Can Magnesium Cause Nightmares?

Can Magnesium Cause Nightmares? (Answered!)

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There has never been any direct link shown between magnesium supplements and nightmares, as such. Magnesium shouldn’t cause nightmares. However, it can mean that, in your deeper sleep state, your dreams are more vivid and memorable. It’s less a direct relationship and more of a broader influence.

 

Dreaming is a strange and mysterious thing that we don’t necessarily fully understand.

We have a good idea of the mechanism, and some solid theories as to the function of dreams.

But there are still huge gaps in our knowledge.

This fact is hugely important to know when asking this question, but let’s take a closer look.

Can Magnesium Cause Nightmares?

Do magnesium supplements cause nightmares?

Directly, no. there isn’t really a connection.

Of course, there isn’t really a medically accepted definition of a “nightmare”—what this means is going to be different for each person.

What might be a nightmare to one person could simply be an uncomfortable memory for another.

That said, magnesium does have strong effects on your sleep.

This is often one of the reasons people take it.

It certainly helped me to sleep.

Often, how you dream, or at least how you remember those dreams, is more to do with the nature of your sleep than anything else.

I’ll get into how this might influence your dreams shortly.

In any case, there is not any direct, empirical or demonstrable link between magnesium supplements and nightmares, explicitly.

That’s not to say there is no truth to the idea whatsoever, but it’s far less certain than simply saying “x causes y”.

Let’s look at exactly how magnesium might affect your dreams.

 

Why does magnesium cause weird dreams?

There are a couple of reasons, all to do with how deeply you are sleeping.

Each night, we go through cycles of sleep—the deepest of which being rapid eye movement, or REM sleep.

REM is the deepest and where most dreaming occurs.

Whether or not we even achieve REM sleep is dependent on how well we are sleeping.

There is no doubt that magnesium supplements help you fall into a deeper sleep better.

This deeper sleep can result in not only denser and stranger dreams, but higher dream recall.

You’ve probably heard before that we actually dream every night, and that whether we feel we’ve dreamt is really just about whether we remembered our dreams.

It’s different for different people, but a deeper sleep often causes higher dream retention.

Regardless, though, the deep, magnesium sleep can lead to weirder and more vivid dreams.

Just not in a way that any other substance, with a similarly sedating effect, would have.

How can you stop these dreams, then?

 

How to stop magnesium dreams

This is a bit of a tricky one, really.

The only sure way that you’re going to stop the dreams from magnesium is to stop taking magnesium, at least at bed time.

If you are taking it as a sleeping aid, try taking it a good few hours before you plan to go to bed.

Because magnesium induces these dreams by making your sleep deeper, there’s not a whole lot you can do other than stopping taking it.

Dreaming is often caused by the inverse effect, too: by substances or habits causing your sleep to be more restless, and shallower.

This can be remedied in many ways that improve your sleep.

However, the deep sleep that results from magnesium can’t really be halted except by stopping taking the substance.

It is worth mentioning, though, that magnesium isn’t guaranteed to cause nightmares or vivid dreams.

It does for many people, but how we dream is very different. It may well have no such effect on you.

If you are dreaming with magnesium, then, and your body can’t seem to get used to the sleep without dreams, you may just have to quit the supplement.

 

Does magnesium cause night terrors?

No, is the short answer.

Night terrors are an entirely different thing, influenced by very different centers of the brain.

Furthermore, they’re really quite rare in adults—they tend to occur mostly in children.

Children should have no need for magnesium supplements.

That said, if you do know you, as an adult, are prone to night terrors, then magnesium probably won’t help.

Again, the deeper sleep could lead to higher brain activity, which is what can often lead to waking up with night terrors.

So, magnesium shouldn’t necessarily cause nightmares.

It may intensify your dreams, and to many, there may be no practical difference between that and nightmares.

Sometimes, all a dream needs to be discomfiting is to be more vivid.

Magnesium is a fairly strong mineral and it’s really important to our diets, but too much of it can have a wide range of negative effects.

Be sure to regulate how much you use, and take steps to ensure more restful sleep.

 

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