Does The Sleepy Girl Mocktail Really Improve Sleep?

The sleepy girl mocktail has been making its rounds around TikTok, claiming to help you sleep easier and improve sleep quality. Let’s take a look at the ingredients and see if the talk measures up to the science! 

What is the sleepy girl mocktail? 

Mocktails have been a circulating social media for the better half of 2023, so it was no shock to see the sleepy girl mocktail go viral during these first few months of 2024! The start of Dry January sent many looking for new mocktail recipes, creating a perfect storm for the sleepy girl mocktail to carve a space out on TikTok and other social media platforms. Users claim that the mocktail’s ingredients work to improve sleep quality and help you fall asleep easier.  

So, what goes into the sleepy girl mocktail? The ingredients are: 

• Tart cherry juice 

• Magnesium powder 

• Sparkling water OR prebiotic soda of your choice 

In this article, we will dive into each ingredient and analyze its effect, or lack of effect, on sleep quality. 

Tart Cherry Juice 

Fans of the sleepy girl mocktail claim that tart cherry juice (TCJ) supports sleep due to its concentration of melatonin, a hormone that helps the body transition into sleep. However, studies have shown that TCJ has much less melatonin than what is recommended to effectively promote sleep, especially in processed cherry products such as juice and powder. To put it into perspective, the recommended dose of melatonin found to help with sleep concerns is 0.3-10 milligrams. TCJ contains between 0.0000007 to 0.000013 milligrams. Therefore, it is unlikely that the melatonin in TCJ contributes to better sleep. 

However, a meta-analysis of studies regarding TCJ and its potential effect on sleep has found that despite TCJs low amount of melatonin, it still has a positive effect on sleep. Objectively, the data of participants from multiple TCJ studies shows that total sleep time and sleep efficacy were improved among those who used TCJ as a sleep aid. Interestingly, the participants did not perceive to have been sleeping better. This shows that there is something promoting better and longer sleep for TCJ drinkers, but more research is needed to tell us why. 

Lastly, it is worth mentioning that one of the studies within the meta-analysis found that TCJ-drinking participants with insomnia experienced greater sleep duration, but did not see an increase of sleep efficacy. Therefore, people with existing sleep concerns are less likely to see a benefit from drinking TCJ as a sleep aid. 

So, does tart cherry juice help you sleep better? It is hard to say. Evidence tells us that it does help us to sleep longer and better, but not because of its melatonin content.  

Magnesium Powder 

We don’t know exactly how magnesium impacts sleep, but expert speculate that magnesium plays a role in influences various sleep-related chemicals within the brain, including GABA, melatonin, cortisol, and more. Magnesium is a nutrient of concern, meaning that it is routinely under consumed by millions of Americans every day. It is thoughts that magnesium deficiency is what contributes to sleep problems. A systemic review of several sleep and magnesium studies concluded that magnesium supplementation was associated with improved sleep efficiency and sleep time. However, not all magnesium supplements are created equally! 

Magnesium carbonate, gluconate, oxide, and chloride are forms of magnesium that are commonly associated with causing diarrhea. Running to the bathroom in the middle of the night will most definitely affect your sleep quality, but not in a good way. Some forms of magnesium that are more stomach friendly are magnesium aspartate, citrate, or lactate. Additionally, taking a large dose of any form of magnesium is likely to cause diarrhea. 

Before adding any supplement to your diet, it is best to talk to your doctor. Magnesium supplements can interact with many medications, which can cause them to not work as intended. Individuals with impaired kidney function may not be able to remove excess magnesium from supplementation from their bodies, putting them at risk for magnesium toxicity.  

Prebiotic Soda/Sparkling Water 

In the sleepy girl mocktail, sparking water and prebiotic sodas are used as a ‘mixer’ and aren’t credited with any sleep-related benefits. They’re just there for taste! There is emerging research that suggests a possible relationship between probiotics, prebiotics, gut health, and sleep quality, but no conclusions have been reached as of now. 

If you would like more information on prebiotics, probiotics, and gut health, check out our article about the current most popular prebiotic sodas, Olipop and Poppi, HERE.  

Conclusion 

In conclusion, there is evidence that the sleepy girl mocktail contains ingredients that can help support better quality sleep, as well as longer sleep durations. However, this does not mean that drinking this mocktail will ensure improved sleep. In most of the studies we discussed, both TCJ and magnesium supplement powder was consumed on a regular basis before sleep improvements were documented. Therefore, making the sleepy girl mocktail part of your nightly routine will be more likely to give you the sleep benefits you are looking for, as opposed to drinking it on occasion. 

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Written by Sarah Haaser

Hey, I'm Sarah!

I am an undergraduate senior at Purdue University majoring in Nutrition & Dietetics. I enjoy trying new recipes and thrifting when I’m not in class or studying!  Learn more about the HSH offerings here.