I’ve always been what my mum would describe as ‘a worrier’. My brain likes to sprint 10 steps ahead with every situation I’m in or any decision I make, tracking how it’ll inevitably lead to something bad happening. If my friends don’t look like they’re having fun on a night out, I take it personally. When I’m in a queue, and someone ahead is taking too long, my chest tightens. I run endlessly through scenarios of what might happen, never quite living in the present. The nights are the worst. The loudest self-critical thoughts refuse to let me rest, even when my body is begging for it.
I’ve tried to outsmart my incessantly negative internal monologue over the years. Yoga helps, for the 60 minutes I’m on the mat. Meditation is great, when I stick to it. Journaling has been amazing for helping me follow just one train of thought. But nothing truly quieted the noise until I finally listened to the hype about magnesium.
A transformative supplement.
My FYP and practically every woman I know has been evangelising magnesium for sleep. I was once on a work trip and saw one journalist pop two before a night flight and doze off for the whole 8 hours. And amongst the dust-peppered bottles on my flatmate's supplement shelf is a spotless Magnesium Citrate tub, which she reaches for every night. I’ve never been one to take tablets; I’m slow to grab the paracetamol with even the most brutal period cramps or toothache, let alone preventative supplements.
Both my dad and sister have M.S., an autoimmune disease which some researchers have linked to a lack of Vitamin D, and even those tablets, I’ll admit, I can be a bit hit and miss with taking regularly. So if my now-empty tub of magnesium bisglycinate hadn’t been going free at work, I don’t think I’d ever have tried it.
Different to the more popular forms of magnesium, like citrate and malate, magnesium bisglycinate is one of the gentler versions that’s better absorbed and more targeted to anxiety. “Magnesium bisglycinate is highly bioavailable and gentle on the stomach, making it an excellent choice for maintaining a healthy mood, reducing mild anxiety, and promoting good quality sleep,” Dr. Blen Tesfu, physician and medical advisor with Welzo, tells me.
I’ve never tried the other kinds of magnesium, but I know people who swear by them for both rest and mindset. As Dr Blen explains, Magnesium bisglycinate carries the calming amino acid glycine, which can support sleep quality and help reduce “busy mind” symptoms. It “provides a natural calming effect that enhances the relaxing effects that magnesium has on your nervous system,” she adds.
The first night I took the capsules, I didn’t expect much. I had my normal issues drifting off, but once I fell asleep, I stayed there. Normally, I wake two or three times, with nightmares, intrusive thoughts, stress jolts, all before my alarm mocks me awake. But that night? Nothing. I slept through until my alarm rang. I woke up not feeling foggy or sluggish as I’d feared I might after taking the pills, but with a dreamy state of calm. I knocked on my flatmate's door and described what I was feeling. “It must be a placebo, there's no way I can feel this good from just two capsules,” I said. But as I continued to take the tablets night after night, this feeling of calm stuck around, and I haven't slept this deeply in a very long time.
A couple of weeks in, and I had a stretch of late nights where I missed taking the supplement before bed. By the third night without it, the shift was dramatic. I had this moment while I was cycling home from work – berating myself for a missed deadline, deeping the chores waiting for me at home, thinking about that email I needed to send to my landlord, the unopened messages from my best friend, the boy who hadn’t replied to me on Hinge, the missed call from my dad, the gym class I’d skipped yesterday – all hitting me at once.
Then, like a slap, I realised: ‘Oh, this is what my brain used to feel like all the time.’ The contrast was almost funny.
When I told Dr Blen about that boomerang effect, she wasn’t surprised. She explained that “magnesium supports your body's ability to regulate the nervous system; this might be why after a period of not taking it regularly, you notice you're feeling stressed again and the ‘noise’ in your head seems louder than normal.” In other words, my brain wasn’t performing miracles, it was falling back to its default settings once the support dropped away. Dr Blen warned that this rebound can be intensified for people juggling life-stuff, telling me it could be “particularly true for individuals who have other stressors such as lack of sleep, multiple deadlines and/or emotional burdens.”
From the sniffles to brittle hair and gum disease.
Needless to say, I took the magnesium that night, and every night thereafter.
Now this isn't to say that I never get anxious anymore, or overwhelmed. But it feels manageable. I’m facing life with a rested mind instead of a frazzled one. Even the ritual of taking my Magnesium, setting the intention that I’m going to wake up with a quiet mind, is helpful. I’m now on my second tub of Magnesium Biglicerate, going into my second month of use, and I can confidently say it’ll be a permanent fixture on my bedside table for the foreseeable future.
