Magnesium vs. Melatonin: Which One Helps Better With Sleep?

If you have trouble sleeping, you’ve likely heard of melatonin as a natural alternative to prescription sleep aids. The supplement has gotten a lot of buzz from the media and word of mouth with some folks swearing by it as their go-to remedy.

In the ever-evolving market, though, there’s a newer kid in town, and its name is magnesium. The hype surrounding magnesium has some consumers rethinking their sleep-aid strategy and wondering whether they should purchase magnesium or melatonin.

This article will take an in-depth look at both of these sleep supplements, including how they work, the differences between them, and which is better for a restful night.

What Is Magnesium?

Magnesium is a powerful nutrient⁵, present in a variety of foods like nuts, seeds, leafy greens, beans, potatoes, rice, bananas, and more. This nutrient is important because it regulates muscles and nerves, blood sugar, and blood pressure, and it helps make protein, bone, and DNA⁵.

What’s interesting is that magnesium may also help regulate your body’s melatonin production⁶. This means that magnesium-deficient individuals may not be producing the amount of melatonin necessary to properly regulate the sleep-wake cycle. 

How Does a Magnesium Supplement Work?

Magnesium can be used to treat a variety of issues, however, all magnesium supplements aren’t created equal. There are several different types of magnesium⁷, including magnesium citrate, magnesium oxide, magnesium chloride, and more. Magnesium oxide⁸ seems to be the best for treating constipation, whereas magnesium chloride seems to work well for people with fibromyalgia⁹ or sore muscles.

For sleep, however, the types of magnesium that seem to be the best are magnesium citrate and magnesium glycinate because they are both easily absorbed⁶.

Magnesium aids sleep by acting on certain receptors in the brain called “benzodiazepine receptors.” This is the same receptor that drugs like Ambien and Valium work on to create a feeling of relaxation. Similar to these prescription drugs, magnesium seems to aid sleep by relaxing both the mind and the muscles of the body.⁶

A 2016 study¹⁰ found that intake of this supplement was able to reduce stress levels and could help with bedtime disorders and restlessness, as well as irritability, lack of concentration, anxiety, and depression.

Check Out Our Guide: Best Magnesium Supplements for Sleep

What Is Melatonin?

Melatonin is a hormone produced by the brain’s pineal gland in response to darkness and is part of the body’s sleep cycle. Levels of this hormone become higher at night¹¹ to make you sleepy as it gets dark.

Recent studies are uncovering melatonin’s other important roles in the body. For example, this hormone also appears to play a role in puberty onset, hormonal regulation, memory, inflammation, mental health disorders, and more.² However, research on this is ongoing.

How Does a Melatonin Supplement Work?

Although the body naturally produces more melatonin at night to facilitate sleepiness, some people who struggle to sleep may try to increase their melatonin levels through supplementation.

For example, shift workers who go to bed when it is light outside may need help telling their body it’s time to sleep since this schedule goes against the natural circadian rhythm. If you’re traveling across time zones and your circadian rhythm is still “on your home time,” you might also benefit from melatonin to help you adjust to your destination’s dark and light cycles. Additionally, many who simply struggle to sleep in general may find melatonin helps them doze off.

Health experts suggest taking 1-3 milligrams of this supplement approximately two hours before your bedtime to help with sleep.¹¹ It may require some trial and error to find the dose that’s best for you, however, it is always recommended to start on the low end of the range.

For those who want to alleviate jet lag, you should take melatonin one or two hours prior to your destination bedtime beginning several days before your trip.¹¹

For anyone who wants to exhaust all options before using a melatonin supplement, Nastasi mentions that melatonin is found naturally in certain foods. While these levels are relatively low compared to what the body naturally produces, incorporating these foods into your diet may contribute to better sleep. 

Some natural sources of melatonin¹² include eggs, fish, fruits,  tart cherries, grapes, strawberries, tomatoes, bell peppers, almonds, walnuts, and peanuts29. That said, the levels of melatonin in these foods are not as high as what is commonly found in melatonin supplements, so relying on them alone may not provide sufficient melatonin for those seeking its use as a sleep aid.

View Our Guide: Best Melatonin Supplements

Magnesium vs. Melatonin: Which is Better for Sleep?

