Do Cherries Help You Sleep? The Truth About Cherries, Melatonin, & A Better Night's Sleep

Many people swear by eating or drinking cherries before bed for better sleep. The fruity night-time ritual is a hot topic among sleep enthusiasts (and TikTok fans).

But is it based on fact, or is it just another bedtime myth?

You don’t want to be myth-taken (get it?), so read on as we take a deep dive to discover whether cherries really do help you to sleep.

We’ll explore the science behind cherries, discover how melatonin is involved, learn which cherries you should choose and discuss how they may help with insomnia and more.

So, let’s crack on…

Do Cherries Make You Sleepy? Discover Their Sleep-Enhancing Benefits

Given that 33% of adults in America experience brief periods of insomnia, with 10% describing it as chronic (23), it's no wonder we're all looking for great natural sleep aids. Could cherries be one of them?

Here's the good news: numerous studies have shown that, yes, eating cherries before bed can make you sleepy. That’s because they contain natural melatonin, colloquially known as the sleep hormone.

Melatonin is a hormone secreted in our brains when the sun goes down, letting our bodies know it’s time to relax and prepare for sleep. More on that shortly.

Cherries also contain tryptophan - an essential amino acid that encourages the body to produce more melatonin, as well as serotonin (the ‘feel good’ hormone).

The combination of the two has been shown to increase the amount of melatonin available in the body. Which makes cherries a potentially powerful sleep aid and can only mean good things for our sleep.

Which Type of Cherries are Best for Sleep?

It’s true what they say – not all cherries are created equally. If you’re taking cherries for their potential sleep benefits, you should opt for sour cherries or tart cherries (scientific name Prunus cerasus). They're the ones that, not surprisingly, have a sour taste.

Tart cherries have a higher concentration of melatonin than sweet cherries and may have more tryptophan, too.

Tart cherries also have certain enzymes in them that help to keep the tryptophan in our bodies for longer, giving us more time to produce even more melatonin. Double win! (1)

When it comes to tart cherries, we’d also recommend Montmorency tart cherries over any other variation. Montmorency cherries were found to have up to six times more melatonin, for instance, than Balaton, another form of tart cherry.(2)

What Are the Sleep Benefits of Cherries?

There have been quite a few scientific studies into the effectiveness of tart cherries and tart cherry juice on sleep.

Studies have shown that tart cherries can help you gain a good night's sleep by:

• Increasing sleep efficiency (the % of time asleep while in bed) across all age groups, including older adults.

• Improving total sleep time in all age groups.

In particular, a systematic review of eight different sleep studies showed that taking cherries before bed helped to:

• Improve total sleep time by up to 48 minutes for healthy middle-aged adults

• Improve total sleep time by nearly 30 minutes in people struggling with insomnia. (3)

Are Cherries Good for Sleep Disorders like Insomnia?

As I said above, tart cherries may help with sleep disorders like insomnia. In a pilot study on older adults over 50 suffering from insomnia, cherry juice was found to improve overall sleep time and sleep efficiency.

Cherry juice was also found to reduce inflammation, increase the amount of tryptophan available to the body, and, according to the study authors, 'may be partially responsible for improvement in insomnia.' (11)

Melatonin in Cherries: How Does it Regulate Sleep Cycles?

Here comes the science bit… I’ll keep it brief, I promise.

You already know that tart cherries contain melatonin, but how exactly does melatonin help with our sleep cycle?

Our body produces melatonin in the pineal gland in the brain, and the hormone is released every day around the same time, usually when the sun goes down.

This tells the brain and body that it’s time to slow down for the day, influencing blood pressure, mood, body temperature and even the eyes, helping the retinas to react less to light. All of which helps you to feel sleepy.

Consider it a chemical reminder to feel tired each night.

Your body makes more melatonin when it’s dark, and less when it’s light. When melatonin levels fall, this is the body’s signal to wake up, hopefully feeling refreshed.

Melatonin, therefore, heavily influences your sleep-wake cycle (also known as the circadian rhythm), letting your body know when to sleep and when to wake. (4)

What Happens When the Sleep-Wake Cycle is Interrupted?

Of course, the one thing melatonin can’t do is make you sleep – how many times have you powered through a few yawns when you want to binge-watch the latest show on Netflix? Or decided to play just a few more games on your phone, even though your eyes are getting droopy?

We’ve all done it. Doing it regularly, however, plus being surrounded by artificial light, can interfere with our sleep-wake cycle, and before we know it, we’re having problems getting to and staying asleep.

That’s when eating or taking tart cherries with natural melatonin may help…

How Much Melatonin Is in Cherries?

It’s difficult to say definitively how much melatonin is in cherries because each type of cherry differs. And each batch of the same type of cherries can differ, depending on where it was grown and harvested, plus how it was processed, and more. That’s nature for you!

The good news is that you don't need a huge amount of melatonin to make a difference to your sleep - experts recommend keeping it around 0.3mg, roughly the same dose as our bodies produce. (5)

Every 100 grams of tart cherries also contains about 9 milligrams of tryptophan.(6)

How Many Cherries Do You Need to Eat for Improved Sleep?

A better question is probably how many cherries do you need to eat to benefit from better sleep? A handful, a cup, two cups, three cups?

