The short answer is yes, as to how much magnesium helps you sleep, that's going to depend on whether or not you're already getting enough in your diet.
And although it’s relatively uncommon as a severe deficiency, effecting less than 15% off the US population [1], there is a much higher percentage of people with minor magnesium deficiencies known as a sub clinical deficiency. Some studies suggesting that the rate could even be above 50%.
That means that whilst there isn't a bad enough to cause "noticeable" outward symptoms, it can still hamper some bodily functions. In these cases taking magnesium supplements would almost certainly improve sleep.
As meeting these baseline needs will likely have an impact on speed of falling asleep as well as overall sleep quality.
Now, even with that said, there's plenty of evidence to support that even if you are getting the recommended minimum, you could still benefit from getting more, at least when it comes to drifting off to sleep.
How much magnesium per day for a man
Men need notably more magnesium per day than women with the RDI of magnesium for men being 400-420mg per day.
How much magnesium per day for a woman
Women need around 310-320mg per day to maintain healthy levels of magnesium.
Why does magnesium help you sleep?
Magnesium helps your body reduce cortisol (the stress hormone) build up, which in turn allows you to relax. Unlike other a lot of other ingredients commonly found in sleep supplements such as melatonin, which is recommended to be taken in the hours leading up to sleep, the benefits of magnesium are the same whenever you take them during the day.
As previously mentioned around 30-50% of the US population don’t get the full amount of magnesium recommended [1] this means that minor supplementation will help your body more effectively reduce cortisol when it’s time to rest.
Magnesium is also a GABA agonist, meaning that it is used to turn on your GABA receptors which have a sedative like effect. As this uses your own body to produce a sedative effect it’s only designed to kick in when your circadian rhythm tells you it’s time to sleep so won’t make you drowsy through the day.
Clinical Trials Showing Magnesium Helps You Sleep
Magnesium has been demonstrated to be effective in double blind placebo-controlled trials in reducing insomnia issues [2] when they looked at how magnesium helps you sleep, the researchers noted that 500mg seemed to be effective.
How much magnesium per day for sleep?
Whilst 500mg of magnesium per day is enough to improve sleep quality if you already have a diet which is high in magnesium it is not recommended to supplement more than 350mg per day to aid with sleep.
Sources of magnesium
The following foods [3] are all notably high in magnesium so if you eat a lot of these it would be best to aim for a supplement of 350mg rather than 500mg of magnesium for sleep.
- Seeds (particularly pumpkin and chia)
- Nuts (notably almonds and cashews)
- Spinach
- Cereal
- Soymilk
- Beans
- Butter (and other dairy)
- Potatoes
- Rice
- Fish
Condition improvements with magnesium supplementation
It's worth noting that for people with chronic fatigue syndrome, magnesium supplementation is recommended, and has been shown to have benefits beyond sleep quality. [4]
What about other types of magnesium to help you sleep?
Magnesium doesn’t just come as one simple supplement, there are various compounds of magnesium that are commonly sold. Such as Magnesium Citrate or Magnesium Glycinate.
Does magnesium citrate help you sleep?
There is no reason that magnesium citrate should perform better than standard magnesium in terms of sleep aids, the main reason to choose magnesium citrate would be that certain forms of magnesium are not very bioavailable, meaning your body simply doesn't absorb it very well. It's worth noting that if your supplement says magnesium citrate, and doesn't list actual magnesium you should remember that it only makes up half of the compound. With most pills coming as 500mg this half and half blend would result in an intake of 250mg of magnesium.
Does magnesium glycinate help you sleep?
The amino acid glycinate is often used as a sleep aid by itself, so combining it with magnesium has increased benefits. Like magnesium citrate it also has the benefit of being easier for the body to absorb in one go. Generally speaking magnesium glycinate is the best for sleep related issues.
Does calcium magnesium and zinc help you sleep?
Calcium, magnesium and zinc pills are often combined with vitamin D, making them a great men’s health supplement overall. Whilst the bioavailability to zinc and calcium is slightly compromised when taking them together, it’s better than not having either. Zinc does also benefit sleep [5] with clinical deficiencies often causing insomnia. It is particularly important for men’s sleep issues as even minor deficiencies can crash hormone production leading to poor sleep. As such this may be a good magnesium supplement for men struggling with sleep.
References
1 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5786912/
2 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3703169/
3 - https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Magnesium-HealthProfessional/
4 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3201900/
5 - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5713303