Reviewed by Dietitian Madeline Peck, RDN, CDN
Credit: Getty Images. EatingWell design.
Key Points
Magnesium glycinate may improve sleep by relaxing muscles and supporting the nervous system.
A consistent bedtime routine paired with magnesium improved sleep and relaxation.
Other factors like a loud sleep environment and acute stress still impacted sleep.
Magnesium is found in plant foods such as leafy green vegetables, nuts and seeds, whole grains and legumes. It is an essential element that your body needs to function correctly, playing a role in more than 300 biochemical reactions, from regulating muscle function to blood pressure control. It may also improve your sleep, thanks to its ability to relax muscles, regulate the nervous system and even influence circadian rhythms.
However, taking magnesium to improve sleep isn’t as simple as just grabbing any bottle at your pharmacy. Magnesium is always bound to a carrier substance that dictates how easily the body absorbs the product and what health benefits it offers. Magnesium glycinate has been shown to have high bioavailability and support sleep.
In order to put its sleep-promoting benefits to the test, I took magnesium glycinate for 30 days—here’s what happened.
Why I Tried a Magnesium Supplement
Even though I felt I was doing a reasonable job of getting enough sleep, I didn’t feel rested, and I certainly wasn’t going through my days with unlimited energy. The lack of rest worried me, and that worry might have been contributing to a never-ending cycle of sleep interruption. Not getting enough sleep is a stressful situation, and that increased stress leads to even less sleep.
Eager for a natural way to improve my sleep (and not stress about it), I decided to try taking 100mg of magnesium for 30 days. I opted for magnesium over other sleep aids because magnesium glycinate is associated with many health benefits beyond sleep. For instance, it supports normal heart rhythms and works alongside calcium and vitamin D to build strong bones. It may also assist with blood sugar management and help regulate nerve signals and muscle contractions.
Knowing all of this helped me take a relaxed approach to this experiment. If my sleep improved, fantastic. If it didn’t, I was still taking a supplement that was really beneficial for my health. It felt like a win-win situation before I even began.
Successes
I Was More Sleep Aware
Reaching for my magnesium at night seemed to signal to my body that it was time to rest. Having a dedicated bedtime routine is something experts have long recommended to improve sleep quality, and while I had appreciated this advice in theory, I had never taken it seriously. But with my 30 days of magnesium, now it felt like I was on a sleep mission. Along side taking magnesium before bed, I started journaling more at night, drinking soothing teas (my favorite contained lavender, chamomile and rose petals) and being much more mindful of what media I was consuming. Watching The Rookie is highly entertaining, but those car chase scenes were not helping me unwind!
I Felt More Relaxed
Magnesium is associated with stress reduction, which certainly contributed to my increased relaxation in the evening. However, I think part of my newfound feeling of lightness also came from the effort to take care of myself. In any case, I had fewer racing thoughts as I tried to fall asleep, and when my mind wandered, it focused on positive things like an upcoming vacation rather than negative ones like unfinished chores. Because of this, even in my pre-sleep bedtime routine, I was getting more rest.
I Was Sleeping Better
Drum roll moment! After taking magnesium glycinate faithfully for 30 days, I feel that I am sleeping better. How much of that can we attribute to the supplement versus my improved sleep routine and increased relaxation is debatable. But I think that’s actually a good thing. I’m treating the magnesium supplement as one piece of the puzzle, a helpful tool that works alongside other tools and strategies to optimize my sleep patterns. I’m going to continue taking it, but I feel confident that if I were to stop for any reason, I would still have better sleep quality than in my pre-supplement days, as I’m much more mindful of my actions and routines.
Drawbacks
A Rough First Few Nights
I was thinking of this very article on the first few nights I took the magnesium supplement. How would it make me feel? How would I be able to transmit those feelings into words? As such, I overthought the situation to the point that I was awake an hour longer than usual for the first few nights. Oops! This is definitely a me problem, not a magnesium problem, but it’s worth noting that the anticipation of monitoring the effects of something generates its own effect.
The Learning Curve
Once I realized there were different forms of magnesium, each with its own benefits, the process felt much less intimidating. But if you skip off to your local drugstore expecting to pick up a bottle of “just” magnesium, you’ll feel awfully befuddled to see that there is no such thing and instead there are all these multisyllabic-named products.
There’s No Magic Bullet
Magnesium supplements are meant to improve your general sleep quality on an average day. They’re not a magic bullet that instantly makes you sleepy or guarantees you’ll get an awesome rest. So if you spent your day deep in worry, if your neighbors are blasting loud music, or if you’re excited about tomorrow, I don’t think magnesium is going to help you conk right out.
My Takeaways After 30 Days
Magnesium was a beneficial addition to my sleep routine. It was a low-risk, low-stakes option with multiple health benefits, so it felt like I was winning no matter what. Taking it faithfully for 30 days made me much more aware of many aspects of my sleep and well-being, and I think that helped my sleep improve as much as the supplement itself. I was also really happy that there were few true drawbacks. Trying something new can always come with a bit of a learning curve, and it wasn’t a magic bullet for improving sleep on tough nights, but overall my sleep has improved and I will continue to incorporate magnesium into my nighttime routine.
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