The relaxation mineral
As a massage therapist I have often recommended Epsom salt baths. There are so many benefits! The heat helps relax the muscles, and the magnesium in the Epsom salts can diffuse through the skin and into the muscles acting as a natural muscle relaxant. Additionally, magnesium is important for so much more than just the muscles! It’s an important co-factor used in protein synthesis, cortisol synthesis, glutathione synthesis, the nervous system, regulation of blood pressure and glucose, cell division, and energy production within the cell. It’s an important nutrient! I get a lot of push back on the baths though, which is arguably one of the most relaxing ways to get your daily dose of magnesium. Common reasons I hear to avoid Epsom salts include; I hate baths, I don’t have time for baths, and I just plain forgot.
So what are the less time consuming options? You could take oral magnesium (magnesium compounds in a pill form that you take by mouth). This is a great option, especially if you find yourself constipated. However, there are some gut and liver factors than can influence and impair absorption, so just because you’re taking oral magnesium, doesn’t mean you’re absorbing everything you’re taking. Also keep in mind that the form of magnesium matters when it comes to absorption and not all types of magnesium work the same!
Where can we get magnesium?
What about diet? Magnesium is found in many foods, including many vegetables, greens like spinach, nuts and seeds, as well as whole grains. Getting it in your food can be difficult though, not only does our food not contain the amounts of magnesium that it used to thanks to poor soil quality, but boiling the food leeches out most of the water soluble magnesium molecules, so it ends up in your cooking water rather than your body. To top it all off, your intestines will only absorb 30-40% of whatever magnesium is left in your food after you cook it. There are a lot of barriers to getting adequate magnesium from diet alone.
But there is another option! You can get the direct tissue benefits of magnesium without having to take large doses orally, or even along side oral doses to get get the benefits of both, and WITHOUT having to take a bath. Magnesium is available as a topical spray in an oil or a lotion to absorb through your skin!
Measuring the efficacy of topical magnesium is difficult because less than 1% of the magnesium in our bodies is contained in the blood. Most magnesium in our bodies (50-60%) is in the bones, 27% in the muscles, and 19% in other soft tissues (like tendons etc.). Therefore, measuring before and after blood/serum levels may not be an adequate way of assessing how well topical magnesium is absorbed because it doesn’t represent the bulk of the magnesium in our bodies. However, it’s pretty much the only testing method we have and we can probably reasonably assume that if over several weeks of application that the patients blood levels are significantly higher, their other tissue levels likely are as well.
One study found that just 56mg per dose of magnesium chloride in a lotion applied daily for two weeks was found to significantly increase serum levels in non-athlete individuals. Another study looked at what magnesium is actually absorbed into the cells by testing skin cells from the mouths of participants. They found that applying a magnesium chloride lotion twice a day for 4 months significantly increased the intracellular magnesium concentration by about 100% at month 2 and again at month 4. Both of these studies suggest that topical magnesium is able to successfully raise magnesium levels in the body. Hopefully at some point in the future however, we will have larger and better studies looking at topical magnesium and how it’s absorbed.
The benefits of topical
One of the reasons I like to recommend Epsom salts baths and topical magnesium is for people with tight muscles or muscle cramps. Because you’re applying it to the skin over top of the affected muscles, theoretically you’re increasing the concentration in those muscles first, rather than with oral doses having to increase magnesium level systemically first before the muscles get any. If with longer term use it happens to correct magnesium deficiencies, then I see no down side!
