I have found that taking Magnesium is like turning a switch on in my head and I'm suddenly happy again. I don't get upset or angry in the same way, I'm more patient and my thoughts are not obsessive.
Magnesium is best taken with calcium and vitamin D as both are used in the uptake of magnesium.
I have found that processed foods, alcohol, caffeine and sugar all make me worse, but magnesium gives me the will power to change that lifestyle that caused the problem in the first place.
I don't know about quack studies but for the cheap price and quick turnaround (3 days for small effect, 2 week for a large scale shift) it's a simple thing to try.
I was certain that I was living with depression... until I read somewhere that lactose intolerance can lead to magnesium deficiency.
I started taking Magnesium and felt the effect immediately. All of my body is physically relaxed. I struggled with muscle cramps and spasms, they are gone thanks to increasing my magnesium intake. It's as if my muscles being under stress created anxiety and that anxiety reduced my ability to be happy.
I have also learned that I need to supplement with vitamin D during the winter to avoid having SAD. Vitamin D + Magnesium are also my solution to happiness.
As another data point, magnesium supplementation doesn't do squat for my depression. Reputable brand, used the glycinate form, proper dosing, etc. No perceptible effect.
Depression is an array of conditions caused by multiple different root causes, so it's possible that Magnesium works only on some of them only and not on others.
I started taking magnesium on advice of a chiropractor, as I was getting a painful calcium deposit. I take a magnesium/calcium deposit, and later added vitamin D.
I don't know if it's the root cause, but my mental outlook has improved over the past few years.
> I have found that taking Magnesium is like turning a switch on in my head and I'm suddenly happy again. I don't get upset or angry in the same way, I'm more patient and my thoughts are not obsessive.
> Magnesium is best taken with calcium and vitamin D as both are used in the uptake of magnesium.
There are a bunch of studies which have found correlations between vitamin D and depression and (stronger) correlations between vitamin D and seasonal affective disorder.
If your supplementation is working for you, there's no reason to change it, but there's a fairly obvious alternate explanation for the phenomena in the fact that you're also supplementing Vitamin D.
I didn’t read the article, but I know you need to be careful with vit. D supplements. If you take too much, the body can’t utilize it all, and stores it in places that cause problems.
Calcium does produce harmful effects, but only if you get too much of it. If his diet has very little calcium in it he might be okay. And even if it doesn't, as long as the supplement has a 1:1 ratio, he should still be okay as it will even out the supply of calcium and magnesium in the body.
Not directly answering your question, but in general the studies and anecdotes point to around 200 mg of elemental magnesium in the form of magnesium threonate and 4,000 IE of Vitamin D to be a very good combination.
The Threonate makes the magnesium available to the brain.
Other forms of magnesium are usually taken in the 400-800 mg range.
Magnesium is best taken with calcium and vitamin D as both are used in the uptake of magnesium.
I have found that processed foods, alcohol, caffeine and sugar all make me worse, but magnesium gives me the will power to change that lifestyle that caused the problem in the first place.
I don't know about quack studies but for the cheap price and quick turnaround (3 days for small effect, 2 week for a large scale shift) it's a simple thing to try.