Does Cherry Juice Help You Sleep

In the never ending search for sleep aids, many people have come across cherry juice and wonder if it really can help you sleep. Does drinking tart cherry juice, or any cherry juice for that matter, really help you sleep? And if so, how does it work? Do you fall asleep faster or do you fall asleep and sleep deeper?

All realy good questions. They are questions that I myself had at one time. I had tried lots of different natural sleeping remedies. Everything from chamolmie tea to herbal sleep remedies such as valerian and passion flower. And some of them worked slightly, but of course they all had their drawbacks (the smell of valerian is infamous!).

And when I stumbled upon cherry juice as a sleep aid, I was happy. Why? Because I like cherries. Most people do! Cherry flavor is one of the most popular flavors around. When was the last time you’ve seen a valerian flavored candy? Right!

Does Cherry Juice Help You Sleep Through The Night?

The first question is the easiest to answer. Yes. Cherry juice will help you sleep through the night. It’s not going to knock you out like a sleeping pill. But it will help you fall asleep and stay asleep.

The reason that cherry juice helps you fall asleep is that it is a natural source of melatonin. This is a hormone that regulates the normal body sleep pattern. It’s made in your body but it is also found in food! And delicious food at that. Cherries are the best source and there are also other fruit such as kiwi!

Do You Have To Eat Cherries or Drink Cherry Juice

The good news is that you don’t have to restrict yourself to drnking cherry juice if you actually like to eat cherries. In fact, I am a big proponent of eating cherries whole. I like the taste and they are a great source of fiber. I also don’t like to buy bottled cherry juice, though there are a lot of people who do swear by it. I tend to try and make all juices myself.

That said, I have found that if you can tolerate the extra fiber (one reason to juice cherries would be that you’re already loaded up with fiber from your regular diet) then the cherries will make you sleepy.

I personally use frozen dark sweet cherries that I can buy in bulk.

Can You Use Frozen Cherries?

Absolutely you can. In fact, that’s mostly what I do. I like to get pitted organic cherries. Many health food stores will sell them in a bag in the frozen section. The benefit to using frozen cherries is that most of the time they will be pitted. That’s a big benefit to using fresh cherries. Especially if you are planning on juicing with them.

Anytime you can save yourself time, effort,work and energy in the kitchen, it is worth it. You  do not want to ever create more work for yourself than is necessary.

When you buy frozen cherries, especially if you are planning on juicing them to make cherry juice, you should make sure that they are pitted. You can’t put cherries with pits in them in a juicer as it will destroy the juicer. So, it’s essential that you make sure that the cherries are pitted.

If you’re not using frozen cherries and are instead buying fresh cherries, then I would invest in a cherry piter. These are super cheap and manual (they are like a good citrus squeezer or garlic press or nut cracker, heavy duty and long lasting).

You can by frozen cherries (not always organic, but if possible that sould be your choice) at the following locations:

• BJs Club
• COSTCO
• Natural Markets That Are Not Corporate Owned (think old school organic stores pre-Whole Foods).

 

Dark Sweet Cherries vs Tart Cherries: Which Are Better for Sleep?

First, it’s important to know that all cherries have melatonin. So, as long as you are eating cherries that haven’t been cooked with sugar or some sort of cherry jam, you’re ok. Technically these cherries will also have malatonin, however the added sugar from the cooking and jam making process makes them less than desirable.

That said, there are some types of cherries that are better than others when it comes to supplying malatonin to improve your sleep. Tart cherry’s have, as a rule, more melatonin than sweet cherries. This is why you will see so many cherry juices advertised as being made with tart cherry juice. Montmorency cherries, for instance,have almost 5 times as much melatonin as Balton cherries. But it can’t be stated uniformly that sour cherries have more melatonin than sweet cherries since Hong Deng cherries have a lot of melatonin.

Where To Find Cherry Juice

There are innumerable locations where you can find cherry juice. Most people end up ordering it online or picking it up from a local health food store. As i mentioned earlier, I tend to like to have whole cherries instead of juice. And if I am going to drink cherry juice, then I end up thawing my cherries and then juicing them once they have thawed.

