Sleepy Girl Mocktail Recipe

The Sleepy Girl Mocktail is taking TikTok by storm, so I tried it out and here’s my honest take on this viral bedtime beverage. As a dietitian, I was excited to look into the science that underpins this trend. As a busy, working mom of 3 I was excited that a tasty bedtime treat might help me to get more or better sleep!

Overall, I did think that the Sleepy Girl Mocktail helped me to get to sleep. I tend to have a lot of trouble sleeping, and I thought that the drink helped me to get to sleep as well as my usual melatonin gummy. I can’t say whether it helped me to stay asleep, because I get woken up almost every night by my kids (help!).

I think there are three reasons why the Sleepy Girl Mocktail might have helped me to sleep:

First, the magnesium glycinate: there is preliminary research on magnesium that shows that people with low serum magnesium have a hard time sleeping[1]. Second, magnesium glycinate is magnesium “attached” to the amino acid glycine. There is some research that shows that glycine may help to lower our core body temperature a touch, which helps to create the ideal conditions for falling asleep[2]. I have to caveat my thoughts on magnesium with a mention that most of the research on magnesium for sleep is in people with diagnosed sleep disorders, so I’d want to see more research in healthy normal people before I made a definitive proclamation that magnesium has true potential to help people sleep.

Second, tart cherry juice contains trace amounts of melatonin, a known sleep inducer. Tart cherry juice is also rich in antioxidants that help to support the body’s recovery processes[3].

Third, any time that you can incorporate a ritual into your evening, you train your body that certain signals, like a nightly Sleepy Girl Mocktail, mean it’s time to relax and get to sleep. These environmental cues can be super beneficial if sleep is a problem for you like it is for me!