Can drinking cherry juice help me sleep?

Researchers looked at the sleep habits of 15 older adults who drank 8 ounces of tart cherry juice in the morning and evening for two weeks. Then they drank a comparable matched drink with no tart cherry juice for another two-week period. The results? A significant reduction in reported insomnia severity during the weeks when they drank the cherry juice. The adults saved about 17 minutes of wake time after going to sleep, on average, when drinking cherry juice daily compared to when they were drinking the other non-cherry beverage.

So what’s the magic in cherry juice? Cherries contain melatonin, a natural antioxidant with a well-documented history of helping to regulate the sleep-wake cycle. Produced naturally by the body in small amounts, melatonin plays a role in inducing sleepiness at night and wakefulness during the day.

A warm glass of milk may not be the only beverage that can help make you sleepy. Sipping some tart cherry juice also might help you nod off. In fact, in a study of older adults, tart cherry juice seemed to help them fall asleep faster, stay asleep longer, and rack up more total hours of sleep at night.

The study involved research participants sipping a commercially prepared tart cherry juice morning and night for a couple of weeks. Although it was a small study funded by the juice manufacturer, it was not without merit. And similar research has already shown cherries to be high in melatonin, a sleep-regulating hormone that's produced by the pineal gland in the brain but that can be found in some plant sources, too, like fruit. Cherries are also loaded with certain anti-inflammatory cytokines that are thought to regulate the sleep-wake cycle.

Still, more research is needed to confirm the results as well as determine whether cherry juice from concentrate or whole cherries could provide similar get-to-sleep benefits. If you decide to try sipping juice daily to help get yourself to sleep, keep in mind that the sweetened varieties will add more calories to your diet.

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