Blog
4 Way to Use Magnesium to Soothe a Troubled Mind
Natural remedies like magnesium are valuable resources to add to your game plan for improving your mood and calming your stress. Some foods that are good sources of magnesium are nuts and seeds, whole grains, dark leafy greens like spinach, beans and lentils.
A 2015 survey done in the U.S. found that half of the population was not getting enough magnesium in their diet. The percentage is even higher for teens and the elderly. Full-blown magnesium deficiency (the type that would lead to severe symptoms) is not very common but many of us are not getting an ideal amount of magnesium from our diets.
Scientists think a lot of us may be walking around with a “sub-clinical” magnesium deficiency. This means that if we were to test our magnesium levels in the blood, they would most likely be normal, but our bodies may still be begging us to get more magnesium into our systems.
This could be why having more magnesium is helpful for so many different conditions – especially mental health conditions. Here are 4 different ways you can use magnesium to help with your mental health:
1. Reduce Depression – Magnesium plays an important role in many chemical reactions in the brain. It’s involved in the activity of brain chemicals (called neurotransmitters) that are key for a happy mood. Numerous studies have found that magnesium is able to improve mood in depressed patients and can potentially help anti-depressant medications work better.
2. Reduce Stress and Anxiety – Magnesium has been found to reduce anxiety is several studies. Of course magnesium can’t change the situations in your life that are causing you stress but many of my patients say they feel a lot more “balanced” and more resilient to stress while taking magnesium.
3. Soothe PMS Anxiety – If you find that your anxiety and mood are worse during PMS, magnesium may be a good fit for you. Studies have shown that it can reduce premenstrual anxiety and I’ve found it to be effective both in practice and personally for premenstrual mood issues.
4. Improve Sleep – Magnesium is a gentle sleep aid. I like to use it to help some of my patients struggling with insomnia. Magnesium does not make you drowsy (hence why it’s fine to take during the day) but it helps you relax, which in turn helps with sleep. I especially like that it doesn’t make you feel groggy the next day like some other sleep remedies.
It’s important to note that the form and dose of magnesium I recommend is different for everyone based on their health history, medications and symptoms. Getting the dose or form wrong can lead to unwanted side effects or a lack of results. I know it can be overwhelming to go to the health food store and see all the options and hear all the opinions about which supplement is the “best”. If you’re confused, talk to a naturopathic doctor. We’re here to help you sort through all that confusion using science, individualized health assessments and our clinical experience.
Take control of your mental health as best as you can. I know this is sometimes easier said than done. Maybe asking a healthcare provider about magnesium will be your first step to reducing your depression, anxiety or stress. If you stay focused, that first step can turn into a revolutionary plan to get you feeling happier, more positive and at peace.
Treating Stress and Mental Health Can Reduce Pain
Someone once told me that pain is just a word until you experience it. If you’ve never experienced chronic pain, it’s hard to understand how much of a thorn in the side it can be. Chronic pain interferes with every aspect of your life. You sit and feel pain. You stand and feel pain. You move and feel pain. You sleep and feel pain. It’s incredibly frustrating to live with. It’s so much harder to stay present and positive during work and play time when there is a nagging pain in the background all the time.
The process of treating chronic pain can be equally frustrating because it’s often not managed well. Most people are just given the option of a pain killer or anti-inflammatory and sent on their way. This is usually not enough. Treating chronic pain should involve a well-rounded approach that includes treating the multiple causes of pain.
Believe it or not, one of those causes can be mental health and stress.
There is a lot or research showing that chronic pain can be worsened by stress, anxiety, depression and other mental health conditions. When you’re experiencing something like stress or anxiety it can affect your nervous system in a way that makes your body more sensitive to pain. So if, for example, your arthritis is causing you pain because of the damage to your joint, that pain can be amplified when you’re stressed, anxious or depressed because of the changes that happen in your nervous system when you experience those emotions. This is why your pain is sometimes worse when you’re stressed.
But it’s not only the nervous system that is to blame for this pain-brain connection. The HPA axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis) is a system in the body that connects your brain and your adrenal glands (often called your “stress glands”) via hormones. This system can go haywire when you’re stressed or struggling with anxiety and depression and this dysfunction can worsen your pain through a series of complex changes in your body. It’s also interesting to note that mental health conditions like depression and chronic pain have both been associated with increased inflammation in the body.
