Tier 1 — highest

Oral magnesium supplementation for insomnia in older adults: a Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis

Jasmine Mah, Tyler Pitre
BMC complementary medicine and therapies 2021 21(1):125

Bibliography

PubMed
PMID 33865376
PubMed Central
PMC8053283
DOI
10.1186/s12906-021-03297-z
Funding
Funding or support is described in the linked original publication; the indexed record does not provide a concise sponsor attribution.
Competing interests
The authors report no relevant competing interests.

Study snapshot

DesignSystematic review and meta-analysis
ModelHuman evidence synthesis
Sample3 randomized trials involving 151 older adults
InterventionDifferent oral magnesium formulations versus placebo
DurationVaried across short-term trials
EndpointsSleep-onset latency; Total sleep time; Sleep quality

What the study showed, in plain terms

This publication examines sleep-onset latency, total sleep time, sleep quality. Study population or evidence base: 3 randomized trials involving 151 older adults. Intervention or exposure: Different oral magnesium formulations versus placebo.

Key findings

Pooled results suggested shorter time to fall asleep, while total sleep time was not significantly improved. The authors rated the evidence low to very low quality.

What this study can and cannot tell us

Only three small trials, with moderate-to-high risk of bias. Formulations and study methods differed, limiting confidence in a general sleep recommendation.

Related papers in the corpus

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Julius Schuster et al. · Nature and science of sleep · 2025
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The effect of magnesium supplementation on primary insomnia in elderly: A double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial
Behnood Abbasi et al. · Journal of research in medical sciences : the official journal of Isfahan University of Medical Sciences · 2012

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