May 2025

IS MAGNESIUM A MAGICAL

CURE FOR TROUBLED SLEEP?

Thanks to claims by influencers and celebrities, the supplement is flying off the shelves. 

Whether it actually helps beat insomnia is another story.

Is everyone you know complaining about sleep?  We’re exhausted, and our minds are racing in the middle of the night. Many have tried strategies such as regular sleep/wake cycles, swearing off alcohol and walking outside first thing in the morning, but nothing has made much of a difference. Then everyone started talking about magnesium. Manufacturers have expanded their offerings from pills to gummies and powders. In the past 2 years, vitamin suppliers have seen magnesium sales grow over 70%. Sleep experts say that today’s magnesium mania is in part thanks to Tik Tok users posting viral videos with recipes and health claims. 

Right now is an incredibly heightened time of anxiety. People are anxious, and they go to the drugstore and say, “I know you can’t give me Xanax, but what else do you have?”  More often than not, the pharmacist recommends a magnesium-based concoction. People are looking for natural ways to promote sleep without taking medications. As more people track their health data on wearable devices, it has led to an impulse to optimize well-being by taking supplements. 

Is magnesium worth the hype? The experts say yes and no. Some survey studies have shown that people who take magnesium tend to sleep better than people who don’t, but there hasn’t been anything conclusive. It Is potentially helpful for some people and it doesn’t hurt, so it’s worth a try. It may also help with constipation and leg cramps. Even without a requisite condition, some doctors suggest it these days for everything from low energy to insomnia. Very few people don’t benefit from a little bit of magnesium supplementation. As for the type of magnesium that is recommended, most physicians and dietitians recommend either magnesium glycinate or magnesium L-threonate.

Though most health experts say taking magnesium won’t hurt you, it depends on where you get it and how much you take. The lack of regulation around supplements often results in vastly different levels of both listed and unlisted ingredients. Though magnesium can be essential for treating certain health problems, taking it for subtle complaints such as low energy or occasional difficulty falling back to sleep is unlikely to have an effect. Very few individuals have a clinical magnesium deficiency.

Generally, when you’re having some kind of problem where you’re a little off-kilter, chances are you were going to feel better in a few days anyway. So, if you happened to take something during those few days, it’s not exactly the placebo effect, it’s just the amazing remarkable body we have that with time just happens to get better.

Alexandra Wolfe