I have been a terrible sleeper ever since I had kids. My 8-year-old asked me if I stay awake all night because I always respond when either of them shouts for me.
I have tried a lot of things to improve my sleep quality, and Salt Lab’s magnesium-oil spray is the only thing that has worked. I don’t like any of the Benadryl-type pills or melatonin because they make me feel drugged and drowsy and miserable the next day. And even the sleep that I do get on those meds is unpleasant and filled with bad dreams, and I feel as though I’m awake but helplessly locked in sleep. I’ve also tried all the sleepy-time teas and kava and natural supplements, and those are, across the board, utterly useless. The ritual of them is fleetingly soothing, but that passes quickly. I’ve tried to read before sleeping, but, like most, end up scrolling and infusing my eyes and brain with blue light and horrifying information instead.
I even tried the drastic measure of putting my phone to charge in a different room, but all that resulted in was me waking up at 1 a.m. and going on the hunt for my phone in the dark, without my glasses on, and inevitably stepping on a piece of LEGO. Then it’s all just a lost cause; might as well give up and stay awake until 5 a.m., when I’ll finally fall asleep just in time for my alarm to ring at 6 a.m.
But for the past year, I’ve been spraying two to four spritzes of this magnesium oil on the soles of my feet (apparently, topical treatments are most effective when sprayed somewhere you have a lot of sweat glands, where your skin is the most porous), and something’s actually shifted. Ever since starting this spray, I manage to fall asleep (usually within 20 minutes) and stay asleep.
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I have tried magnesium in pill form, but this topical spray seems to have more of an effect on me. Is it partly a placebo effect because it’s a little expensive and the bottle looks like something you’d find in a business-class lounge for Emirates? Am I placeboing my way to a night of good sleep?
I’m not a doctor, so I turned to Dr. Anisha Abraham, M.D., M.P.H., and the author of the book Raising Global Teens. “Magnesium taken orally may have some benefit for sleep and relaxation. I have patients that find it very useful at night,” she told me. “I have minimal experience with spraying magnesium oil for sleep. While it may be beneficial, unfortunately, high-quality scientific evidence supporting magnesium as a sleep remedy is limited.”
Given all the other absolutely not scientifically backed methods I have been willing to try, I’m standing by this one, which at least doesn’t cause harm and seems to have clear anecdotal support: I spray it on the feet of anyone who spends the night, and they’ve all reported some of the best sleep of their lives (and this is usually on a folding mattress on the floor).
The only other thing that works for me is a day of walking at least 20,000 steps, but if I commit to that, I’d have to spend all my waking hours walking in order to spend my sleeping hours sleeping.
I still respond to my children immediately because this spray doesn’t put me into a drugged state but at least I don’t then stay awake for three more hours after I respond to their calls.
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