Magnesium, zinc & B6 - for better sleep

You often hear that it is important to eat healthy and exercise to maintain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases. Sufficient sleep and relaxation are, however, at least as important for maintaining health throughout life. In our society, many people stress and sleep far too little. Both stress and lack of sleep are some of the risk factors for, for example, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. Lack of sleep has also been linked to weight gain, depression, and accidents in traffic and at the workplace. Furthermore, it has been seen that lack of sleep leads to higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the body, which can lead to high blood sugar and that you become extra hungry for carbohydrate-rich foods and sugar. This can eventually lead to several health problems and affect mental health.

Getting enough sleep can be difficult for many, which is probably largely due to the use of computers, mobile phones and televisions late at night. Stress and worry can also be a contributing factor leading to fewer hours of sleep.

There are a lot of things you can do to get better sleep, but in this article we will focus extra on why magnesium, zinc and vitamin B6 can be helpful. We will also address the importance of the food supplements GABA, L-theanine and Ashwagandha for a good night's sleep.

Magnesium and sleep

Magnesium is a mineral that is needed for the functioning of several enzymatic reactions in the body that are part of various processes, such as nerve function, blood sugar control, protein synthesis, etc. In the cells, there is a lot of magnesium in the mitochondria, the so-called "energy factory of the cells". They are usually called that because it is precisely in the cells' mitochondria that nutrients are burned and converted into energy.

Building energy may not sound like something that can promote sleep, but as we mentioned earlier, magnesium affects a number of different processes in the body! Magnesium is also a natural agonist* to GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) and antagonist** to NMDA (N-methyl-D-aspartate). This may sound tricky, but to explain it briefly, GABA is a signaling substance with an inhibitory effect on the brain, so it can, among other things, relax the body's muscles and promote sleep when it is activated. Instead, the NMDA receptor has a stimulating effect on the brain. Glutamate is an amino acid that can bind to the NMDA receptor and activate it. However, if magnesium binds to the NMDA receptor instead of glutamate, glutamate cannot bind there, which in turn inhibits the stimulating effect on the brain.

*An agonist is a substance that binds to a receptor and stimulates its activity. In this case, it means that magnesium stimulates the GABA receptor, which promotes sleep and relaxation of muscles.

**When an antagonist binds to a receptor, it prevents other substances from binding to the same receptor. In this case, magnesium prevents glutamate from binding to the NMDA receptor when binding to it.

Studies on magnesium and sleep

In one study, 46 elderly individuals with insomnia were given either 500 mg/day magnesium in the form of a dietary supplement, or a placebo pill, for 8 weeks. The results showed that the group receiving magnesium had lower serum concentrations of cortisol compared to the placebo group. In addition, the subjects receiving magnesium had higher serum concentrations of the sleep hormone melatonin than the placebo group. Furthermore, the magnesium supplement seemed to improve subjective measures of insomnia, including sleep time, effective sleep and how early the subjects woke up in the morning.

Foods with magnesium

Magnesium occurs above all in whole grain products, green leafy vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, fish and shellfish.

Dietary supplements with magnesium for sleep

Collagen sleep & relax is a collagen complex for better sleep and increased relaxation that contains magnesium together with other sleep-promoting ingredients such as GABA and Ashwagandha.

Zinc and sleep

Zinc , like magnesium, is both a mineral and an antagonist for the NMDA receptor, and thus may also be beneficial in promoting sleep. Since both magnesium and zinc inhibit the activity of the NDMA receptor, and thus inhibit the stimulating effect on the brain, it is also believed that they could have an anti-depressant effect.

Studies on zinc and sleep

In a Japanese study, people who received zinc supplements daily for three months fell asleep faster and had improved sleep efficiency (i.e., how much of the time you lie in bed you actually sleep) than people who received a placebo supplement.

Foods with zinc

Foods rich in zinc are, for example, pumpkin seeds and other seeds and nuts, oysters, meat, beans and whole grain products.

Vitamin B6 and sleep

Vitamin B6 is required for the formation of several signal substances, such as serotonin, dopamine, GABA and melatonin, which can affect sleep in different ways*. Even with mild deficiencies of vitamin B6, it has been seen, for example, that the formation of GABA is downregulated. Vitamin B6 is also considered an "anti-stress agent", and low levels of the vitamin have also been associated with depression.

*Melatonin is a hormone that makes us sleepy. Serotonin is needed partly to produce melatonin, but also regulates our sleep and wakefulness cycle. Dopamine is associated with alertness.

Studies with vitamin B6 and sleep

In studies done on mice, it has been seen that vitamin B6, both alone and in combination with zinc, showed increased levels of melatonin in the mice. In another study where vitamin B6 was injected into mice every other day for two months, an increase in melatonin levels was also seen there. Results from human studies have shown mixed results. In a study of 12 healthy men who were given 100 mg (oral) of vitamin B6 in the evening, no effect was seen on their nocturnal levels of melatonin in the blood. However, it was seen that the levels of melatonin doubled when 100 children between 1.5-8 years old were administered 3 mg/kg body weight vitamin B6 intravenously at night.

Foods with vitamin B6

You can find vitamin B6 in foods such as bananas, cereals, meat, eggs, chicken, potatoes, pistachios and avocados.

GABA, L-theanine, Ashwagandha and sleep

Earlier in this article we talked about GABA being a neurotransmitter that has an inhibitory effect on the brain and can promote sleep and relax muscles. In addition to magnesium and zinc activating GABA , GABA is also available as a dietary supplement. When 30 people were given dietary supplements with 300 mg of GABA (extracted from unpolished rice extract) every day for 4 weeks, they had improved sleep quality compared to a control group (20 people) who only received a placebo. In another study conducted on rats, they looked at the effect of a combination of dietary supplements with 100 mg/kg body weight GABA and 20 mg/kg body weight L-theanine (amino acid found in tea leaves). Taking this dietary supplement resulted in a shorter time when the rats went from being awake to falling asleep, and that the treatment led to longer sleep times. Therefore, it is believed that both GABA and L-theanine could help with insomnia, especially when they are combined. In another study (in humans) it was seen that stress-related symptoms, such as sleep, anxiety and depression, were reduced after 4 weeks of using dietary supplements with L-theanine (200 mg/day). It was also seen that sleep quality was improved in the group that received L-theanine compared to the control group that received a placebo.

Finally, we will talk about ashwagandha , which is an herb widely used in Ayurvedic medicine. One of the herb's many purported benefits is that it can improve sleep quality. In one study, 60 people were divided into two groups where 40 people received an extract of ashwagandha root (300 mg twice a day) for 10 weeks, and 20 people received a placebo. The study was blinded, i.e. that the participants did not know whether they were taking ashwagandha or a placebo. The results showed improvements in sleep quality in the group receiving the Ashwagandha root extract, compared to the placebo group. Participants in this group also experienced a reduction in anxiety-related symptoms.