Since Biblical times the Dead Sea – located between Israel and Jordan – has been cited as a natural healer for a host of skin conditions.
It is believed that the high level of magnesium salts found in the water can help ease inflammation, enhance hydration and improve skin barrier function.
We take a closer look at the potential magnesium benefits for skin to see if topical application can prove helpful.
What is magnesium?
Magnesium is a naturally occurring mineral that interacts with more than 300 enzymatic reactions in our body. While magnesium isn’t given the spotlight as much as other vitamins and minerals, it has a critical role to play in our health. From helping to keep blood pressure normal and strengthen bones to maintaining a steady heartbeat and controlling blood sugar levels, we literally could not live without it.
What are the benefits of magnesium for skin?
Some of the main benefits of magnesium for skin include:
Helping to relax and invigorate tired muscles
Magnesium is a natural calcium blocker that allows it to relax muscles. Contractions happen when calcium binds to proteins like myosin and troponin C, which causes their shapes to change. Magnesium replaces the protein in some of these binding spots which helps them to relax and feel calmer.
This is why magnesium is often used to treat muscle cramps, and if you do not get enough magnesium in your body, you may experience cramps and spasms on a regular basis.
When combined with natural oils like menthol, clove oil and wintergreen oil, the combination can help to re-enliven muscles, making them feel more refreshed.
Potentially improving your sleep quality
Magnesium impacts our sleep in lots of different ways, from regulating gamma-aminobutyric acid in our brain to promoting calm and helping to relax muscles.
A lack of sleep can affect skin quality and even lead to breakouts and topical magnesium benefits such as regulating the production of melatonin could be crucial to our cellular sleep-wake cycles.
Calm and soothe sensitivity
As we mentioned at the start, the Dead Sea is rich in magnesium, which could give an indication of how the mineral can benefit our skin.
One clinical trial found that bathing in a Dead Sea salt solution that is high in magnesium helped to reduce skin redness and roughness in atopic dry skin. A more recent clinical trial found topical magnesium benefits when using a cream to treat nappy rash and nappy dermatitis.
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