Researchers found a possible way to cure insomnia in older people- cherry juice.
This small study reveals that drinking cherry juice increase sleep time by almost 90 minutes in elderly people with insomnia.
For the study, the researchers examined seven older insomniac people with an average age of 68. They were told to drink eight ounces of tart cherry juice twice a day for two weeks. Two weeks, they underwent a 'washout period' after which they were put on placebo for two more weeks.
Researchers examined the sleep of the participants through a controlled setting. They used overnight polysomnography. They told the respondents to complete a questionnaire related to sleep and were required to undergo blood work.
The results showed that the participants who consumed tart cherry juice in the morning and at night were able to sleep on average 84 minutes extra each night compared to when on the placebo, and their sleep was reported to be more efficient.
"Sleeping pills may be an option for younger insomniacs, but for older people these medications quadruple the risk of falling, which can lead to broken hips and, often, earlier death," co-author Frank L. Greenway, MD, director of the outpatient research clinic at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University, said in a news release.
"Even though the amount of tryptophan in tart cherry juice is smaller than a normal dose given to aid sleep, the compounds in tart cherries could prevent the tryptophan from breaking down so it's able to work in the body more effectively," Greenway explained. "These compounds may help to improve tryptophan bioavailability for serotonin synthesis, which could have a positive effect on sleep. Increasing serotonin also helps improve mood and decrease inflammation."
The researchers said that the findings are important because natural sleep supplements are safer than regular sleep medications.
The findings were presented today at the Experimental Biology 2014 meeting.
