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Magnesium supplements are a common sleep aid, but there isn’t medical consensus on how much you should take. To make matters worse, taking too much magnesium can have serious health consequences. And, on the flip side, you may be getting all the magnesium you need from food, meaning a supplement may not be that helpful for you.��

Below, we’ll dive into the science to find the best magnesium dosage for sleep and other health conditions that can affect your sleep. Plus, we’ll cover how the RISE app can help you fall and stay asleep naturally.

Advice From a Sleep Doctor

"I usually recommend 400 to 500 mg of magnesium oxide, 250 to 500 mg of magnesium citrate, or 200 to 400 mg of magnesium glycinate for sleep,” says Dr. Chester Wu. “Start with a low dose and only increase how much you take if needed and if you don’t experience any side effects. There are many factors that affect how much magnesium you should take, but your healthcare provider can let you know the best dose for you and your situation.”

Dr. Chester Wu is double board certified in Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine, and provides sleep medicine services, medication management, and psychotherapy to adults at his private sleep medicine and psychiatry practice.

What’s the Best Magnesium Dosage for Sleep? 

Despite magnesium being a common sleep supplement, there isn’t a recommended best dosage for sleep.��

Dr. Wu usually recommends 400 to 500 mg of magnesium oxide, 250 to 500 mg of magnesium citrate, or 200 to 400 mg of magnesium glycinate to his patients if they have sleep problems.��

Speak to your healthcare provider to find the best magnesium dose for you. It may depend on: 

• ��������
• Sex
• Whether you have a sleep disorder
• Whether you have a medical condition
• Whether you have a magnesium deficiency
• Which type of magnesium supplement you take 

There isn’t one dose that’s best for everyone as we all metabolize and react to magnesium supplements differently and all of our sleep problems have different causes, which magnesium may or may not help improve to different degrees.��

It’s best to start with a low dose and slowly increase how much you take if needed.

According to the at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the tolerable upper intake level for supplemental magnesium is 350 mg a day. But this is the amount you can tolerate without getting side effects, not the best amount of magnesium to take. And it’s a general guideline, not one related to sleep problems.

Heads-up: Knowing the amount of elemental magnesium in your supplement is crucial for achieving your desired magnesium intake, especially if you're targeting specific health benefits like improving sleep or reducing muscle cramps, and for avoiding side effects.��

Elemental magnesium in supplements refers to the actual amount of magnesium that is available for absorption by the body, not bound to any other compound. Magnesium in supplements is often combined with other substances to form compounds like magnesium oxide, magnesium citrate, or magnesium glycinate. These compounds help stabilize the magnesium, making it easier to consume and absorb, but the actual magnesium content—that is, the "elemental" magnesium—varies by compound.

For example, magnesium oxide contains about 60% elemental magnesium, meaning it has a high magnesium content by weight. On the other hand, magnesium citrate contains about 16% elemental magnesium.

Dr. Wu advises capping your daily elemental magnesium intake at 500 mg.  

Studies on magnesium may use much higher doses than this to find out how effective these high doses could be. They’re done in controlled environments, under medical supervision, and sometimes on specific populations (like those with sleep disorders), however, so these high doses aren’t usually recommended for the general public.��

Some of these studies include: 

• A found 500 mg of magnesium helped elderly participants with insomnia and low magnesium levels get more sleep. Their sleep efficiency (the measure of how long you’re asleep in bed), sleep onset latency (how long it takes to fall asleep), insomnia severity index score, early morning awakening, melatonin (the sleep hormone), and blood cortisol concentration (the stress hormone) all improved.
• A found 250 mg of magnesium oxide helped people with restless leg syndrome get better sleep and have less severe symptoms. Interestingly, throughout the first month of the trial, there were no significant differences in sleep quality and disease severity between the study groups; however, by the second month, these differences became significant. It’s unclear if participants had low magnesium levels to begin with. We cover more about magnesium for restless leg syndrome here.��
• A looked at three studies in which older adults with insomnia took 320 mg to 729 mg of magnesium. Results showed they fell asleep about 17 minutes faster and slept for about 16 minutes longer. But the quality of research was deemed “substandard” for doctors to recommend magnesium. It’s unclear if participants were deficient in magnesium, though magnesium deficiency is common in older adults.

As you can see, studies on magnesium are often on older folks, people with sleep disorders or other health issues, or people with a magnesium deficiency. More research is needed to know what doses may be beneficial for other groups.��

Beyond that, studies are also often small, have inconsistent findings, or use different forms of magnesium supplements, making it hard to compare and draw solid conclusions on the best dose to take in general. Plus, it’s hard to tell if magnesium really improves sleep or if the placebo effect is at play (although the placebo effect can be useful if it helps you get better sleep!).��

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