Effect of Magnesium Supplementation on Physical Activity of Overweight or Obese Insomniac Elderly Subjects: A Double-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial

Background : Strategies for weight reduction often promote lifestyle changes like encouraging participation in physical activity. Also there is some evidence suggesting an association between insomnia and physical activity level and probable beneficial effect of magnesium supplementation on insomnia. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of magnesium supplementation on physical activity level in insomniac elderly subjects.
Materials and Methods : A double blind randomized clinical trial was conducted in 46 overweight or obese subjects, randomly allocated into the magnesium or the placebo group and received 500 mg magnesium or placebo daily for 8 weeks. Questionnaires of insomnia severity index (ISI), physical activity and sleep-log were completed and serum magnesium measured at baseline and after the intervention period. Anthropometric confounding factors, daily intake of magnesium, calcium, potassium, caffeine, calorie form carbohydrates, fat, protein and total calorie intake, were obtained using 24-hrs recall for 3-days. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS-19 software.
Results : No significant differences were observed in assessed variables between the two groups at the baseline. According to our research magnesium supplementation significantly increased sleep indices and physical activity level, also resulted in significantly decrease of total calorie intake in magnesium group. Although serum magnesium concentration and weight did not show any differences.
Conclusion : In the present study magnesium supplementation resulted in improvement of sleep indices and physical activity level in elderly subjects. Although according to our short term intervention no significant beneficial effect was observed on subject`s weight.