Insomnia is not a natural part of aging but is higher in older adults because of a variety of factors common in later life. One of these factors may be a deficient magnesium status. This study will look at whether or not magnesium supplementation will improve sleep.
Insomnia affects approximately one-third of older Americans. More than half of all people aged 65 and older experience sleep problems. The prevalence of insomnia and other sleep disorders is not a natural part of aging but is high in older adults because of a variety of factors common in late life. One of those factors may be a deficient magnesium status. There is a close association between sleep architecture, especially slow wave sleep, and activity in the glutamatergic and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) system. Because magnesium is a natural N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)antagonist and GABA agonist, magnesium apparently plays a key role in the regulation of sleep. Such a role is supported by supplementation, correlation, and animal studies showing that magnesium intake or status affects sleep organization.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
TRIPLE
Enrollment
111
Sugar pill supplementation for 9 weeks
300 milligrams daily for 8 weeks
USDA Grand Forks Human Nutrition Research Center
Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States
Global Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index
Improvement in the Pittsburgh Global Sleep Quality Index (PGQI). The index is based on a score of 0 to 21, the lower the score on the index the better the subject perceives their sleep.
Time frame: 9 weeks
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