If you are going to thaw frozen cherries and then juice them,make sure that you collect the cherry juice that will leak out of them. When cherries are flash frozen, it breaks up the cells and then when they thaw, all of that cherry juice that was in the cherries will easily leak out.

But if you want to buy cherry juice from the store, then you should make sure to buy it in a glass container. I know that there are a lot of companies that make and sell tart cherry juice for sleeping, but a lot of them happen to sell the juice in plastic containers. I don’t care if they say that they are BPA free plastic containers, they are still not good for you to use. So, get a glass container and if that is not available, I would simply try to buy whole cherries and eat them (or juice them if you can find frozen pitted cherries). You should see some results.

Can You Juice Cherries and Make Cherry Juice?

Yes, you can certainly juice cherries and make cherry juice. How do you think those companies that are selling you cherry juice are doing it? They are taking cherries and pitting them and then juicing them. If you are looking to do this at home yourself, you have a few advantages and a few drawbacks. Let’s discuss them.

First, a big advantage is that you can make sure you are getting fresh cherry juice. Anytime you juice any fruit it’s vital that you drink that juice as soon as possible. Nutrients begin to dissipate quickly and after a few days most juices shouldn’t be drunk. Store brought juices are pasteurized or have other ingredients added to them so that they are shelf stable and can sit out for weeks if not months!

Second, another advantage is that you can be sure you are getting pure cherry juice and organic cherry juice as well. When you purchase a store brought cherry juice, you always run the risk of it not being real cherry juice. You have to make sure that you buy from a reputable brand and with cherry juice especially, there are a lot of snake oil companies out there.

Finally, and this is a big one, you don’t have to drink cherry juice that comes in glass bottles

Besides Sleep, Does Cherry Juice Provide Other Benefits

The most commonly discussed benefit of cherry juice besides helping with sleep is joint pain. Cherry juice and cherry’s are great for inflammation. There have been numerous studies which have shown the positive health effects associated with drinking cherry juice and also associated with other positive healthy benefits such as pain reduction with stiff joints, gout, and even nephropathy.

On the whole, cherries are a great source of antioxidants and powerful institutes for your body. They reduce oxidative stress and so are good for your body.  Also, it is a great natural source of healthy flavanoids (the reason cherries have that beautiful red color) which can help protect against cancer and heart disease.

 

How To Make Cherry Juice: An Easy Explainer

If you’ve decided that cherry juice is the way to go, but you are not keen on buying cherry juice, then you can easily make your own sleep aid cherry juice by doing one of the following:

Make Cherry Juice Using A Juicer

This is my prefered method of making cherry juice and honestly, it is vastly superior to the blender method. The only reason I would say you should use a blender is if you don’t own a juicer!

The first step is to make sure you are using pitted cherries. You never want to attempt to juice cherries that have pits in them.

The next step is to thaw out the cherries. If you put frozen cherries into a masticating juicer such as an omega, then you will end up with a sorbet. It will be a nice vegan cherry sorbet, but it will still be a sorbet.

Once the cherries have thawed out, collect the juice and then juice the thawed cherries.

Make Cherry Juice In A Blender or Food Processor

As I mentioned, this is not something I recommend unless you don’t happen to have a juicer. If you don’t own a juicer I would always recommend buying one (you can make great green drinks, which is the main focus of this blog) and you can also make a ton of other cool drinks.

But, if you don’t own a juicer and if you are not planning on buying one, then what you can do is make cherry juice in a blender using a sieve. The first step would be to thaw the cherries and then blend them or process them in a food processor.

Once they have turned into a slushy slurry the next step is to strain them out. I prefer to use a fine mesh metal strainer anytime I am straining juice. Avoid plastic and avoid large mesh strainers as you will get too much pulp in them.

Can You Mix Cherry Juice With Vegetables?

You most certainly can. In fact, one of the most popular smoothie and juice combinations is cherry and leafy greens. You can even buy frozen organic blueberry cherry and kale at health food stores. They market this as a super antioxidant mix. The cherry has a tart and sweet flavor that makes drinking a smoothie or juice with leafy greens taste good.

I personally am a fan of making a green drink that is made with:

• dark leafy greens (organic spinach or kale)
• pineapple or lemon
• organic cherries

It’s amazing for your health and it also tastes great and it will help you go to sleep!