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Randomized trial · measured the question itself

8-week trial in 290 adults with diabetes: magnesium and potassium lowered insomnia scores

Khalid and colleagues · Frontiers in endocrinology · 2024

Original title: Effects of magnesium and potassium supplementation on insomnia and sleep hormones in patients with diabetes mellitus.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

Insomnia scores after the trial differed between groups (p = 0.0001). Stress hormone (cortisol) and sleep hormone (melatonin) levels also changed in the supplement groups. Supplements cut insomnia severity.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
290 people · adults with diabetes and insomnia (320 started, 290 finished)
What was tested
Placebo, magnesium, potassium, or both as tablets for 2 months; one-blind
What it measured
The question itself: sleep quality and insomnia
How long
8 weeks
Who has a stake
No stake declared
No competing interests declared.
Journal
Frontiers in endocrinology, 2024
Source
PubMed record 39534260. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • ✓Compared with a placebo, a dummy treatment.
  • •Medium size: 290 people.
  • –Short: 8 weeks. Longer-term effects are unknown.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: sleep quality and insomnia.
  • ✓No competing interests declared.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: sleep quality and insomnia

    1

    1 benefit

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    6

    4 benefit, 2 no difference

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  4. Population studies

    3

    2 mixed, 1 no difference

  5. Blood levels and genes

    3

    2 benefit, 1 no difference

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does magnesium help you sleep?”

Not clearly; trials disagree.

Confidence: very low. Based on 16 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer

Few other papers sit on the same step, so there is little to compare it with.

Other papers on the same step

None among the papers we read.

See all 16 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The two reads agreed on every checked field. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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