I am a big fan of Magnesium and recommend it to many of my patients. Magnesium is an essential mineral for staying healthy and is required for over 300 biochemical and enzymatic reactions in the body. Some of the benefits of magnesium include transmission of nerve impulses, body temperature regulation, detoxification, energy production, and the formation of healthy bones and teeth. It helps prevent stroke, heart disease, period pain, and so much more.
Think of magnesium as the relaxation mineral. Anything that is tight, irritable, crampy, and stiff — whether it is a body part or an even a mood — is a sign of magnesium deficiency.
I found this great article by Richard Carlton, MD, New York. He explains about one patient he worked with and whose night terrors resolved with magnesium supplementation.
I have found magnesium supplements to be helpful in many types of sleep problems. Most of my experience in this regard is helping insomnia. But I do have one notable case of how magnesium completely resolved night terrors in an adult.
The history is interesting. He was a chronic alcoholic, a client in a day treatment program for alcoholics where I used to work. He was about 45 years old, and had a CPA degree. He had begun extremely heavy drinking, to the extent that he lost not only his accounting business but also his wife and child (she kicked him out). He would have been living on the streets except that he still had his car and so was able to live in the car.
I put all the clients on B vitamins (especially B1) and glutamine to control the cravings, and on magnesium to help him sleep. When I first interviewed him I put him on that regimen, as a routine matter of course. When he saw me again about two months later, he told me that he had been having night terrors for years, and that the magnesium had stopped these completely.
He proceeded to tell me a very poignant story: When his night terrors had begun, about 10 years earlier, alcohol was the only thing he could find that would make them go away. This led to heavy drinking. He told me that if he had known to take magnesium back then, he doubts he would ever have started drinking, and, he believed, he would still have his family and his accounting practice. Magnesium has many beneficial effects on the brain. It can help support seizure control and is cofactor (along with vitamin B6) for the enzyme GAD, which converts glutamine to GABA, one of the brain’s calming neurotransmitters and can support healthy relaxation.
Article by Richard Carlton, MD, New York.
Article and Image Source: http://www.amenclinics.com/?p=7680&option=com_wordpress&Itemid=204