Experts say melatonin has been shown to help people fall asleep more quickly.¹⁰ Meanwhile, additional research suggests it could increase rapid eye movement (REM) sleep²².

REM sleep is when we are most likely to dream and is a necessary part of the sleep cycle as it plays a vital role in memory formation²³. During REM sleep, the brain transfers short-term memories from one part of the brain into another, to become long-term memories.²³ This may be why melatonin has been shown to improve memory²⁴, as well as sleep.

While melatonin may help improve how quickly you fall asleep and the percentage of time you spend in REM sleep, magnesium seems to improve how quickly you fall asleep, along with overall sleep quality and length of time spent sleeping²⁵.

Ultimately, it may require some experimentation to determine which of these supplements may be right for you. That being said, we always advise you to speak with a primary healthcare provider before implementing either of these supplements into your regular routine.  

Get More Info: Best Natural Sleep Aids

How Do These Supplements Affect Our Bodies?

The human body has a natural way of operating, and by adding a supplement, you could manipulate those processes.

Circadian Rhythm

Circadian Rhythm¹³ refers to your body’s mental, physical, and behavioral changes in a 24-hour cycle. For example, being awake during the day and asleep at night is due to your circadian rhythm. The circadian rhythm is regulated by what is called a “biological clock,” or a bundle of proteins that interacts with cells throughout the body.¹³ Nearly all of the body’s tissues contain a biological clock for a different function.¹³

Magnesium plays an important part in making sure all those biological clocks are ticking smoothly. In fact, research has found that magnesium, in particular, was vital to these 24-hour clocks¹⁴ because magnesium levels rise and fall in a daily cycle, helping control how cells “keep time” with the environmental cycles of dark and light. Interestingly, this is true not just in humans but in almost all organisms.¹⁴

Melatonin seems to be just as important in regulating the sleep-wake circadian rhythm as it tells the body when it should be getting sleepy, in response to darkness.² Both melatonin and magnesium supplements can be used as a possible way to adjust these cycles or make them more efficient.

Nervous System

Magnesium is vital to the nervous system¹⁵ because it helps with nerve transmission and neuromuscular conduction. It also protects from excitotoxicity, which can lead to cell death.¹⁵ For this reason, magnesium is being studied in relation to disorders of the nervous system, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, stroke, migraine, chronic pain, and epilepsy.

Since magnesium plays such a pivotal role in both the central and peripheral nervous system¹⁶, that means it is critical for brain function, including the part of the brain that copes with stress and anxiety. This is why research shows¹⁷ that these supplements may help lower stress – a condition linked to insomnia.

According to research¹⁸, melatonin has been found to be effective at protecting the central nervous system from neurological issues like brain injuries or degeneration. Meanwhile, newer studies¹⁹ are currently looking at its protective effects against degenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s. Though the findings are promising, research is ongoing.

Sleep

Melatonin supplements do not act as a sedative or necessarily help you sleep through the night, but rather, they can help you get to sleep earlier.¹³ If you take melatonin about one or two hours before your desired bedtime, it should help you to feel sleepy at that time. However, unless you’re taking prolonged-release tablets, it won’t necessarily help you sleep longer through the night. This is why melatonin could be especially helpful for travelers or those who work overnight because it can help adjust your internal clock.¹³

Magnesium, however, can work in two ways. The first is to better regulate melatonin production, which as we have discussed, promotes sleepiness. The second is that it helps activate your parasympathetic nervous system²⁰, which is the system responsible for relaxing you.

Overdosing Side Effects

Since these products are classified as supplements, they are not regulated by the FDA and are recommended as temporary aids, not permanent fixes. Possible side effects of melatonin supplements include headaches, dizziness, nausea, and drowsiness.⁴ Even though you can overdose on melatonin (in other words, take an amount that causes adverse side effects), no studies show that melatonin taken at any level can be lethal²¹.

Excessive amounts of magnesium from supplements have been reported to cause diarrhea, nausea, and abdominal cramping.⁵ In rare cases, taking too much magnesium can be fatal, however, this amount must exceed more than 5,000 milligrams in a day, where the daily upward recommendation is just 350 milligrams.⁵

Learn More: Can You Overdose on Melatonin?