What Are the Potential Benefits of Magnesium for Anxiety?
Anxiety is a normal physical reaction that can make you more alert and ready to tackle a stressful event. However, anxiety is distinct from stress (both are emotional responses) in that the latter is a response to an external trigger, while anxiety is a response to feeling stressed and can linger even after the stressor goes away.
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“In addition to worry and sleep issues, common symptoms [of anxiety] include muscle tension, fatigue, difficulty concentrating, restlessness, irritability, and a sense of being on edge,” says Hypolite. “While occasional anxiety is part of the human experience, persistent or excessive symptoms may indicate an anxiety disorder.”
When anxiety is constant, it can interfere with your work or personal life, potentially signaling an anxiety disorder.
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It May Help Regulate the Body’s Stress Response
Magnesium plays an important role in regulating the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, the communication network that manages your body’s stress response.
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“This is important because the HPA axis controls the release of cortisol, the body’s primary stress hormone,” says Hypolite. “When the HPA axis becomes dysregulated, cortisol levels can remain elevated, which may contribute to anxiety, disrupted sleep, and mood changes.” Magnesium is thought to help modulate this system, potentially reducing excessive cortisol release and supporting a more balanced stress response, she adds.
It May Help Your Muscles Relax
Magnesium also helps muscles relax by blocking calcium from stimulating a muscle contraction.
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“When you’re feeling anxious, your muscles tense up — you can even see it in people’s faces,” explains Noah Kass, LCSW, a psychotherapist in Brooklyn, New York. When you’re physically relaxed, your nervous system signals your brain to quit worrying, he says. “Magnesium works with the parasympathetic nervous system to relax those muscles,” he adds.
It May Help Your Sleep
And there’s the sleep part of the equation. “Anxiety, sleep, and mental well-being are all intertwined,” says Alex Dimitriu, MD, a board-certified psychiatrist and sleep medicine physician in Menlo Park, California.
As a supplement that may help with anxiety, magnesium may also promote sleep. “Better sleep, in turn, results in less anxiety the following day,” Dr. Dimitriu says.
It May Have Other Mood Benefits
What’s more, there is some evidence that magnesium levels in the body are connected to the development of mood and anxiety disorders — and that taking magnesium supplements may help with symptom management when it comes to anxiety.
One review of research found that some data do indeed show a link between low magnesium levels and the development of anxiety and depression.
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But other studies show mixed results, so more research is needed.A systematic review in Cureus reported that five of the seven studies it analyzed found that people with anxiety and sleep disorders who took magnesium supplements self-reported greater improvements in anxiety symptoms than those who did not take magnesium supplements.
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However, some studies combined magnesium with other nutrients, and it wasn’t clear if the benefits were from the magnesium, the other nutrients, or a combination. The researchers concluded that magnesium may be promising for treating mild anxiety, though more trials are needed to determine the most effective forms and doses.
“While the overall findings suggest a potential link between low magnesium and depression, the research findings are still mixed, particularly when it comes to anxiety,” says Hypolite. “More research is needed to better understand these relationships, determine causality, and identify which individuals may benefit most from magnesium supplementation.”
