The glycinate component of magnesium glycinate increases GABA to help calm the nervous system and promote sleep.
"magnesium glycinate comes with the glycinate part, which actually helps calm down the nervous system. It helps increase something called GABA, which actually can help you sleep a little bit better." (said at 0:05:08)
The speaker bundles two claims regarding the glycinate (glycine) component of magnesium glycinate: that it promotes calming/sleep, and that it works by increasing GABA. 1. Glycine and sleep: Supported. Clinical trials and animal models indicate that oral glycine supplementation can improve subjective sleep quality and promote sleep, in part by lowering core body temperature via actions on NMDA receptors in the suprachiasmatic nucleus, as well as providing inhibitory neurotransmission. 2. Glycine increasing GABA: Contradicted. Glycine does not act by increasing gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Instead, glycine is itself an independent primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system that acts directly at its own glycine receptors (GlyRs) and serves as an NMDA receptor co-agonist. GABA and glycine represent two distinct inhibitory neurotransmitter systems.
- context: New therapeutic strategy for amino acid medicine: glycine improves the quality of sleep. (Journal of pharmacological sciences 2012)
"Glycine is a non-essential amino acid that has indispensable roles in both excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission via N-methyl-D-aspartate type glutamate receptors and glycine receptors, respectively. We recently reported that glycine ingestion before bedtime significantly ameliorated subjective sleep quality in individuals with insomniac tendencies." (abstract, results, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi) - context: The sleep-promoting and hypothermic effects of glycine are mediated by NMDA receptors in t… (Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology 2015)
"These data suggest that exogenous glycine promotes sleep via peripheral vasodilatation through the activation of NMDA receptors in the SCN shell." (abstract, conclusions, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi) - context: The importance of ligand gated ion channels in sleep and sleep disorders. (Biochemical pharmacology 2023)
"The aim of this work is to examine the latest physiological and pharmacological findings highlighting the contribution of ligand gated ion channels including the inhibitory GABA A and glycine receptors and excitatory nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and glutamate receptors in the sleep-wake cycle regulation." (abstract, results, passage verified)
pubmedfull study (doi)