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One sheep, two sheep, no sleep solution

I am participating in sponsored post series, and have been provided bottles of tart cherry product and a FitBit to facilitate my participation in the sleep challenge as well as payment for my posts. All opinions are my own.

Sheep Standing In A Snow Filled FieldSHEEP

For some reason I never quite got the correlation of sleep and counting sheep. For me, concentrating on something like that brings out an OCD side that makes me begin to think? Did I miss one? Oh no! Where did it go? Now I have to start again. Creating a cycle of thinking and worrying and NOT sleeping.

As you know I feel like I’ve tried it all, and frankly while sleeping pills may WORK to knock me out, feeling awful the next day actually makes the whole problem even worse. I have spent the last years searching for an answer, and while NOTHING has been the perfect solution (because if you’re like me, your mind can takeover and fight even the STRONGEST solution). I wanted warm milk to help – but while it was a nice treat, it did nothing. With Melatonin pills I always took too much (there was no way to really monitor) and would have awful nightmares. So, this experiment that I’ve been doing for the past month with Tart Cherry Juice was just what I needed.

How do you know if it’s your body just ready or the “product” working?

I gave Tart Cherries the ULTIMATE test, as I had a lot of travel and the juice can’t be brought in my carry-on. So, I was able to test for 2 weeks, take a week off, and then go back on for a week. My experiment was “supposed” to be for 14 days, but as you can see – 14 consecutive days for me is tough as I travel one week on, one week off. I paired drinking 8 oz (roughly, as I just poured and drank, I never measure) twice a day (or a 1 oz shot of the concentrate mixed into a delicious recipe). Once in place of another juice in the morning and the other at some point before bed in the evening. I was not terribly consistent with the time I drank it, but I did NOT miss a day while I was home. During that period I wore a Fitbit Flex (which I have to say was cool, but didn’t go with my “nice” clothes) day and night to track my sleep.

Here’s what I found

Pre-Using Tart Cherry Juice

My average night’s sleep was about 4 hours – it was not in chunks, but I did get 2-3 hours before waking up and going back to sleep for an extra hour or so. Then came the TIME CHANGE and all he!! broke loose, there was LESS sleep to be had because my body couldn’t adjust to the new sleep/wake times. That’s actually pretty common, even among those who don’t normally have insomnia.

While I used the Tart Cherry Juice

I averaged 5.5 – 6.2 hours of sleep per night. That’s a significant improvement. I still woke up during the night multiple times, and the Fitbit reads stillness/rest as sleep as well, but the fact that I was able to get MORE sleep was amazing.

When I went away

While I was on a press trip I did not drink any, and my sleep actually went down even BELOW the 4 hours per night, but I was also on a tight schedule in a new bed. I had a bag of tart cherries, but forgot them at home. I’m going to see if they help as well as the juice does on my next trip. I’m guessing the effect of drinking it is not cumulative.

5½ hours of sleep may not seem like much to you

But that extra hour and a half made a WORLD of difference in the way that I function daily, and while my wish is that I could enjoy the juice and get 8 hours of sleep like “normal” people do, I understand that menopause has decided to mess with me in more ways than I can begin to express, and that extra bit of sleep means being more productive and just an all around better feeling. I learned that it’s NOT JUST ME, that was able to improve the quality of my sleep. Check out the sleep study done at Choose Cherries. There have been three independent studies, each showing that the severity of insomnia was reduced.

Cheaper and more natural

If I added up what I’ve spent over the years trying to get myself to sleep and had saved it – I’d probably be sleeping at the Crillon in Paris right now.  I learned that $84 million is spent on over the counter sleeping aids every year (my mind is now calculating what THAT could buy me in Paris). Drinking Montmorency Tart Cherry Juice is not only inexpensive, but it’s become my bedtime treat (sure beats warm milk).

