But how do you maintain your levels without over-dosing, or under-dosing, or going broke buying supplements?  

Magnesium can be absorbed "Transdermally"! (through-the-skin)

• Wading or Swimming in Salt Water (the ocean). This is the BEST method. But, well, while some of us live near enough to salt water and beaches, most of us do not.  And getting to the beach when you're symptomatic is not always possible, however pleasurable it may be.

• Magnesium creams or lotions.   These are VERY effective, (but messy).

• Soaking in an Epsom Salts bath.  While this is also an extremely effective way to balance your Magnesium level - there are a few problems with this method.

  1. Most people take a very hot bath and add a cup of Epsom Salts.  Did you know that the process the body uses to absorb magnesium (and anything else) is called "osmosis" and that the flow of "osmosis" is from cool to warm.  So, please, soak in water that is at least 1 degree cooler than your body temperature; that is, less than 98 degrees Fahrenheit, which will feel warm, but not hot - think of air temperature - but, the cooler the better.  The minerals will flow toward the heat!  So people soaking in hot hot water are dialating their pores and relaxing, but, can you guess which way the minerals are flowing? You're right! they're flowing OUT.  To have them flow IN, you need to be warmer than the water you're soaking in - that is why going wading or swimming in salt water (the ocean), is THE most effective way of balancing your electrolytes (Magnesium is an electrolyte) and sea water is rarely more than 98 degrees Fahrenheit.

  2. Baths are time-consuming and inconvenient and, well, a lot of us do not have a bathtub.

• You can use a foot soak tub! yes, this method works well.  When I first discovered I could balance my magnesium levels by soaking my feet, I happily managed ALL of my magnesium deficiency symptoms by keeping a foot soaking tub under the edge of my bed.  (room temp water was cooler than my body temp, and the salts didn't go "bad").  So when I woke up (or couldn't fall deeply asleep because of cramping in my legs (aka "Restless Leg Syndrom" - a $$$$$billion-dollar$$$$$$ medical condition - but that's for another post), I would simply sit up and dip my feet into the cool water for about 5 or so minutes - actually until I felt better (because Magnesium calms anxiety as well!) I would step on the handy bathmat that the foot bath rested on, get back under the covers, slide the bath back under the edge of the bed, and fall blissfully asleep!

• Spraying a fine mist of magnesium chloride dissolved in water using a plant sprayer into your hands and rubbing it on any exposed skin - now THIS is "handy" - After sharing my own favorite method (the foot soak tub under the bed) with many, many massage clients, I found this was really difficult to do without sitting up.. and so, the plant sprayer became my new GO TO.