If you have trouble sleeping, you might respond to supplementation with the bisglycinate form of magnesium. This is evident from a small trial published in Nature and Science of Sleep.

Study
Researchers at Leibniz University Hannover in Germany divided 155 adults with poor sleep into two groups. For four weeks, the subjects in one group took two capsules containing no active ingredients daily. They took the capsules 30 to 60 minutes before going to sleep.

The subjects in the other group took two capsules containing a total of 1786 milligrams of magnsium bisglycinate. The chemical structure of this substance is shown here.

After ingestion, this compound breaks down so quickly that it can also be considered a mixture—specifically, a mixture of 250 milligrams of magnesium and 1523 milligrams of glycine.

Results
The researchers assessed the participants' sleep quality using the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), a standardized questionnaire. The lower your score on the ISI, the better your sleep.

Scores improved in both groups. After four weeks, the average sleep score for both groups had shifted from the clear insomnia range to the mild insomnia range.

Researchers consider a decrease of 4 or more points on the ISI to be clinically significant. [BMC Med Res Methodol. 2024 Aug 8;24(1):177.] Such a clinically significant decrease is seen in the experimental group, not in the placebo group.

The researchers consider the positive effect of magnesium bisglycinate on sleep to be "moderate."

However, the effect was greater in the subjects who received little magnesium through their diet. This suggests that there is a group of high responders for whom magnesium supplementation is particularly interesting.