Magnesium for Sleep: Form Matters — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:01] supplement, but a new study finds magnesium may improve sleep quality and sleep duration in people who suffer from insomnia. I think this is a really important randomized control trial that you should know about. So, let's dive

[00:13] recently published study is magnesium biscinate supplementation in healthy adults reporting poor sleep, a randomized placeboc controlled trial. What I like about this trial is they enrolled individuals who have

[00:27] self-reported sleep disturbances. And what's neat about that is obviously these people are searching for answers and solutions. And we know that some of the drugs have a lot of side effects, don't they? benzoazipines and there's

[00:40] antihistamines and there's various pharmacologic agents that yes they can basically knock you out and cause you to sleep but it disrupts these drugs are well known to disrupt the sleep architecture impacting REM versus deep

[00:54] stages of sleep and possibly lead to memory issues and changes. So these investigators in Germany wanted to see if men's ambiscllinate keelate can improve insomnia as well as other uh markers of you know morning wakefulness

[01:09] and things of the sort. So they enlisted 155 adults between the ages of 18 and 65 years of age. And what I like about this study is they weren't giving super physiologic amounts of magnesium biscinate chilate. And I think that's

[01:24] important to recognize. and they use two different standardized sleep objective quality surveys and and there's several insomnia indices and so forth um that it comes to sleep and so they were comparing the outcomes versus placebo

[01:41] comparing the outcomes versus placebo versus 250 mg of magnesium bis glycinate chilate and I think this is important to talk about so we've heard about magnesium glycinate people kind of say this collially uh but I think it's

[01:54] important to recognize magnesium bis glycinate chilate. So when we think about these mineral salts, magnesium or potassium citrate or sodium chloride, whatever, magnesium has a plus2 charge and so it needs to be paired with a more

[02:08] and so it needs to be paired with a more negatively charged amino acid or salt. And in this case, magnesium bis glycinate chilate means for every one part magnesium, you're getting two parts of glycine. And so if you take a menes

[02:21] and biscly chilate product, for every 250 milligrams of magnesium, you're also getting close to 1.5 grams of elemental glycine, which is a very important non-essential amino acid, but has been shown to increase the receptor activity

[02:37] of the neurotransmitter GABA. It affects the GABA receptor activity, making your brain more sensitive to GABA, which of course is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that can help foster a more relaxed and calm state. And so I think couple things

[02:53] that are are worthy of sort of exploring and talking about before we get into the nuances here. The form of your magnesium matters. There's a lot of magnesium Whole Foods or Amazon, they just type in magnesium and buy the first thing that

[03:07] comes up with 16,000 fake reviews from, you know, overseas. Well, it's important that you you sort of avoid some of the not so effective forms of magnesium. In fact, I was just in Europe a couple weeks ago and there are limits on

[03:23] magnesium, how much magnesium can be in supplements because the health authorities in Europe recognize that magnesium citrate is basically a laxative, right? So if you take a lot of magnesium citrate, don't expect to get

[03:36] all the health benefits that are linked to other more shall we say better absorbed forms of magnesium like magnesium biscus and keilate, magnesium and acetyl torinate, magnesium althinate, d magnesium malate. These are

[03:49] the forms that you really should be uh looking to take when it comes to magnesium. Now, most of the companies out there are just selling, you know, the cheapest raw materials because they realize that most consumers don't really

[04:01] know the nuances when it comes to minerals or vitamins or, you know, different micronutrients. And so, they just want to put on the label 250 milligs of magnesium. And and so you'll see magnesium aspartate, magnesium

[04:15] sulfate, you'll see magnesium oxide, you'll see magnesium citrate. These are not really well absorbed. And as I mentioned in Europe, you know, they have a limit on how much magnesium you can actually put into a product uh per

[04:27] laxative properties, especially magnesium citrate. Okay. So, I think that's important point uh number one. But what I also want to talk about before we dive into the the statistically significant differences

[04:41] between the intervention group and the uh placebo group, which I think is yeah, it's not a benzoazipene. Menism is not going to knock you out. It's not going to cause you to fall asleep while you're driving your car. It's not as seditive,

[04:54] but it may in some susceptible people who are prone to feeling a little bit tired but wired at night, it may help take the edge off, especially when you pair it with things like GABA, elenine, and even more glycine. The synergistic

[05:10] effect of these different nutrients might help foster a more deep, restorative sleep. Now, some people still might wake up at 3 in the morning hormonal issues, maybe perry and post-menopausally or they have a

[05:23] prostate that's slightly enlarged, things like that. So, magnesium is not a cure all, but according to what we have here, there are between group differences uh in this study. And I want to focus here on figure two here uh

[05:37] looking at one of two different standardized insomnia indices comparing the between group differences here. When we look at the placebo versus the menis and biscllinate keilate supplementation group at 250 milligrams dosed between 30

[05:54] and 60 minutes before one's desired bedtime and you can see here after just 4 weeks or 28 days there is a between group difference in this objective assessment of two objective questionnaers with regards to insomnia.

