The Magic of Magnesium in Menopause.

The Magic of Magnesium in Menopause.

Hello readers!

Happy winters are here again.

Those breezy, cosy nights where all you want is to curl into a soft little cocoon, nested deep inside a warm, over-fluffed bed- hugging yourself into a tender, peaceful slumber. The kind of sleep that kisses your soul, resets your mood, and lets you wake up feeling like you just plugged yourself into cosmic Wi-Fi.

And on mornings after such delicious rest, I practically float out of bed. I wake up early, drive to the beach, chase the rising sun. And yes, occasionally knock on my friends’ doors (or phones) at ungodly hours demanding their presence for a “cuppa coffee” meet. They pretend to hate it, but they come anyway.

Last year, one of such bright morning, I had sat with a dear friend for our ritual catch-up. I casually asked her how life was going, as she had just moved into a new neighbourhood. She said she liked it better than the previous one, but her eyes… oh her eyes were giving me a vastly different TED Talk.

I gently probed her, and she went on to share details with me. She said she now knew exactly how many cracks there are on the ceiling of her bedroom. And the living room. And possibly the neighbour's house too - because she has spent enough time staring at them to map them like constellations. Orion Belt on top of her wardrobe, Cassiopeia above her TV and some UFO-shaped thing over her pillow.

She also discovered that her neighbourhood has three dogs who take turns barking through the night like a security rotation chart- “Shift A, start now! Shift B, you’re up next!”

She even knew the wind speed these days - somewhere between 5 to 10 km/hr- judged purely by how often her curtains flutter like they’re auditioning for a romantic Bollywood scene.

She knew the new-born baby next door wakes up for three feeds. And that the baby’s father sings surprisingly good lullabies - highly unnecessary information for a woman who desperately wants to sleep but ends up evaluating the man’s pitch, tone, and rhythm at 3 AM.

Me and my other friends, we always knew she had the observational skills of RAW agent, with the amount of intel she always gathered. But when she finished this detailed National Geographic report, my friends and I just sat there, stunned, because we couldn’t figure out how she had time for all this CIA-level discovery with her already non-stop life.

And that’s when she dropped the truth bomb.

It wasn’t her curiosity.

It wasn’t her new neighbourhood.

It wasn’t even the dogs.

It was her uninvited, stubborn, absolutely disrespectful guest: Insomnia.

The kind that strolls into your bedroom at 2:47 AM, pulls up a chair, and says,

“Let’s stay awake and overthink everything tonight, shall we?”

So, while her entire family would blissfully snore, she spent her nights listening, noticing, observing… and basically becoming the unofficial night watch of the entire community.

She had just entered her 40's and had already started complaining of sudden heat sensations frequently. I looked at her, smiled the smile only a woman can understand, and said, “Sweetheart… you don’t have insomnia. Insomnia has you. "

She sighed. “Tabu, what do I even do? My brain refuses to switch off. My body feels tired. My eyes are burning. But sleep…? Sleep is a distant cousin who doesn’t visit anymore.”

And that was the moment when I introduced her to one of the most underrated, under-hyped, but life-changing minerals- Magnesium- The calm whisperer, that hugs your nervous system from the inside.

Why Magnesium? you may enquire.

My friend was in her perimenopause. As hormones dip and dance in midlife, our body’s natural relaxation pathways take a hit.

GABA - the brain chemical that tells your mind to slow down, breathe, and drift - drops.

Melatonin becomes confused.

Cortisol thinks 3 AM is a great time to discuss life decisions.

And that poor nervous system is trying to run on fumes.

Magnesium steps in and does three magical things:

• Calms the nervous system by activating GABA.

• Relaxes your muscles, so your legs, shoulders, and back stop twitching, cramping, or holding tension.

• Balances cortisol, making your brain stop its night-time TED Talks.

I told my friend, “You’re not broken. You’re not overthinking. You’re not ‘just stressed.’

You’re simply low in magnesium - like almost 60% of midlife women. Your body is begging for magnesium.” She burst out laughing.

The season changed and we didn't talk about it much. So last week, again on my routine task of catch-up coffee, I realised that its been a year, to that conversation. I casually asked her, what happened to her Insomnia finally. She had completely forgotten that she ever suffered from one. My elephant memory gave her more details for her to recall and she started laughing again.

The Shift had happened long back. She had started taking magnesium glycinate, as per my advice and she mentioned that within days, she was feeling amazing.

“Tabu… I started sleeping. Properly. Like a human. A woman. A queen. And I didn’t hear a single dog, baby, curtain, or man singing lullabies. and that's why I even forgot that I ever suffered from it”

Victory. I was glad

Mood. Skin. Hot flashes. Energy. Weight. Joints.

Everything become manageable when her sleep returned.

Ladies, if all your symptoms are screaming, “I need a vacation,’ they may actually be whispering ‘I need magnesium'

The list of symptoms may include:

• Difficulty falling asleep.

• Anxiety or irritability

• Muscle cramps or twitching

• Headaches

• Constipation

• Fatigue despite sleeping.

• Craving chocolate (yes - because cacao is high in magnesium)

Research links magnesium deficiency with higher anxiety, higher inflammation, and poorer hormonal balance.

Pick wisely—every magnesium is not your soulmate

• Magnesium Glycinate - the sleep queen. Calm, gentle, gut friendly.

• Magnesium Citrate - for digestion may loosen stools.

• Magnesium Threonate - brain-penetrating, great for mood and cognition.

• Magnesium Oxide - cheap, poorly absorbed; skip unless needed for constipation.

Midlife or menopause isn’t the end of your sleep story. It’s the beginning of reclaiming your body with wisdom, softness, and minerals that love you back.

Here are my 3 simple ideas to include Magnesium in your routine life:

• Try adding magnesium-rich foods today: spinach, almonds, pumpkin seeds, avocado, dark chocolate.

• Choose the right magnesium supplement (glycinate is best for sleep) and start with a gentle dose at night.

• Build a 10-minute bedtime ritual- dim lights, light stretching, slow breathing- so magnesium can actually work.

Listen to your body, love it with consistency, and take one gentle step toward deeper sleep tonight.