Can a glass of juice really add an hour of sleep? In a small RCT it did. (1/7)
In a double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover trial in 8 completers >50 years old with chronic insomnia (Losso et al., American Journal of Therapeutics, 2018), drinking 240 mL (8 oz) of Montmorency tart cherry juice twice daily for 2 weeks increased (2/7)
polysomnography-measured sleep time by 84 minutes per night (p=0.018). The proposed mechanism: cherry procyanidin B-2 inhibits indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO), which raises tryptophan availability for serotonin and melatonin synthesis. (3/7)
Honest caveats: tiny sample (n=8), 2-week duration, and Montmorency tart cherries carry ~15-20 g of natural sugar per 8 oz serving. Not for people with diabetes, poor glucose control, or on blood thinners. (4/7)
A 2025 systematic review found the sleep signal is real but inconsistent across trials.
Today's drop: If you struggle to stay asleep, try 8 oz of unsweetened Montmorency tart cherry juice in the morning and again 1-2 hours before bed for 2 weeks. (5/7)
Sleep is when the metabolic housekeeping happens - glucose regulation, growth hormone pulses, and glymphatic clearance in the brain. Fix sleep first and half of the downstream metabolic dysfunction gets easier. (6/7)
Full breakdown coming on the Health Longevity Secrets podcast youtube.com/@RobertLufkinMD
Source: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC56…
#DoctorsDailyDrop #Sleep #TartCherry #MetabolicHealth #HealthLongevitySecrets (7/7)
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