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Comment by rapsey | Hacker News Reader

Yes and it was a magnesium deficiency. Try a pill with a good amount of magnesium (400+ mg). Jamieson magnesium + vitamin d 500 for instance: https://www.jamiesonvitamins.com/products/magnesium-d3

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Magnesium is a great addition in any situation.

I recommend trying high-dose magnesium from magnesium chloride, it's easy to dissolve some (up to 15 grams at once) in some water and drink.

How did you settle on Mg cloride?

Mg orotate doesn't upset my tummy. Determined thru trial & error. I tried reading about the differences, but failed to understand.

Multiple sources say it absorbs best, it's also extremely cheap which means you can use it in baths, and topically in general.

Other forms bound to various amino acids like magnesium glycinate are good too, but you can also supplement those amino acids separately.

Magnesium chloride is water soluble so it's great to dissolve in your drinking water and drink throughout the day.

Note: Allergy sufferers who rely on Allegra have to be careful with when they take magnesium supplements since magnesium can sharply decrease absorption of Allegra.

I had severe bouts of anxiety and insomnia about a decade ago and by far the biggest improvement I saw was when I started taking magnesium supplements.

Is there a certain recommended time of day to take these supplements? Like at night so your blood levels of Mg rise to help you calm down?

Before bed

I take a multi every day, but I’ll try this.

Multi vitamins are generally a complete waste of money. Check how much magnesium and what type yours has. Magnesium oxide for instance practically does not absorb into the body.

Indeed, same goes for Vitamin D and Zinc.

To know your Vitamin D shortage, take a look here: https://vitamind3-cholecalciferol.com/vitamin-d-deficiency-t...

That link is interesting, thanks, but it doesn't appear to be run by a medical professional and some of its advice directly contradicts the NHS' own advice (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-...) - I would suggest anyone contemplating overdosing vitamin D (more than 4000IU/100ug per day according to the NHS) should only do so under guidance from a doctor.

Yes of course, consult your doctor on any health related stuff.

Anecdotal: Around the time that I started my day job, I experienced light depressions during winters. For me it was just a winter-dip. I didn't think much of it but my then girlfriend (now wife) recognised that we got into fights much more often than during summers. She studied something along the lines of "Biology, Food and Health", and she thought I'd have a minor Vitamin D deficiency. I've started taking 75mg every day and after about 3 weeks I started seeing more vividly. I remember very well that when I walked out of the office during winter, even though it was near dark, I saw all colors much more bright and it was like a sort of pressure on my sight was gone.

Now, when I'm not in the sun during the day for at least 30-60 minutes (for maintenance in the garden, or working for clients during WFH in the garden), I take on avg 50mg (2000IU) every day and I've never had a dip anymore.

Interesting; a relative of mine was diagnosed with a mild deficiency and was told that it's very common in the UK - presumably even more so now we've all just spent the last twelve months stuck indoors. Seems like we could probably all benefit from supplementing at least some.

The one you recommend above seems to have at least some of it in oxide format:

"Elemental Magnesium (Oxide, bisglycinate, glycerophosphate, malate, aspartate)"

Unclear what ratio of each of the above.

Regardless it absorbs well. I've tried many and this one works best for me.

> Multi vitamins are generally a complete waste of money.

I think we should be more careful about saying this. I've heard both professors and doctors say this, and then I've personally read the (reputable, mainstream) research papers showing that double digit percentages of people have various vitamin deficiencies.

I'll just Google real quick to see if I can find some examples of common vitamin deficiencies, but these are obviously just web articles, not research papers...

https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-HealthProfession...

"Dietary surveys of people in the United States consistently show that many people consume less than recommended amounts of magnesium"

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10357726/

This one recommends 120mg of vitamin C, but I've seen another that recommends 200mg, and I suspect a lot of software engineers are not eating enough fruit on a daily basis to meet the recommended level.

Also, what's the harm in taking a multivitamin? At a cost of under $1/day, if you don't need the vitamins, it's a small cost (< 1% of Bay Area rent), and if you do need them it may have an impact on your health.

I agree that a multivitamin doesn't usually include enough magnesium or vitamin D, but that's an argument for adding additional supplements, not to stop taking multivitamins.

Multivitamins are a waste because they are generally low quality. Vitamin d and magnesium are both very common deficiencies and like the OP demonstrated, they give people a false sense of security.

Unless we are talking about some high quality stuff like athletic greens.

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