Sleep Supplements: Magnesium vs. Melatonin
If you want to feel good during the day, you need a good night’s sleep. Yet if you are like many people, getting restful sleep each night can be difficult. As a result, you may be wanting to learn about sleep supplements. While you’ve probably heard of melatonin, you may not realize that magnesium supplements are also used to help improve sleep. If you’re wondering which is best when it comes to magnesium vs melatonin, here’s all you need to know.
What are Magnesium and Melatonin?
To help you make the best decision as to which sleep supplement may work best for you, it’s a good idea to learn a bit more about magnesium and melatonin.
Magnesium is an essential nutrient for your body. Found in such foods as nuts, green leafy vegetables, and whole grains, it is responsible for helping to regulate your body’s blood pressure, blood sugar, and your muscles and nerves. In addition, it also helps to create bone, protein, and even DNA. Ironically enough, magnesium also helps to regulate your body’s production of melatonin.
While magnesium is an essential nutrient, melatonin is a hormone that is produced by the pineal gland, which is located in your brain. Once darkness falls, this gland goes to work producing melatonin. Thus, this explains why you have higher levels of melatonin in your body at night when you are getting ready to sleep.
How do Magnesium and Melatonin Promote Better Sleep?
Now that you know the basics in regards to magnesium vs melatonin, you’re probably curious about how taking these supplements promotes better sleep.
When you take a magnesium supplement to help you get a good night’s sleep, it accomplishes this by activating your body’s parasympathetic nervous system. Since this is the nervous system that is responsible for helping you stay calm and relaxed, the result is you should be able to fall asleep much easier by taking this supplement. Some studies have also indicated that magnesium can help reduce stress levels and ease bedtime restlessness, although more research is needed in this area.
Melatonin supplements work a bit differently. Even though your body may already be producing higher levels of this hormone at night, you may still need a little bit more to help you get to sleep. When you take a melatonin supplement, this helps accelerate the process of getting your melatonin levels higher, which should help you get to sleep quicker. For best results, most sleep experts recommend taking no more than three milligrams of a melatonin supplement about two hours before you want to go to sleep.
Compare and Contrast
Now it’s time to start comparing and contrasting magnesium vs melatonin in terms of their similarities, differences, and how one or the other may prove to be most useful to you in your quest to get a good night’s sleep.
First, keep in mind that when you are taking either of these supplements, you are attempting to manipulate your body’s natural processes. Because of this, always speak to your doctor to make sure taking a supplement will be safe, especially if you are already on other medications.
To compare and contrast magnesium vs melatonin, it’s best to concentrate on the areas of circadian rhythm, nervous system, and sleep.
The circadian rhythm is your body’s biological clock within your brain and organs, making sure your physical, mental, and behavioral changes within a 24-hour period are kept on track. When they are not, this is when sleep problems start to occur.
Since magnesium is an essential nutrient for your body, having normal levels of it means it is able to work within your brain and organs to keep your circadian rhythm functioning smoothly.
Meanwhile, melatonin can help regulate your circadian rhythm’s sleep-wake cycle, helping you stay awake during the day and fall asleep much easier at night.
When it comes to your nervous system, magnesium may have an edge over melatonin. Magnesium helps to control the nervous system cells responsible for emotion and thinking, and also is vital to the part of your brain that deals with stress. When your stress levels are lowered, conditions such as insomnia may disappear.
Melatonin’s primary job in this area is to protect your central nervous system from injuries or degeneration, meaning it may help improve your sleep if you are suffering from certain conditions that may make sleep more difficult, such as brain injuries or other similar problems.
Finally, a melatonin supplement is not necessarily a sedative, but rather one that regulates your sleep cycle. However, magnesium can actually work as a sedative. Along with helping to increase your body’s production of melatonin, it can also activate your parasympathetic nervous system, helping to calm you down and fall asleep.
Which is Better?
As to which supplement is better in the magnesium vs melatonin battle, it appears magnesium may come out on top for a few reasons.
While melatonin has been shown to help people fall asleep faster and increase the amount of time spent in REM sleep, magnesium has been shown to help in these areas plus lessen insomnia, improve sleep efficiency, and make early morning awakening much easier.
If you’re concerned about side effects, neither pose very significant risks. Melatonin side effects include headaches, dizziness, and nausea, while magnesium side effects include nausea and possibly minor diarrhea.
Make the Best Choice
Now that you know how these two supplements may affect your body and assist in helping you get a good night’s sleep, make the best choice based on your individual needs. Whether you’re looking for a sedative or something to help your circadian rhythm, talk to your doctor and make a well-informed decision in regards to magnesium vs melatonin.
