There is not yet strong, consistent evidence that magnesium supplementation reliably improves sleep. Observationally, people who consume more magnesium tend to report better sleep quality. And some meta-analyses suggest magnesium supplementation can improve sleep quality scores, sleep efficiency, and sleep duration. But the individual studies are inconsistent, and several... have found no meaningful effect at all. Could it help some people, particularly those with low magnesium status? Possibly. Magnesium plays important roles in neuronal signaling, stress regulation, and pathways involved in sleep-wake control. So the biology is plausible. However, to say “magnesium improves sleep” is a much stronger claim than the current evidence supports.show more

I think anecdotal stuff still matters. It isn’t proof, but sometimes it’s the first clue we’re missing something. Medicine has plenty of examples where people noticed something worked long before we understood why. Maybe magnesium helps certain people. Maybe we aren’t measuring the right thing yet. Maybe some of it is placebo too. But if enough people keep saying “I sleep better when I take this,” I don’t think the answer is to ignore them. I think the answer is to figure out why.

I started taking it recently, and I can't say if it's helping me sleep. But, it has stopped my morning leg cramps, so it works for that :)

Glycinate changed my life. Ended life long insomnia.

It was the only thing that cured my restless legs. Now I can relax at night and watch TV read etc

Isn't that true for all dietary supplements though? that they will only benefit people with deficiencies/dietary gaps? What evidence is missing in this case if meta-analyses show effects? Even for well established health interventions there are null studies/heterogeneity.

I agree with this, I have been taking magnesium glycinate before bed. I don’t think I sleep much better but feel well rested when I get up no matter if I get 7 hours or 5 hours of sleep.

It lose strength over time. The only thing works for better sleep is wind down before bed and same bed time everyday.

I love you take a scientific approach to this claim!!

Y'all do what you want but magnesium changed my life. I used to use benadryl until I discovered the dementia risk. I recommend magnesium to anyone that is at their wits end with sleep issues. It works for me, calms my busy mind.

I heard it’s specifically magnesium glycinate. I take it many nights 200 mgs or more. Not sure

Anecdotally speaking 2 Kiwi Fruits before bed has helped me greatly with achieving long restful sleeps. Only got onto it this week

Magnesium citrate definitely has a noticeable effect on me. I feel my body relaxing and myself getting sleepy like half an hour taking. Mag glycinate is much more subtle but I can feel it when I wake up

I have wicked dreams every time I take it before sleep.

Are there any negative impacts to taking magnesium supplements for sleep?

Thank you for saying this. Magnesium has somehow gone from “may help some people” to “everyone needs magnesium glycinate before bed”. The trial evidence is still mixed. Deficiency and individual context matter.

Works great for me! Plus it helps anxiety.

One thing I can say for certain, for me personally, magnesium glycinate before bed actually causes me to stay awake longer including restless legs. It activates my nervous system significantly instead of calming me down

It causes the opposite for me. Have tried magnesium glycinate many times and always had to stop due to insomnia. A year ago I started again and alternated between threonate and glycinate. It ended up depleting my acetylcholine levels so bad I developed constant dry mouth and sinuses. Took forever to figure out the cause. Did an iv with magnesium sulfate and it really set it off. I forget the mechanism… transsulferation maybe, but I think it affects methylation and one other pathway too if I recall. For what it’s worth, I am also slow COMT and was also undermethylated somewhat. I also suspect copper was low (or zinc high), and perhaps that is why I’m sensitive to it.

I think this is the right way to frame it. Magnesium is biologically important, but that doesn’t automatically mean supplementation improves sleep. If someone is deficient, correcting that deficiency may certainly matter. But “magnesium helps you sleep” has gotten way ahead of the actual clinical evidence.

Oh my god can you even wipe your ass without having a study to show it works? Magnesium Glycinate costs like $10 for a month supply. People can just try it and find out for themselves. We don’t need a deep dive study on literally everything.

It doesn’t affect my sleep 😞 I really wanted it to 🤷🏼‍♀️

It has the opposite effect on my sleep.

I find it helps my sleep.

This is what useful evidence communication sounds like: plausible mechanism, mixed results, possible subgroup benefit, and no leap to a universal promise. “Might help some people” is less marketable than certainty, but much more actionable than hype.

always consider the root cause, this is specifically avoiding the root cause

Mag massively helped my sleep when pregnant

A thin evidence base is not a sleep protocol. When magnesium is still unsettled, the honest win is protecting the basics instead of buying another belief.

I don't care what the studies says. Magnesium takes away my restless legs so that I can sleep. It is a miracle supplement 🙏

The mechanism is plausible. The marketing is immaculate.

My sleep quality improved after I stopped worrying about my sleep quality

would be interested to know how much effect comes from the glycine in magnesium glycinate, for people taking that before bed

If you take it before bed I don’t see how it’s properly digested and used to actually affect sleep

The seeds of pumpkin, sunflower, peanut help my sleep and anxiety. Natural magnesium with other nutrients

the low magnesium status group is where i'd expect any real signal, correcting a deficiency is different from dosing everyone who sleeps poorly

Why does something have to help everyone ? If it helps you as an individual and is safe and your using it safely why would I care or not to judge it for me individually based off whether it helps a majority of people when we are so different ?