Most pastors assume their fatigue is spiritual.
Or seasonal.
Or just... the cost of the calling.
"Ministry is hard. I'm tired. That's the deal."
Sometimes that's true.
But sometimes (and more often than you'd think) what feels like a spiritual problem is actually a mineral problem.
Specifically, a magnesium problem.
Stay with me.
You Were Born to Be Depleted
Here's something nobody mentioned at your ordination:
Chronic stress depletes magnesium.
And every time your cortisol spikes — difficult elder meeting, late-night hospital call, Saturday sermon panic — your body burns through it.
Add...
coffee (a diuretic that flushes magnesium),
low-carb eating (great for your waistline, rough on mineral retention),
and aging (your body absorbs less of everything as the decades stack up),
... and you've got a perfect storm.
Research suggests the majority of American adults don't get enough magnesium from diet alone.
Pastors (stressed, caffeinated, often eating on the run) are not beating that average.
What It's Actually Doing (Or Not Doing)
Magnesium is involved in over 300 biochemical reactions in your body.
For your ministry life, here's what matters:
Sleep
Magnesium regulates the neurotransmitters that quiet your nervous system at night.
Without enough of it, your brain struggles to downshift — even when your body is exhausted.
Stress response
Magnesium helps regulate cortisol.
Low magnesium means your stress response fires harder and longer than it should.
That "I can't turn my brain off" feeling at 11pm?
Often magnesium.
Brain function
Focus, memory, mental clarity — magnesium plays a significant role in how well your neurons communicate.
Low levels are associated with brain fog and cognitive sluggishness.
Energy production
Magnesium activates ATP... the same fuel we talked about in the creatine article.
No magnesium, no efficient energy.
The thing making you tired, foggy, and wired-but-exhausted might not be your schedule.
It might be your magnesium.
Where to Get It (If You Eat Like an Adult)
Good news for the keto crowd:
Some of the best magnesium sources on the planet are already on your approved list.
Pumpkin seeds — the undisputed king.
A small handful delivers a significant chunk of your daily requirement.
Keep a bag in your desk.
Snack like you mean it.
Spinach and Swiss chard — a cup of cooked spinach is quietly one of the most magnesium-dense foods available.
Add it to eggs.
Add it to everything.
Fatty fish — mackerel, salmon, and halibut carry solid magnesium alongside their omega-3s.
Two birds, one well-sourced stone.
Almonds and Brazil nuts — easy, portable, no excuses.
Avocado — already a keto staple.
Turns out it's also a magnesium delivery vehicle.
You're welcome.
Dark chocolate (85%+) — yes, this is real.
Yes, you can tell your wife the doctor recommended it.
(She won't believe you. Eat it anyway.)
Here's the honest part though:
Even eating all of those foods consistently, most people still don't hit optimal magnesium levels.
Modern farming has stripped magnesium from the soil significantly over the last century...
Meaning, even "magnesium-rich" foods deliver less than they used to.
Which is exactly why the next section matters.
The Part Nobody Tells You
Most people who decide to "take magnesium" grab the cheapest bottle at the pharmacy and wonder why nothing changes.
Here's why:
The form matters enormously.
❌ Magnesium oxide ❌ (the most common form) is about as bioavailable as eating the bottle it came in.
Your body absorbs very little of it.
The rest heads south. Quickly.
(Which is why it's in laxatives.)
So if you tried magnesium once and felt nothing, you were probably just taking the wrong kind.
Form #1: Magnesium Glycinate — Take at Night
Magnesium glycinate is bound to glycine, an amino acid with its own calming properties.
Highly absorbable, gentle on the stomach, and specifically effective for sleep quality, nervous system recovery...
and that low-grade anxiety that follows you home from church.
For pastors who lie in bed mentally rehearsing conversations they should have had differently...
This is your form.
It's not a sedative...
It's more like telling your nervous system it's finally allowed to stand down.
Permission to rest, granted.
I take the Double Wood Magnesium Glycinate at 400 mg per capsule.
Form #2: Magnesium L-Threonate — Take in the Morning
This one is different.
And the one I'm most enthusiastic about.
Magnesium L-Threonate — I use a product called Neuromag — was developed by MIT researchers to solve a problem other forms can't:
Getting magnesium into the brain.
Most forms don't cross the blood-brain barrier efficiently.
Threonate does.
Which means instead of just supporting your muscles and nervous system...
it directly upgrades your cognitive hardware.
Research shows it can increase synaptic density, improve working memory and recall, and enhance focus and learning capacity.
For sermon prep, strategic thinking, and counseling sessions that require you to actually track what someone said three minutes ago...
This is your form.
Here's the simple version:
Glycinate is what you take so you can sleep like a pastor who's not carrying the weight of the world.
Threonate is what you take so you can think like a pastor who is.
What I Actually Do
Morning: Magnesium L-Threonate (Neuromag) — focus, cognitive performance, brain health.
Evening: Magnesium Glycinate — nervous system recovery, stress relief, sleep quality.
Two forms.
Two jobs.
One mineral that was quietly missing from the equation.
The Bottom Line
You have been entrusted with a calling, a congregation, and a body that has to carry both.
That body runs on systems.
Those systems run on inputs.
When the inputs are missing (even something as unglamorous as a mineral) the systems underperform.
Your fatigue may not be a character flaw.
Your brain fog may not be a spiritual deficit.
Your inability to wind down at night may not be a lack of faith.
It may be a missing mineral.
And that's actually good news.
Because unlike most of the hard things in ministry...
This one has a straightforward fix.
It won't fix the elder who emails at 11pm.
It won't fix the worship leader who "just has a few ideas" about the sermon series.
It won't fix the fact that someone is always unhappy about the parking situation.
But it will give you a sharper, calmer, better-rested version of yourself to deal with all of it.
Steward the vessel.
It's got sermons to preach and decades left to preach them.
More Resources To Help You Optimize
💊 My (Scott's) full supplement regimen