So what's the craic with magnesium, then? Is it all about sleep?
No. Magnesium is not a sleeping pill. The research shows it's genuinely much more useful than that. A Swiss Army knife analogy could be helpful here, as magnesium is a multi-tasking mineral, working in different ways depending on the task. Magnesium fuels your cells, smooths out nerve signals, and down-regulates activity in the brain when it's time to switch off. All the stuff that makes you feel better in your waking life.
This is why we called our magnesium Ready & Rested, not something like Sleepy & Nested. We won't pretend that a supplement can solve sleep issues. Ready & Rested is for those who, upon waking, exclaim at the ceiling: I don't even feel like I've slept. For those of you who don't struggle to fall asleep. It's the feeling when you wake up that is making you despair. If this is you, you might be low in magnesium.
So why do people bang on about magnesium and sleep?
Everyone is obsessed with sleep right now, and magnesium genuinely appears to help some people. The research on that, though, is too inconclusive to state as fact. This is probably because sleep is a lot more complex than that. It's wrapped up in the processes in your body and your brain. It's a bit magic. We've written a lot of guides about sleep because it's something that we struggle with, too. We know we're not alone and we empathise with anyone suffering from insomnia or having to bookend their sleep into pigeonholes because of shift work, illness, or changes in their lives like new babies and grief. It was the reason Mel, our founder, started using magnesium. As an insomniac, she too wondered if her sleep woes could be sorted with a supplement. Did it work?
No. Not so much.
Instead, Mel found herself able to rest. By increasing her magnesium intake, she discovered she could recover from the demands of her day—whether it was the stress and strain of balancing life as a mum and CEO or the fun, active stuff like tennis and sauna. What Mel didn't realise at the time was that these activities had gradually depleted her magnesium levels. There is plenty of research to suggest that most of us are low in magnesium. A staggering amount in the U.S., which makes us likely to be low over here, too. You may not have any symptoms, but these are some of the textbook ones: Muscle cramps, twitches (otherwise known as restless legs), and muscle weakness. Perhaps you've unexplained feelings of anxiety, nervous tension, tension headaches, and irritability. In your body, you have unusual levels of fatigue, heart arrhythmia, and cold hands and feet.
When Mel began restoring her magnesium levels, she started to feel ready for the day again, and magnesium became an essential part of her daily routine. This motivated Mel to create Bare Biology's magnesium, and, well, here we are. So, whilst it's not directly true that magnesium will simply make you sleep, if you sweat a lot, experience stress, sleep less than you'd like, or wake in the night more, you might find that magnesium acts like a sleeping pill. It will help you rest in the quality ways our bodies need to recover from daily life or exercise. We've written about all of the science and research that has found magnesium beneficial for stress, anxiety, depression. You can also read our guide on the benefits of magnesium for energy regulation, and muscle recovery if you want more detail. For now. Here's what our Ready & Rested magnesium bisglycinate could do for you if you're struggling:
- You could feel rested when you wake up.
- You could feel calmer, which might make you fall asleep more easily.
- You could notice your energy is more balanced throughout the day.
- You could notice that your body recovers faster from exercise, and your muscles and aches and pains could be less acute.
We've created ours from a highly digestible compound that, unlike other forms, can pass through the blood-brain barrier. This allows it to work directly on your nervous system and the neurotransmitters in the brain that regulate stress and the sleep cycle. These multi-tasking properties might take the edge off, reducing feelings of high alertness and helping you feel calmer, and more likely to make it through the school run in the morning without coffee and anxiety taking you there.
For now, rest easy knowing magnesium might not put you to sleep immediately, but it could make waking up feel much better. Ready to get Rested?