Even if your goal isn’t to absorb the magnesium into your blood stream, magnesium has an amazing effect on the skin moisture barriers and common skin conditions. All forms of topical magnesium except magnesium bisdihydrogen phosphate was found to accelerate skin barrier repair in mice, especially when combined with a less than 1 ratio of calcium chloride. A calendula cream with or without 2% magnesium was applied to infants with diaper contact dermatitis, and it was found that the combination cream significantly sped up time to heal by almost half, although it didn’t change the size or presentation of the rash. Another study soaked participants arms in magnesium chloride water for 15 min a day and found that the treatment group had increased skin hydration, decreased skin water loss, and decreased redness and roughness. A cerimide (fatty acid) and magnesium cream was found to be more effective at improving skin hydration than hydrocortisone in patients with atopic dermatitis and comparable effectiveness to the hydrocortisone in reducing size and severity of lesions.
Topical magnesium is a safe and effective way to increase your body’s magnesium levels and help with common skin conditions like eczema and dry skin. Since it can also increase your blood and tissue levels of magnesium, it could also be effective in the many conditions oral magnesium has been found effective in; including anxiety, depression, migraines, insomnia, muscle cramps, and restless leg syndrome. The oil is more concentrated, but also has a tendency to sting a little for a few moments when applied. This is likely because the pH of the oil differs from the pH of your skin. The lotion is less concentrated, but is associated with less of a sting. You can also help mediate the sting of the oil by applying it with a lotion or aloe yourself!
Do you suffer from any of the above conditions? Talk to your medical professional to see if you should give topical magnesium a try!
References
Denda, M., Katagiri, C., Hirao, T., Maruyama, N., & Takahashi, M. (1999). Some magnesium salts and a mixture of magnesium and calcium salts accelerate skin barrier recovery. Archives of Dermatological Research, 291(10), 560–563. doi:10.1007/s004030050454
Gröber, U., Werner, T., Vormann, J., & Kisters, K. (2017). Myth or Reality—Transdermal Magnesium? Nutrients, 9(8), 813. doi:10.3390/nu9080813
Kass, L., Rosanoff, A., Tanner, A., Sullivan, K., McAuley, W., & Plesset, M. (2017). Effect of transdermal magnesium cream on serum and urinary magnesium levels in humans: A pilot study. PLOS ONE, 12(4), e0174817. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0174817
Koppes, S., Charles, F., Lammers, L., Frings-Dresen, M., Kezic, S., & Rustemeyer, T. (2016). Efficacy of a Cream Containing Ceramides and Magnesium in the Treatment of Mild to Moderate Atopic Dermatitis: A Randomized, Double-blind, Emollient- and Hydrocortisone-controlled Trial. Acta Dermato Venereologica, 96(7), 948–953. doi:10.2340/00015555-2395
Nica AS, Caramoci A, Vasilescu M, Ionescu AM, Paduraru D, Mazilu V. Magnesium supplementation in top athletes-effects and recommendations. Sports Medicine Journal/Medicina Sportivâ. 2015 Jan 1;11(1).
Nourbakhsh SM, Rouhi-Boroujeni H, Kheiri M, Mobasheri M, Shirani M, Ahrani S, Karami J, Hafshejani ZK. Effect of topical application of the cream containing magnesium 2% on treatment of diaper dermatitis and diaper rash in children a clinical trial study. Journal of clinical and diagnostic research: JCDR. 2016 Jan;10(1):WC04.
Piccini F, Ragazzoni G, Valentini L, Faloia E, Gobbi P. Intracellular absorption of transdermal magnesium demonstrated by ESEM-EDS. Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology. 2014;119(1):1.
Proksch E, Nissen HP, Bremgartner M, Urquhart C. Bathing in a magnesium‐rich Dead Sea salt solution improves skin barrier function, enhances skin hydration, and reduces inflammation in atopic dry skin. International journal of dermatology. 2005 Feb;44(2):151-7.
Ren, S., & Boulton, D. W. (2018). Pharmacokinetic Interaction Study Between Saxagliptin and Omeprazole, Famotidine, or Magnesium and Aluminum Hydroxides Plus Simethicone in Healthy Subjects: An Open‐Label Randomized Crossover Study. Clinical Pharmacology in Drug Development, 8(4), 549–558. doi:10.1002/cpdd.634