Many chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia, arthritis, chronic pelvic pain and migraines are associated with depression, anxiety and stress. Treating the psychological component of these complex conditions can greatly improve quality of life and pain perception. Likewise, mental health conditions like depression are often accompanied by chronic pain. The relationship goes both ways.
It’s common to feel like you’ve tried everything for your pain with no success. You might have already accepted that you’ll just have to live with your pain. If you haven’t tried working on your stress and mental health to improve your pain, I strongly encourage you to do so.
If your chronic pain is not going away, don’t settle for a treatment plan that doesn’t serve you well. Elevate your quality of care and build your own integrative plan that involves multiple different healthcare providers. As a naturopathic doctor, my part in this more holistic plan is to incorporate herbal medicine, diet/ nutrition, lifestyle changes and acupuncture into your treatment plan to manage the physical and psychological aspects of your pain.
Everyone suffering with chronic pain has a vision of what a pain-free life would look like. The things I hear most often are that patients want to keep up with kids better, enjoy work more, exercise more and be able to lose weight easier once they’re pain-free. These are such valuable goals to strive for. Take charge and build your health care dream-team to get you closer to fulfilling that vision.
The Diet Philosophy that Changed my Life
Have I never written about Intuitive Eating? Well, I apologize for waiting so long to write a post about something that has been so important in my life. This one’s going to get a little personal, but there’s no harm in getting to know your ND a little better, right?
Intuitive Eating has been my go-to style of eating for years now. It’s the reason why my diet may not be as pristine and perfect as others. But it’s also the reason why I have a much healthier relationship with food than I ever imagined was possible.
You see, for a large chunk of my life (pre-teens to early 20s) I had an unhealthy relationship with food. I was obsessed with limiting “bad food” and making my diet as perfect as it possibly could be. I felt horrible when I deviated from the perfect diet I planned for myself every day. In my late teens, I would have so many food cravings for the foods I kept trying to “ban” in my life that I eventually would give in and eat uncomfortable amounts of those foods. This deprivation-overeating roller coaster took a significant toll on my mental health. Plus, I felt so embarrassed that my life was being dominated by something so ordinary as food.
Eventually, I discovered something called Intuitive Eating. This is a system of eating popularized by two American dietitians over a decade ago. It is a system of eating that seems so simple but was so foreign to me because of my food issues and history of disordered eating.
Simply put, Intuitive Eating involves eating when you’re hungry, stopping when you’re full and eating whatever you want. It aims to strip away the mentality of “good food vs. bad food” that leads some people to constantly feel deprived and plagued by cravings. It involves eating mindfully and really paying attention to how food makes you feel physically rather than focusing on beating yourself up for eating something that was on your “bad” list. Sounds like common sense right?
But in a world that is so obsessed with rigid, prescriptive diets, this concept feels very foreign to many people. It was foreign to me. I thought to myself, what do you mean eat whatever I want? If I give myself permission to do that, I’ll eat the whole kitchen and I’ll eat mountains of junk food. I’m going to gain so much weight eating like this! There is no way that people with a healthy weight go around eating like this.
I was so fed up that despite these thoughts, I decided to give Intuitive Eating a try. At first, I did eat a LOT of junk food. I mean, I finally had this freedom to eat what I wanted to so of course I was going to let loose. But then something unexpected happened. Once my mind wrapped itself around the fact that there were no longer going to be restrictions on the junk food I was eating and that I could have it whenever I wanted to, I became less interested in it. My mind was also less cluttered with guilt and diet-plotting so I was able to focus more on the fact that I physically felt unwell after eating all that junk food. This awareness also made the junk food less interesting. The diet mentality was slowly disappearing and the forbidden fruit effect was fading along with it.
Nowadays my diet has naturally fallen into the 80/20 pattern. 80% of it would be considered healthy, 20% if it would not. When I’m having lots of processed or inflammatory foods, I feel the negative physical affects but I no longer feel the guilt. The times that I do push myself closer to that 100% “healthy” diet, it comes from a place of wanting to take care of myself rather than a place of shame and guilt.
As for studies on Intuitive Eating – there aren’t many. But, I personally don’t need them to be convinced. From a young age, I was acquainted with the shocking power that your mind can have over you. This has fueled my passion for mental health. Disordered eating and unhealthy relationships with food can really drain the peace from your life. If you’re struggling with these issues, Intuitive Eating might be something worth looking into. It’s not for everyone, but it was life-changing for me and many others.
