Can Cherries Relieve Insomnia?

There are lots of drinks that are marketed to do something healthy for you. Drink orange juice if you've got a cold. Try cranberry juice to keep your urinary tract healthy. Pomegranate juice is touted for a dose of age-defying antioxidants. Milk with calcium to build strong bones. And that doesn't include the multitude of vitamin waters, drink mixes and others that you can find on the shelves.

But what about a daily drink to help you sleep? Something made from fruit? And something other than the mythological "night cap" that entails sleep-disrupting alcohol?

A new study by a team from the University of Pennsylvania, University of Rochester, and VA Center of Canandaigua have learned that tart cherry juice might be the answer.

The researchers looked at the sleep habits of 15 older adults who drank eight 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. Though melatonin is marketed as a supplement to help people fall asleep, I'm not a big advocate of going this route without a doctor's supervision. But getting natural melatonin from whole foods like cherries is clearly another story. Our body is likely to use that very natural ingredient from a fruit in a much different way than it would via a pill.

After all, we seem to need solutions for better sleep:

• More than 40 million adults and another 20 million experience occasional sleep disruptions, putting their health and well-being at risk.
• Americans spend more than $84 million on over-the-counter sleep aids each year.

If a glass or two of tart cherry juice (assuming you enjoy the flavor) does in fact help reduce insomnia, then this study is good news for insomnia sufferers. Drink up!

Sweet Dreams,

 

Michael J. Breus, PhD

The Sleep Doctor™

www.thesleepdoctor.com

 

 

 

Follow Dr. Michael J. Breus on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thesleepdoctor

Comments

[BadBadKitten]

11:01 AM on 09/18/2010

Where do you even find tart cherry juice and how much does it cost?

[BadBadKitten]

11:00 AM on 09/18/2010

A glass of wine helps you fall asleep. It's cheaper too in most cases.

[Morgantheaxe]

08:28 PM on 08/17/2010

Oh cmon people this is simple. Eating cherrys leads to sex. Sex leads to sleep. Wonderful, deep sleep. Grab your spouse and a bowl of cherrys. See if Im not 100% right about this.

[dubbleplusgood]

08:06 AM on 08/17/2010

insomnia? Intense exercise in the early evening is a sure way to sleep earlier and longer because your body needs the downtime to repair itself. Yes you can be more energized from the workout, but 2-3 hours later your body will cave and sleep takes over.

[Ken Maddox]

12:04 AM on 08/17/2010

Consumption of Black Cherries, or a drink containing Black Cherry Extract, is good for the prevention/treatment of Gout.

[burgar]

08:09 PM on 08/16/2010

You can just buy melatonin. It is fairly inexpensive. It has become a reliable sleep aid for me.

[isee61]

05:13 PM on 08/16/2010

Cherries are good as a bowel cleanser if you eat too many at one time. I speak from experience.

[jsgaetano]

11:06 PM on 08/16/2010

That's pretty much true of any fruit.

[booki]

03:12 PM on 08/16/2010

cherries or no cherries, when my head hits that pillow.....
i am in dreamland!
i love cherries, especially the black cherries! with yogurt and walnuts........dinner!

[Tasha1269]

01:52 PM on 08/16/2010

Frankly, cherries keep me up at night. I have a terrible stomach ache after I eat them...but they are so good.

[dubbleplusgood]

07:59 AM on 08/17/2010

dont eat the pits ;)

[Tasha1269]

10:32 AM on 08/17/2010

lol....I don't! Fanned!

[Erica]

01:19 PM on 08/16/2010

Melatonin to assist sleep isn't a new concept and it's not a cure-all. You can buy melatonin supplements over the counter (although they aren't regulated by the FDA). If you have insomnia, try several things. Turn on your air conditioning to help your body cool down for sleep. Avoid caffeine in the afternoon and evening. Keep a "prayer box" or envelope you can seal by your bed, because the act of writing down a problem and sealing it away can help reduce stress. Turning down the lights can help your body produce more melatonin itself (melatonin isn't produced in light conditions). Keep a regular schedule by going to bed and waking at approximately the same time every day... even weekends! And remember, bed is for sleep. If you can't sleep, get up, do something else for an hour like have a cup of herbal tea or read a book, and then try again. A glass of tart cherry juice can't hurt, but I personally can't imagine fighting insomnia by going downstairs for a sour beverage.

[jsgaetano]

11:12 PM on 08/16/2010

I actually had insomnia, none of that stuff worked for me. However, melatonin did.

However, some fellow insomniacs didn't have much luck with it. Now there was one thing someone was raving about, something new (maybe two years old or so?), but I forget what it was.

[Gavin Saunders]

01:15 PM on 08/18/2010

Was it getting some direct sunlight on your body early in the morning to help set your body clock?

[LastTexasRose]

11:38 AM on 08/16/2010

Frankly, who cares? Any excuse to eat fresh cherries is a good one!

[suemj]

04:52 PM on 08/16/2010

There you go! The picture looks so fresh and inviting, that I will definitely be picking some up tonight!

[jsgaetano]

11:11 AM on 08/16/2010

I've been taking a product called "MidNite" to help with sleep, it also contains melatonin.

But the great thing about it is they put it in chewable tablets, so you just chew one up and start feeling naturally drowsy about 10-15 minutes later.