That’s the question that’s besieged the internet lately as people test out the mixture that’s been dubbed the “sleepy girl mocktail.” A search for the term on TikTok reveals thousands of videos of people — mostly women — sipping the bloody-looking concoction, some of which have garnered millions of views.
Unlike when vampires sip on blood, this vividly red juice is meant to quell nighttime activity rather than spur it. “I sleep like an absolute baby when I drink this,” proclaims TikTok user @maddison__lynn. Her video making the mocktail has over 250,000 likes.
There’s some potential science behind the drink as tart cherries are naturally high in melatonin, which helps signal to the body that it’s time to sleep. They also contain tryptophan, which is used in the production of melatonin.
“There’s sound science to back up the idea that a drink like this could help you relax and possibly fall asleep faster,” registered dietitian Devon Peart said in a Cleveland Clinic article on the subject. “But it’s not a cure for insomnia or a sure-fire antidote to poor sleep.”
Peart went on to add that magnesium may contribute to physical and mental relaxation, which could help some people sleep as it is a natural muscle relaxant, and that magnesium glycinate is best for relaxation while magnesium citrate may still work but can also have a laxative effect.
Other researchers have cast doubt on the idea. Pieter Cohen, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School who studies supplements, told the New York Times the drink’s effectiveness could be almost entirely due to the placebo effect.
So we took it upon ourselves to test the formula in a three-day trial of the mocktail. Here’s how it went:
Night two I spilled the tart cherry juice, creating a sleepy girl disaster that truly looked like a crime scene.
Catie Cheshire
I’m a terrible sleeper and have been my whole life. Therefore, I consider myself a VIP member of the sleepy girls club; even Benadryl and Nyquil don’t always send me to dreamland (the hat man and I get along great, it's President Joe Biden who has appeared as my sleep paralysis demon since 2018). So I was down to try anything that could convince my brain to go to sleep and not be disturbed by unsettling visions.
Of note: magnesium powder was slightly above this journalist’s budget, so I went with a magnesium pill that I crushed up and mixed into my drink. This didn't blend in quite as seamlessly as the aesthetically pleasing drinks I’d seen on TikTok, but I didn’t let that spoil my vampiric fantasy.
I enjoyed the taste of the juice which, despite being advertised as tart was actually quite sweet. It reminded me of the chillable red Franzia boxed wine, so I kicked off my experiment with fond memories of college.
I hadn’t expected it to instantly make me sleepy but, to my surprise, it did. I fell asleep easily and had a deep, uninterrupted slumber — both rarities for me.
Unfortunately, I woke up the next morning experiencing a small amount of the laxative properties of magnesium. It wasn’t too major, but I noticed a difference.
On night two, I had a very similar experience, though a slightly more restless sleep which I thought may have been the result spilling almost half the bottle of juice all over my table and floor — not exactly a relaxing turn of events. Again, the digestive irregularities persisted.
By night three, I was certain my intestines were unhappy with the magnesium but I tried the drink one last time and found similar results: I went to sleep easily and stayed asleep.
I originally intended for this trial to last a full week, but I decided it wasn’t worth the pain during trips to the bathroom after day three so I quit the mocktail and my body immediately returned to its normal bathroom habits.
So, did it work? Yes. Would I recommend you do it every day? No. Or, if you do, spring for a magnesium glycinate powder to limit your digestive problems.
I’m still not sure if the combination was actually effective or if it was a placebo that worked for me because I wanted to be one of the cool, aesthetic girls for whom the drink worked wonders, but I’ll take three consecutive nights of actual good rest regardless.
The sleepy girl mocktail gets a 6 out of 10 from me.
