300-800mg per day. Magnesium oxide is useless, orotate, citrate, and diglycinate are far superior. Refer Henry Osieki’s The Nutrient Bible.

From the study: "Useful Mg compounds are those that have a sufficiently low first stability constant to be bioavailable and include magnesium acetate, chloride, citrate, gluconate, glycinate, lactate, malate, oxalate, succinate, sulphate and tartrate (Furia, 1968)."

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#218

Post by kevstev »

tarsinge wrote: post #129
kevstev wrote: post #85

I started taking magnesium supplements about 9 months ago, not for any depression issues, but more for muscle issues. I had a weird leg muscle injury a few years ago that I never really got a proper diagnosis for that happened when doing some light hiking. In doing my own research on that, a condition similar to my symptoms came up, and one of the causes was a magnesium deficiency. I had a few other minor ailments co…

Anecdotical but for years I had various anxiety and mild depression problems (edit: and various muscle “twitches”). As it was not severe I was always recommended Magnesium. Never had any improvement. Then 2 years ago I started taking vitamin D (thanks to HN discussions) and nearly all my symptoms disappeared (also changed job, started meditation, so the datapoint is not clear but magnesium alone didn't do much). Also…

I had a physical a few years ago and it was noted that I had a low level of vitamin D. I took supplements for that as well (my first time ever taking a supplement). I actually stopped that after the bottle ran out because I read various things over time that said that Vitamin D deficiency was overstated and that the supplements just gave you expensive piss. I tested fine for all other levels, though I am not sure they covered Magnesium in that test.

Perhaps I could give it another go, with Vitamin D + Magnesium, thus far I just try to drink milk to swallow down the Mg pills and get a bit of Vitamin D in nutrient form.

I am personally very wary of taking supplements, it seems like a dicey business. I wasn't planning on buying another bottle of Magnesium after this one runs out either.

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#219

Post by balabaster »

dTal wrote: post #194
DoreenMichele wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sleeping in a tent for nearly six years actually did my health a world of good. It also dramatically changed my perspective on the state of housing in modern America and its relationship to myriad problems, including health issues, in ways that aren't likely to be taken seriously by most people any time soon. When I comment on such things, it typically gets downvotes and/or snarky, dismissive replies and personal att…

I'd always been dimly aware that I always woke up feeling more refreshed in a tent, but it wasn't until fairly recently that I noticed I got the same effect if I slept with the window open. Now I keep my bedroom window open at all times. In general, I think society is extremely blase about possible health hazards - if it doesn't kill you instantly, people basically don't wanna know. Alcohol is huge. Smoking is even n…

> Now I keep my bedroom window open at all times.

I don't always keep the bedroom window open, but it's open enough, even in the middle of winter that it's not unusual. I feel way better sleeping with the window open than I do with it closed.

Re: Magnesium and major depression (2011)

#220

Post by adrianmonk »

azeotropic wrote: post #206
adrianmonk wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I assume this is why magnesium salts act as laxatives This is a side issue, but apparently it's a different reason. From https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-HealthProfession... : "The diarrhea and laxative effects of magnesium salts are due to the osmotic activity of unabsorbed salts in the intestine and colon and the stimulation of gastric motility."

Sounds like it's only part of the reason, if I'm correctly parsing "... and the stimulation of gastric motility" as a second mechanism of action.

Oh, good point. I was reading it as if it said "the resulting stimulation", but what you're saying makes more sense.
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