Would you like a FREE list of foods that can soothe anxiety? Click below.
Reducing Inflammation Can Reduce Anxiety and Depression
How are your 2019 goals going? Do you feel like you’re making progress with your New Year’s resolutions? Or is your mental health weighing you down? It can be disappointing to make all these goals for your new year and then realize that you don’t feel like taking steps towards them because you’re too anxious, depressed, unmotivated or irritable. “New Year, New You” might already be fading away to “New Year, Same Old”. Sometimes before you start tackling your goals, you need to get your head in the right space first. If you’re struggling with anxiety or depression, that means doing everything you can to improve your chances of healing.
There is exciting research in the field of mental health regarding the role that inflammation plays in anxiety and depression. Laboratory studies have found that inflammation impacts regions of the brain associated with fear and anxiety. Scientists have also found that factors that increase inflammation like poor diet, poor lifestyle, illness and stress can interfere with the production of serotonin and dopamine. These are brain chemicals that are important for mood and happiness.
Of course, inflammation is not the only factor involved in anxiety and depression but numerous studies have found that anxiety and depression patients seem to have higher levels of inflammation markers in their blood and cerebrospinal fluid. It also seems like anxiety and depression can further increase inflammation in the body (sounds like a vicious cycle, right?). It has even been found that some patients with mental health conditions have a genetic predisposition to higher levels of inflammation. Some doctors are using the term “brainflammation” to describe this connection between mental health and inflammation.
Naturally, scientists want to see if reducing inflammation can reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression. Herbs that reduce inflammation such as turmeric have been able to reduce symptoms of both anxiety and depression in several studies. There are many other natural ways your naturopathic doctor can use herbal medicine and nutritional supplements to reduce inflammation.
But beyond taking a pill, how else can you reduce inflammation? Eat well. Sleep well. Exercise. Relax. Lose Weight. These are core pillars of health and key ways to reduce inflammation.
Confused about all the information out there on how to eat well? Talk to a naturopathic doctor. Our whole job is to sift through the truth and the trendy myths to give you the diet information that will actually help you without overwhelming you. Not sleeping well despite drowning in melatonin supplements and sleepy tea? Talk to a naturopathic doctor. We’ll set you up on a science-based plan that solves your unique sleep problems. If you need support with losing weight, managing stress and exercising, naturopathic doctors can help you or connect you to resources and other people that can help you.
January can be such an exciting month full of promise for the year to come. It doesn’t have to be a month of disappointment and failed New Year’s resolutions. If you take the right steps and get the right support, this can be a year of real progress in your physical and mental health. If you want “New year, New you” to be true for you in 2019, prioritize yourself and prioritize your mental health.
Surviving the Holidays with PMS
Ever feel like asking Santa for a break from your PMS? The holiday rush and untreated PMS can make for a pretty mean combination. I mean, not only are you busy elbowing through crowded stores, overheating in your winter jacket and negotiating splitting time between different sides of the family – but if you’re doing this alongside PMS, it’s all topped with a dollop of depression, irritability, anxiety, breast tenderness, fatigue and cramps. (Note: If you have a more intense form of PMS called Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD), then “dollop” is a major understatement).
Don’t let PMS take away from this glowing, warm, delicious season. As weird as it sounds, I actually enjoy my premenstrual phase. I’ve monitored it closely over the years and have learned to master it. It’s possible to make use of the unique things that are happening to your brain and body during this time and turn your premenstrual phase into a time of incredible peace and restoration. Below are some of my favourite tips on how to do this.
Reflect, Reflect, Reflect
Because of rising progesterone levels and other hormonal changes that impact your brain and mood, you may feel like being more of a home-body during your premenstrual phase. You may also be feeling more anxious, sad and irritable for seemingly no reason at all. I really like to use this time to journal because I find that I can channel all that overthinking and worrying into figuring out things that have been bothering me over the month and what I can do to improve them. Many women find they’re more sensitive and contemplative during this time so you can use that to you advantage and really dig into solutions for issues that have been coming up for you lately.
Move Mindfully
Those same hormonal changes I mentioned can also leave your body feeling heavy and sluggish. You may find that you retain more water and you may experience breast tenderness and some pretty strong fatigue. Exercise can help you push through this fog. Many women (including myself) find it hard to do vigorous exercise during this time but it’s still important to stay active. I use this time to do more relaxing workouts like slower paced yoga classes or less intense cardio. Staying active while being mindful of your stamina can help relieve that physical heaviness and discomfort that comes with PMS.
