This is a page that will cost us money, and it is a good example of why the grading exists.
Magnesium is one of the best-selling supplements in the menopause category. If we graded it moderate instead of weak, more of you would buy it through our link, and nothing about the underlying evidence would have changed. So it is graded weak, and here is the reasoning in full.
What the trials actually show
The frequently cited studies are small, mostly in older adults with diagnosed insomnia, and frequently in populations with low baseline magnesium. Where an effect is found it is modest, measured in minutes of sleep latency rather than in transformed nights. There is very little research in perimenopausal women specifically, and none of it is large.
That is not the same as saying it does nothing. It is saying the confident claims on the packaging are not supported by the research they gesture at.
Why we still list it
It is inexpensive, the risk profile in people with normal kidney function is low, and a great many women report that it helps. A four-week self-trial costs little and answers the only question that matters to you, which is whether it works for you rather than whether it worked on average in a trial of ninety people in 2012.
What we will not do is tell you a trial says something it does not.