Using the concentrate

Here’s one of the recipes that I used when I wanted a dessert drink (because you KNOW I love chocolate) Cherry Chocolate Recovery Drink

Total Time: 10 minutes

Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 5 minutes
Yield: 1 drink

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoons tart cherry juice concentrate
  • 1/2 ounce dark chocolate, melted
  • 4 ounces chocolate milk
  • 2 tablespoons plain yogurt
  • 1 to 2 teaspoons maple syrup (optional)

Directions

Melt chocolate in saucepan over low heat, or in microwave for a few seconds.

Add tart cherry juice concentrate, chocolate milk, yogurt, melted chocolate and maple syrup together and blend or mix well.

Chill and serve.

More information can be found on

Cherries Sleep Giveaway Graphic 10.29

We want YOU to sleep too!

We’ve partnered with six OTHER blogs (7 in total) to give away a fabulous Tart Cherry Juice prize pack for one winner.

• Fitbit Flex in Red
• $100 Spafinder.com gift card
• Pottery Barn Cozy cable knit throw
• Natural Wake & Sleep System
• Restoration Hardware Bathrobe
• Tart Cherries product: dried, juice, and concentrate

Entering is SIMPLE & there are LOTS of ways to enter….(links above in the “more information” area)

• Commenting on Champagne Living (Mandatory)
• Follow Choose Cherries on Pinterest
• Pin the 14-day Sleep Challenge graphic on Pinterest with #TartCherrySleepChallenge
• Like Choose Cherries on Facebook
• Follow @ChooseCherries on Twitter
• Tweet about the @ChooseCherries giveaway using #TartCherrySleepChallenge

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Comments

  7. I’ve heard that cherry juice Will help you sleep but have not had the opportunity to try. Would love to try

  11. I haven’t tryed tart cherry but I’m willing to try anything
    Because I can’t sleep at night I end up crashing mid day

  12. I haven’t tried tart cherries but I would give it a shot. Lord knows I have tried everything else to get a good nights sleep.

  14. I haven’t tried it yet but I would be willing to, I’ve tried everything thing else and I would love to be able to get off of a script for something natural

  22. Yes, I’ve used it as a sleep aid during bouts of insomnia and found that around 4 oz an hour prior to bed helped a lot.

  27. Never knew until now that “Tart Cherry Juice” had such an effect on Sleeping…WOW!! If I knew that I would have gotten this a long time ago…I am restless at Bedtime & have a hard time getting to sleep ( always to much on the mind) I would LOVE to try this & finally get some ZZZzzz’s…Please!!!!

  30. I’ve always heard that cherries are good for gout . . . I know this isn’t about that, just sayin’ . . .

  33. No I haven’t tried it, but have heard it helps! I wake up all during the night! Thx for the chance!

  35. I have heard that tart cherry juice is good for sore joints but I have never heard that it can help with sleep. I have problems with both so this would be a great way to get some relief.

  36. I love tart cherry juice. I have never used it as a sleep aid. I had to stop buying it cause I couldn’t afford it.

  43. I’ve never tried tart cherry juice, but I was raised on a farm and the natural state of my foods growing up seemed to the best way to live. At 55, I am getting more and more back to natural state of everything that I eat or put on or in my body and would LOVE to try this!! Thanks!

  47. I have not had the opportunity to try Tart Cherry Juice Sleep Aid yet but I’ve heard amazing things and can’t wait to get my hands on some!!

  49. I have never tried tart cherry juice, but definitely want to after reading your blog. I have fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and painful osteoarthritis. Sleep is a huge factor in my daily comfort, and poor sleep aggravates my symptoms. I will definitely be trying Tart Cherry Juice Sleep Aid! Thank you 🙂

  50. they say this juice is good for arthritis too, ive bought it several times but never followed through, and I can’t sleep either, so I will try this again, tks.

  51. I have never heard this before about helping with sleeping. If it does I’m going out and getting some.

  55. I have a terrible time sleeping and I hate using medication so maybe I will give cherries a try.

  59. I have never tried Tart Cherry, But I would love to have the chance to do so. Thank you so much for the chance.

  68. I didnt know tart cherry was a sleep aid! I recommend it to my customers for joint support 🙂 good to know! thank you!

  69. I have tried just about everything to help me sleep and nothing worked.I am hoping to try this product because it sounds amazing.

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