Is there something to the social media craze for utilizing magnesium dietary supplements that will help you get to sleep?
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Sleep – many people do not get sufficient of it, and I say that because the host of a morning present, so I do know what I am speaking about. However whenever you see folks on-line pushing magnesium dietary supplements to assist with sleeplessness, do they know what they’re speaking about? NPR well being correspondent Maria Godoy has been wanting on the science, and she or he joins us now. Good morning, Maria.
MARIA GODOY, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So let’s begin with magnesium and why folks suppose it could assist with sleep.
GODOY: So magnesium is an important mineral that the physique makes use of in a bunch of various processes. It helps together with your nervous system, your blood sugar ranges. It is used for making proteins in bone. And there are a number of theories about the way it may assist sleep. For one, it is concerned in making melatonin, which is a hormone that helps regulate your sleep-wake cycles. It additionally helps calm down your muscle tissue from cramping, and there is an concept that it may assist cut back nervousness. Here is Tyish Corridor Brown. She’s director of behavioral sleep medication at Kids’s Nationwide Hospital.
TYISH HALL BROWN: When children or adults try to sleep, they might not be as anxious about maybe what occurred within the day earlier than, what’s about to occur, and it might promote sleep a bit of bit higher.
GODOY: However this is the massive caveat that Corridor Brown and each different sleep medication specialist I spoke to stresses, and that is that there is simply not plenty of proof in any respect about how magnesium helps sleep. Some research counsel it helps. Some present no impact in any respect.
RASCOE: So it is like plenty of issues on social media. There’s plenty of hype, however not a lot proof.
GODOY: Yeah, nicely, so the proof is unquestionably not there. However this is what’s attention-grabbing. All of the specialists I spoke to say, except you’ve got sure medical situations like kidney illness, there’s in all probability no hurt in making an attempt it. There’s this factor known as the sleepy woman mocktail that went viral on TikTok earlier this 12 months. It is this drink product of magnesium powder, tart cherry juice and prebiotic soda, and you are taking it like a half hour earlier than mattress. I requested physician Fariha Abbasi-Feinberg about it. She’s on the Board of Administrators for the American Academy of Sleep Drugs. And her reply was not what I anticipated in any respect.
FARIHA ABBASI-FEINBERG: When you requested me, can I strive the sleepy woman mocktail? – I’d say, certain. It in all probability will not harm you, however begin with a low dose of the magnesium combined with the tart cherry juice after which improve it as tolerated.
GODOY: And, you recognize, you heard her say, begin with a low dose, like, possibly half a dose at first, and that is as a result of magnesium could cause gastrointestinal upset, which is the very last thing you need earlier than going to mattress.
RASCOE: Yeah, completely not. But when there’s not a lot proof, why strive it?
GODOY: Effectively, so – as a result of typically, the dangers are low, and medical doctors instructed me a few of their sufferers appear to learn. I talked to Dr. Chester Wu. He is a psychiatrist and sleep specialist in Houston.
CHESTER WU: I anecdotally have labored with many individuals who’ve reported that, whether or not it is placebo or truly, like, simply merely benefiting from the magnesium. I strive to not fear an excessive amount of about that as a result of on the finish of the day, they’re feeling higher.
GODOY: Wu notes, many Individuals do not get sufficient magnesium of their eating regimen, so a bit of further is not dangerous. Though he’d choose that folks get it by meals. So issues like leafy greens, nuts and seeds, beans, salmon, yogurt – they’re all wealthy in magnesium.
RASCOE: So what about for teenagers? You recognize, as mother and father, we each know it may be exhausting to get them to quiet down for sleep.
GODOY: Yeah, undoubtedly.
RASCOE: (Laughter).
GODOY: But when there’s little proof in adults, there’s principally no proof in children beneath 18 in the case of magnesium and sleep. There’s a bit of experimental analysis suggesting it might assist with children with ADHD and autism – not with sleep particularly, however simply typically. If that’s one thing you are contemplating, undoubtedly discuss to your pediatrician first. And it is much more essential to make use of tremendous low doses with children, when pediatricians advised utilizing far, far lower than the dose really helpful on the bottle.
And once more, everybody I spoke to stresses – and that is true for each children and adults – you want to deal with sleep hygiene first. So meaning quiet, darkish rooms, maintaining to a constant sleep schedule, staying away from screens earlier than bedtime – you recognize, principally all of the issues we all know we must be doing.
RASCOE: NPR’s Maria Godoy. Thanks a lot, Maria.
GODOY: Oh, it is my pleasure.
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