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In this competitive and hectic life, people are losing their sleep quality. They either work at night or sleep with a lot of stress about work. Nowadays, even the children are under stress because of academic pressure and competition. Due to this, many people are suffering from sleep disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea, sleep paralysis, narcolepsy, etc.
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In such a lifestyle, you constantly need to take care of many things for your sound sleep. Many doctors say taking a proper diet is one of the most crucial factors, which affect your sleep. Intake of proper nutritional vitamins, and supplements can improve your sleep quality to a great extent. On the other hand, magnesium is a miracle mineral for sound sleep.
The role of magnesium in quality sleep
When you feel tired and fatigue, your body starts signaling things towards the end of the day because it starts preparing for sleep. Here, magnesium helps in the interaction between your melatonin levels and nervous system thereby inducing proper sleep. People with magnesium deficiency experience poorer sleep.
Read on to know more about the relationship between Magnesium and your sleep:
What is Magnesium?
It is one of the seven essential minerals a human body requires. The body needs it in a large quantity. Magnesium is required for the functioning of every cell, organ as well as brain, heart, and muscle, which makes it one of the most important minerals for the body. Moreover, the body doesn’t produce this by itself so, you can understand how crucial it is to take a magnesium-rich meal.
Do you know that almost half of the US population are likely deficient in magnesium? Many foods that are consumed on daily basis are rich with magnesium. For instance, a square of dark chocolate contains 24% of the daily dose of magnesium. Below are the food containing a good amount of magnesium:
- Dairy products
- Legumes
- Chocolates
- Coffee
- Broccoli
- Dark Leafy vegetables
- Meat
- Avocado
- Almonds
- Kefir
- Figs and pumpkin seeds
- Whole grain and unprocessed cereals
Importance of magnesium for your good night sleep:
Reduce stress in the brain and body
Nowadays, the biggest reason for the loss of sleep is stress and anxiety. If you are constantly worrying and thinking about something, it will be very difficult to sleep. In the same way, if you are anxious or scared of something, it will create stress for the brain and body both.
One of the reasons for mental and health problems like chronic pain, anxiety, and depression is a low level of GABA. It is a neurotransmitter made in the brain. Here, the role of magnesium is to boost GABA. It has a calming effect which in turn help to induce sleep.
Stimulates digestion and gut health
The lack of magnesium also affects digestion and gut functioning. These deficiencies can change the gut flora to such an extent that you might start feeling depressed. Gut microbiota (GM) is associated with changing behaviour and your diet plays a significant role in GM thereby changes in your demeanour.
Magnesium also helps in digesting the food quickly and effectively. If your stomach will be healthy and light, you will certainly have a good night sleep. In short, the magnesium-rich diet resolves the imbalance of your digestion as well as GM.
Improves mood and depression
There are several studies and researches have been done for understanding the association between depression and magnesium. One of the research results has shown the net difference in the change in depression symptoms from baseline. Moreover, magnesium also helps in changes in anxiety symptoms. These effects were evident within two weeks of the intake of magnesium supplements.
Besides, it also helps in general to bring a good and calming mood. You might have heard that food like chocolates and coffee can make you happy. And, they are rich in magnesium. When you are in a happy mood, you will certainly have a good night sleep and also lesser chances of attracting sleep disorders.
Relieve cramps and aches
Pain like muscles cramps, spasms, twitches, and body ache can cause sleep disturbances. According to a study, oral magnesium therapy may subside the symptoms of moderate restless leg syndrome (RLS), which is related to insomnia.
Also, this is one of the major problems that a pregnant woman suffers during her pregnancy. So, if you are going through this kind of problems, consider consulting your family doctor for taking magnesium supplements for relief. Moreover, in pregnancy, you need to take care of many things for your sound sleep like a proper bed, pillow, and mattress.
How to take magnesium for quality sleep?
Intake of 400-420 mg for adult men and 310-360 mg for adult women of magnesium is advisable by the Institute of Medicine. However, the amount of magnesium used in clinical trials is 225-500 mg. Only in case of any medical prescription, you can take magnesium supplements of 350mg per day.
On the other hand, you can’t recommend the specific amount of magnesium for sleep as very few studies have directly tested it. But, always consider consulting to a doctor before consuming any type of magnesium supplements for sleep.
The Bottom Line:
Magnesium is vital for your nervous system for activating mechanisms to keep it relax and calm. Thereby, it helps in inducing proper sleep. Also, as you have seen above it also helps in preventing and curing sleep disorders like depression and anxiety.
Whether it is sleeping or walking, magnesium is an essential mineral for a healthy body. Consuming a proper magnesium-rich diet or magnesium supplements are ways to get the best of it. Moreover, people with diabetes, GI diseases, ADHD, alcohol addiction, etc are prone to magnesium diseases. These people can benefit from supplements. So, if you are planning to try magnesium for a good night sleep, increase your intake of whole food.