When it comes to women’s health, the conversation often centers around hormones, but minerals may be the real missing link. Caroline Alan, mineral researcher, functional health educator, and author of the upcoming release The Mineral Reset: The Essential Guide to Replenishing Your Body and Restoring Your Health, is on a mission to change that.
After years of research and education around the role minerals play in energy, mood, hormonal balance, and even cellular repair, Caroline believes that mineral replenishment should be a cornerstone of women’s health, especially through perimenopause, menopause, and beyond.
We asked Caroline to break down the mineral connections every woman should know. Here, she shares six overlooked ways mineral depletion may be quietly impacting everything from your mood and metabolism to your sleep and skin.
6 Overlooked Mineral Connections Every Woman Should Know
+ Low energy or low stamina:
Mineral depletion is a silent energy drainer, leaving you feeling exhausted even after rest. With amino acids, minerals fuel energy generation inside your cells. Your body makes amino acids, but it makes no minerals. All the mineral fuel for your cells comes from the outside of your body, via food, water or supplementation. When your body doesn’t have enough minerals, it will like your dimmer switch is turned down. If this goes on for extended periods, your body will be like a city operating in a constant brownout. It will be unable to complete all its functions, leaving you dragging.
+ Irritability, mood swings, or anxiety:
Regulation of your nervous system relies on minerals. Imbalanced mineral levels can make emotional regulation feel harder than it should be. Moods are related to neurotransmitter washes in your body, all of which require minerals for their production! General mineral deficiency is linked to low endorphin release and heightened sensitivity to pain. Adequate magnesium levels allow natural “feel-good” chemicals to work effectively.
+ Hormonal fluctuations:
PMS, Menopausal hormone shifts can all be intensified by depleted mineral stores. Every biosynthesis process that is required for women to adjust to perimenopause and menopause requires minerals. When the body doesn’t have the fuel it needs, it struggles to adjust and to these changes creating a host of acute and chronic symptoms.
+ Hair, skin, or nail changes:
Dull and breaking hair, ridged or chipping fingernails, dull skin, these are the body’s way of communicating that it is experiencing mineral shortages.
+ Sleep Interruptions:
Cells that don’t have enough minerals will not be able to complete all of their intended functions This can lead to an amping up of the nervous system as your system sends you looking for what’s missing. Full spectrum mineral replenishment can be the simplest and most straightforward solution to the sleep issues associated with the hormonal shifts resulting from perimenopause and menopause.
+ Vaginal Tissue and Microbiome Health:
As women age the health of vaginal tissue and secretions is an important part of longevity and quality of life. Minerals support tissue regeneration and the on-going development of healthy vaginal secretions, as well supporting the overall balance of the vaginal microbiome.
