Insomnia is a common problem among seniors, and it is estimated that between 23 and 34% of people over 65 experience trouble sleeping at least three nights a week. This leads to fatigue but it also affects health because lack of sleep can accelerate cognitive decline, increase blood pressure or cause type 2 diabetes.
As we know, sleeping pills are not a solution, because they too can cause cognitive problems and falls. “Sleeping pills can be a remedy for insomnia in young people, but in the elderly, they quadruple the risk of falls and therefore the risk of hip fracture” ‘explains Dr. Frank L. Greenway of the University of Louisiana who has just presented a study on the sleep of seniors at the annual meeting of the American Nutrition Society in San Diego (USA).
Drink cherry juice twice a day minimum
This is what prompted academics to look into the sedative properties of cherry juice. They therefore asked people aged 68 on average and suffering from insomnia, to drink cherry juice, twice a day for two weeks. Then the same group drank a placebo drink for two weeks as well. During this time, the doctor and his team studied their sleep using a polysomnograph, a device that records physiological variables (respiratory rate, heart rate, etc.) during sleep. The participants also answered a questionnaire on their feelings in terms of fatigue, drowsiness, depression.
The researchers then discovered that by drinking cherry juice twice a day, morning and evening, seniors gained an average of an hour of sleep (up to 84 minutes more sleep for some).
According to the researchers, this is because many varieties of cherries are a natural source of melatonin, the sleep hormone. They also believe that cherry wheel pigments, called proanthocyanidins, play a role as they help increase the availability of tryptophan, an essential amino acid and a precursor to serotonin that helps sleep.
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