Magnesium and sleep [View All]

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Magnesium

The most abundant positively charged electrolyte in the body, magnesium is necessary for the movement of ions across cellular membranes and the transmission of nervous impulses. (7) The role of magnesium in the nervous system has led to its intense study throughout the medical literature. Known for its ability to affect sleep, sleep-related neuroendocrine functions, and EEG (electroencephalogram) patterns, magnesium was utilized as a treatment for insomnia in the elderly in one study. (8) The authors of this study noted that decreases in several sleep measurement indices (decreased slow wave sleep and delta and sigma wavelength power) were improved upon supplementation of magnesium. These investigators suggest that magnesium, used as a sleep aid, may affect glutaminergic and GABAnergic neurotransmitter systems and can alter age-related sleep changes.

Subsequent depletion of magnesium associated with low intake is thought to disrupt normal biologic rhythms including sleep cycles. Low intake is associated with hypo- and hyperfunction of the biologic clock; hyperfunction of the biologic clock is associated with various manifestations of nervous hypoexcitability such as depression, headaches, and myalgias (fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome) while hypofunction is associated with expression of nervous hyperexcitabity such as delayed sleep onset, age-related insomnia, anxiety, and migraine. (9) Researchers speculate that the role of the biologic clock and magnesium are linked in a way that a certain level of magnesium is necessary for the efficient function of the pineal gland and the suprachiasmatic nuclei. (10) Additionally, this research hypothesizes that magnesium may stimulate inhibitory neurotransmitter systems such as GABA and taurine and may antagonize carbon monoxide and nitric oxide, gases characterized as "neuroactive." Clinically, the authors of this paper note a beneficial effect of magnesium supplementation in the late evening hours on sleep quality; this effect is achieved with 200-300 milligrams over a period of one to two weeks of continuous supplementation. Magnesium plays an interesting role in the function of biologic rhythms; more research is needed in this area.