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Does magnesium help with sleep?

Answered by the AskDoc Medical Team · Medically reviewed under our Medical Director, MBBS

The evidence is thinner than the hype: small studies suggest mild benefit, mostly in older adults or the deficient, and the popular glycinate form is calming for some. It is not a sleeping pill.

Magnesium is reasonably safe at modest doses, though it loosens stools and interacts with some medicines, so kidney disease changes the calculus.

Try it if you like for a month as an experiment, but the durable wins remain unglamorous: fixed wake time, morning daylight, caffeine curfew, alcohol honesty and a cool dark room. No capsule outruns those.

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