You have probably seen the sleepy girl mocktail roaming around the internet at this point. This mocktail combines tart cherry juice with magnesium for a better night’s sleep!

The way this simple mocktail works is pretty cool. Tart cherry juice is a natural source of melatonin, our sleep hormone, and magnesium helps us convert tryptophan into melatonin. Magnesium also promotes gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) activity, a calming neurotransmitter that can help us relax our muscles and get into sleepy mode. I also love that the deep red pigment in the cherry juice ferments in the colon and supports the growth of important bacteria species in the gut, like bifidobacterium.

I was so curious this week to try it, and I am excited to report that I DEFINITELY noticed a deeper sleep with the tart cherry juice+magnesium. But the one thing I wasn’t pleased about was that even my all natural, organic, zero sugar added tart cherry juice had 26 grams of sugar in one single serving! YIKES.

This is the equivalent of drinking almost an entire can of coke before bed. Or, having about 13 packets of sugar. I wasn’t excited about that.

The issue with this is that when consumed by itself, a blood sugar spike overnight will be imminent, which can lead to the uncomfortable sensation of hypoglycemia in the middle of the night (since after blood sugar rises rapidly, it drops), as well as damaged nerves (long haulers are all set on the neurological issues without adding more insult to injury).

If you are looking to hop on the sleepy girl mocktail bandwagon, I would consider adding a scoop of protein powder. Adding protein helps the sugar get absorbed more slowly, to avoid hyperglycemia and all the issues that accompany it. (I am not sponsored by anybody but I do really like this supplement from Thorne.)

You can also skip the cherry juice all together and instead opt for some real cherries, with a side of tea with magnesium mixed in. Having real cherries instead of the juice is less concentrated, so you can have, say, 5 cherries rather than the equivalent of 50 or so.

Since this is a highly important topic and the stakes are high I’m going to give you a third option: doing one oz of tart cherry juice, which will only have 3g of sugar, then mixing it with warm water and magnesium, and adding a liquid melatonin to make up for lost cherry juice (use less than a gram of melatonin to get a “physiologic dose”).

Do you want to reclaim your energy and life after COVID-19? Apply to work with me! I currently have 1:1 nutrition spots available, as well as a group coaching option in partnership with a Doctor of Physical Therapy specializing in Long COVID.