It Runs Deeper Than Hormones: Why Minerals Matter at Midlife

You can't hormone your way out of a mineral deficiency

I keep hearing the same story. A woman in her mid-40s or early 50s walks into her doctor's office feeling exhausted, foggy, irritable. She can't sleep through the night. Her clothes feel tighter despite eating the same way she always has. She mentions this to her doctor, expecting answers.

"Well, you're perimenopausal."

She knows that already. What she wants to know is what to do about it. The conversation usually turns to hormone replacement, antidepressants, or a pat on the back with "this is just part of getting older."

But here's what almost never gets discussed: minerals.

The Depletion You Can't See

When I talk to women about minerals, I often get a polite nod. They're already taking a multivitamin. They eat their vegetables. They're doing the right things. So why do they still feel like garbage?

Because even if you're eating well, you're likely under-mineralized. And when midlife arrives with its hormonal shifts and metabolic changes, those deficits show up as fatigue, mood swings, sleep disruption, and brain fog.

The problem starts long before your plate. Our food simply doesn't contain what it used to. A 1999 USDA study compared 43 crops from 1950 to 1999 and found drops in calcium, iron, and phosphorus. A UK analysis showed that between 1930 and 1980, calcium fell 19%, iron 22%, potassium 14%. You'd need eight oranges today to get the same vitamin A content as one orange from 1950.

After World War II, industrial agriculture chased yield over nutrition. Synthetic fertilizers replaced only nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium while leaving soils stripped of trace minerals like magnesium, zinc, and boron. By the 1990s, calcium in fresh vegetables had dropped 27% and iron 37%.

Now we're living with the consequences. Only 14% of people worldwide get enough potassium. In the U.S., less than 3% of adults meet the 4,700 mg daily recommendation. About 30% of women fall short on magnesium.

So even if you're doing everything "right," you're probably running low. And when your body is already managing the stress of hormonal transition, those mineral gaps become chasms.

How Minerals Drive Energy and Sleep

Minerals are nutrients, yes, but they're also the spark plugs of metabolism. They activate enzymes, regulate nerves and hormones, and power the mitochondria that keep every cell functioning. When levels drop, everything slows down.

Your adrenal glands regulate stress and, after menopause, produce small amounts of estrogen. They run on sodium, magnesium, and potassium. Think of sodium as the gas in your tank. Without adequate sodium, your adrenals can't produce the energy you need.

Here's what happens under chronic stress: your body dumps sodium and potassium through your urine. It's a physiological response to cortisol. When cortisol stays elevated, you literally pee out the minerals your adrenals need to function. This is why so many women describe feeling "wired but tired." Your adrenals are working overtime but running on empty.

But sodium and potassium do more than fuel your energy. Along with zinc, they're required to produce hydrochloric acid in your stomach. That's the acid that breaks down your food and also bathes any pathogens that come in with your meals, keeping them from traveling down into your intestines where they can get absorbed into your body.

Many menopausal women notice their digestion getting worse. They feel bloated after meals, food sits heavy, or they develop new food sensitivities. Part of that is declining stomach acid production. When you're low on sodium, potassium, and zinc, you can't make enough hydrochloric acid to properly digest your food. So even if you're eating well, you're not breaking down and absorbing those nutrients. The mineral depletion feeds itself.

And when I say stress, I don't just mean feeling overwhelmed in traffic or worrying about your kid. Stress is glyphosate in your food, the constant drumbeat of bad news, internal toxicity from heavy metals, mold exposure, poor water quality. Your body treats all of it the same way: as a threat that requires a response. Every stressor burns through minerals.

Your thyroid is the gas pedal, and it depends heavily on potassium. Low potassium means you're pressing the pedal but nothing's happening. Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) often reveals a pattern called "slow oxidation" in exhausted women: low sodium and potassium paired with elevated calcium and magnesium. This ratio reflects adrenal fatigue, poor stress tolerance, and sluggish thyroid function at the cellular level.

Magnesium is where sleep lives. It supports melatonin production, relaxes muscles, and helps regulate cortisol. A 2012 clinical trial found that magnesium supplementation improved sleep onset by 17 minutes and total sleep time by 16 minutes. Yet 70% of adults don't get enough, mostly because processed foods have stripped it out.

When women restore magnesium, they often report sleeping deeper, experiencing fewer night sweats, and waking up refreshed instead of feeling like they never slept at all.

Mood and mental clarity depend on zinc and magnesium to produce neurotransmitters like GABA and serotonin. Low levels contribute to anxiety and irritability. Meanwhile, copper tends to rise alongside estrogen, so women with estrogen dominance often have high copper and low zinc. This imbalance shows up as anxiety, mood swings, and migraines. Balancing zinc (which supports progesterone) and copper (which tracks with estrogen) can restore equilibrium.

Potassium deficiency causes muscle cramps, weakness, and irregular heartbeat. Only 3% of Americans get enough. Increasing potassium through foods like avocados, potatoes, and leafy greens supports adrenal health, muscle recovery, and blood pressure regulation.

Real World Examples

I've seen what happens when women re-mineralize. A 45-year-old client came to me exhausted, struggling with PMS and weight gain despite eating clean. Her HTMA showed a 1:1 sodium-to-potassium ratio (ideal is 2.5:1), a sign of adrenal burnout.

