Three things you need to know about magnesium and exercise:
- Magnesium is lost during exercise through increased metabolism and sweat.
- Lactic acid, which causes post-exercise pain, is decreased by magnesium.
- Magnesium deficiency may cause sudden cardiac death in healthy athletes.
Did you know when your muscles are engaged in the rapid-fire contraction and relaxation of physical exercise, if there is too much calcium (the initiator of contractions) and too little magnesium (the initiator of relaxation), muscle cramps and a buildup of lactic acid can result.
Too little magnesium is very common in athletes because so much is lost through sweating. Instead of replacing it with proper mineral electrolytes, including magnesium, athletes tend to chug down sodium and sugar-loaded concoctions that cause brain swelling in the short term and diabetes in the long term.
Most athletes and coaches don’t know that magnesium is one of the most important nutrients athletes can possibly take. The mitochondria in our cells make energy molecules called adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and magnesium is necessary for this process to occur.
Magnesium’s interactions with calcium help keep calcium from causing excessive muscle contraction. When there is too much calcium, it can cause tightness and tension in all the muscles in the body. When we have a balanced amount of magnesium in the body, the tension can be relieved within weeks, days, or even hours, depending on the person’s level of deficiency.
We always recommend using our magnesium while doing some sort of exercise or manual labor as it can help replenish the stores of magnesium lost through sweat and exertion. Be sure to check out our magnesium bicarbonate products for the most absorbable magnesium supplement.
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