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Magnesium is absolutely essential for the heart to work properly. It relaxes the heart muscle and helps maintain a normal rhythm. When levels are low, the muscle can go into spasm and the rhythm can become irregular.
In brief
- Magnesium supports a normal heart rhythm and helps lower blood pressure.
- It has been used to treat certain cardiac arrhythmias since as early as 1935.
- Low magnesium is linked to more calcium in the coronary arteries and a higher risk of atherosclerosis.
- If you have heart disease, take any supplement or undergo any treatment only after speaking to your cardiologist.
Magnesium and heart rhythm
As far back as 1935, magnesium was shown to influence cardiac arrhythmias — atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia and ventricular arrhythmias. Today magnesium is used in cardiology to reduce the frequency and severity of ventricular arrhythmias and to prevent complications following bypass surgery.
Magnesium deficiency and heart disease
Patients who have had a heart attack are often found to have low magnesium levels, and supplementation improves cardiac function. Fatal heart attacks are more common in areas where the water is low in magnesium and dietary intake falls below 200–400 mg a day. Magnesium also helps to lower blood pressure.
What the 15-year study shows
Researchers at Northwestern University in Chicago followed 2,977 men and women. At the start of the study the participants were aged 18–30; ultrafast computed tomography was used to measure the amount of calcium in their coronary arteries — once at the outset and again 15 years later.
The conclusion: a low magnesium intake is associated with more calcium in the arteries and therefore with a higher risk of atherosclerosis.
How to get your magnesium
Magnesium is found in green leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, pulses and wholegrain foods. It can also be taken as a food supplement, on a doctor’s recommendation. Black Sea lye is one of the richest natural sources of magnesium and is used for baths and compresses, through which magnesium is absorbed via the skin. Read more about this in the article “Magnesium — the key to good health”.
If you have a heart condition
Mud and lye treatments — especially warm ones — are contraindicated in many cardiovascular conditions, after a heart attack and in stage two and three hypertension. Magnesium supplements can also interact with medication. Ask your cardiologist first.
Source: svoizbor.com
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