After adding magnesium glycinate, electrolytes, zinc, and trace minerals, her energy came back. Her cycles normalized. Her mood stabilized. She didn't need to overhaul her entire life. She just needed to rebuild what was missing.

Another case that fascinated me: a USDA study gave postmenopausal women 3 mg of boron daily. In eight weeks, their estrogen and testosterone rose while calcium and magnesium loss dropped. Boron supports bone density, libido, and hormone balance, yet most people have never heard of it.

Dr. Lawrence Wilson documented a case of a 53-year-old woman who eliminated hot flashes, night sweats, and fatigue by rebuilding her adrenal and mineral reserves. Her HTMA showed slow oxidation, so her protocol focused on zinc, manganese, vitamins A, C, and E, plus small amounts of copper. Within months, her symptoms disappeared. No hormone therapy required.

The Ratios That Reveal What's Really Going On

HTMA does something standard blood tests don't: it shows mineral relationships. These ratios act like vital signs for your metabolism.

Sodium/Magnesium (Na/Mg) reflects stress adaptation. Ideal is around 4:1. Too low signals adrenal fatigue and burnout. Too high indicates early-stage stress, anxiety, and insomnia.

Calcium/Potassium (Ca/K) reflects thyroid efficiency at the cellular level. Ideal is 4:1. High ratios mean sluggish thyroid, fatigue, and weight gain. Low ratios suggest overactive metabolism and anxiety.

Sodium/Potassium (Na/K) is the "vitality ratio." Ideal is 2.5:1. Low means chronic stress, low immunity, and adrenal exhaustion. High indicates acute inflammation or a cortisol surge.

Zinc/Copper (Zn/Cu) correlates with hormone balance and mood. Ideal is around 8:1. Low zinc relative to copper often means estrogen dominance, anxiety, and yeast issues. High zinc can signal low copper or a progesterone drop.

When these ratios normalize, women report improved mood, sleep, libido, and stamina. The terrain that regulates hormones gets restored.

How to Start Re-Mineralizing

Re-mineralization sounds technical, but the approach is straightforward. Start with food, then support strategically.

Magnesium: Found in greens, nuts, and seeds. Supplement with magnesium glycinate or malate (300–400 mg daily) for relaxation and sleep.

Potassium: Found in avocados, coconut water, spinach, and beans. Aim for 3,500–4,700 mg daily through food.

Boron: 3 mg daily may enhance estrogen, testosterone, and bone density.

Zinc: 15–30 mg daily supports progesterone, immunity, and copper balance.

Copper: Only supplement if deficient. Excess copper often mirrors high estrogen.

Calcium and Co-Factors: Support bone density with calcium plus vitamin K2, magnesium, and boron. For vitamin D, aim for at least 20 minutes a day of sun exposure on your skin and in your eyes without sunscreen. In winter months, consider a sun lamp. Taking supplemental vitamin D might actually recruit the same minerals that are already leaving you depleted. If your vitamin D is clearly in the tank (below 20 ng/mL), you might need to supplement temporarily. But for most people, optimizing the mineral cofactors (magnesium, boron, and vitamin K2) while getting sunlight works better than loading up on vitamin D pills.

Lifestyle plays a role too. Chronic stress burns through minerals faster than you can replace them. So restoring minerals also means restoring rest, joy, and digestion. Healthy stomach acid, for example, is critical for absorbing magnesium and zinc.

Want to Know What Your Body Is Actually Working With?

Most women I talk to have been guessing about their minerals. They take supplements based on what a friend recommended or what they read online. They're flying blind.

But there's a way to actually see what's happening in your body. Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) measures the mineral deposits in your hair, which gives us a window into how minerals are playing out in your tissues over time. Unlike blood tests that show what's circulating right now, hair analysis reveals patterns from the past few months.

It shows me exactly where you're depleted, where you're overloaded, and most importantly, what those mineral ratios look like. That sodium-to-potassium ratio telling me about adrenal burnout? That zinc-to-copper balance revealing estrogen dominance? I can see it all.

And the process is simple. You send in a small hair sample, and within about 10 days, we have a detailed map of your mineral status. From there, we build a protocol tailored to what your body actually needs, not what worked for someone else.

The Chemistry of Feeling Like Yourself Again

The midlife transition doesn't have to mean slowing down or resigning yourself to feeling worse. We're living in a mineral-depleted world, from soil to table, but that doesn't mean you have to feel depleted.

If you've been feeling foggy, fatigued, or just "off," this is chemistry. And chemistry can be shifted. Our bodies do change with age as our cells age, but there's a lot we can do about it to extend the amount of time they work well.

Start with the minerals. And if you want to know exactly where yours stand, book a free strategy session with me. We can talk about whether HTMA makes sense for you and get you started right away if it does. The whole process takes about 10 days from sample to results.

If you're reading this before October 11, 2025, and you're near Sandpoint, Idaho (or close enough for a fall drive), I'll be speaking at the Vital Conversations Series on this exact topic: "It Runs Deeper Than Hormones: Restoring What Fuels You." Come join me for a deeper dive into how minerals shape your energy, sleep, and vitality.

Vital Conversation Series: You Are the Medicine

Marigold Bistro, Sandpoint

Saturday, October 11 • 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM

Kelly Greenway FNTP, MRWP