Nutrition Videos

For most vitamins, metals and trace elements, it is typically recommended that we take them after lunch, because we know that this way, their absorption improves and the risk of side-effects decreases. Either way, we normally take metals, trace elements and vitamins with lunch. Therefore, when we take them, the gastrointestinal system should be activated, so that their absorption can be optimized. However, this does not apply to magnesium. Magnesium can act as a drug in some way. Namely, it can have additional effects besides the ones it has as a dietary supplement for health improvement in general. As we've said in a previous video, magnesium helps in some cases, and depending on our goal, we can change the time we take it in order to maximize the desirable results. This means that the time we take magnesium may change depending on whether we want to deal with stress, to improve our sleep or to reduce our blood pressure. In these cases, you will take magnesium regardless of your meals and at different times of day. Let's see some details. Many people take magnesium because it helps them sleep. In this case, you should ideally take magnesium one hour before going to bed. Within this hour, the magnesium levels increase in the blood and it helps you sleep better. It's obvious that you shouldn't eat that late, so in this case, the intake of magnesium will not depend on the last meal of the day. If you want to deal with stress, you should split the magnesium in the day, particularly at the times you feel the most intense stress. As most people work in the morning and are subject to stress mainly after the morning hours, one magnesium tablet after breakfast and one after lunch is the ideal approach to deal with stress. The specific dosage that helps each person varies. The amount that reduces the stress and makes someone productive may make someone else so sleepy that they can't work. To find the ideal dose for you, you should start from a low dose, for example, 100 ml of magnesium, and if this doesn't work, increase the dose gradually until the point where it is effective for you, namely it makes you productive and stress-free without feeling sleepy. If you take magnesium for the treatment of hypertension, you should not take it when you take your medication, so that it works supplementarily to it. If you take antihypertensive drugs in the morning, you should take magnesium in the afternoon, in order to extend the effect of the antihypertensive drugs during the night too. If you take hypertensive drugs both in the morning and in the afternoon, you should take magnesium between the medication, for example, at noon or early in the afternoon. If you have high blood pressure, but your doctor does not believe that you need medication yet, you should split the daily amount of magnesium in two doses and take one in the morning and one late in the afternoon, approximately every 12 hours. If you want to use magnesium to improve your sporting performance, you should ideally start trying magnesium right after exercise or even during exercise, if it lasts more than an hour and a half. Studies have shown that for games and training that last more than one hour, you can take magnesium during the game or the training. But if you train less, one magnesium tablet after exercise is ideal. Don't forget that if you suffer from migraine or headaches, a high dose of magnesium right when the migraine or headache is starting will probably make it go away or reduce the medication you will need to treat it. So, instead of taking two painkillers, you can take one painkiller and one magnesium tablet. In this case, you should take a high dose of magnesium, for example, 1 g. Let me remind you that this amount may cause immediate soft stools, but it's worth it, if it helps you relieve the pain. For any other use, for example, treatment of diabetes or improvement of mood, etc., you should ideally split the daily amount of magnesium you need in two doses and take one after breakfast and one 12 hours later, late in the afternoon or in the evening. Magnesium has many uses, such as the immediate treatment of problems like headache or constipation, as well as long-term problems, such as hypertension, diabetes, stress, etc. If you'd like to find out more about the benefits of magnesium and the cases where you can use it, I recommend watching the video on the right, which analyses the uses of magnesium and the foods that contain it. Thank you very much.