This content was created by Nick Howarth. This content was uploaded by Nick Howarth. This is a YouTube video titled "Why “Normal” Blood Levels Don’t Mean You’re Sufficient" (published 2026-01-30). It’s a solo health/nutrition monologue in which the presenter explains that serum magnesium is a poor indicator because ~99% of magnesium is intracellular, lists common deficiency symptoms (muscle spasms, eyelid twitching, anxiety/poor sleep, sugar cravings, nighttime cramps, arrhythmias, fatigue), and advises intracellular testing. The speaker reviews supplement forms and uses—magnesium glycinate for sleep/relaxation, magnesium malate for energy, magnesium citrate for renal/arterial support, and magnesium oxide for constipation—gives dosing guidance (RDA ~400 mg/day; short-term loading ~1,000–1,500 mg/day for a week or two if depleted), and notes important interactions with vitamin D, K2, and vitamin B1. The video is instructional and invites comments for future videos.
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Magnesium levels in the blood doesn't mean anything. So if you're getting your blood tested and you're checking for your potassium or your magnesium levels, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter what's in your blood. The thing is with magnesium is that 99% of it is in your cells. 1% of it is in the blood. So they go, okay, you've got enough magnesium in your blood. The problem with that is, is that you, your body starts to rob other parts of the body like the bone and the muscle, and it extracts the magnesium and it puts it into the blood because it's shorting magnesium. So magnesium in the blood means nothing. It has to be tested in the cell. So if you're going for a test at the doctor, don't let him just be shoddy about it. Let him do a proper test. Let him do an intercellular test to test your magnesium levels. Because if you don't have the correct magnesium levels, you're going to have all sorts of problems. And I'll go into that now. So some of the things you can expect if you have magnesium deficiency: muscle spasms or tight muscles, twitching under the eyelids, anxiety or the inability to relax, poor sleep, Sugar cravings, nighttime cramps such as charley horses, heart arrhythmia. So that could be an AFib, something like that, and fatigue or lack of energy. So if you have any of those, assume that it's a magnesium deficiency unless it's proven otherwise. Types of magnesium that I would recommend. So firstly, if you're having trouble sleeping or relaxing, magnesium glycinate, the glycinate in the magnesium will help you get to sleep. I like taking magnesium malate. It's got malic acid in it and it is very, very good for energy levels. And then magnesium citrate. Citrates are always good for keeping the kidneys clean, keeping the arteries clean, and so on. So if you're looking for something specific for you, Those are the 3 that I would recommend. There are some other kinds of magnesiums that can help with constipation, specifically magnesium oxide, but it's not very well absorbed. And that's why it helps with constipation because it just gets everything out. So, if you find that you're very magnesium deficient, I would recommend doing 1,000 to 1,500 milligrams per day for about at least a week. And you're meant to have 400 milligrams per day of magnesium. That is the daily recommended allowance. But if you're depleted, you want to drive it into the cells. And you will have to do that for, like I say, a week or maybe 2. 2 little interesting points about magnesium. So vitamin D, which everybody's whole craze at the moment, and rightly so, it's absolutely If needed, make sure you take your K2 with that though. You don't want to be just taking D. You don't want to drive calcium into your arteries and not into your bones. So, in order to absorb calcium, you would have to have vitamin D. In order to absorb vitamin D, you would have to have magnesium. So, magnesium is a precursor. It's extremely important. It has about 400 functions in the body. Wow. The other thing about magnesium is you're not going to absorb vitamin B1 as well if you don't have magnesium. So, the higher your dosage of vitamin B1, the higher the demand of magnesium is in the body. So, keep that in mind if you're taking high doses of vitamin B1 because these are common deficiencies. You've got vitamin D deficiencies, Magnesium deficiencies, potassium deficiencies, and vitamin B1 deficiencies. Those are critical and most common deficiencies that you find in the body. And funnily enough, they're all dependent on magnesium. So, make sure you take your magnesium, get your good magnesium supplement because it's very difficult to get your recommended daily allowance even at 400 milligrams from food. You're going to have to supplement it. I recommend magnesium glycinate. I love magnesium glycinate. My body loves it. I can feel my body just sucking it up. And I'm someone who's heavy on magnesium as far as usage in the body goes. So, keep in mind, what it also does is it relaxes the muscles. So, calcium contracts the muscles so that you can lift things up and walk and so on. And then, Magnesium relaxes the muscles. So if you find you're cramping up, or if you find you've got these stiff muscles, or you just are fatigued, that's got a lot to do with a magnesium deficiency. So I hope you got something out of this video. Let me know in the comments, and I'll make more videos like this.
