Reach for the melatonin
The hormone is impacted by the time of day, so melatonin levels usually rise during the evening and are lower during the day. Research has shown that melatonin supplements can help to improve sleep quality, reduces the time needed to fall asleep, and helps to increase overall sleep times.
More research is needed to determine how multivitamins affect your sleep, if they do at all, and whether the time of day you take them can impact this. There just isn't enough information to recommend avoiding multivitamins at night, so you can take them whenever you find it most convenient.
There's no set time of day that's best to take vitamin D supplements. Some people say taking vitamin D supplements at night is an insomnia risk. There's no research to confirm this, but you might want to take your supplement earlier in the day if you think it's screwing with your sleep.
One study of older adults with insomnia found that magnesium supplementation at a dose of 500 milligrams daily for eight weeks helped them fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, reduced nighttime awakenings, and increased their levels of naturally circulating melatonin.
You can—but it's probably not a good idea. For some supplements, optimal absorption can depend on the time of day taken. Not only that—taking certain vitamins, minerals, or other supplements together can also reduce absorption and may result in adverse interactions, which can be harmful to your health.
What many do not know is that vitamin C plays a significant role in boosting sleep health. Studies have shown that individuals with greater concentrations of vitamin C have better sleep than those with reduced concentrations.
B vitamins work together (such as in a B complex supplement that contains B12, folate, B6, etc.), so they can/should be taken together. Vitamin C and iron (C helps the body absorb more iron, from both foods and supplements) Vitamin K and calcium (both support skeletal and heart health)
Some studies have found that magnesium supplements can: Make it easier to fall asleep. Improve sleep quality. Reduce symptoms of restless legs syndrome, which can interfere with a good night's sleep.
In order to fall asleep and stay asleep, your body and brain need to relax. On a chemical level, magnesium aids this process by activating the parasympathetic nervous system, the system responsible for getting you calm and relaxed ( 6 ).
Yes! You can and should take magnesium and vitamin D together. In fact, the bioavailability of vitamin D largely relies on magnesium. Also, many nutrients wouldn't work efficiently without magnesium, further highlighting the importance of this mineral!
Symptoms when vitamin D is low
Fatigue. Not sleeping well. Bone pain or achiness. Depression or feelings of sadness.
Bone and lower back pain may be symptoms of inadequate vitamin D levels ( 17 , 18 ). Vitamin D helps maintain bone health by improving your body's absorption of calcium. One study in 98 adults with lower back pain linked lower levels of vitamin D to more severe pain.
Combining multiple supplements or taking higher-than-recommended doses can increase the risk that they can cause harm, said Kitchin. "You really can't get toxic doses of nutrients through food, but you can absolutely get toxic doses through supplements," Kitchin said.
Our only hard recommendation: Avoid supplementing with vitamin D at night. There's evidence that vitamin D can suppress melatonin—which is bad news for your sleep quality.
Magnesium supplements should be taken with meals. Taking magnesium supplements on an empty stomach may cause diarrhea.
Magnesium can decrease the absorption and effectiveness of numerous medications, including some common antibiotics such as tetracycline (Achromycin, Sumycin), demeclocycline (Declomycin), doxycycline (Vibramycin), minocycline (Minocin), ciprofloxacin (Cipro), levofloxacin (Levaquin), moxifloxacin (Avelox) and ofloxacin ...
Mayo Clinic suggests aiming to leave at least one to two hours between vitamins. “I usually tell people to take them at a separate meal,” says Brissette.