Forget the cocoa. If you're partial to a bedtime nightcap, experts believe that cherry juice is the best drink for a quality night's sleep.
Researchers from the School of Life Sciences at Northumbria University discovered that a particular type of cherry juice, the Montmorency cherry drink, enhances the levels of melatonin in the body, the hormone that regulates sleep.
The study involved 20 healthy participants who were asked to drink 30ml of cherry juice or a placebo beverage twice a day for a week. The volunteers were also asked to wear an actigraphy watch sensor, (which monitors sleep and wake patterns), and were told to keep a sleep diary.
Urine samples were collected and their levels of melatonin were inspected. Researchers discovered that those who drank the cherry juice experienced a 15% increase of urinary melatonin than those who didn't drink it.
Looking at the actigraphy sensor results, the researchers found that cherry drinkers increased their sleep time by around 25 minutes and increased their sleep efficiency by 6%.
"We were initially interested in the application of tart cherries in recovery from strenuous exercise. Sleep forms a critical component in that recovery process, which is often forgotten," says Dr Glyn Howatson from the study.
"These results show that tart cherry juice can be used to facilitate sleep in healthy adults and, excitingly, has the potential to be applied as a natural intervention, not only to athletes, but to other populations with insomnia and general disturbed sleep from shift work or jet lag."
This isn't the first time Montmorency cheery juice has hit the headlines. Previous research, published in Nutritional Practitioner, found that drinking a 250ml glass of the red stuff had the same health benefits as eating 23 portions of fruit and vegetables. Researchers discovered that cherry juice had an Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) of 8,260, compared to 1,790 ORAC in fruit and vegetables.
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