Eat an Anti-Inflammatory Diet (Or at Least Try to)
It’s super tempting to give into all your junk food cravings this time of the month but all that junk food can contribute to inflammation which can worsen cramps and brain fog during your premenstrual phase. Try to keep junk food out of the house so you’re less tempted. If you absolutely can’t resist (we’re in the same boat), at least try to increase your fruit, vegetable and healthy fat intake so that you can have more anti-oxidants and anti-inflammatory foods in your diet.
Supplements
There are some really effective herbs and nutritional supplements for PMS. Vitex, calcium, magnesium, adaptogens, black cohosh and many other natural remedies are worth considering. But it’s not one size fits all. Certain herbs and nutritional supplements may be completely wrong for you based on your symptoms, blood work, physical exam results and health history. Make sure you get solid guidance before choosing a supplement for your PMS. Your naturopathic doctor can help you with this along with sorting out the root causes of your PMS such as hormonal imbalances and inflammation.
PMS is especially annoying around this time of year when all you want to do is enjoy the holidays and connect with loved ones. We talk about PMS as if it’s the norm and there is nothing we can do about it but that’s just not true. Do what you can to own your premenstrual phase and reclaim that week of your life and your holidays!
Burnout: Why it’s Absolutely Worth Treating
Burnout is a real problem in our society. More and more research is being dedicated to studying how burnout is affecting us and what we can do about it. Burnout often involves feeling completely exhausted, irritable and negative or cynical about your situation. This usually happens in response to constant, long term stress either at work or in other areas of your life. The load of responsibilities on you becomes too heavy and there is not enough time to rest and restore some sense of balance.
When you’re in a state of burnout, you find it hard to do your job well and you struggle to give your all to your family and friends. Over time this can lead to low productivity, feelings of failure and increased conflicts with others. It’s important to know that physical health can be impacted as well. Burnout has been associated with headaches, chronic fatigue, bowel and stomach problems, high blood pressure and heart disease, catching colds more often, addictions and cravings, mental health conditions like anxiety or depression and poor sleep.
Those who are especially affected are people who work long hours, put themselves last and go the extra mile to support others. Many studies focus on health care providers being prime candidates for burnout. But let’s face it - it’s not just health care providers who are vulnerable to burnout. Parents, those with ill family members, entrepreneurs and anyone with a stressful or demanding job is susceptible.
You may be thinking “yes it totally sounds like I’m experiencing burnout but it’s weird to see a health care provider for burnout. Doesn’t everyone suffer with this? Isn’t this just life? Am I going to see a doctor just because life is too crazy? What can they even do anyways? I’m overwhelmed with work, kids, chores, social events, personal and home projects. A doctor can’t take that away so what’s the point in treating it?”
It's true that I can’t take away many of the responsibilities that come with life. But it’s not about taking the responsibilities away, it’s about helping you have the stamina, resources and strength to cope with them better. I focus on the things that you can control like: nutrition, implementing key habits to soothe an exhausted body, herbs and supplements to give your system a helping hand and sometimes acupuncture which has been shown to reduce stress levels.
In fact, burnout has always been something that naturopathic doctors are quite good at treating. And if you are saying to yourself that you won’t have the time or willpower to follow through with recommendations, don’t worry – we can take baby steps and focus on what you are willing and able to change.
Decades of research have gone into studying burnout. If it’s that important to study then it’s that important to treat. It is possible to turn burnout on its head and get to the complete opposite state of burnout. That means feeling energetic, productive, positive, enthusiastic and healthy. No matter how overwhelmed you feel right now, there is always something that can be done to move you to a better state of wellbeing.
Acupuncture to Reduce Smoking, Drinking and Other Cravings
Do you have any habits or addictions in your life that you wish you could get rid of? Almost everybody has some sort of habit they struggle with. For some it’s stress-eating, nail biting or constant cell phone checking. For others it’s smoking, alcohol consumption or gambling.
Feeling like you can’t control behaviours like these can be incredibly frustrating. You may be fully aware of the damage that some of these habits do to your health and that awareness may make you want to quit but it doesn’t always make it easier to quit. These habits can rob you of your time and your wellbeing and leave you feeling helpless and sometimes even embarrassed.