Most official sleep studies with tart cherries used about 30ml of tart cherry juice concentrate or some sort of tart cherry juice beverage.

To put that into context, you’d probably need to eat around 90-120 tart cherries a day to match it. (7)

Now, that’s a lot of cherries! Bear in mind that just 14 cherries account for one whole portion of your 5 fruit and vegetables a day. (8)

Of course, those were scientific studies using super high amounts of cherries to test a theory, and we wouldn’t recommend you do the same.

How Many Cherries Should We Eat a Day for A Good Night's Sleep?

Do you really need that many cherries for a restful night’s sleep in your own bed? Probably not.

Everyone reacts to the melatonin in cherries differently, so it’s worth experimenting to determine your tolerance. It's always best to start off low to begin with.

Registered dietitian Beth Czerwony, RD, of the Cleveland Clinic recommends starting with half a cup of cherries (about 10 whole cherries) or 4oz (120ml) of juice before bed. Make sure any cherry juice you choose has no added sugar.

Do that for a few days before increasing your dosage slightly if you feel you need it. (9) A quality sleep supplement containing tart cherries may help if you're struggling to eat enough cherries. 

Start low and go slow - that's the key to safely using any sleep aid.

How Long Does It Take for Cherries to Help You Sleep?

How long it takes for tart cherries to help you sleep depends on a few factors, including your own physiology and body chemistry. For some people, it may work quickly while others may need to build up its effects over a week or two.

It’s best to track your sleep patterns while taking the cherries to assess how well they are working for you.

Best Timing: How Long Before Bed Should You Eat Cherries?

Most advice recommends taking tart cherries approximately one hour before bed. This should give enough time for the melatonin to get into your system and take effect. (10)

What Other Fruits Help You Achieve Better Sleep?

As well as tart cherries, several other fruits may help you achieve better sleep. They include grapes, strawberries and bananas. Bananas contain tryptophan, which helps to produce melatonin and serotonin in the body, both of which contribute to sleep.

Comparison: Which Fruit is Best for Deep Sleep?

In an extensive scientific study examining the melatonin content of numerous fruits, vegetables and other foods, the fruits with the highest melatonin levels were named as tart cherries, the skin of grapes and strawberries. Of those, tart cherries had the highest melatonin content. (12)

Other Health Benefits of Cherries Beyond Sleep

As well as their contribution to sleep, tart cherries have been proven to offer several other health benefits. As well as melatonin and tryptophan, they are also a rich source of vitamin C and anthocyanins  –  powerful antioxidants. They also contain anti-inflammatories that may help ease muscle soreness, for example.

Antioxidant Benefits

Antioxidants help to protect your cells against daily damage, so they’re good little fighters to have around. They help to tackle free radicals on our behalf that damage cells and DNA. (13)

Anti-Inflammatory Benefits

Tart cherries also have anti-inflammatory properties, which is why they may help to soothe arthritis pain and reduce muscle soreness after exercise, among other things.

It's fair to say that humble cherries are a powerhouse fruit packed with vitamins and beneficial nutrients. Studies have been shown that they may also help with muscle damage, improved sleep, inflammation, memory, arthritis, heart disease, and more.

Their protective effects on overall health are impressive.

Tart cherries may:

• Reduce muscle soreness after exercise (14)

• Improve muscle strength after exercise (15)

• Decrease inflammation (16)

• Lower blood pressure, thanks to high levels of potassium (17)

• Ease gout and arthritis pain and stiffness (18)

• Improve memory in people with mild to moderate dementia (19)

• Protect the immune system, thanks to their anthocyanins content (20)

• Reduce the risk factors associated with cardiovascular or heart disease (21)

When Should You Avoid Eating Cherries?

For most people, there's no need to avoid eating cherries at any time, but certain groups of adults might want to be careful of their intake. They include:

• People with sensitive stomachs or IBS as eating too many cherries can cause bloating, cramps, gas, diarrhea, and even vomiting.

• People with allergic reactions.

• People with kidney disease who need to limit potassium. (22)

Are Cherries Safe to Consume Before Bed?

Cherries are considered safe to consume before bed, and the melatonin in them may help with sleep if eaten about an hour before you want to hit the hay.

If you don’t want to eat whole cherries or drink tart cherry juice just before bed (scared you’ll need to pee in the night), you can try a supplement instead.

What is the Best Tart Cherry Supplement to Help Improve Sleep Quality?

Performance Lab Sleep is a quality natural sleep aid containing tart cherries. It includes Montmorency tart cherries alongside tryptophan, lemon balm, and magnesium.

The low dose of natural melatonin from Montmorency cherries helps you avoid the groggy feeling of synthetic versions, while the tryptophan encourages your body’s own melatonin production.

Combined with lemon balm to reduce stress and magnesium to relax nerves and muscles, it helps you to get ready for a deep sleep.

Experience the world's most advanced natural sleep formula.

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Final Thoughts

Cherries can be a natural and tasty option to help improve both nutrition and sleep, but the timing, quantity and the type of cherries matter.

Choose tart cherries rather than sweet cherries ahead of bedtime for more antioxidants, melatonin and tryptophan.

Add a handful of fresh or dried cherries to your evening diet ritual or take the pain out of guessing exact quantities by choosing a quality tart cherry supplement instead.