[06:09] So I think that's uh important. Minimal adverse effects. That's what again there's bzzoazipines, there's sedatives, there's all these things that can knock you out, but those come with unwanted side effects. And if we look here at

[06:23] table five here, there's actually more side effects linked with the placebo group versus the intervention group, the magnesium biscuit keilate. So often we you to go to the bathroom and and have loose stools and things like that. There

[06:37] were no reported gastro There was no reported gastrointestinal side effects in the many intervention group. There was three reported GI side effects in the 76 participants who took the placebo. One reported increased sleep

[06:50] disturbances in the placebo group. Uh one reported headaches. Uh one person out of 77 in the intervention group reported reported joint pain and dizziness. Um and so actually the number of adverse events after four weeks was

[07:06] you know weighted more towards the placebo not the intervention group which I think is interesting. So before we talk about the mechanism of action I do want to dive into the summary of findings and just thank you all for

[07:19] content hit that like button leave me a comment in the comment section below. I would like to know which form of magnesium you found to be most I want to know like magnesium biscllinacilate magnesium l3inate. Have

[07:32] you looked at magnesium and acacetylinate? This is a new magnesium excited about. I'll put links in the description below a product that I formulated. But I just want to know from you what have you noticed and what is

[07:44] the dose and what is the form of menism. So a lot of people learn from the comment section. I would like to learn from you as well. Okay, I want to get into the summary of findings but first let's talk about mechanism of action. We

[07:59] know that magnesium is a enzyatic co-actor for over 350 enzymes in the body. Uh what does a co-actor really mean? Well, in order for an enzyatic reaction to happen, sometimes you need a catalyst to initiate the enzyatic steps

[08:13] that can culminate say in uh the GABA receptor being more sensitive to GABA for example. Well, magnesium, it turns out, is very important for a myriad of different co-actors and enzyatic reactions in the body, even making

[08:28] cellular energy. We know ATP. So, magnesium is really important for that. is what I think is really interesting. Well, the investigators say, uh, the findings from this study raise the question about how magnesium exerts its

[08:43] effects on sleep at a mechanistic level. I love diving into the mechanism. So animal model studies have extensively examined the role of magnesium in brain function and sleep regulation suggesting that its sleep enhancing properties may

[08:56] stem from both central nervous system activity and peripheral muscular relaxation. I think this is interesting. So part of how magnesium may foster deep and more restorative sleep is not just in the brain. It may help your muscles

[09:10] relax and there can be some bottom up effect from the periphery, the skeletal interesting and something that we should kind of consider. And so just something else you may want to consider if you really suffer from insomnia is like

[09:24] Epsom salts in a bath in a warm bath. You know, a lot of people anecdotally do this and they report better uh sleep and sleep duration and sleep quality and all that. in your cold plunge if you have one at home. You know, I like to uh put

[09:37] a lot of I put two I think 10 pound bags of Epsom salts in there and it makes the ice and the roseco forge uh cold plunge a lot softer, easier to break up. So that's another thing that I think is interesting. Okay, so the investigators

[09:49] say for example a trial in rats found that many deficient rats were associated with neurological excit excitability and disturbed sleep patterns. Another study conducted in mice found that magnesium concentration vary by brain region with

[10:04] the frontal cortex and basil forbrain showing the highest levels of magnesium. Now longer slowwave sleep during recovery from sleep deprivation correlated with increased magnesium in the motor cortex, amygdala, midbrain and

[10:18] cerebellum. Now in vitro studies, so these are tissue culture studies. Again, it's like how does magnesium work in the brain? I think it's interesting for us to dive into. In vitro studies provide further insights into magnesium's role

[10:32] in both the CNS and muscle function. Research on skeletal muscle fibers has shown that magnesium regulates calcium movements between the cycloplasmic movements between the cycloplasmic reticulum and the myofilament space. So

[10:45] intramuscle cells it affects the calcium signaling which over time can increase muscular relaxation. So, this is also probably good if you have a muscle probably good if you have a muscle sprain or an injury or you have restless

[10:59] leg. I don't think we can really talk about this on YouTube because there's people take that have a lot of side effects by the way. I've worked with people that have taken drugs for restless leg and it it's really the side

[11:13] effect profile is not good on these medications. So, you know, optimizing everything you can do with diet and and natural supplements that are much more profile, I think, is something to consider. But in essence, magnesium is

[11:28] helping the muscles relax and then also helping to increase the sensitivity of the GABA receptor in the brain. They go on to say that in the brain, magnesium at physiologically relevant concentrations potentiates the GABA

[11:41] receptor activity, thereby enhancing inhibitory neurotransmitter transmission, reducing neuronal excit excitability and promoting relaxation which may contribute to improved sleep quality again. So this is not a

