No matter what you're trying to accomplish in life there's one thing that always has an impact on how well you will do: the amount of sleep you get every night.
Being well rested helps you physically, mentally, and emotionally. It increases your will power and improves your mood.
Sleep affects so many aspects of daily life, yet many people struggle to get enough.
The good news is that there are a number of things you can do to help yourself sleep better, from tweaking your sleep environment to taking magnesium for sleep.
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Disclaimer:
The content provided here is for informational purposes only and should not be used in place of the advice of a healthcare professional. While my wife and I have been taking magnesium supplements every day for years, I can't say how they might affect you. Always consult a doctor if you have health concerns: don't try to self-diagnose!
Control Your Sleep Environment
Some causes of insomnia are out of your control. Your job may require you to work odd hours or you may have chronic pain that keeps you awake. These are things you have to manage as best you can for now while working to address them over time.
However there are other causes that when tweaked and optimized can have an immediate effect. Quite often the changes you make to things you can control can be enough to get you the rest you need.
Doctors call this 'sleep hygiene' but I've always hated this term. It makes me think I should be cleaning something while sleeping.
Things to try:
- Reduce caffeine intake, especially later in the day (this is a no-brainer).
- Tweak your sleeping environment: make the room cool, comfortable, and quiet. A white noise machine and a better mattress can have a big impact.
- Keep a consistent sleep schedule, even on weekends. This trains your body to know when it should be preparing for sleep and keeps all your internal rhythms synchronized.
- Create a pre-bedtime routine that relaxes you, such as some light reading or meditation. Taking a hot shower or bath can help you relax as well (and that's true sleep hygiene!).
- Do everything you can to avoid bright lights before bed, especially the screens on TVs, computers, tablets and phones: these screens are bright and will tell your brain to "Wake UP!" instead of "Relax".
- Try light therapy in the morning. Sunlight tells the brain it is daytime, so spending some time outdoors each morning can help your body learn when it should be awake. If being outdoors isn't an option, you can try a light therapy device that simulates the blue light the sun generates.
- Exercise. Getting regular exercise has been proven to improve sleep. Mornings or afternoons are better times for exercise than right before bed though ... don't run for an hour then expect to go right to sleep as your body will be wide awake!
- Try taking magnesium for sleep: magnesium is soothing to your body and helps you relax (see below).
Food Can Affect Sleep
Something else you can tweak is what you do or do not eat before bed.
Some people sleep better on an empty stomach. Not eating before bed can reduce the chances of getting Acid Reflux.
Eating (or not eating) before bed can affect your sleep
Others sleep better with a full belly. If you have something light and healthy before bed you can prevent having low blood sugar in the middle of the night.
Either way, try to avoid having a lot of sugar before bed. It can act like caffeine for a short while and wake you up instead of relaxing you.
Also try not to drink too much before bed. Frequent bathroom breaks in the wee-hours of the morning will disturb anyone's rest!
Breathe Easier To Sleep Easier
Many people have trouble breathing when they sleep.
Sometimes this is the result of your throat muscles relaxing when you fall asleep, to the point that your airway becomes closed and your breathing becomes too shallow or stops entirely. This is called Sleep Apnea and can be related to snoring.
A sleep study can help you determine if you have Sleep Apnea. Common remedies are CPAP machines and dental devices, both of which open your airway without requiring surgery.
Another common problem is trouble breathing through your nose when you lie down. This is often caused by allergies or chronic congestion, and there are tweaks you can try for these was well:
- You may have dust allergies. Pillows collect dust like crazy, so try washing your pillow and pillow case in hot water to see if that helps. If it does, there are special pillow covers you can get that can help by keeping your pillow free of dust and other allergens.
- Try nasal strips. These are little band-aid looking strips that stick to the outside of your nose and pull your nostrils open more than they otherwise would be. They may look silly, but I can say from personal experience that they do help quite a bit.
- Try a decongestant. There are a number of over-the-counter decongestants you can try. Be careful though as some can make you feel wide awake and keep you from sleeping, and as always talk to your doctor before trying any medication.
Magnesium For Sleep
Magnesium is critical to so many things our bodies do, and sleep is no exception.
In fact it is known to help our bodies relax because it can:
- Reduce the affects of stress and anxiety
- Relax muscles
- Calm the nervous system
Not getting enough magnesium in your daily diet can cause you to:
- Feel agitated all night long
- Wake up frequently
- Sleep less deeply
Before I learned about the importance of magnesium I had a horrible time sleeping. It took me forever to fall asleep, I would wake up multiple times in the middle of the night, and I had frequent nightmares. Taking magnesium for sleep helps me wake up rested!
I also deal with Restless Leg Syndrome, and magnesium has greatly reduced the frequency and severity of my symptoms.
So be sure to get enough magnesium in your diet, either through healthy eating or supplementation. It's a natural sleep remedy!
Treat Sleep Like An Experiment
Sleep is like a lot of other things in life: what works for someone else may or may not work for you.
Your best bet is to experiment. Tweak one thing and see how you sleep over the course of a week or two to see if the change makes any difference. If it does, great! If not, set it side and try something else.
I also strongly suggest you talk to a doctor if you haven't already. They can test your magnesium levels and suggest other things you can try that you may not think of on your own.
The key is to try only one thing at a time so you will know which changes make a positive impact and which do not.
Testing is the only way I was able to find out that taking magnesium for sleep was so helpful.
