Magnesium helps ease period pain and menstrual cramps by relaxing muscles, reducing prostaglandin production, and easing uterine cramping. It can even help reduce pain perception. Magnesium balances our sex hormones too, and it has the added benefit of aiding sleep, both of which can be out of whack if you get bad cramps.
Magnesium is a vital mineral that our bodies need for hundreds of different chemical processes that help maintain health. Magnesium is found in our food and our soil; however, much of our food, even fresh organic food, is often low in magnesium, as so much of our soil is depleted of magnesium nowadays. In addition to this, many diet and lifestyle habits can risk draining your magnesium stores, such as not eating enough fresh foods, regular alcohol consumption, or being overly stressed.
So, it is an important mineral for many people to supplement, and is particularly helpful for women with period cramps.
It's also backed by science, with countless studies illustrating the many benefits of magnesium! Let's have a look at 5 ways that Magnesium can help with period pain.
1. Magnesium reduces muscle cramps
When magnesium levels are low, we often get cramps, muscle fatigue and joint pain, and also period pain. Magnesium is a brilliant muscle relaxant, which helps to ease cramps. Whether they are leg cramps, neck cramps or period cramps, magnesium is helpful for reducing spasm in any muscles, including your uterine muscles. Magnesium regulates muscle function and can help ease muscle pain as well as spasm.
2. Magnesium reduces prostaglandin production
If you suffer from period pain you may have heard of prostaglandins. If not, you need to know about them! These hormone-like substances help our uterus to contract during menstruation (and in childbirth!), and an overproduction of them can increase pain associated with dysmenorrhea - the medical term for painful periods. One study found that 84% of women reduced their period pain when they started taking magnesium, by measuring the reduction in prostaglandins. (1)
3. Magnesium reduces pain perception
A really interesting 2011 study found that magnesium can help reduce pain hypersensitivity, ultimately making us feel the pain less if we are quite sensitive. They also found that magnesium plays an important role in the prevention of something called central sensitisation, which is a condition of the nervous system that is associated with the development of chronic pain. The study concluded that magnesium supplementation could be helpful for both acute and chronic pain. So not only does magnesium reduce the actual cramping, it also makes you feel less pain! (2)
4. Magnesium supports the balance of sex hormones
Magnesium supports the balance of your sex hormones, oestrogen, progesterone and testosterone. (3) One of the contributing factors associated with period pain is hormone imbalance. In my experience, it is usually an excess of oestrogen, in relation to progesterone. This is often called oestrogen dominance. In this case, Agnus castus is a brilliant herbal remedy to take, and can be paired with magnesium to help get to the root of your period pain and it’s a brilliant herbal remedy to take for the PMS symptoms that often go along with this hormone imbalance.
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5. Magnesium can help improve your sleep
If your period pain affects your sleep, you can rest easy knowing that your magnesium supplement will not only help ease your cramps but also helps with sleep. (4) And interestingly other studies have found that lack of quality sleep can also contribute to increased pain sensitivity. (5) So it could be a bit of a vicious circle.
And luckily, magnesium could hit both of these on the head! If you need more support sleeping, definitely check out Dormeasan Sleep too. It contains two soothing herbs, Valerian and Hops, both of which have antispasmodic actions to help your physical body, as well as your racing mind, relax so you can get a good night's sleep, even when you have bad cramps.
How to take magnesium for period pain
Because most of us are magnesium deficient, I recommend anyone with period pain to take up to 500mg of magnesium each day.
Dr. Christiane Northrup recommends, in her book "Women' Bodies, Women's Wisdom", that you can take as much as 100mg every 2 hours during menstruation if you have bad cramps. Just be aware that some forms of magnesium, like magnesium citrate, can have a laxative effect, so unless you are also constipated, be wary of your dose.
Dr. Aviva Romm, in her book "Hormone Intelligence", recommends taking Magnesium 5 days before the period and 3 days of your period to reduce menstrual cramps and back and leg aches.
In my naturopathic clinic, I find that everyone is different. Some find they need 500mg while they are bleeding or just while they are experiencing the cramps. Some prefer to spread it throughout the day, like Dr. Northrup suggests; others find a once or twice a day dose works just as well. Many of my clients, and myself included, take magnesium all month long, for its very many benefits. It varies from person to person, so try out some doses on yourself and see what works best for your body.
Contraindications
Please note that magnesium is contraindicated with severe kidney disease and with a specific heart disease called heart block. Otherwise, most of us could probably benefit from more magnesium!
Which magnesium supplement is best?
There are loads of great brands out there. The ones that I recommend most often are Terranova, PrizMag, Mag365 or Floradix® Liquid Magnesium.
If your energy levels are also low during your period you could try A.Vogel's Balance Mineral Drink which contains Magnesium, as well as Vitamin D3, Zinc, Potassium and Calcium. It acts brilliantly as an afternoon pick me up, or as an energy boost to get you going first thing in the morning!
