Drinking tart Montmorency cherry juice could help improve sleep quality, as it boosts the body’s natural production of melatonin, a hormone that regulates the sleep-wake cycle, according to a new study published in the European Journal of Nutrition.
Researchers at the University of Northumbria in England recruited 20 healthy volunteers, who were asked to drink 30 mL of either tart cherry juice or a placebo juice a day.
The participants who drank cherry juice had a significant increase in their body’s melatonin production, producing 15 to 16 percent more of the hormone than those who were on the placebo. They also reported less daytime tiredness, requiring fewer naps than they had previously needed.
The volunteers were asked to wear an actigraphy watch sensor which monitored movement and thus measured their sleep-wake cycles. The researchers found that the cherry juice-drinkers also spent about 15 minutes longer in bed and 25 extra minutes asleep, with a five to six percent increase in their "sleep efficiency."