The Magnificence that is Magnesium Body Butter

When I was pregnant with my first daughter, I used to wake up literally screaming in pain because of crazy intense pain in my calves that would come from out of nowhere. Having never experienced anything like this at all, I quickly did some research and found out that these muscle spasms were a common occurrence in pregnant women and that taking magnesium could quickly resolve the issue. Fortunately for me, a supplement did the trick. However, I was left with lingering questions about magnesium, and being the holistically-minded gal that I am, I felt compelled to learn more.

As it turns out, magnesium is a super important (and cool!) mineral to know about and I’ve officially become slightly obsessed with it. And since I know my husband is tired of hearing me rant about it all the time, I decided it was time for me to write this article and share with everyone a) what I’ve learned and b) what to do about it.

So first, please consider this list of health conditions and see if anything here applies to you [1]:

Fatigue
Aches and pains
Mood problems
Muscle cramps
Migraines
PMS
Irregular sleep patterns and insomnia^[2]
Heart irregularities^[3]
Muscle twitches and spasms
Anxiety^[4]
Digestive trouble
Lack of appetite
Constipation
Brain fog
Memory problems
Depression^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]
ADHD^[9]^[10]

I’m guessing that most of us can relate to at least one item on this list. And what’s astounding to me is that not getting enough magnesium could potentially cause each and every one of these conditions. Crazy, right?

According to WebMD [11], “Magnesium is a mineral found in the earth’s crust, and in your body. It’s needed for healthy bones, heart, muscles, and nerves. It helps your body control energy, blood sugar, blood pressure, and many other processes.” According to MindBodyGreen [12], “Magnesium is responsible for over 300 biochemical reactions that contribute to healthy metabolic and immune functioning.”

So, if magnesium is this fundamental to our overall health, I am stumped as to why understanding its importance isn’t made clearer to the general public. But since the goal of this article is to share with you all about the “magnificence that is magnesium body butter,” then I will steer away from hypothesizing about public health policy (something I am certainly not even remotely expert in, though definitely a curious human) and focus.

Okay, so before we can get to the body butter, let’s quickly address why so many of us are not getting enough magnesium. As it turns out, “[l]ow dietary intake coupled with over-farmed soil chock-full of pesticides, lack of sleep, constant stress, and too much alcohol, caffeine, and sugar consumption” [12] are all reasons for the lack of magnesium in our bodies. I for one get super caught up in this part about our SOIL being responsible for a big part of the problem. But I again digress…

Have I mentioned that I’m slightly obsessed, by the way? 😉

OKAY. So now you’re probably wondering the best ways to get this missing magnesium back into your body, right? I mean, who doesn’t want to improve sleep, improve focus, and potentially the plethora of symptoms listed above??

There are indeed a handful of great ways to do this, and I recommend this article [13] to read about those. But for now, I can FINALLY discuss “The Magnificence that is Magnesium Body Butter”! This is the part where I get extra excited.

Apparently, one of the best ways to raise our magnesium levels is topically. And one of the best varieties of magnesium for topical absorption is magnesium chloride oil (which is a misnomer because it’s not really an oil, it’s more of a brine because it’s water-based). Check out this fascinating fact: when you apply this “oil” for the first time, a stinging reaction is normal…and the stinging indicates that you are deficient! So after you’ve applied the oil regularly for awhile (depending on how deficient you are), the stinging will go away — which indicates you have raised your magnesium levels! I just think it’s SO cool that our bodies can be such clear barometers in this way 🙂

So this body butter I am making is…well, MAGNIFICENT, if I do say so myself 😉 I am currently experimenting with a basic recipe that uses these ingredients:

• raw cocoa butter

• organic coconut oil

• magnesium chloride oil

• essential oils

I’ve been using this special butter in the following ways:

sleep: before bed, I rub a small amount on the bottoms of my feet and on the back of my neck
headaches/stress relief: rub a small amount on back of neck, forehead, and temples (be sure not to get any in your eyes!)
muscle cramps: rub a small amount wherever the cramping is occurring

Please be mindful:

As I mentioned before, magnesium oil can cause some stinging (depending on how deficient you are!). Please only use a very small amount until your body adjusts.
Don’t use on broken skin, open wounds, or freshly shaven skin.
Coconut oil melts at 76 degrees fahrenheit. Please keep in fridge if your home is warmer than that. It will get hard in the fridge, but will melt quickly once you’ve scooped out a small amount on your skin.

I sure hope I’ve piqued your interest in magnesium even a teeny tiny bit today, and I’d love to hear from you too! Please comment to tell me your (helpful and positive, please) thoughts/suggestions.

Hope you’re having a great day!

Love,

Amanda

Resources

[1] https://blog.bulletproof.com/magnesium-deficiency-supplements-causes/

[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23853635

[3] http://science.sciencemag.org/content/208/4440/198

[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28445426

[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19780403

[6] https://www.jabfm.org/content/28/2/249.long

[7] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306987709007300

[8] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9368236