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  • Mindfulness & magnesium: Combine to manage stress, enhance mental clarity, and support the body.
  • Breath techniques: 4-7-8 and box breathing can reduce anxiety and improve focus.
  • Magnesium's role: Crucial for stress management, energy production, and nervous system support.


We could all benefit from a little more inner zen to face life's challenges! As mindfulness expert Jon Kabat-Zinn wisely puts it, "You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf." This quote perfectly captures the unpredictable nature of modern life. Unlike our ancestors, whose primary concern was putting food on the table, we juggle multiple tasks while striving to maintain our physical health, mental peace, and personal growth. For many of us, life can feel like a storm of crashing waves, but with the right resources, as Kabat-Zinn reminds us “we can learn to surf” those challenges more effectively.

As both a Nutritional Therapist and a Yoga teacher, I understand the profound impact stress can have on our overall well-being. As a Nutritional Therapist, our role requires us to understand body chemistry, how cells work and what helps them do their jobs more efficiently. As a yoga teacher, our role is to support the body and mind connection. This leads me perfectly to the combined powers of magnesium and mindfulness.

What makes magnesium and mindfulness the perfect pair, is that magnesium helps keep your body’s reserves topped up, which is vital to manage stress. Meanwhile, mindfulness helps you become aware of your stress, preventing you from draining your body’s reserves. Together, they help reduce the impact stress has on both your body and mind! 

Mindfulness techniques to incorporate into your daily routine

Simply put - mindfulness is being aware of what you are doing, while you are doing it. By keeping you grounded in the present moment, it can help to reduce anxiety, improve mental clarity and create a sense of calm. The biggest challenge for many, especially beginners, is getting started. When you're stressed, your mind can feel busy and your thoughts may race, making the idea of quieting the mind seem daunting. In my yoga class, I'm often asked, "Does it matter how long you meditate?" My answer is that consistency is more beneficial than duration. In yoga psychology the breath is the gateway to the mind. Focusing on the breath first can help you connect to the mind rather than simply trying to empty your head, which we all know rarely works.

Two breath practices I love to incorporate either first thing in the morning to awaken a tired body or after a busy day when thoughts are racing are:

4-7-8 breathing: This technique involves inhaling through the nose for 4 seconds, holding the breath for 7 seconds, and exhaling through the mouth for 8 seconds. Practicing 4-7-8 breathing can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, reducing stress and anxiety, and improving focus and mental clarity.1

Box breathe: Also known as square breathing, this technique involves inhaling for 4 seconds, holding the breath for 4 seconds, exhaling for 4 seconds, and holding the breath again for 4 seconds. Box breathing can help lower stress levels, increase oxygen to the brain, and enhance mental clarity and focus.2

Why is magnesium beneficial for effective stress management? 

Alongside mindfulness techniques, nutrition is fundamental to mental health & wellbeing. Prioritising nutrients that support your nervous system during stressful times is crucial for minimising stress's impact on your body. Additionally, the right nutrition can help maintain your energy reserves, enabling your body's recovery and repair mechanisms to function effectively.

Stress not only depletes our energy but also increases our need for nutrients, as the body uses more energy to cope with stressors. To keep up, the body must be continuously replenished with vitamins and minerals, including magnesium, which is essential for energy production. Low magnesium levels during stressful times can actually increase stress, creating a vicious cycle of depletion! In this cycle, stress and low magnesium feed into each other, leading to even greater stress and a higher demand for magnesium.

Magnesium is the fourth most common mineral in our body and the second most common mineral inside our cells. It is involved in everything from energy production and metabolism to cell growth and nerve function. In fact, over 325 enzymes need magnesium to work properly, many of which are important for our nervous system. It makes sense that magnesium is a crucial piece of the stress support puzzle when the nervous system plays a fundamental role in how our body handles stress.

How is MetaRelax® different from other magnesium products?

As a Nutritional Therapist, supporting a client's health journey with supplements means prioritising quality ingredients that the body can easily absorb and use. We call these body-ready forms of nutrients and vitamins.

MetaRelax utilises magnesium glycerophosphate which is an excellent choice because it is body-ready and highly absorbable, gentle on the stomach, and supports the nervous system, promotes better sleep, and enhances overall mental health. 4

Since stress impacts the nervous system, a holistic approach involves focusing on supplements that not only provide the benefits of magnesium but also include ingredients that help alleviate stress-related symptoms like fatigue and muscle tension.

MetaRelax combines synergistic ingredients vitamins B6 + B12, folate and taurine that all work together to support stress reduction:

Vitamin B6

Vitamin B6 plays a role in the production of neurotransmitters like serotonin and GABA. Serotonin is associated with mood regulation, while GABA as we have seen has calming and relaxing properties. When considering supplementation, pyridoxine HCl is a highly bioavailable form that your body can easily absorb and utilise.  

Folate

Folate is required by the body to produce neurotransmitters and promote overall mental well-being. When considering supplementation, the active form, methyl tetrahydrofolate (5-MTHF), is readily used by the body and bypasses common genetic variations that can affect folate metabolism.

Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 supports the nervous system and is essential for the production of neurotransmitters that regulate mood and cognitive function. Look for Methyl cobalamin, the active form of B12, which is easily absorbed and utilised by the body.

Taurine

Taurine is an amino acid that plays a crucial role in supporting brain health and maintaining a calm nervous system. It plays a role in balancing the activity of neurotransmitters; by doing so it helps to prevent overstimulation of the nervous system. It also helps to protect brain cells from oxidative stress, promotes proper communication between cells and supports relaxation.  

Incorporating magnesium and mindfulness into your daily routine can significantly enhance your resilience against stress. Resilience is the ability to adapt and recover from adversity, stress, or challenging situations—essentially, it's your mental, emotional, and physical "bounce-back" ability. By combining the calming effects of mindfulness with the stress-reducing benefits of magnesium, you can begin to build your toolkit to support both body and mind!

References:
1. Weil, A. (2023). What to Know About 4-7-8 Breathing. WebMD. Available at: https://www.webmd.com/balance/what-to-know-4-7-8-breathing [Accessed 13 Feb. 2025].
2. Solan, M. (2023). Try this: Take a tactical breather. Harvard Health. Available at: https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/try-this-take-a-tactical-breather [Accessed 13 Feb. 2025].
3. National Center for Biotechnology Information. 2025. Magnesium. [online] Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507250/ [Accessed 11 March 2025].
4. Vynckier, A., Vanheule, G., Vervaet, C., and Van Den Driessche, M. (2025). Type of Magnesium Salt and Formulation Solubility Determines Bioavailability of Magnesium Food Supplements. Journal of Nutrition and Food Science. Available at: https://www.longdom.org/open-access-pdfs/type-of-magnesium-salt-and-formulation-solubility-determines-bioavailability-of-magnesium-food-supplements.pdf [Accessed 13 Feb. 2025].
5. Curtis, L. (2025). The Best Time to Take Magnesium Glycinate for Maximum Benefit. Verywell Health. Available at: https://www.verywellhealth.com/when-to-take-magnesium-glycinate-8765109 [Accessed 13 Feb. 2025].

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