Take a look at Anthony Cashmore’s list. It consists of flies, bacteria, bowls of sugar — and you.

You, a somebody who continually strives for better health and fitness and is always looking for new ways to achieve it. Why in the world are you included in his list?

According to the paper he penned and the National Academy of Sciences published in 2010, it’s because all four share a lack of something. While it’s a something the other three clearly lack, you probably feel you have it some or most, if not all, of the time.

Free will.

The dictionary beside my computer calls free will “voluntary choice or decision.” Cashmore calls it “nonsensical” because “in actuality” people are nothing more than a concoction of chemicals — just like flies, bacteria, and bowls of sugar.

These human-chemical concoctions, however, can be vastly different, he admits. It’s why “a select few of us compose like Mozart and Verdi, and the rest of us [just] appreciate listening to these compositions.”

Let’s save the free-will debate for a later date, as well as the one about classical music, and focus on the fact Cashmore got the humans-are-chemicals part right.

Any biology textbook will tell you that the human body is composed of 21 essential chemical elements, 96 percent of which are oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen. That in addition, we also contain trace amounts of other essentials such as magnesium.

And it’s that chemical essential that will be the focus today because in one way the concoction of chemicals writing this column is just like you, always looking for ways to enhance my health and fitness. So when I was asked to sample what looked to be a high-quality magnesium supplement, I agreed.

It comes from Standard Process, is called E-Z Mg™, and was pitched to me by Laura Baumgartner, Vice President of Asylum Public Relations. The supplement looked so promising, in fact, that I requested two 30-day bottles so a second person could take part in the experiment.

But somewhere along the line miscommunication occurred, and I was shipped a single bottle. No biggie, but info you need to know as to why I didn’t test the stuff myself.

I played a hunch that there’d be more to report if my brother tried the supplement. Since you can read all about E-Z Mg™ on the Standard Process website, what comes next are the five ways in which Jimmy found taking it over a 28-day period helped.

He Got Better Sleep: In just a few days, he was falling asleep at bedtime much quicker than before. While that would be a blessing for anyone, it’s an absolute godsend in his case.

Jimmy was diagnosed with generalized panic disorder in 1997, you see, so sleep does not always come easily. But far worse for him, he says, is falling back asleep in the middle of the night.

“Which is why I was so surprised at how easy it started becoming to do so,” he remarked. “And I’ve always been a tosser and a turner and now I wake up and the sheets aren’t even disturbed.”

He Felt Less Stress: As a result of Jimmy’s GPD, it’s easy for him to become anxious and depressed, so he takes a low dose of two medications to combat that. While that didn’t change during the experiment, something did.

“It wasn’t yippee zippee, I’m on magnesium,” he said, “but it really seemed to help me work out the stresses of my work day. No more feelings of wanting to scream and smash the phone after a bad call.

[I felt that way] even more so as the month went on.”

He Felt ‘Locked In’ Weightlifting: Despite being 59, Jimmy still lifts rather heavy weights about half the time he works out. A recent deadlift workout where he lifted 300 pounds for 7 reps and then 325 for 5 attests to that.

While he doesn’t think the magnesium supplement enhanced his strength or aerobic capacity (studies haven’t either), he does believe it really helped him “lock in” during workouts, to achieve the mind-to-muscle link crucial to fully stimulating the muscle. He also noticed he was getting looser during his warmup in less time.

He Didn’t Think These Two Occurrences Were Coincidence: For years, acid reflux was a “once or twice a week thing” for Jimmy. As he was reporting the results of his experiment, he interrupted himself and said, “Wait a second. I haven’t had any acid reflux this month.”

The other occurrence Jimmy thinks can’t be coincidence is that on day 25 of the magnesium supplement experiment, he developed a really scratchy throat, the type that signals a cold and sinus congestion are soon to follow.

“The ex took the zinc supplements — along with everything else,“ he joked, “so I took a chance and tripled up the magnesium. The next morning, no cold, no congestion, no nothing.”

That nothing is certainly something, as well as the four other betterments my brother experienced during the experiment.