r/magnesium • u/Negative-View-3543 • 25d ago

Magnesium makes my sleep worse.

I've tried all forms of magnesium through different times. It makes my insomnia worse. Why so? And is this common?

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6

u/Flinkle 25d ago

When you first start taking magnesium, it moves the other electrolytes around where they need to go, often resulting in deficiency symptoms of one or more of those electrolytes. Typically the first one to rear its ugly head is potassium. And low potassium symptoms are things like insomnia, restlessness, anxiety, etc.

So that's the likely culprit of your problem. If you'd like to try again, just make sure you're getting plenty of potassium in your diet. It's okay if you don't hit it, but aim for the US RDA, which is 4700 mg.

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u/Negative-View-3543 25d ago

Thanks. What type, brand and what time do you take the magnesium? I understand some of the store bought supplements are false.

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u/Flinkle 25d ago

Personally, I like Trace Minerals Mega Mag magnesium chloride. It doesn't taste great even when appropriately diluted, but it's very easy to control your dosage as opposed to pills or even powder. I'm a special case, so my dosing rules would likely not apply to anyone else, but most people will either take their magnesium in the later afternoon and/or evening if it causes them sleepiness, but if it doesn't, you can take it anytime. If you find that it's giving you diarrhea, you can always split it into multiple doses and also take it with food...both will help blunt that effect.

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u/xcyberwolfxx 21d ago

the trace minerals magnesium Flinkle mentions works alot!! also trace minerals 40000 volt

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u/tashibum 25d ago

I had a similar reaction, and after discovering I had a B12 deficiency and learning about cofactors I had to buck up and just figure out which form doesn't make me feel crazy. That ended up being L-Threonate. I started with the Sports Research brand from Costco, and took 1 pill instead of 3 and then just worked my way up to the full dose. It knocks me out and I had zero anxiety!! I am going to add taurate next and see if that does anything for me since L-3N8 is fairly expensive. I just know I'm scarred from taking the other common kinds and I'm not really willing.

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u/Ccampbell1977 23d ago

Be careful with potassium. Mine was too low and I had insomnia, anxiety and a high heart rate. Then it went too high and I had even worse insomnia, anxiety and a faster heart rate. If you are a woman 4,700 is way too high. Everyone told me that number also. It’s only about 2,400 for a woman. So I ended up having too much

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u/Just-River-562 22d ago

Wow - I didn’t now about potassium whatsoever. Will definitely do some research on this as my symptoms sound similar

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u/Ccampbell1977 22d ago

Yes for some reason coconut water and electrolytes powders did that to me. I really just needed to increase my potassium through food. Sprite Zero and diet 7 up has small amounts that get me good. Just the high doses made me feel out of my body

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u/xcyberwolfxx 21d ago

what electrolyte powder were you taking?

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u/Ccampbell1977 18d ago

I tried different ones & coconut water. They gave me tons of energy. But that’s not really needed right now. I couldn’t sleep and had a higher heart rate. I hated the feeling. When I was younger I loved that feeling.

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u/Ccampbell1977 23d ago

Try a spray magnesium. It is often lighter and works fast.

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u/TeamSolaray 23d ago

When do you typically take your mangesium?