Comparison
Melatonin vs Magnesium Glycinate
Melatonin
Pineal hormone regulating circadian rhythm. Low doses (0.3-1mg) often outperform higher doses for sleep.
Magnesium Glycinate
Chelated magnesium with high bioavailability and minimal laxative effect. The de facto sleep magnesium.
| Field | Melatonin | Magnesium Glycinate |
|---|---|---|
| Category | neuroprotective | neuroprotective |
| Dose range | 0.3–3mg | 200–400mg |
| Half-life | 1h | — |
| Onset | 30min | — |
| Evidence | EVIDENCEA | EVIDENCEB |
| Safety | ●●●●● | ●●●●● |
| Legal (US) | USOTC | USOTC |
| PubMed refs | 28000 | 1200 |
The comparison in plain English
Auto-generated from dataMelatonin and Magnesium Glycinate are both in the neuroprotective category respectively. Melatonin Pineal hormone regulating circadian rhythm. Magnesium Glycinate Chelated magnesium with high bioavailability and minimal laxative effect.
Bottom line
Melatonin (evidence A, safety 5/5) has a weaker evidence base than Magnesium Glycinate (evidence B, safety 5/5). Melatonin has the slightly cleaner safety profile. For users new to either, the higher-evidence option is the safer first try.
Choose Melatonin if
Melatonin is the better fit when your goal aligns with its mechanism (Endogenous hormone produced by the pineal gland in response to darkness, signalling the circadian sleep window) and the dose range (0.3–3mg) suits your protocol. Half-life is 1h.
Choose Magnesium Glycinate if
Magnesium Glycinate is the better fit when your goal aligns with its mechanism (Magnesium chelated with glycine for high bioavailability and minimal laxative effect) and the dose range (200–400mg) suits your protocol. Half-life is —h.