5 things you need to know about magnesium
If you’ve been feeling wired but tired, lying in bed exhausted but unable to switch off, or carrying tension that seems to live in your shoulders, jaw or chest – magnesium might be part of the picture.
We often hear “magnesium helps you sleep”, and while that’s true, it barely scratches the surface. Magnesium is involved in more than 300 biochemical reactions. It influences how you handle stress, how your nervous system recovers, how your muscles release, how your digestion flows and how easily your mind settles.
Here’s what makes magnesium so powerful – and why restoring it can shift how your whole body feels.
1. It’s not just about sleep – it’s about how you get to sleep
Most magnesium messaging stops at “sleep support”. But great sleep isn’t about being knocked out – it’s about your nervous system being able to exhale. Magnesium supports parasympathetic nervous system activity (your rest-and-digest mode) by interacting with GABA receptors in the brain. GABA is your calming neurotransmitter – it slows neural firing, quiets the mind and signals that it’s “safe” to relax.
When magnesium is low:
- GABA (calm) signalling is impaired
- The nervous system (remembering the brain is part of the nervous system) stays in “alert mode”
- Evenings feel racy instead of restful
When magnesium is restored:
- The nervous system shifts into ease – when your body reaches for calm, it’s available
- Thoughts soften
- Sleep onset feels natural, not forced
It’s not just sleep – it’s the journey into sleep and how relaxed your body is through the night to keep you asleep.
2. Magnesium helps the body step out of fight-or-flight
Stress isn’t just a feeling – it’s a biochemical cascade driven by your HPA axis, which governs the production of your stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol. Magnesium helps regulate this entire process. It reduces CRH release (the hormone that triggers stress hormone production in the first place), so the stress response doesn’t escalate as quickly, supports GABA, helping the nervous system downshift and helps convert active cortisol into inactive cortisone, so the body can return to rest.
Low magnesium can contribute to a stress response that stays switched on; one that is wired, tense, reactive and makes you feel emotionally thin. Restoring magnesium can help your stress response to switch off; you become grounded, spacious, responsive rather than reactive. Calm stops being something you try to feel – it becomes something your body remembers how to do.
3. Magnesium releases muscle tension (at the cellular level)
Muscle contraction happens when calcium enters muscle cells. Magnesium balances this out and acts as a natural calcium channel blocker, helping muscles release.
Low magnesium can show up as tight neck and shoulders, jaw clenching, restless legs, cramps and period pain. Replenished magnesium feels like muscles softening, a fuller exhale, the tension dial turned down inside your body. It’s the difference between bracing and unwinding.
4. Magnesium helps your body make melatonin
Magnesium is required to convert serotonin into melatonin, your sleep hormone. Low magnesium can show up as difficulty falling asleep, light or broken sleep, frequent night waking. Restored magnesium can provide a smoother melatonin rhythm for a deeper, more restorative sleep. This is why the right magnesium can shift sleep quality so noticeably.
5. Magnesium is essential for energy production
Your cells make energy in the form of ATP – and ATP must bind to magnesium to be biologically active. Meaning your body literally cannot use energy without magnesium. So when magnesium is restored, people often notice steadier energy across the day, less 3pm crash frequency, more emotional resilience and a “coming back into yourself” feeling. It’s not a buzz like caffeine – it’s real, grounded energy. When magnesium is missing, the nervous system works harder. When it’s replenished, ease arises naturally.
That’s why our Organic Magnesium is food-sourced from organic pumpkin seeds (not synthetic and made in a lab) – to support your body in the way it’s long been familiar with, to receive nourishment. Simple. Effective. Food-first. As nature intended.
