If you spend any time on TikTok, you’ve probably seen a video (or twenty) about the Sleepy Girl Mocktail. Hailed as both a tasty drink and a sleep aid, creators are showing themselves whipping up this three-ingredient recipe before bed — and recommending that you do the same.

Because TikTok isn’t exactly a panacea of trustworthy health information, we asked two physicians — a family medicine doctor and a sleep specialist — to weigh in on the science behind the Sleepy Girl Mocktail.

First, what is a Sleepy Girl Mocktail?

“According to social media trends, the sleepy girl mocktail is a mix of tart cherry juice, magnesium powder, and a fizzy mixer,” says Lisa Koers, MD, a family physician at the Department of Integrative Health and Wellbeing at NewYork-Presbyterian in collaboration with Weill Cornell Medicine. “The idea is that the ingredients help with sleep, and it really comes down to the tart cherry juice and the magnesium.”

There’s no universal recipe for a Sleepy Girl Mocktail, but broadly speaking, you make one by mixing about half a cup of tart cherry juice with a spoonful of magnesium powder, then top everything off with some sparkling water.

How might a Sleepy Girl Mocktail help with sleep?

“This drink is made up of two different ingredients that can help with sleep,” says Daniel A. Barone, MD, FAASM, FANA, Associate Medical Director of Weill Cornell Center for Sleep Medicine, neurologist at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. Although Barone hadn’t heard of the drink before being interviewed, he says that both tart cherry juice and magnesium could be helpful for people who have trouble falling and staying asleep.

Tart cherry juice contains melatonin, a hormone that regulates our sleep-wake cycle.

“Tart cherries contain melatonin and tryptophan,” Dr. Koers says, explaining that tryptophan is an amino acid that the body uses to make melatonin, a hormone that promotes sleep. Essentially, the brain starts to produce melatonin at night time as a signal that it’s time to wind down and go to sleep, which helps regulate our sleep-wake cycle.

The caveat here is that tart cherry juice only contains a tiny amount of melatonin — far, far less than what you’d get from a melatonin supplement. “There have been some small studies that have shown that tart cherry juice could be helpful for sleep, but it may not be due to the melatonin,” Dr. Koers says. Until there’s more research available, it’s impossible to say for sure whether this ingredient works as a sleep aid.

Magnesium can calm the central nervous system.

When it comes to magnesium and sleep, Dr. Barone says that there’s not great data on whether supplementation could be helpful. “Because magnesium is a supplement and not a Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-regulated medication, there aren’t a ton of studies on it,” he says.

That said, the existing literature suggests that magnesium can calm down the central nervous system. “One of the things we believe causes insomnia is ­­­­­­a person’s central nervous system being activated all the time, and magnesium can calm that,” Dr. Barone says.

If someone is magnesium-deficient, a magnesium supplement may be more likely to help with sleep than if someone already has enough of the mineral in their body. “When magnesium is insufficient in the body, this can cause symptoms like anxiety, fatigue, muscle cramps and insomnia,” Dr. Koers says.

Still, both Dr. Barone and Dr. Koers agree that magnesium supplementation could be worth trying if you struggle to fall asleep. There are many different types of magnesium available, and Dr. Koers recommends choosing a form that’s well-absorbed by the body, such as magnesium glycinate. There are some people who should not take magnesium supplements, like those with kidney disease, so it’s best to talk with your doctor before starting such a supplement.

If you need a Sleepy Girl Mocktail every night, you should talk to your doctor about possible underlying problems that may need to be addressed.

“In my opinion, this drink is safe and could help you fall asleep,” Dr. Barone says. “But if chronic insomnia is a problem for you and you need one of these to fall asleep every night, you need to bring the problem up with your doctor, and it’s worth talking to a sleep specialist as well.”

Although there’s no evidence to show that you could get addicted to or dependent on the ingredients in a Sleepy Girl Mocktail the way you might with some sleep medications, Dr. Barone says that drinking one every night could mask other underlying problems that need to be addressed.

“I often find that things like chronic insomnia are related to underlying stress and anxiety,” Dr. Barone says. “This substance could calm things down a bit, but you might need a more appropriate treatment, like a therapist or medication.”

A night-time mocktail shouldn’t replace good sleep habits, either.

If you have trouble sleeping, Dr. Koers says that the first thing you should do is examine your daily (and nightly) routine and think about how you could adjust things to benefit your sleep. She recommends focusing on sleep hygiene: keeping your bedtime and wake time regular, getting sunlight in the mornings, exercising regularly, avoiding alcohol and caffeine in the evening, powering down your screens in the hours before bed and making sure your bedroom is a comfortably cool temperature.

The bottom line? A Sleepy Girl Mocktail might help you sleep, but it’s not a cure-all and it shouldn’t be the only tool in your box.

*This article was written and/or reviewed by an independent registered dietitian nutritionist.

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