How Acupuncture Can Help
As a naturopathic doctor, I’m licensed to perform acupuncture and I have found it to be a valuable tool for many conditions. Acupuncture has been used to manage addictions in hospitals and treatment programs for over thirty years in North America and around the world. The National Acupuncture Detoxification Association developed a protocol that is the most commonly used protocol in these settings. Most of the research on this protocol revolves around reducing smoking and alcohol consumption but ongoing research is exploring how it can reduce other unhealthy habits.
Though the studies of this acupuncture protocol have had mixed results, many researchers agree that acupuncture can be useful for reducing addictions when combined with other treatments. I certainly don’t recommend this as a solo treatment, but I’ve had success using it when combine with other interventions like lifestyle changes, counselling, herbal and nutritional supplements or medications. The best combination of treatments will be different for everyone. I also like to combine this protocol with other traditional acupuncture points depending on your unique symptoms and health status.
Historically, acupuncture was found to make quitting addictive habits easier by reducing withdrawal symptoms, cravings, stress and irritability and improving wellbeing, sleep and energy. In my own practice, I’ve found acupuncture can indeed make quitting habits like smoking easier. I have even successfully used it to help with food addictions but using this acupuncture protocol for food addictions has not been scientifically studied to my knowledge.
The Catch
If you’re thinking this is too good to be true, now’s a good time to talk about the catch. I find that acupuncture will not make somebody who is unwilling or not ready to quit a habit suddenly able to quit. I have only found it to be helpful for those who are ready to take action to quit and want support to make the quitting process less difficult. It is very important to understand that the acupuncture won’t do the work on its own. It’s meant to be an aid to help you as you do the work.
Breaking habits can be hard. If you’re ready to leave an unhealthy habit behind, get as much support around you as possible. This will increase your chances of success. Get your health back, get your time back, get your sense of self-command back and let your bad habit become a thing of the past.
Treating Depression Holistically
In 2012, 2.8 million Canadians reported having symptoms of mental health conditions like depression. With the coldest and darkest time of the year looming ahead of us, many are being impacted by seasonal affective disorder. However, millions of people experience mood disorders completely unrelated to the season. For some, these dips in mood may not be severe enough to be considered clinical depression but they are still negatively impacting happiness and wellbeing. For others, their symptoms are consistent with clinical depression.
Though there are many causes of depression, scientists argue that our lifestyle may be contributing to the rise in depression in the modern world. We move less, eat more, connect less with loved ones, sleep poorly and often feel pressed for time. Depression, in turn can make you less interested in connecting with family and friends or doing the things you used to love. It’s frightening to lose that feeling of looking forward to something that once brought you joy or interest. When you’re depressed, it’s easy to feel like you may never get to experience that joy or excitement again – or that you never really did experience it in the past.
Medication and/or psychotherapy are important first line treatments to consider in cases of depression. But we should not stop there. Many researchers recommend including “lifestyle medicine” as part of a well-rounded, holistic treatment plan for depression. According to a paper published by BMC Psychiatry (PMID: 24721040), “lifestyle medicine” includes the following:
- Improving diet
- Physical exercise
- Recreation and leisure
- Relaxation and mindfulness/ meditation
- Improving sleep
- Improving environment (i.e. less exposure to pollution, chemicals, noise and more exposure to nature)
- Social time
- Reducing alcohol and smoking
Some of these concepts are still budding areas of research but the risk of trying them is low and your life will likely benefit in more ways than one for trying them. It has been argued that these interventions can improve depression by improving the health of your brain and hormones and by reducing inflammation (yes there is a connection between inflammation and depression).
As a naturopathic doctor, I recommend many of these treatments along with herbal medicine and acupuncture to my patients struggling with their mood. If a patient really needs medication, I never expect them to choose between medication or a naturopathic approach. With the right guidance, natural approaches can mesh perfectly well with medication. I also never expect a patient to change their lifestyle overnight. When mood and motivation are low it can be hard to make even the simplest changes to daily routines. Small, realistic steps are important to prevent discouragement.
With depression, the goal is not simply to numb the feelings of sadness but to move towards wellbeing and happiness. I want my patients to feel excited again about their lives, their family, their friends, their work and their ambitions. I believe a well-rounded, holistic approach to depression is key to getting closer to those goals.