[11:54] sedative. This is not a benzoazipene. You know, don't expect that if you take magnesium you're just going to like zon and fall fall asleep. It's more of a long-term play to retrain your physiology, especially if your life load

[12:07] is intense. You have multiple kids, working multiple jobs, working a lot, financial stressors, family stressors, all that. This can just help take the edge off a little bit. The investigators say although menism is postulated to be

[12:20] the main contributor to the observed effects, glycine, this is important because we talked about magnesium biscinate chilate. So for every 250 mg of elemental magnesium, when you take magnesium in the form of magnesium

[12:33] biscinate chilate, you're getting close to 1.5 gram of glycine, which is a non-essential amino acid that has multiple healthpromoting properties, including phase 1 detoxification, including increasing GABAthesis in the

[12:47] brain. So this is why pairing magnesium with magnesium biscllinate chilate in with magnesium biscllinate chilate in that form can be sort of a a better approach to go about it because you're getting the amino acid precursor to make

[12:59] the inhibitory neurotransmitter glycine. But the magnesium also helps to make the receptor more sensitive to to GABA. And so you're helping to increase GABA synthesis by providing elemental glycine. you're also via the magnesium

[13:14] receptor which I think is really interesting. So that might be how uh the combination is has been shown to improve sleep quality. The combination

[13:27] specifically being magnesium biscinate chilate. The investigators say as an inhibitory neurotransmitter, glycine interacts with the NMDA receptor and has been implicated in promoting relaxation and deeper sleep through mechanisms such

[13:42] as lowering core body temperature and beyond. So they talk more about, you research needs to really dive into this, but I don't know that we'll be able to actually, you know, do tissue biopsies

[13:56] not, you know, to really sort of look at this. But I think it's it's quite this. But I think it's it's quite interesting. So what do we find from the summary of findings from this randomized control trial? Again, comparing a

[14:10] control trial? Again, comparing a placebo group to 250 mg of elemental magnesium in the form of many chilate. The investigators say this nationwide homebased 4-week randomized double blind placebo control trial provides valuable

[14:22] insights into the effects of miniscus chilate on sleep quality in individuals with self-reported insomnia symptoms. Generalized linear mix model analysis confirmed a small but statistically significant reduction in insomnia

[14:37] symptoms following supplementation with 250 mg of magnesium and 1523 millig of glycine. So again, this is in the combination. So this is why these source really matters. It's not the brand. You want to be looking at what's on the

[14:52] label. What forms of magnesium are you getting? I don't care if it's like the brand says we're third party tested. We're NSF for sport certified. Look at what you're actually getting. This is really important. Okay. And the company

[15:05] is actually Albon that you want to look for. So Albon sources their amino acids and salts from the great uh the Great Salt Lake. They're a Utah based company uh and they are well recognized to make some of the best minerals uh in the

[15:19] world. And so they're um really good to consider when it comes to this. And you they go on and they talk about that you know magnesium was well tolerated with frequently in the magnesium biscinate keilate group versus the placebo group

[15:35] and they'll see quality uh score improve significantly in both groups within the first week. Though the between group differences did not reach statistical significance, but there was at the end of 28 days a difference in the

[15:51] intervention group versus the placebo group. So what do we make of this? Well, mean, you definitely need magnesium regardless. Uh, you know, especially people eating a carnivorous style diet. It turns out that as [snorts]

[16:05] healthpromoting as you know a whole food omnivorous style diet is you know we don't see a lot of magnesium in things that people are are eating you know in in these sort of diets. Egg yolks very healthy. Choline and various

[16:19] magnesium. uh grass-fed beef for example, a lot of amazing healthpromoting uh properties and different essential nutrients and conditionally essential nutrients like creatine and carnitine and torine and

[16:33] beta alanine and these things you know but not a good source of magnesium. So this is I think something that we should be looking at. And then of course this is really affordable. Uh and you know it does a lot of things. And the other

[16:45] thing I think is important to acknowledge is magnesium actually gets excreted in your sweat. And so if you go in the sauna, if you exercise, you are excreting via your sweat more magnesium as well as zinc. And so I think these

[16:59] things should be paired together. No, I think another question, you know, would be, well, is adding more glycine to the magnesium repertoire going to increase uh several studies finding that higher dosages of glycine may actually improve

[17:15] sleep duration and sleep quality. So, what are your thoughts, my friends? Let me know in the comments section below. As I mentioned, I would like to know if you take magnesium, if you do, how much do you take and what specific form you

[17:28] magnesium oxide, magnesium biscllicinate, chilate, whatever. And then what do you notice? Like do you notice anything different when it comes to your bowel movements, uh muscular contractions, uh headaches, you know,

[17:41] there's a lot of good data for magnesium use for migraines and recurrent migraines and headaches and things like that. And now we have a decent, you know, start to collecting more and more data about how magnesium can improve

[17:53] sleep duration and sleep quality and possibly ameliate insomnia. So, let me possibly ameliate insomnia. So, let me know in the comments section below.