You might think that minerals are so commonplace that they're not important to think about. But, you just might be wrong, especially when it comes to that all-important organ in your body - your heart!

Of course, hearts need more nutrients than just these three minerals, but that said, without any of these three, or even without sufficient quantity of any of them, hearts don't merely malfunction, they quit working entirely! Which is why it's worth paying attention so you know your heart has enough.

Here they are, and in no particular order:

1. Calcium Simply put, in the most basic sense, your heart is a muscle. Granted, its fibers are a different kind than ones in your arm, say, or leg, which are skeletal muscle. In your heart, they are smooth muscle fibers (your intestinal tract has them too).

These differ from arm muscles in that they contract and relax automatically, rather than requiring your conscious participation. But just like the muscles under your voluntary control, they require calcium to contract. Insufficient calcium? Your heart can't contract. And heart contraction is what pushes that huge volume of blood around to everyplace in your body, especially your brain!

If you feel nervous and just can't calm down (as if you have ADHD) , if you experience muscle cramps, or if your nails are brittle and ridged, you may be low in calcium.

2. Magnesium. Given sufficient calcium, your heart muscle will contract. However, it then needs to relax before it contracts again. During the contraction phase (driven by calcium) your heart pushed a huge volume of blood around your entire circulatory system. Now it needs to relax and refill itself with new blood. To do that requires sufficient magnesium. In other words, it needs calcium to contract and magnesium to relax and refill.

Insufficient magnesium is one of the major reasons women in particular have heart attacks, and is why many emergency responders have a standing order to institute a magnesium IV when responding to a woman having a heart attack.

Three signs your body needs more magnesium are: constipation, craving chocolate and tight shoulder muscles, so that you always have to remind yourself to relax them.

3. Iodine. So if calcium is required so your heart can contract, and magnesium is required so it can relax and refill, then what is needed in terms of minerals to keep it beating? In short, iodine. You may have thought iodine is needed by your thyroid, and you would be correct. However, the beating of your heart is controlled by your thyroid.

If your heart tends to start racing like a runaway horse, consider supplementing with iodine. If you want to test yourself to find out if you need iodine, get some liquid iodine, the kind you paint on your skin as a topical antiseptic (not the colorless kind). Paint a 2 inch square on your skin, notice the color and see how fast it disappears. It should stay the same color 24 hours later. The faster it disappeared, the more your body needed iodine.

Pay attention to getting enough of these three minerals, and you will be doing a huge favor to your heart - and your life!
Pamela Levin, R.N., T.S.T.A
                                      ***********************************************
                                              http://www.betterhealthbytes.com

Pamela Levin is an R.N. and a Teaching & Supervising Transactional Analyst with 500+ post graduate hours in clinical nutrition, herbology and applied kinesiology. The health knowledge she makes available to readers comes from her experience in most hospital setting, her 50 years as an R.N., 44 years in private practice, being a mother and grandmothe. She also draws on consultations from a variety of other health experts.

Pamela Levin, R.N.,T.S.T.A.

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