Hello everyone
When my doctor did an RBC Magnesium bloodtest we were shocked to see how low it was and below the lowest number. I immediately found some Natural Calm magnesium citrate powder but it wasn’t long before I realized that the Citrate form caused me to have Diahrea. Now what? Is this a guessing game?
Does anyone here know how to figure out the daily dosage? Are there guidelines somewhere to tell us an approximate amount to aim for each day?
I could sure use a little guidance.
Use magnesium glycinate or magnesium bisglycinate (different names, same type of Magnesium). No intestinal issues, better absorption, and the body will eliminate it slower then citrate bound magnesium. 300-400mg elemental Magnesium before sleep and you will feel the difference.
Hi – I started with vertigo four years ago and it turned into a foggy head, odd vision, fatigue and just generally feeling spaced out. I was diagnosed with Vestibular Migraines. The Neurologist told me to take magnesium. I have tried various types and now take Glycinate. However it keeps me awake. Everyone else I know says it helps them to sleep.
Does anyone have a clue why magnesium keeps me awake?
Sally
Fascinating reading here. Four months ago, I suffered acute spinning vertigo for the first time. This led to panic attacks, anxiety and depression. GP and ENT both diagnosed BPPV in my right ear. After about 3 weeks, the acute spinning dizziness went away and was replaced by general dizziness and “brain fog”. I’ve had attendant anxiety, depression and insomnia during this time as well. I’ve actually had muscle twitches and jitteriness for several years – it’s interesting to learn that these all may be related! MRI and VNG exams all showed me as perfectly normal. Neurotologist speculated that I may have vertigo-inducing migraines, and referred me to a neurologist. However, I’ve been reading about magnesium deficiency, and think this may be my main problem – I’ve been on 20 mg of Omeprazole (generic Prilosec) a day for over a year, and recently read that it can cause magnesium deficiency if you’re on it consistently for over a year.
So I’m going to experiment with taking Magnesium Gycinate supplements, as well as taking a bath with Epsom Salts at night before bed to see if that will help with the insomnia.
However, I’ve also read that you need to balance your Magnesium, Calcium, D3 and K2 for everything to “work” together the best. I think most of us likely get the Calcium we need through diet, and maybe D3 as well. Do you supplement your magnesium intake with correspondingly increased K2 or D3 intake?
Prilosec has been mentioned here a couple times recently, which I find to be an interesting trend – thank you for sharing your story!
I do take D3 during the winter months, but I have not tried K2.
Please let us know how you make out with the magnesium. I hope it helps!
Hi Andrew!
Thanks so much for your response! I had a Mac RBC done and my level was 5.4 so was on the lower side. I tried to take Natural Calm at night but it kept me up. I tried Jigsaw mag but since it has B vitamins it kind of kept me up. I took both during the day and it didn’t work to help my sleep. Since I started the Doctors Best Magnesium Glycinate I started to see some changes but I still only take it during the day for fear it might keep me up. But I’m going to try it this weekend taking it at night and see if that helps. I think the other two may have been too energizing for me since I’m deficient? Not too sure but I’ll keep you posted. I had an HTMA done and all my levels were low. Boo! :(
My dr also put me on Hylands magnesium phos tissue salts to help me absorbing Magnesium better. Apparently if you been deficient for a long time the receptor site shutdown and mag phos helps open it up and then using the mag back into the cells. I know it can take a couple months to get levels up to a point where symptoms start to fade so I’m trying to be patient.
Your website has been a Godsend. Thank you Andrew!
Interesting! I hadn’t seen magnesium phosphate tissue salts before – if you would, please let us know how it ends up working for you :)
Hi Liz, I have insomnia too (trouble staying asleep) and other symptoms like sore neck and shoulder, minor palpitations, low energy level during the day (some days are better though) and all these make me anxious about my health (Anxiety!). My doctor put me on Magnesium Glycinate and now it take three 120 mg a day (apparently it’s a pretty low dose compare to what other people mentioned in this forum). One in the morning, afternoon and at night. It has been 3 weeks and I have not noticed any major difference yet but at least I am able to fall back to sleep if I wake up in the middle of the night.
A good night sleep can make you feel refreshed and energized. So I am totally with you. As you said, it takes time to see the results so hang in there!!
Best of luck!
Hi!
I have insomnia pretty bad (hard time falling asleep and waking up lots during the night). How long did it take you to start sleeping better? I’ve been on Drs Best mag Gly for 2 1/2 weeks now. Thanks!
I’d say it look me about a month to get the full effect. What helps me the most is taking it an hour or so before I go to bed, which seems to subtly relax me.
There a couple others things I’ve done that have helped me a lot as well:
– Keep a regular sleep schedule. I used to sleep in on the weekends but now I set the alarm for only 30 minutes later than I do on weekdays. It was tough for the first couple weekends, but now I really enjoy my weekend mornings and when I go to bed at night I’m asleep within minutes.
– Exercise most weekday mornings. I spend 25-30 minutes on an elliptical, which gives me a sense of well-being for the rest of the morning and seems to help me sleep at night (I say this because if I start to skip my morning sessions I’ll find I’m having a harder time falling asleep at night).
– Pay attention to medication I’m taking. I get seasonal allergies and the various over the counter meds affect me in very different ways. In particular, Claritin will keep me up most of the night while Zyrtec knocks me out cold.
– Control my environment. I tend to do a lot of testing of things in my life to see what works and what doesn’t, and for sleeping I’ve found that being in a cool, dark room with white noise in the background makes a big difference.
I imagine you’ve already tried most or all of these, so I hope the magnesium ends up helping you sleep :)