Magnesium vs Melatonin for sleep
Short answer: For sleep, more users report improvement with Magnesium — 88% of 430 reports, versus 78% of 915 for Melatonin.
Magnesium has 82 meta-analyses and 210 randomized trials on PubMed; Melatonin has 688 and 1,128.
Based on 2,391 reports about Magnesium and 1,370 about Melatonin. Not medical advice.
| Magnesium Supplement | Melatonin Supplement | |
|---|---|---|
| Users say it helped | 73%helped956 reports · high confidence | 42%helped726 reports · high confidence |
| Verdict | Mostly positive | Mixed |
| Research | AResearch: Strong | AResearch: Strong |
| Meta-analyses / RCTs | 82 / 210 | 688 / 1,128 |
| Mainly used for | ||
| Sleep % reporting improvement | 88% (430) | 78% (915) |
| Anxiety % reporting improvement | 90% (289) | 44% (16) |
| Mood % reporting improvement | 82% (118) | 32% (37) |
| Energy % reporting improvement | 75% (83) | 32% (25) |
| Focus % reporting improvement | 80% (45) | 38% (8) |
| Common side effects | diarrhea, drowsiness, stomach issues, vivid dreams | drowsiness, vivid dreams, fatigue, depression |
| Typical dose reported | 500 mg / daily | 0.5 mg / bedtime |
This review confirms that the quality of literature is substandard for physicians to make well-informed recommendations on usage of oral magnesium for older adults with insomnia. However, given that oral magnesium is very cheap and widely available, RCT evidence may support oral magnesium supplements (less than 1 g quantities given up to three times a day) for insomnia symptoms.
BMC Complement Med Ther, 2021 ↗“after supplementing with 400mg of Magnesium daily. Winter blues hit me hard and my multivitamin wasn't doing any justice, but once I began supplementing Magnesium, everything changed.”
Overall, eszopiclone and lemborexant had a favorable profile, but eszopiclone might cause substantial adverse events and safety data on lemborexant were inconclusive. Doxepin, seltorexant, and zaleplon were well tolerated, but data on efficacy and other important outcomes were scarce and do not allow firm conclusions. Many licensed drugs (including benzodiazepines, daridorexant, suvorexant, and trazodone) can be effective in the acute treatment of insomnia but are associated with poor tolerability, or information about long-term effects is not available. Melatonin, ramelteon, and non-licensed
Lancet, 2022 ↗“I have taken it nightly for 19 years. Doses ranging from .1 to 10mg. Right now I take 3mg per night. It helps me sleep.”
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Percentages come from first-hand user reports and are not clinical outcomes. Talk to a doctor before starting, stopping or combining anything. How we rate