What is Magnesium?

Magnesium is an essential cofactor required by 300 enzyme systems that promote thousands of biochemical reactions in the body. It maintains a normal temperature, produces and transports energy, transmits nerve signals, and relaxes muscles. 

Magnesium is vital for glucose, fat, and protein metabolism and affects every cell in the body in a positive life-supporting way. Magnesium also supports healthy bones by regulating calcium absorption and metabolizing the active form of Vitamin D from its storage form.

The Link Between Magnesium and Sleep

Despite the availability of many sleep aids on the market, few people are aware of the important role magnesium plays in promoting a healthy sleep cycle. When someone is taking magnesium and their sleep is not improving, more healthcare professionals today are suggesting that they simply include more magnesium into their diet.

A key reason for this is that magnesium consumption increases the levels of the neurotransmitter GABA in the brain. GABA plays an essential role in slowing down your thinking, which allows you to sleep better at night. When GABA levels are low, the brain becomes stuck in an “on” position, making it difficult to relax and become calm. A low level of GABA has also been associated with generalized anxiety disorder, irritable bowel syndrome, panic attacks, and involuntary movements such as Parkinson’s disease, all of which can interfere with sleep.

A magnesium supplement helps to replenish depleted minerals within the body and restores natural sleep patterns. It does this by regulating cellular timekeeping, which plays a huge role in maintaining a normal circadian rhythm.

While some people can get enough magnesium from a well-balanced diet, it’s not as common anymore. For more than 50 years case studies like  “Quantitative Factors Regarding Magnesium Status in the Modern-Day World” have discussed that dietary magnesium intake has gone down significantly over the past 150 years.

In the early 20th century, Americans consumed an average of 500 mg per day. In today’s society, the average intake is just 200 mg a day. And the result is that nearly 75% of Americans are chronically deficient in magnesium.

Magnesium deficiency in our culture can be attributed to a variety of factors, including:

• A high intake of refined foods that are deficient in magnesium
• Most of the “healthy” foods we consume are grown in soils that are depleted of minerals
• The fluoride found in most water binds to magnesium, causing it to be less prominent in the body

Magnesium and Sleep Studies

In 2007, the Jiangsu Nutrition Study demonstrated that magnesium was beneficial for sleep disorder symptoms. Nearly 1500 adults were analyzed that resulted in an average magnesium intake of 332.5 mg/day. These subjects reported snoring while sleeping, daytime sleepiness, and trouble falling asleep.

In a double-blinded study conducted in Tehran, more than 40 elderly participants received either 500 milligrams of magnesium or a placebo over a period of 8 weeks. All of the magnesium supplement users not only fell asleep faster than the placebo users, but they also spent more time sound asleep while they were in bed compared to those in the control group.

These are just a few examples of research that indicates magnesium may be beneficial for people who have difficulty sleeping. When we look closely at the relationship between magnesium and sleep, we see that:

• Magnesium helps detoxify sleeping medications. After a certain period, sleeping pills will paradoxically keep you awake, so you’ll need to wean yourself off them and detox.
• At night, magnesium regulates the production of melatonin in the brain, a natural sleep hormone.
• During the day, magnesium produces serotonin, the “feel-good” brain chemical (which is essential for producing melatonin at night).
• As a stress reliever, magnesium functions to keep stressed adrenal glands relaxed so they are not active when you want to sleep.
• Relaxation is enhanced by magnesium, which removes tension from your muscles.
• Constipation and intestinal cramps can be relieved with magnesium, allowing your bowels to rest when you sleep.
• Additionally, magnesium is effective in easing PMS, perimenopause, and menopause symptoms that can adversely affect sleep.

How Magnesium Deficiency Affects Sleep Patterns

There are many health factors that can contribute to a restless night. The long list includes different medications, caffeine, alcohol, heart disease, pounding heartbeat, night-time cortisol surges, restless legs, pain, hormone shifts, fear, stress, anxiety, heartburn, constipation, depression, dementia, OCD, ADHD, arthritis, and poor recovery from exercise. Let’s start by focusing on a few common reasons people miss out on sleep.

Anxiety and depression are both brain health conditions that have been proven to interfere with sleep quality and feeling rested. These emotional responses cause the adrenal glands to misfire and be trigger-happy. You know you’re in that category when you jump at loud noises and your heart starts racing. If that’s the case, an exciting dream can speed up your heart and wake you up. And stress, like anxiety and depression, releases a cascade of hormones that cause negative physical effects. One of the stress hormones released in the body is cortisol. Having excessive levels of cortisol in our bodies can result in depression, anxiety, mood swings, dementia, brain fog, insomnia, concentration problems, and other mental disorders.

Magnesium inhibits the release of these hormones, preventing their infiltration into the brain. Which is why an increase in magnesium consumption can often help to reduce anxiety and induce a restful night’s sleep. But in the aftermath of these events, magnesium is depleted from the body, leaving people deficient. 

Magnesium Consumption and Dosage

To counter the factors that contribute to magnesium deficiency, you can choose to either change your diet and eat more magnesium-rich foods or choose to take a magnesium supplement. Both methods are helpful, as long as you are getting the recommended dosage each day. 

Magnesium can be found in a variety of food sources. Green leafy vegetables, legumes, seeds, whole grains, and nuts provide plenty of magnesium. This mineral is also commonly added to breakfast cereals and several other fortified foods. Magnesium can also be found in some tap, bottled and mineral waters depending on the type of filtration used before consuming. 

Magnesium Consumption and Absorption

Any dietary magnesium consumed through food is absorbed at a rate of 30% to 40%, depending on your gut health and other factors. Because of this, even those who consume extra amounts of magnesium-rich foods may still be deficient in this mineral. That’s why many users turn to supplements to get more magnesium and sleep. 

It is important to understand that there are varying forms of magnesium supplements, each with a unique absorption process. There are some magnesium supplements on the market that do not absorb well into the body, leaving users unknowingly deficient in magnesium. And when these magnesium supplements don’t improve their sleep, users assume there isn’t a magnesium deficiency to blame. Where in reality, all that is necessary is the appropriate formula and form-factor for your magnesium of choice.

Liquid magnesium dissolves faster, and is absorbed more completely than other form factors like pills. If you are looking to take a magnesium dosage for sleep, you want to know that the minerals you put into your body are actually being absorbed and creating well-being.

The Food and Nutrition Board has created recommended dietary allowances (RDAs) to help determine appropriate magnesium dosages. If you are looking to take a magnesium dosage for sleep, these guidelines offer a good place to start.

The RDAs for Magnesium:

• 1–3 years old: 80 mg
• 4-8 years old: 130 mg
• 9–13 years old: 240 mg
• 14–18 years old: 410 mg (males), 360 mg (females)
• 19–30 years old: 400 mg (males), 310 mg (females), 350 mg (pregnant females), 310 mg (lactating females)
• 31–50 years old: 420 mg (males), 320 mg (females), 360 mg (pregnant females), 320 mg (lactating females)
• 51+ years old: 420 mg (males), 320 mg (females)

Once you find the appropriate dosage of magnesium for sleep, all that’s left to do is enjoy a restful night of peace. If you haven’t tried magnesium for sleep yet, it might be the solution you were hoping for.