Magnesium is an essential mineral in your diet and the second most common electrolyte in the human body.
It’s also a very common deficiency in many developed countries because high grain diets are poor sources of magnesium.
Magnesium is often helpful with protecting against depression and ADHD but is also a powerful sleep supplement as it’s been proven across multiple studies to promote deep sleep, muscle relaxation and recovery.
Magnesium for Sleep: TLDR
- Dosage: 200-400mg of Magnesium
- Timing: Take 30 minutes prior to sleep
- Type: Magnesium Bisglycinate or Magnesium Citrate
- Mechanism of Action: Improves deep sleep. Important for muscle recovery and strength.
- Safety profile: Very safe
- Recommend Product: Impossible Sleep
How to Use Magnesium for Better Sleep
Magnesium Dosage for Sleep: How much magnesium to take for sleep?
You should take 200mg-400mg of magnesium for sleep.
How long does magnesium take to work for sleep?
Magnesium typically takes 20-30 minutes to take effects - so timing it before you go to bed is a smart thing to do.
Mechanism of Action: Magnesium & Sleep
Magnesium has clearly shown to improve poor quality sleep and sometimes reverse indicators of poor sleep & recovery.
Magnesium can help lower cortisol markers helping people spend more time in deep, uninterrupted sleep.
Also, given Magnesium's wide reputation for lowering inflammatory markers - it's ability to help improve both those, mood issues all contribute to improving overall deep sleep and muscle recovery.
Best Types of Magnesium For Sleep
There are several types of magnesium that exist - each of them bound to different elements and provide their own costs + benefits. Heres’ the best types of magnesium for sleep.
Magnesium Citrate for Sleep
Magnesium citrate tends to have a high elemental rate and a high bioavailability rate (25-30%) and is often easily dissolved in water. If you’re interested in having a magnesium drink for sleep - this is your go-to bet.
Magnesium Glycinate for Sleep
Also both high in elemental content and bioavailable - this is absorbed in a different area of your gut than other forms. Useful for sleep, but not the go to choice.
Magnesium Oxide For Sleep
Magnesium oxide has a higher elemental rate of magnesium than other forms, but is less bioavailable. This is better used for laxative purposes than for sleep.
Magnesium L-Threonate for Sleep -
While magnesium l-threonate has a very low elemental count of magnesium (roughly 7%), it does cross the blood-brain barrier easier than other types. It’s often recommended for sleep, but can also lead to some strange dreams according to rare reports. Read our deep dive on magnesium l-threonate here.
Other types of Magnesium Sprays & Magnesium Oils
You often see magnesium sprays and magnesium oils to help with sleep. Often these cite studies that are funded by the companies that sell these oils + sprays that say that these application methods are better than traditional supplementation.
However, it's important to note that studies not found better absorption through transdermal application methods and instead recommend the tried and true oral supplementation.
Side Effects of Magnesium
While magnesium has a generally safe profile, at high dosages, you may notice some digestive discomfort.
This happens in a few ways.
If you're new to supplementing any form of magnesium you may notice this at first. At normal dosages, this should self-correct after a few days as your body adjust and typically signals that you've previously been deficient.
Magnesium oxide provides the least absorption and is mostly commonly associated with diahhrea.
Magnesium citrate - while being the most bio-available - at very high dosages (500mg+), it may cause a morning bowel movement. In medical settings - at high dosages -it's used as a laxative, so you don't want to be consuming endless amounts of citrate, but your body will tend to adapt over time.
Magnesium glycinate / bisgclyinate seem to have a good mix of both bio-availability and elemental magnesium so sometimes this is the form of magnesium that people prefer for sleep.
What To Take with Magnesium
To further improve your sleep - you can consider adding l-thenine to your magnesium cocktail to promote relaxation and rest.
Conveniently, these are the two ingredients in our flagship product - Impossible Sleep. The effects from magnesium help promote deep sleep while l-theanine provide a calming, relaxing effect that helps you “quiet your thoughts.”
The Best Magnesium Supplement for Sleep
If you’re looking for the best night’s sleep of your life, we recommend our flagship formula - Impossible Sleep.
It contains the recommended amount of daily magnesium plus l-theanine, a naturally occurring amino acid.
There’s no artificial sweeteners, filler, or other junk to make things complicated. Just scientifically backed, proven, high-quality components designed to help you get the best sleep of your life.
Magnesium for Sleep Citations & References
Sources and citations for our research on magnesium + sleep:
- Magnesium supplementation improves indicators of low magnesium status and inflammatory stress in adults older than 51 years with poor quality sleep
- Oral Mg(2+) supplementation reverses age-related neuroendocrine and sleep EEG changes in humans
- Myth or Reality—Transdermal Magnesium?
- The 5 Best magnesium supplements