# Research timeline and gaps: Magnesium Forms, Sleep and Stress

Selected publication milestones, not an exhaustive history or discovery priority claim.

**1990 — Citrate-versus-oxide solubility and human loading illustrate why availability and clinical sleep effects are different.** [Original PMID2407766](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2407766/).

**1993 — Rat dietary deficiency and repletion show reversible sleep/ECoG disruption in that nutritional context.** [Original PMID8232845](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8232845/).

**2002 — Small elderly crossover measures oral magnesium effects with overnight EEG and endocrine sampling.** [Original PMID12163983](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12163983/).

**2010 — Rodent threonate central-exposure/synaptic work supports neural plausibility, not clinical insomnia efficacy.** [Original PMID20152124](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20152124/).

**2010 — Citrate poor-sleep trial finds equal globalPSQI improvement despite some status/inflammation differences.** [Original PMID21199787](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21199787/).

**2012 — Older-adult oxide trial reports selected positive symptoms and total-sleep-time null.** [Original PMID23853635](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23853635/).

**2018 — StressMg+B6versusMg trial illustrates the need for a magnesium-free comparator.** [Original PMID30562392](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30562392/).

**2024 — Threonate21-day trial reports mixed questionnaire and consumer wearable outcomes; subsequent correction matters.** [Original PMID39252819](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39252819/).

**2025 — Prospective bisglycinate4-week trial finds a small primaryISI effect with ligand exposure unpartitioned.** [Original PMID40918053](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40918053/).

**2025 — Newer six-week threonate trial retains sleep-disturbance/restorative/objective nulls alongside impairment benefit.** [Original PMID41601871](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41601871/).

**2023 — A postoperative placebo-controlled threonate study finds null secondary sleep, mood and cognition outcomes; its pain-prevention population is distinguished from insomnia enrollment.** [Original PMID37520407](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37520407/).

## Research gaps

Independent replication of a clinically meaningful sleep benefit rather than only borderline small symptom differences.

A prospectively tested magnesium-deficient versus replete response boundary using validated assessment, not post-hoc non-validated dietary questions.

Matched elemental-dose and ligand-controlled direct salt comparisons for sleep.

Human brain/mediator measurements with genuine mediator dissociation while maintaining treatment.

Polysomnography/actigraphy, daytime function and longer-term safety/adherence beyond short consumer wearable scores.

Transparent prospective registration, outcome hierarchy, sponsorship and corrections; the threonate correction changes confidence in prespecification.

## Boundary experiment

An independently sponsored, prospectively registered blinded factorial trial in adults with baseline poor sleep, stratified by validated measured magnesium status before randomization. Compare matched elemental-dose magnesium salts with ligand-matched controls, including glycine/threonate-only and visually identical placebo conditions. Use a prespecified clinically meaningful ISI responder threshold plus actigraphy/polysomnography and daytime function over8–12weeks, with allocation guesses, adherence and missingness sensitivity.