If you’re feeling sluggish and tired, you might be considering a dietary supplement that can boost your energy levels. But is magnesium one of these?
There’s not enough research to say for sure, but magnesium plays an important role in energy production, so supplementation may boost your energy levels if you’re deficient.
Below, we cover whether magnesium gives you energy and how you can use the RISE app to fix the common causes of low energy.
“Getting more magnesium through food or taking a magnesium supplement may give you more energy if you have low magnesium levels,” says Dr. Chester Wu. “Beyond taking magnesium, prioritize getting enough sleep each night to keep your energy levels as high as possible.”
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.
Yes, magnesium can give you energy as it plays an essential role in in your body. Hypomagnesemia (low magnesium) is linked to fatigue, sleep problems, and . Taking magnesium supplements or eating more foods high in magnesium may improve your energy by addressing deficiencies that cause fatigue as well as improve your sleep, and therefore, your energy.
Why does magnesium give you energy? There are a few factors at play:
Magnesium improves energy production and metabolism:
Magnesium helps you get enough sleep:
Magnesium supports overall health and well-being:
The benefits of magnesium extend beyond your sleep and energy. Getting enough magnesium — from food sources or supplements — can help you feel and function your best.
Learn more about how low magnesium can make you tired here.
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Confusingly, magnesium can both give you energy and make you tired.
How?
Heads-up: Tiredness is when you feel fatigued and drained, but you can’t necessarily fall asleep and sleep might not give you more energy. Sleepiness is when your eyes are heavy and you’re ready for sleep. Magnesium may make you feel sleepy before bed, but it shouldn’t make you sleepy during the day.
We’ve covered more on whether magnesium can make you tired the next day here.
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Magnesium can be good for low energy. If you have low levels of magnesium — of Americans don’t get enough of the mineral from food — eating more foods high in magnesium or taking magnesium supplements may improve your energy levels.
If you have a certain condition that magnesium supplements can help — like depression, night sweats, or restless leg syndrome — supplements may help you get more sleep and feel more energized during the day.
More research is needed, but the studies we have so far are promising:
Magnesium supplements may also help you feel more energy when exercising. A found magnesium supplements decreased lactate production, which can contribute to fatigue when working out. With supplements, participants performed better in physical tests and this was found in those who weren’t deficient in magnesium.
It’s unclear if magnesium could boost your energy levels if you don’t have a deficiency or health issue, or outside of exercise. Many magnesium studies are often small, low quality, done on specific populations (like older adults), use different types and amounts of magnesium, and have conflicting findings.
Plus, it’s unclear if magnesium from food would have the same health benefits as magnesium supplements in these cases.
A didn’t find a link between the amount of magnesium you consume from food and feeling sleepy during the day. However, it did note that women who consumed a high daily intake of dietary magnesium were less likely to actually fall asleep during the day.
Heads-up: Two of the most common causes of low energy are sleep debt (how much sleep you owe your body) and being out of sync with your circadian rhythm (your internal body clock).
These factors could be affecting your energy levels alongside a magnesium deficiency or other issue. But improving them is a great place to start on your road to feeling better.
You can lower your sleep debt by:
You can get in sync with your circadian rhythm by:
RISE can guide you through it all. The app can work out how much sleep debt you have, predict your circadian rhythm each day to help you sync up with it, and tell you the best time to do 20+ daily sleep hygiene habits.
Looking into sleep supplements? We’ve compared magnesium vs. melatonin here.
There’s no one best type of magnesium for energy. 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 with sleep problems.
The best type for you may depend on why you’re taking it — e.g. to improve insomnia or depression — or on whether you’ve got a magnesium deficiency or not. Speak to a healthcare professional to find if you should be taking one type of magnesium over another.
That said, magnesium glycinate may be easier for your body to absorb, and magnesium aspartate, magnesium citrate, magnesium lactate, and magnesium chloride are absorbed more completely and are more bioavailable (a larger amount reaches your circulation) than magnesium oxide and magnesium sulfate. It’s unclear if this makes them more effective at improving your energy, though.
Types of magnesium include:
More research is needed, but the best type of magnesium for energy may be the kind you can get from food.
Eating a healthy balanced diet can help. Magnesium-rich foods include:
Expert tip: If you decide on supplements, use RISE’s wind-down reminder to remember to take them. You’ll get a notification on your phone, iPad, and Apple Watch when it’s time to start your wind-down routine, which can include taking magnesium.
It’s unclear how long it takes magnesium to work for energy. Dr. Wu says you may notice immediate changes, but you should continue taking magnesium for up to two to three months before you discontinue it if it’s not working for you. Your healthcare provider should be able to tell you when you can expect changes in your energy levels.
How long it takes to feel the effects of magnesium may depend on:
Studies on magnesium and energy are usually short term and they don’t focus on how long it takes for the supplement to work.
For example, in both studies we mentioned earlier — the on women with breast cancer and the on exercise performance — participants took magnesium for four weeks. But their fatigue and performance may have improved before this point.
The same goes for sleep. Studies on magnesium and sleep show benefits after to , so it’s unclear when magnesium started working to improve sleep and when this could translate into higher energy levels.
If you’re getting more magnesium from food, it’s also unclear how long it would take the nutrient to improve your energy.
Heads-up: If you’re not getting enough sleep, magnesium may not improve your energy at all. Most of us don’t know how much sleep we need, however, and it may be more than you think. Among 1.95 million RISE users aged 24 and over, 48% need eight hours of sleep or more.
RISE can tell you how much sleep you individually need.
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Magnesium is an essential mineral needed for many jobs in your body — including energy production.
When you’re low on magnesium, you might feel fatigued and have trouble sleeping. So, increasing your intake of magnesium through food or supplements may boost your energy levels. Magnesium can also improve certain sleep and health issues, which could lead to more energy.
Lowering your sleep debt and getting in sync with your circadian rhythm can help increase your energy — whether you’re deficient in magnesium or not.
RISE can work out how much sleep you need, whether you have any sleep debt, and predict your circadian rhythm each day, so you can get in sync.
Users report more energy from using RISE:
“I’ve tried a few other sleep apps, but this one doesn’t just track your sleep, it helps you improve your sleep! And it’s very accurate. After a few days, I felt rested, energized, and refreshed and didn’t need an energy drink to get going.” .
Your energy levels could pick up fast — 80% of RISE users feel more energy within five days.
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