Cherry juice could cure insomnia

LONDON - Cherry juice could help an individual get a good night’s sleep.

People who drank a glass of unsweetened cherry juice in the morning and evening enjoyed sound sleep than when they drank the same amount of some other juice, a study has claimed.

Insomnia has been one of the biggest health challenges of the modern age, with about one in four adults suffering from it and a fifth regularly getting less than five hours of sleep every night.

The effect of cherry juice could be due to the fruit’s high content of melatonin, a hormone that regulates the body’s sleep-wake cycle, Wilfred Pigeon, a psychiatrist from the University of Rochester in New York, who led the study, was quoted as saying by Daily Mail.

The researchers analysed sleeping patterns of participants on two routines. During the first, they drank cherry juice, and in the second another fruit juice. The cherry juice led to an average of 17 minutes more sleep.

“Given the side-effects of some medications, it is encouraging to have a natural alternative,” Pigeon, whose findings are published in the Journal of Medicinal Food, said.