Mention you’re struggling with your sleep to any friend, and we guarantee they’ll recommend a daily dose of magnesium. Yep, the nutrient has been doing the rounds on social media, loudly praised for its ability to soothe aching muscles (2025 marathon runners, listen up), boost energy levels and contribute to a better night’s sleep. But with six types of magnesium and way more choice when it comes to consumable supplements — including capsules, gummies and drinkable formulas — where do you start?
A recent study by the National Library of Medicine reports that up to 20% of UK adults have low magnesium levels, which could be contributing to fatigue, weakness, and poor sleep.
Thankfully, we’ve quizzed experts, scoured the virtual shelves and personally tested a host of magnesium supplements to find the very best for 2025. So, read on for our favourites, as well as answers to all your FAQS.
SKIP TO: What is magnesium? | What are the health benefits of magnesium? | How we choose the best magnesium supplements
Disclaimer: Keep in mind that this article isn’t a substitute for professional medical advice, and our recommendations won’t replace a healthy lifestyle and balanced diet.
Meet the expert:
What is magnesium?
Essentially, it’s a nutrient the body needs to support key processes such as regulating muscle and nerve function, as well as maintaining a healthy blood pressure and blood sugar levels. It is naturally found in foods such as legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grains, milk, yoghurt and green leafy vegetables (spinach). For context, a banana contains about 32mg, a cup of skimmed milk 29.5 mg and three squares of 70-85% dark chocolate around 68mg.
The amount you need entirely depends on your age and sex, however, the Office of Dietary Supplements recommends 310 and 420 mg for women over the age of 18, and 400 — 420 mg for men. The following are also more likely to get too little magnesium: People with gastrointestinal diseases — for example, Crohn’s and celiac disease — people with type 2 diabetes, people with long-term alcoholism and older people.
While not getting enough in the short term often won’t result in obvious symptoms, signs of a long-term magnesium deficiency include a loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, and weakness.
How we choose the best magnesium supplements:
Since 2023, the GLAMOUR team has made it a priority to personally test a host of magnesium supplements, the best making their way into this edit. Our volunteers — writers and editors who differ in terms of their age, lifestyle and experience with supplements — trialled one over a minimum period of six weeks.
All were asked to consider how easy they were to take every day, as well as their taste, efficacy (AKA, how soon did we notice improvements?), value for money, dietary requirements — is the formula suitable for vegan, vegetarian and pescatarian diets? Free from additives? Gluten-free? But, because we know we’re all different, we also scoured the customer reviews for key pros and cons.
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