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Comment by aantix | Hacker News Reader

I'm surprised that the role of Magnesium isn't discussed as well.

"Mitochondrial Mg2+ homeostasis decides cellular energy metabolism and vulnerability to stress"

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4960558/

Anecdotally, I've been taking Magnesium l-threonate and it's probably the least anxious I've ever been in my entire life (I'm 42).

The only thing comparable was Lexapro, but I always had a love/hate relationship because of the side effects.

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Your opening line made me laugh inappropriately. When I was in grad school in molecular biophysics, someone asked, “if I fall asleep during a talk, and wake up just in time for questions, what question can I ask, to look smart, regardless of the topic of the talk?” The answer? “What was the magnesium concentration?”

Haha, I love it!

I recall a similar story regarding (iirc) programming language type theory: "How does it handle recursion?"

In economics it's "Isn't that endogenous?"

Better than your concentration.

In physics, it's "is it gauge-invariant?"

Magnesium is amazing for many things.

Have several crippling conditions. Magnesium has brought drastic relief.

Muscle aches, migraines, cognitive issues.

Al much improved.

I take Mg and Ca, they work wonders on my anxiety, stress level, sleep and back pains. The combo also increases sex drive. They make me feel half my age.

Username checks... well, close enough

Which product specifically do you use, if you don't mind me asking? I'd like to try it myself to see if it helps me as well.

I use Life Extension's but there's plenty of brands out there. https://www.lifeextension.com/vitamins-supplements/item02032...

I take one scoop, 2-3 a day. Depends on how stressed I am. Always once in the morning. Sometimes in the afternoon (it seems to help my concentration stamina). Once close to bed.

Ruminations have diminished. Anxiety greatly lowered.

I still get sad, angry, etc. But those feelings seem to dissipate much quicker. Mentally I get exhausted less. N=1, of course.

*I also take a calcium/vitamin d/zinc combo as well.

Why supplements instead of dietary, if you don't mind sharing?

AFAIK proper levels of Mg are hard to come by, nowadays. Soils are depleted.

Thanks, made my heart sink but makes sense :-/

Dosing is just easier.

Does it really work fast enough that you could notice a difference if you took it in the afternoon vs not? I thought most vitamins and minerals took days if not weeks to work.

I feel like I noticed a real difference within three days.

I'm open to this being placebo effect.

In the morning especially, my anxiety always seemed to be at its highest. If I took the mg l-threonate before bed, those feelings in the morning just weren't there.

Note that Magnesium deficiency might be a downstream effect of a malfunctioning mitochondria [1]. Taking CoQ10 might help (it did greatly in my case)

  The authors findings demonstrate low brain free [Mg2+] in our patients and indicate that it resulted from failure of the respiratory chain.

[1] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1097/00004647-199905...

Did you have success with ubiquinone, or do you use ubiquinol?

I tried ubiquinol, but not worth it in my case. Using a enhanced CoQ10 (q-absorb) does the trick for me. 100mg/day. Also tried up to 600mg/day with no additional benefit

Magnesium L-threonate may have better cognitive than other formulations, but I wonder if a magnesium glycinate formulation would be better for anxiety/stress reduction.

Anectdotally also, I take Magnesium Bisglycinate from Thorne occasionally and it helps me relax and feel less anxious. My muscles stay pretty rigid normally and after taking the magnesium supplement I can feel everything loosen up. Helps with sleep too.

In my specific instance, I have taken both.

I experienced some reduction in anxiety with the glycinate. It also seems to be the best form for sleep support.

But the l-threonate was on the level of an SSRI for me. The anti-anxiety effect was really pronounced.

The article noted that Acetyl-L-Carnitine

> protected mice vulnerable to behaviors associated with depression in humans

Which I'm curious about as well.

Magnesium will reduce ATP Since it is a cofactor for the ATPases. Less ATP means less anxiety.

What is ATP?

Association of Tennis Professionals

This should be common knowledge, but adenosine triphosphate, the main short-term energy storage and transport medium in a living cell.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adenosine_triphosphate

Well, I thought it was Adenosine Triphosphate, but I was surprised that Magnesium reduces ATP.

I interpret that as saying that the more Magnesium you have in your body, the less energy you have. Also, the less energy you have, the less anxiety you feel. That sounds wrong to me, although I can't explain why.

Am I confused? What am I missing?

Oh, yes, I did wonder about that as well. Would like to know more.

That's how I interpreted it as well.

This is how I understand the anxiolytic effect of mg works:

>It acts as the gatekeeper for the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, which are found on your nerve cells and aid brain development, memory and learning.

>In healthy adults, magnesium sits inside the NMDA receptors, preventing them from being triggered by weak signals that may stimulate your nerve cells unnecessarily.

>When your magnesium levels are low, fewer NMDA receptors are blocked. This means they are prone to being stimulated more often than necessary.

Maybe this is why I experience more rumination without magnesium?

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-does-magnesium-do#...

But that sounds different. It doesn't sound like it reduces the level of ATP, but that it reduces overstimulation.

Will this negatively effect strength or endurance of workouts?

This is incorrect. Most ATP found in our cells is in the form of MgATP and magnesium is crucial for the regulation of ATP production [1]. ATP levels are tightly controlled within cells and although mitochondria may play a role in psychological disorders [this article][2] simply saying that less ATP means less anxiety is wrong.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4960558/ [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5997778/

What dosage do you take? I've had some results with Magnesium Citrate.

I do 300 to 1200mg elemental magnesium from magnesium diglycinate and magnesium citrate, ethier as mixed powder / tables or separate powders / tablets, daily, spaced morning evening and before bed.

Haven't tried msg l threonate, will order some thing week.

Full disclosure: studied nutritional medicine in a formal capacity.

Besides magnesium, what else is often deficient in nutrition (Vitamin D, etc.)

A lot depends on dietary habits. If you are vegetarian or don't eat much red meat, you might need iron. I take a multivitamin the size of a horse pill and cover my bases with that cocktail, rather than pick and guess.

Which multivitamin do you take? I've been looking for one that covers as much as possible. (I'm on a heavily restricted diet)

I use the pure O.N.E.: https://www.pureformulas.com/one-multivitamin-60-capsules-by... recommended by Dr. Rhonda Patrick, along with Magnesium CitraMate: https://www.thorne.com/products/dp/magnesium-citramate

I use these but I didn't really do much comparison shopping:

https://www.vitaminshoppe.com/p/one-daily-men-multivitamin-1...

Busy at work sorry.

Check back here later, or contact me as per details in my profile.

Note that Magnesium Citrate is often used as a laxative. It's usually an order of magnitude higher amount of magnesium than when you're taking it as a supplement though.

But if you are sensitive to magnesium's laxative effects you may want to look for another formulation.

I heard threonate crosses the brain blood barrier. I was worried about the opposite happening. What brand do you take?

How long did you have to take it before you noticed a difference? Are we talking one per day?

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