Is Matt Walker Wrong About Magnesium for Sleep? An Insomniac’s Perspective

Written By Anna McKay
Matt Walker Why We Sleep; Unlocking the power of sleep and dreams
 

Is Matt Walker Wrong About Magnesium for Sleep?

Matt Walker’s latest podcast comes up with the title “Magnesium Isn’t Helping You Sleep!” and concludes "if you're magnesium normative all you're doing is creating ..expensive urine.. overall, magnesium Is not really moving the needle”. 

Matt Walker has done more than anyone else to publicise the importance of sleep. I am a fan. And based on my own experience and hundreds of conversations, I do think that magnesium helps many of us to sleep better. 

I write as a former insomniac, who stopped sleeping aged 5, hallucinated through sleep deprivation as a teenager, and eventually taught myself how to sleep well again aged 55. I think that magnesium is the foundation that allows everything else to work (including the Zeez Sleep Pebble) so that I sleep. Cutting out coffee and alcohol, dimming the lights and avoiding tech are not enough for me. To sleep, I also need a reasonable diet, and magnesium. The Zeez Sleep Pebble got me to sleep well consistently, and it is rare that I sleep poorly, even when I do something unwise. Generally, I am much wiser, because I know that I will sleep well unless I undermine myself, and I value good sleep. But without magnesium, I can still lie in bed, often calm and relaxed, but not sleeping, and at some point in the night, I am quite likely to get cramp. With magnesium, I almost always sleep really well, usually all night, without cramps.

 

Why Magnesium Matters for Sleep

Magnesium isn't a sedative. It doesn’t cross the blood brain barrier in the way that zolpidem (Ambien) does, but it is present in our brain, and in our cerebro spinal fluid. Zolpidem has a very specific effect on our GABA receptors, (receptors in the brain and central nervous system and elsewhere for the calming neurotransmitter GABA). It blocks neuronal activity and promotes sleep in a very direct way. Magnesium has a much more diffuse effect on the body. It supports production of GABA, having a calming effect, but not blocking neuronal activity.  it also activates our parasympathetic nervous system, relaxes muscles, and promotes the production of melatonin, and it is part of the ion exchange process that allows neurons to generate electrical activity. Deep sleep is more powerful electrically than any other brain state, and magnesium deficiency compromises our ability to achieve it.

The issue isn’t just biology—it’s agriculture: our soils and therefore our food have been depleted over 150 years of intensive farming. Many vegetables now contain only a fraction of the magnesium they once did. Even people who eat well may be deficient.

We need a form of magnesium that is bio available to interact with the body (eg magnesium glycinate, malate, citrate NOT magnesium oxide) but I don't think  that it is necessary to have magnesium threonate, a man-made form that was invented to cross the blood/brain barrier.

I eat lots of supposedly high magnesium foods - nuts, green veg, oily fish, avocados, beans, and yet it is not enough.  I don't regard magnesium as a “supplement”, but rather as a necessity given the damage that  intensive agriculture has done to our soil and therefore our food. I suspect that most poor sleepers need more magnesium - that seems to be true of people who use our Zeez  Sleep Pebble.

 

Why Pharmaceutical Logic Doesn’t Apply Here

In the interview, Matt suggests that if magnesium worked, pharmaceutical companies would have promoted it. But pharma profits rely on patents and exclusivity. Ambien made money because it was patented (high margins). Revenue halved once generic competition arrived, but it still had strong branding and brand loyalty. Magnesium glycinate, malate, and citrate are natural, unpatentable compounds exposed to competition. They'll never deliver Ambien-level margins. My well-formulated magnesium glycinate costs me around £11.50  ($15.00) /month whereas the US price of branded Ambien (without insurance) is around $790/month. The economic disparity between the cost of patented drugs (even after the patent has expired) and treatments that are subject to generic competition explains the lack of large clinical trials. Magnesium threonate preparations are patented, more expensive than other magnesium formulations, and aggressively protected. 

Economic reality, not efficacy, explains the lack of large, well-funded clinical trials.

 

Sleep Architecture Matters

Matt criticises products based on a “90-minute sleep cycle”, and points out that sleep cycles vary. We  program our Zeez Sleep Pebble with an initial 100 minute sleep cycle, followed by  3 x 90 minute cycles. I expected many users to tell me it didn’t fit their pattern. They didn’t. Only two have said this—and both were good sleepers, tryingn the Zeez Sleep Pebble before recommending it to others. Poor sleepers often have disordered, unreliable sleep architecture. When we have lost our natural sleep architecture, whether through stress, menopause, trauma, brain injury or Alzheimer's, encouraging order can be helpful.

Restless Legs and Minerals

Finally, restless legs - this can stop with a magnesium supplement, and sometimes iron is needed or another mineral. Test for iron levels.

 

So… Is Matt Walker Wrong About Magnesium for Sleep?

In my experience—and in the experience of the many poor sleepers I’ve talked to - yes. Magnesium does help us to sleep better. Without it, deep sleep often remains elusive.  It is possible that we are not “magnesium normative”. 

An important caveat - only bioavalable forms of magnesium can help our sleep. Many supplements, including some of those pictured below, contain forms of magnesium that are not very bio available.This includes magnesium oxide, present in most high street supplements. Avoid it. Only around 4% of its magnesium content is absorbed. Taking magnesium oxide will result in “expensive urine”, whether or not we are “magnesium normative”.

Matt Walker continues to elevate the world’s understanding of sleep. I was delighted to hear that we can build up a “savings account” of sleep.  Thank-you Matt and Stephen. Time for me to put some sleep in the bank.

Magnesium glycinate, malate, theonate and citrate supplements for sleep
 

References

Anna McKay
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